By: Riley Pollock – 22.04.25
Heading East to battle the ’Birds.
The Roughnecks completed the first step on the way to what they hope is another NLL championship, punching their playoff ticket last weekend.
The Riggers enter the postseason dance as the sixth seed. They travel to Halifax to battle the third-seeded Thunderbirds on Saturday at 5 p.m. MST in a one-game, winner-take-all, quarter-final.
Goaltender Nick Rose had a huge performance in the Riggers 11-5 victory over Colorado on Saturday, to get the group to the postseason, stopping 48 of the 53 shots he faced.
“The first goal for any team at the start of the season is to punch your ticket to the playoffs,” said the veteran Saturday night after the victory. “We didn’t know what happened in any other games but we knew we wanted to go in the front door and came out, had a great effort and did that tonight.”
The Riggers won three straight to lock up a playoff spot on the final day of the regular season. Riggers captain Jesse King couldn’t be happier for his group.
“I’m super proud of the guys,” he said. “We had a pretty grueling schedule this year with 12 weeks straight. Then to have two really important games back-to-back in different countries and win them both is pretty spectacular.”
King says given their road to the postseason, they have the perfect mindset heading into it.
“Getting to the postseason is just step one,” said King. “We have been playing playoff lacrosse for the last five or six games just because of how tight the league has been this year. We will continue to take it one shift at a time and have a good week of prep before travelling to Halifax.”
