RIGGER RAMBLINGS: The Calgary Roughnecks will now travel east to visit the Saskatchewan Rush at the SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon. Calgary enters the contest following last weekend’s doubleheader split that saw the Roughnecks pick up a 15-10 win in Georgia and come up short in overtime against the Colorado Mammoth, falling 13-12. The overtime match marked the eighth time Calgary and Colorado have gone into extra time in their last 14 regular season meetings. John Grant Jr. scored the overtime winner, his fourth goal of the game, while Jeff Shattler finished the night with a Roughnecks-leading seven points (two goals, five assists). Dillon Ward and Alex Buque, in a relief appearance, combined for 45 saves in the win while Roughnecks netminder Mike Poulin stopped 38 of 50 shots he faced. Calgary sits third in the West Division with a record of 6-8 while Saskatchewan and Colorado share the same 9-3 mark with for top spot in the division.

VS SASKATCHEWAN: Today marks the fourth and final regular season meeting between the Roughnecks and Rush with Saskatchewan holding a 3-0 advantage in the series, outscoring Calgary by a combined 41-31. Curtis Dickson leads the Roughnecks with 18 points (7g, 11a) against the Rush. Robert Church (8g, 10a) tops Saskatchewan with 18 points against Calgary. Last year, the Roughnecks and Rush split the series 2-2.

SERIES RECAP

Jan. 2/16 at CGY: SAS 10 CGY 8 … Calgary and Saskatchewan entered the fourth quarter tied 6-6.

Feb. 5/16 at SAS: SAS 19 CGY 12 … Six second-quarter goals by Zack Greer powered the Rush to victory.

Feb. 28/16 at CGY: SAS 12 CGY 11 (OT) … Zack Greer scored 5:04 seconds into overtime, his second goal of the game, to lift the Rush to victory.

INSIDE THE SERIES

Shots on Goal: CGY 136 SAS 166 Power Plays: CGY 9-17 (52.9%) SAS 10-21 (47.6%)

HEAD-TO-HEAD: 2016 REGULAR SEASON

Category

Roughnecks (6-8)

Rush (9-3)

Home Record

3-4

5-2

Away Record

3-4

4-1

Goals For

161

162

Goals Against

163

131

Power Play Pct.

52.17

41.89

Penalty Kill Pct.

53.62

54.24

Faceoffs Won-Taken

167-383 (43.6%)

191-343 (55.7%)

Loose Balls

934

931

Points Leader – Series

Dickson (18)

Church (18)

Points Leader – Season

Dickson (83)

Matthews (72)

HEAD-TO-HEAD: 2015 REGULAR SEASON

Category

Roughnecks (7-11)

Rush (13-5)

Home Record

4-5

6-3

Away Record

3-6

7-2

Goals For

212

241

Goals Against

217

177

Power Play Pct.

55.29

46.60

Penalty Kill Pct.

64.36

62.67

Faceoffs Won-Taken

302-495 (61.0%)

253-490 (51.6%)

Loose Balls

1,066

1,186

Points Leader – Series

Evans (24)

Matthews (24)

Points Leader – Season

Evans (130)

Matthews (115)

WITHIN REACH: With a team-leading 48 goals on the season, Curtis Dickson has matched his career-high set last year. He is now three goals shy of the franchise’s single-season goals record, set by Dane Dobbie in 2014.

ROSTER MOVES: The Roughnecks were quiet on trade deadline day (Mar. 29) and did not make any moves prior to the 1:00 p.m. MT deadline. Ahead of Thursday’s roster submission deadline, Calgary released practice players D Patrick O’Meara and F Tyler Melnyk. Teams are now only permitted to make internal roster transactions.

TURF TIME: Including tonight, Calgary has played the most games of all NLL teams at 15. New England enters this weekend with the fewest games played at 11.

LOOKING BACK: The Roughnecks were 4-10 when entering Game 15 last season.

WELCOME BACK: Since returning to the lineup after a four-game absence with an upper-body injury, Dane Dobbie has contributed with seven goals and 12 assists in his last four games. He sits fourth in team scoring with 20 goals and 49 points in 10 contests.

GET SHORTY: The Roughnecks are tied with Colorado for second-most shorthanded goals at 10. Of the 10 markers, Curtis Dickson has netted five and sits one shorthanded tally back of matching his career high set in 2013. Saskatchewan leads the league with 13 shorthanded goals.

IT’S TRICKY: Curtis Dickson’s sock-trick on Mar. 25 in Georgia marked his third career six-goal effort. The most goals the 27-year-old forward has scored in a single game is seven which he has twice achieved (Feb. 21, 2015 and Apr. 19, 2014).

NAIL-BITERS: Seven of Calgary’s 14 games played have been decided by one goal with the Roughnecks winning two and losing five one-goal decisions. Calgary is 1-1 in two-goal games and 2-0 in four-goal contests. In games decided by five or more goals, the Roughnecks are 1-2.

GOING THE DISTANCE: The Roughnecks have gone into extra time in four of their last seven games. Calgary matched a single-season league record for most consecutive overtime games when they needed an extra frame in three consecutive games from Feb. 20 – Mar. 5. The last team to record three-straight overtime contests was Washington in 2011. The single-season NLL record for most overtime games is five, twice set by Arizona (2005) and Washington (2011). The most OT contests the Roughnecks have played in a single season is four, first set in 2004 then duplicated in 2015 and 2016.

WHAT’S LEFT: After tonight, Calgary has three regular season games remaining with two against the divisional rival Vancouver Stealth (Apr. 9 and Apr. 16). The Roughnecks wrap up the regular season at home on Apr. 30 against the Toronto Rock.

RECORD WHEN:

Leading entering second half.….. 2-3 Outshooting opponent.….. 3-3

Trailing entering second half.…… 3-3 Outshot………………………3-5

Tied entering second half……..… 1-2 Shots are tied……………… 0-0

ROUGHNECKS VS: (BUF 0-1), (COL 1-2), (GA 2-0), (NE 1-0), (ROC 0-1), (SAS 0-3), (TOR 1-0), (VAN 1-1)

TOP 10: Curtis Dickson’s 48 goals and 83 points place him second in league scoring and tied for first in goals scored. Of his 48 goals, 12 have come on the power play (second among all players) while his five shorthanded markers top all players. Greg Harnett and Dickson are in an eight-way tie for fourth in the league with two game-winning goals each. Mike Carnegie leads the team with 24 caused turnovers, tied for third best in the NLL, while Karsen Leung sits tied for sixth with 22. Dan MacRae is tied for first among the league’s defenders with 15 points (4g, 11a) on the season. Mike Poulin is third among league goaltenders with a 10.84 goals-against average. Fellow netminder Frankie Scigliano sits ninth in the NLL with a 12.26 goals-against average.

CLIMBING THE CHARTS: On Mar. 19 against Colorado, Curtis Dickson surpassed 400 career NLL points with an eight-point effort (3g, 5a). Now sitting at 418 points in 98 career games, Dickson is averaging just over four points per contest and sits seventh on the club’s all-time scoring list, eight points back of sixth-place Shawn Evans.

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