By: Riley Pollock – 27-02.24
Just keep grinding.
Roughnecks forward Dan Taylor has been playing well this season but it hadn’t translated to offensive results on the scoreboard.
Until Saturday night, that is.
He had three goals on the season before exploding for four against Philadelphia in a first-star performance, pacing the team to a 14-11 win over the visiting Philadelphia Wings.
Who wants to re-live DT's four goal performance from Saturday 🙋 pic.twitter.com/0vPJLFgoJ3
— Calgary Roughnecks (@NLLRoughnecks) February 27, 2024
“I think it was a little bit of luck just falling in my lap,” he explained. “I think I’ve been playing good lacrosse for our team but the bounces just haven’t been going my way and on Saturday night they did.
“It was nice to finally get some bounces going my way instead of the other way.”
Being a local boy, Taylor loves when he is able to perform in front of family, close friends, and the Rough House crowd.
“It’s amazing,” he said. “I always want to have a good game anywhere we go but being able to do it at home in front of friends and family is a special thing. Both my parents were extremely excited.
“They know I’ve been fighting it for a little bit so to have them there being able to share that with them was awesome.
“For what the city has done for me in terms of allowing me to work in lacrosse and be a part of the community, it’s really nice to be rewarded with seeing a bunch of people you know and a bunch of people you work with congratulating you after the game.
“It was a special game, a special weekend and I’m glad it happened at home.”
The offence has been on fire lately for the Roughnecks as they climb up the standings. The forwards scored 13 of the 14 goals on Saturday night. Usually the transition game is good for four or five markers a game but only scored the empty-netter this past weekend.
“It was huge,” said Taylor. “(Head coach Josh Sanderson) challenged up a few weeks ago to the point where we can’t be relying on those (transition) guys to score four or five goals a game because we’re going to have a team like Philadelphia that gameplans against our transition game and were going to have to have all seven guys on offence contribute to beat them.
“The last two games from the offensive end have been great and it’s been all seven guys doing it so it’s been awesome.”
The Riggers will get a rematch with the Wings on Saturday, following their third-straight win, this time in Philadelphia at 11 a.m. MT on TSN+.
