Ten first-half goals by the visiting Vancouver Warriors was just about all the firepower they needed as they battled their way to a 14-10 victory against the Calgary Roughnecks. Kevin Crowley netted five goals and assisted on three other earning the games 2nd Star.
“I shot the ball well tonight. A lot of guys were sealing for me to get me open and I was feeling good going into the game. I thought I was shooting a good ball. The opportunities presented themselves and I was fortunate to put them into the back of the net,” said Crowley after the game via the Warriors X feed. “For all the storylines that happened tonight – Mouse’s 100th win… it’s just a special night overall. I’m happy for our coaching staff to come back in this barn and get the win tonight too.”
Of course, what Crowley was referring to was Vancouver’s head coach Curt Malawsky winning his 100th career game. The long-time Calgary coach departed the team following the 2022/23 season after winning 90 games and an NLL Championship in 2019.
“Calgary is a special place in my heart. Two championships, one as a player and one as a coach. So many lifelong friends from here and I truly do care about them and the organization… I didn’t want to say too much, but they (Vancouver) knew how bad that I’d like us see win the game,” said Malawsky.
In fact, the entire coaching staff from Calgary’s 2019 championship now reside behind Vancouvers bench. Rob Williams, Bob McMahon and the aforementioned Malawsky made their return to Calgary on Saturday night and brought their new look team with them. After a brief acknowledgement on the jumbotron, Curt Malawsky’s team let their sticks do the talking. A six goal first quarter followed by a four-goal run in the second had them ahead 10-5 at the half. Calgary mounted a comeback in the third quarter out-scoring Vancouver 3-0, but the mentally tough Warriors sealed it away with four goals in the third to secure a 14-10 victory.
Although early, Calgary has shown an alarming trend of getting behind and having to play catch-up. In three games this season, the Roughnecks have given up 27 first half goals to the opposition and head coach Josh Sanderson acknowledged that fact.
“It’s on me. I’ve got to do a better job of having us start on time. If we do that it’ll translate into a full 60 minutes. It’s my job to have the guys ready and I just haven’t done it.”
“We’ve got to move the ball. We’ve been saying it from the start. Move-the-ball. When it only touches one or two sticks and then we shoot it’s just not successful. Then, once everybody starts sharing it, we seem to be popping them off no problem.”
Somewhat lost in the hype of this game was the homecoming of Calgary’s top two all-time leading scorers. Dane Dobbie and Curtis Dickson made their return to the Saddledome and the Calgary faithful roared with approval during pregame introductions. Fresh off his eight-goal performance, Dobbie scored twice and had one assist. Curtis “Superman” Dickson lead all Calgary players with four goals and two assists and also had a mesh ripping highlight of the night. Dickson took his patented low to high sub shot that, on first glance, took a very strange vertical bounce – like it hit the crossbar. On closer review, the ball actually tore through the mesh in the upper left corner. Definitely worth a look on the NLL’s Instagram feed.
Next up for Calgary (2-1) is a road trip to Philadelphia (3-1) in Week 7. Vancouver (2-1) also gets a bye-week before hosting the Seals (2-2) on January 10th.
