By: Laurence Heinen – 18.04.25
Captain Jesse King had a hat trick and seven helpers to lead the Roughnecks to a 12-9 road win over the Las Vegas Desert Dogs on Friday night.
The Riggers finish the road portion of their season with a 7-2 record which ties a franchise high.
Unfortunately for the Roughnecks (9-8), they were unable to clinch an NLL playoff berth because the San Diego Seals (9-9) fought back to squeak out an 11-10 win over the Albany FireWolves.
The Riggers won’t have long rest as they’ll head back to Calgary for Saturday’s crucial home game on WestJet Field at the Scotiabank Saddledome against the Colorado Mammoth (8-9) on Saturday (7 p.m.).
Tanner Cook also had a hat trick for the ’Necks to go with three assists, while Haiden Dickson scored twice and set up two others.
Curtis Dickson scored a clutch goal in the fourth quarter to seal the victory, while also adding two helpers. Both Dickson and King surpassed the 100-point plateau during the victory.
Brayden Mayea, Tyler Hendrycks and Mathieu Gautier also scored, while goalie Nick Rose improved his record to 3-3 with the Riggers since being acquired in a trade with the Toronto Rock.
Heading into the game, Rose needed 22 saves to vault him into second place all-time for career saves ahead of Anthony Cosmo. He wound up finishing with 43 saves and now sits with an impressive 7,244 stops for his career.
Mayea opened up the scoring at 3:16 of the first quarter when he cut across the middle before bouncing a low shot past Las Vegas goalie Landon Kells.
Gautier put Calgary up by two just 20 seconds later before Cook bounced a shot from the slot past Kells at 4:29.
After the Desert Dogs finally got one past Rose, Hendrycks scored with 1:46 left in the opening frame to put the Riggers up 4-1.
The ’Necks kept pouring on the pressure in the second quarter during which Haiden Dickson scored a pair of power-play goals as the visitors extended their lead to 9-4 before the halftime intermission. King also found the back of the net twice, while Cook counted his second of the contest.
Following a pair of goals by the Desert Dogs to start the third quarter, Cook ended a lengthy scoring draught for Calgary when he took a pass from Haiden Dickson in the slot before firing a sidearm shot past relief Las Vegas goalie Justin Geddie.
The Dogs scored late in the third and added two more to start the fourth to pull within a goal before Curtis Dickson took matters into his own hands. Dickson fought hard to cut past a defender and towards the net before diving forward and tucking a shot over Geddie’s left shoulder to put the ’Necks up 11-9.
Rose then stopped a breakaway attempt by Connor Kirst before making another incredible save to turn aside a shot by Adam Poitras.
King added an insurance marker with 1:49 to play in the game to keep Calgary’s post-season aspirations alive.
NEXT UP:
It’s a quick turnaround for the Roughnecks, who will return to WestJet Field at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Saturday (7 p.m.) to host the Colorado Mammoth for the Tiki Party presented by ATCO!
STAT PACK:
Jesse King: 3g, 7a
Tanner Cook: 3g, 3a
Haiden Dickson 2g, 2a
Curtis Dickson: 1g, 2a
Brayden Mayea: 1g, 2a
Tyler Hendrycks: 1g, 1a
Mathieu Gautier : 1g
Brayden Laity : 1a
Bennett Smith : 1a
Ethan Ticehurst : 1a
Nick Rose 43 saves
SAY WHAT:
“We talked about it all year that we kind of control our own destiny and it comes down to the last game of the season here and we’re going to hopefully get it done.” – Tanner Cook to on-field reporter after Friday’s game
