By: Laurence Heinen – 22.03.25
The offence dried up for the Roughnecks in the late stages of Saturday night’s 16-12 setback to the visiting San Diego Seals.
Tanner Cook had four goals and an assist for the Roughnecks (7-8), who held leads of 9-7 and 10-8 over the Seals (8-6) in the third quarter in front of 11,459 fans at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
Dane Dobbie and Jesse King each had two goals and three assists for the Riggers, while Curtis Dickson, Haiden Dickson, Brayden Mayea and Jack Follows also scored.
The Riggers didn’t waste any time to open the scoring as Cook took a pass from King in the slot before firing a sidearm shot past San Diego netminder Chris Origlieri just 41 seconds into the game.
After the ’Necks fell behind 2-1, Dobbie picked off an errant pass and scored a breakaway goal at 2:38 of the opening frame.
Following a trio of goals by the visitors, Cook converted another breakaway attempt at 11:47. King then took a pass from Dobbie and quickly shovelled a shot past Origlieri 37 seconds later to pull the Riggers within a goal.
Following an early goal by the Seals in the second quarter, Curtis Dickson responded right away for Calgary by living up to his ‘Superman’ nickname as he went airborne in front of the net while tucking a shot over Origlieri’s shoulder.
King then scored his second of the game before Mayea whipped a behind-the-back shot through traffic past a stunned Origlieri to put the home side up 7-6.
Cook completed his hat trick 51 seconds into the third quarter before Haiden Dickson scored at 2:29 to give Calgary a 9-7 lead.
After the Seals cut that lead to just one, Dobbie bounced a shot past Origlieri to put the Riggers back up by a pair.
The visitors then went on a four-goal run before Follows notched his first NLL goal at 12:56 of the third.
The Seals took control of the game in the final frame as they outscored the Riggers 4-1 with Cook notching Calgary’s lone goal.
COACH’S COMMENT
“It’s the opposite of last year (regarding 2-6 home record). We’re playing a bit more focused game on the road than we are at home. We just haven’t been good enough at home. I wish there was a different answer. We’ve still got confidence in our guys that we’re going to win some games here to finish off. Our backs are against the wall and we want to earn a playoff spot. I don’t think we’ve got any more room for error.”
“We started playing undisciplined (after being up 10-8 in third quarter). We take a dead-ball foul 200 feet from your net and it kind of snowballs, so we started playing undisciplined for some reason. It just wasn’t good enough anywhere.”
NEXT UP:
After enjoying a bye week for the first time in three months, the Riggers will travel to Saskatchewan on Friday, April 4th (7 p.m.) to meet the Rush for the final time this regular season. The Roughnecks finish the regular season with a double header weekend in Week 21, travelling to Las Vegas to play the Desert Dogs on April 18 before returning home to Calgary to host the Colorado Mammoth one night later.
STAT PACK:
Tanner Cook: 3g, 1a
Dane Dobbie: 2g, 3a
Jesse King: 2g, 3a
Curtis Dickson: 1g, 3a
Haiden Dickson: 1g, 1a
Brayden Mayea: 1g
Jack Follows: 1g
Bennett Smith: 1a
Nick Rose: 33 saves
Eli Salama: 10 loose balls
SAY WHAT:
“I think we have good stretches during games. It’s just about putting 60 (minutes) together. Unfortunately, I think that’s been the problem all year, and especially at home. One of these days we have to put it together for the home fans, because they’re awesome. They have been all year. This is a premier place to play in the league. We owe to them, and we owe it to ourselves.” – Eli Salama
“We know what’s at stake. We know 10 wins is a good spot for playoffs, and nine is iffy. There’s only so many games left, right? So we’ve got to make the most of what we’ve got left. No panic button. We’ve gone toe-to-toe with the top dogs in the league and shown what we’re capable of. It’s just finding a way to put that in week-in and week-out.” – Salama
