By: Laurence Heinen – 14.02.25
The Roughnecks kicked off a busy stretch of three games in eight nights with a highly-anticipated matchup against the Saskatchewan Rush.
After being down early, the Roughnecks (5-4) fought back and took a 9-7 lead into the second half. Captain Jesse King, who finished the game with two goals and three assists, scored with 4.4 seconds left on the clock before the halftime intermission.
Unfortunately for the Riggers, their offensive production dried up in the second half as the Rush outscored them 9-4 to win 16-13.
Curtis Dickson led the home side with two goals and five assists, Dane Dobbie scored twice and set up four others.
Tanner Cook, Tyler Pace and Bennett Smith also each scored twice, while Reece Callies tallied his first goal of the season.
Cam MacLeod and Gowah Abrams split duties in net for the ’Necks. Abrams finished with 30 saves, while MacLeod stopped 10 shots fired his way.
Down 2-0 early in the game, the Riggers pulled back to within one thanks to Pace’s first goal of the contest at 3:06 of the first quarter.
After the visitors got one back, Pace cut hard towards the net before tucking a shot over Rush goalie Frank Scigliano’s shoulder at 7:46 of the opening frame.
Just over two minutes later, Dobbie fired a low shot past Scigliano to pull the ’Necks into a 2-2 tie.
The Rush then scored late in the first and early in the second before Cook tallied back-to-back goals 2:19 apart to pull the Riggers even once again. Cook’s first goal of the game was his 300th NLL point.
Following a Rush goal, Callies scored before Smith stole the ball from a Saskatchewan forward and then converted his breakaway opportunity to give the ’Necks their first lead of the game.
Dickson then notched his first of the contest before King scored to give Calgary a 9-7 lead at the halftime break.
Smith, Dickson, King and Dobbie each scored their second goals of the game in the second half.
COACH’S COMMENT
“Just okay and okay doesn’t win in this league. Sask was a bit better than us in a lot of areas. I didn’t think we were bad, bad, but we weren’t good enough and that was the result. We’ve got to play 60 minutes. We can’t sleepwalk through – a couple minutes here an then you find your game and then you go backwards – so consistently (play) 60 minutes like we’ve been doing on the road. We’re going out and outcompeting teams on the road and then some teams are coming into our barn and it’s not acceptable with our home crowd, so definitely we’ve got to work on getting ready for Sunday.”
“It’s better than waiting for a week, for sure. Vegas played tonight, too, so … it’s just about coming out a little hungrier than we did, because we’ve been really good the last little bit, so tonight caught me a little bit off guard. I just thought we were going backwards a little bit in some areas.”
NEXT UP:
The Roughnecks have a day to rest before they’re back on WestJet Field, hosting the Las Vegas Desert Dogs on Sunday at 5 p.m. for the Pajama Party. The party doesn’t end there – the Riggers are home again next Saturday, Feb 22 for the Rodeo Party when they host the Rochester Knighthawks at 7 p.m. at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
STAT PACK:
Curtis Dickson 2g, 5a
Dane Dobbie 2g, 4a
Jesse King: 2g, 3a
Tyler Pace: 2g, 2a
Tanner Cook: 2g, 2a
Bennett Smith 2g, 1a
Reece Callies 1g
Mathieu Gauthier 2a
SAY WHAT:
“I think during the game you just try to stay positive. For now, we’ve just got to have a little bit of goldfish brain here because we’ve got a quick turnaround Sunday. We get another chance to play at home, anther chance to play together. We’ve got a day here tomorrow. Vegas has to travel to us. We’ve got to take advantage of that. Just using the time wisely.”
“I just think we were a little flat (in the second half). They had a lot of second opportunities offensively. Credit to them, the competed for loose balls and they out-loose-balled us, I believe. I think when those things happen, you get those extra possessions, you’re playing a lot more defence. We’ve just got to be better transitioning the ball up to our offensive floor.”
