No Buque, no Hamer-Jackson, no Jones, no problem for the Vancouver Warriors. Chris Gill’s underrated and undermanned team continued to impress in a hard-fought 11-10 victory over the Calgary Roughnecks on Friday night on the Westjet Field at Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary.
Former Rigger Riley Loewen stung his old team, scoring the game-winner with 2:12 left. The victory extends Vancouver’s winning streak to three and keeps them solidly in a Western Conference playoff spot.
Despite last week’s win and the return of several key players to the lineup, Calgary was unable to capitalize on any of that momentum. The Roughnecks took several bad penalties and were plagued with needless turnovers, including an errant bounce pass with 40 seconds left.
Speaking to media after the game, Curt Malawsky commented on Vancouver’s win.
“We facilitated that. I thought we made a lot of errors, a lot of turnovers. They had three power play goals in the first half… I didn’t think our power play was very good either. I think it stunk,” said Calgary’s head coach. “I’m very disappointed in the outcome of the game. I’m almost tired of learning lessons, to be honest with you. We’ll just have to regroup and work hard and be ready to play on Sunday.”
Calgary started the game in textbook home-team fashion. A quick goal from Curtis “Superman” Dickson followed by Tyler Pace’s 100th career point had the Saddledome roaring. Vancouver weathered the storm and then proceeded to stick five goals in a row onto the home squad to take a 5-2 lead after one.
Again, the Roughnecks came out firing to start the second quarter with a three-goal run, but penalty troubles allowed Vancouver to get power play goals from Kyle Killen and Keegan Bal and maintain a 7-6 lead at halftime.
The Warriors continued to hold the advantage well into the third. However, for the second week in a row, with his team needing a big goal, Zach Currier delivered. Currier pressured his man right at the centre Roughneck symbol and stripped him of the ball. In one motion, he scooped the ball and raced to the net on a breakaway. With lightning-quick hands, Currier deposited the ball short side to tie the game at 9-9.
Scoring troubles dogged both teams in the fourth quarter as the defensive pressure drastically increased. Following in the footsteps of their other losses, the Roughnecks’ offense went cold, only managing one goal in the final frame. Vancouver managed to eke out just enough with a Kyle Killen goal and Loewen’s game-winner.
Making his return to the lineup after missing two weeks, Curtis Dickson scored four times and added two assists. Zach Currier was everywhere for the Roughnecks scoring another big goal, scooping 10 loose balls and causing an impressive five turnovers. Tyler Burton took advantage of a missing Tyrell Hamer-Jackson and won 16/25 faceoffs.
The Warriors’ offense continued to roll with contributions coming from their entire front end. Keegan Bal put up 3G and 3A, while Kyle Killen and Logan Schuss each had 2G and 2A. Steve Fryer was impressive in his first start stopping 41 of 51 shots.
Calgary (2-5) had little time to dwell on the loss as they flew to Fort Worth for their first-ever game against Panther City (1-6) on Sunday. Vancouver (5-3) will also make the trip down to Fort Worth in a week’s time to take on PCLC next Friday.
