The Roughnecks cowboyed up with big 18-11 win over the Georgia Swarm on Saturday.
Dane Dobbie led the way with seven goals and four assists in front of 9,780 fans out for the Lammle’s Western Party at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
“We were 1-4 at home this year so far, so it was nice to get a win at home there,” said Dobbie, who was named the game’s first star. “Hopefully we can switch the momentum and start moving forward.”
One night after suffering an 18-9 setback on the road to the Colorado Mammoth, the Roughnecks (4-6) jumped out to leads of 7-2 and 13-3 over the Swarm (7-2) as they put abrupt halt to their five-game losing streak.
“There wasn’t a lot of smiles on the trip home, that’s for sure,” said Calgary coach Curt Malawsky. “It came down to the boys wanting to battle for each other. I thought that they battled for each other and tonight and it was very evident out there.”
Curtis Dickson was also back in the saddle for the Riggers with a hat trick and four helpers, while Wesley Berg (2g, 4a), Tyler Digby (2g, 3a), Jeff Shattler (1g, 5a), Holden Cattoni (1g, 3a), Riley Loewen (1g, 2a) and Tyson Bell (1g) also got in on the action.
Frank Scigliano made 33 saves in net for Calgary to even his record to 4-4.
Bouncing back with a big win was the perfect way for Calgary captain Mike Carnegie to celebrate his 33rd birthday on Saturday.
“It went from being the worst birthday to the best birthday,” said Carnegie. “If you would have told me that we would have been blown out and then we would have come back home and put up 18, I wouldn’t have believed you. I’m sure that everyone was ready to write us off Friday at 10 o’clock and here we are Saturday talking about a different tune.”
The Riggers weren’t very welcoming to former teammate Mike Poulin as they fired 14 goals past him on 40 shots. Poulin recorded a franchise-record 52 wins in goal for the Roughnecks from 2010-16 before signing as a free agent with the Swarm over the off-season.
Back-up Georgia goalie Brodie MacDonald also saw some playing time in net for the Swarm and finished with 11 saves.
Lyle Thompson led the way for the Swarm with two goals and three assists, while Kiel Matisz had a hat trick and a helper. Shayne Jackson scored twice, while Jerome Thompson, Jordan MacIntosh, John Ranagan and Johnny Powless also scored for the visitors.
Berg opened the scoring at 1:41 of the first quarter when he drove hard to the net and snapped a shot past Poulin while falling to the turf.
The Riggers increased that advantage to 5-0 thanks to goals by Cattoni, Shattler, Loewen and Dobbie before Jerome Thompson finally got the Swarm on the board.
Dobbie and Digby then sandwiched goals around one by Georgia’s Lyle Thompson to put the ’Necks up 7-2 through one quarter of play.
Powless scored at 5:47 of the second quarter for the Swarm before the Riggers reeled off six straight goals to increase their advantage to 13-3 before the halftime intermission.
The Swarm buzzed back with four goals to start the third quarter before Dickson scored a short-handed goal and Dobbie followed that up with an even-strength marker.
Georgia went on another four goal run to start the final frame before Dobbie took a long breakaway pass from Scigliano and beat Poulin to complete his sock trick.
“It was a great pass by Frank and a great finish by (Dobbie),” said Malawsky, who commended Bell for hustling to get to the bench to allow Dobbie to jump off the bench. “(Bell) got to the bench and that’s the difference. That doesn’t show up on the stat sheet, but that’s what wins. That’s the intangibles we’re looking for and we got those intangibles tonight and that was the difference in the game.”
Bell then scored an insurance marker at the 10-minute mark of the fourth quarter before Dobbie added another insurance marker with 1:10 to play.
The Riggers will play their next three games on the road. After taking on the Toronto Rock next Saturday, the Roughnecks will face off against the Swarm for a rematch on Friday, March 17.
