RIGGER RAMBLINGS: The Calgary Roughnecks begin their busiest stretch of the season tonight, playing four games in 13 days, as they are set to battle the Toronto Rock at Scotiabank Arena in a 1:00 p.m. MT matinee. During that time span, Calgary will also host Saskatchewan (Mar. 13), then travel to New England (Mar. 15) and Colorado (Mar. 20). Fans can watch all the road game action on BR Live. Last Saturday, the San Diego Seals edged the Riggers 13-12 at the Scotiabank Saddledome. Calgary jumped out to a 5-3 first quarter lead but San Diego answered with a three-goal run in the second frame to overtake the home side and held on for the remainder of the game. In his first appearance at the ‘Dome in 2020, Dane Dobbie led the Roughnecks with seven markers, completing his second sock-trick in two outings just 21:01 into the contest. Austin Staats (5g, 3a) powered the Seals’ offence with eight points while former Roughneck, Wesley Berg, matched his point total with a goal and seven helpers. Special teams played a big role with San Diego going 5-5 on the power play while Calgary was 2-3.
VS. TORONTO: Tonight marks the first and only regular season meeting between the Roughnecks and Rock. Last season, Calgary strung together three four-goal quarters en route to a 15-9 victory in their only match-up. Rhys Duch (4g, 2a) tallied a game-leading four goals while Riley Loewen (3g, 2a) and Tyler Pace (3g, 1a) each recorded a hat-trick. Curtis Dickson was the top offensive performer for the Roughnecks with eight assists. Tom Schreiber was the top performer for the Rock with four assists while Dan Lintner was their leading goal-scorer with three.
2018-19 Regular Season Series Recap
Mar. 9/19 at CGY: CGY 15 TOR 9… Roughnecks strung together three four-goal quarters en route to a 15-9 victory.
Shots on Goal: CGY 44 TOR 55
Power Plays: CGY 5-10 (50.0%) TOR 1-5 (20.0%)
All-Time Regular Season Records
All-Time vs. TOR: 14-22
All-Time at CGY: 8-10
All-Time at TOR: 6-12
Last CGY Win: Mar. 9/19, 15-9 at the Scotiabank Saddledome
Last TOR Win: Mar. 24/18, 17-14 at the Scotiabank Saddledome
HEAD-TO-HEAD: 2019-20 REGULAR SEASON
| Category | Calgary (4-5) | Toronto (7-3) |
| Home Record | 1-4 | 4-1 |
| Away Record | 3-1 | 3-2 |
| Goals For | 109 | 112 |
| Goals Against | 101 | 93 |
| Power Play Pct. | 36.4 | 32.3 |
| Penalty Kill Pct. | 45.7 | 61.9 |
| Faceoffs Pct. | 49.6 | 42.5 |
| Loose Balls | 637 | 713 |
| Points Leader – Season | Curtis Dickson (38) | Rob Hellyer (51) |
ALTERNA CUP: 2019-20 features a brand new season-long competition among all five Canadian clubs. The Rock currently lead the way with a record of 3-1 against Canadian teams and 75% win percentage while Calgary sits in a two-way tie with the Saskatchewan Rush with a 1-1 record and 50% win percentage.
CALGARY’S ELITE TRIO: On Feb. 22, Rhys Duch surpassed the 400-career goal mark and became the 15th player in NLL history to enter the 400 club. With the addition of Duch, the Calgary Roughnecks have become the first franchise in league history to have three active roster players who have passed the 400 mark. Curtis Dickson entered the elite club earlier this season (Dec. 27) while Dane Dobbie eclipsed the milestone last year (Mar.16). The trio holds the 13th, 14th and 15th spots on the list.
RECORD WHEN:
Leading at halftime …… 4-3 Outshooting opponent .…… 1-2
Trailing at halftime ……. 0-2 Outshot by opponent …..….. 3-1
Tied at halftime …….…. 0-0 Shots are tied ……..………… 0-2
ROUGHNECKS MONTH-BY-MONTH: November (1-0), December (1-2), January (0-2), February (2-1).
ROUGHNECKS VS.: (BUF 0-0), (COL 0-1), (GA 1-0), (HFX 0-1), (NE 0-0), (NY 1-0), (PHI 0-1), (ROC 0-1), (SD 1-1), (SAS 0-0), (TOR 0-0), (VAN 1-0).
STREAKING: Several players take point streaks into today’s game: Curtis Dickson (18g, 20a) and Dan Taylor (12g, 20a) have both tallied points in all nine contests this season. Shane Simpson (6g, 10a) is riding a seven-game streak while Zach Herreweyers (6g, 10a), Rhys Duch (6g, 14a) and Dereck Downs (3g, 9a) have points in five consecutive outings. Dane Dobbie (13g, 1a), with sock-tricks in each game, and Zach Currier (1g, 3a) both have points in back-to-back showings.
MILESTONE MARKERS: On Feb. 29, Mitch Wilde played in his 100th NLL game while three other Roughnecks scooped up loose ball milestones: Dane Dobbie (600 LB), Dan Taylor (100 LB) and Anthony Kalinich (50 LB). On Feb. 22, several players hit a multitude of career milestones; Rhys Duch surpassed the 400-goal mark while Curtis Dickson eclipsed 750 career points. Dane Dobbie tallied his 450th assist and Curtis Manning notched his 50th. Tyson Bell scooped up his 400th loose ball that same night.
BY THE NUMBERS:
1 – Tyler Burton is one caused turnover away from 100
3 – Mitch Wilde is three points shy of 100
3 – Tyson Bell needs three points for 50
3 – Curtis Dickson is three assists away from 350
3 – Zach Currier needs three loose balls for 500
5 – Dan Taylor is five goals away from 50
6 – Tyler Pace needs six assists for 50
7 – Chad Cummings is six caused turnovers away from 50
7 – Tyler Burton is seven points shy of 50
CLIMBING THE CHARTS: Christian Del Bianco is on the brink of surpassing three of Frank Scigliano’s third-place franchise records. With three more wins, Del Bianco will become the third-most winningest goaltender eclipsing Scigliano’s previous record of 23. Del Bianco needs 13 saves to have the third-most saves in franchise history, breaking Scigliano’s 1787 mark, and once Del Bianco plays 104 more minutes, he will surpass Scigliano with 2705 minutes to claim the third-place spot.
TRAIN WITH THE PROS: Due to overwhelming demand, the Roughnecks have expanded the ‘Train with the Pros’ lacrosse camps. The additional camp, which will take place on March 29 at the Calgary Soccer Centre, will be run by Roughnecks forward Tyler Pace, defence/transition player Zach Currier, and veteran goaltender Tyler Richards. Lacrosse players from Novice to Midget are invited to register for the 1.5 hour clinics where Pace, Currier and Richards will be instructing small groups with a focus on stick skills, game fundamentals and goalie angles. Registration is now open, please visit CalgaryRoughnecks.com/roughnecks-train-with-the-pros-camp-2020/. The sessions on March 29 and April 4 led by Dobbie, Dickson and Del Bianco are sold out except for six goalie spots in the Novice/PeeWee session the first weekend.
THE ROAD AHEAD: Following tonight’s contest, the Roughnecks play game two of four in 13 days. They will return to ‘Dome to host the Saskatchewan Rush on March 13. It’s the St. Patrick’s Day Party where the first 3,000 fans in the building will receive vouchers for a FREE 14 oz. Bud or Bud Light draught beer and a cheeseburger, hot dog or slice of pizza and a (vouchers are only redeemable on Mar. 13). Doors open early at 5:30 p.m. for an extended happy hour featuring green beer and food and beverage specials at all concourse concessions. Fans who are in attendance and download the Roughnecks official app will have a chance to win flights for two to Dublin, Ireland courtesy of WestJet. Other highlights include Irish dancers on the concourse and a halftime performance by Crack the Lens.
