Week 19 marked the third last week of the season and for the Calgary Roughnecks and Saskatchewan Rush, the stakes couldn’t have been higher. Both teams sitting outside the playoff picture, both teams with identical 6-8 records and both teams getting to host each other in a home-and-home doubleheader.
First up – Westjet Field in Calgary.
A strong opening three quarters and a 52-save performance from Christian Del Bianco were all the Roughnecks needed as they took game one of the weekend series 12-10. Haiden Dickson scored three times including the game winner and Tanner Cook chipped in with a career-high six assists.
“Delbs was real good in net, especially the first half,” Roughnecks’ head coach Josh Sanderson said after the game.
Del Bianco echoed his coach’s thoughts.
“The first half I definitely thought I was seeing it pretty good. The second half not as much. That’s expected, they’re a good team. Churchy, Dodds, all those guys, they have some pretty good spot-up shooters, so you know they’re going to get goals. I think, just as a whole, we didn’t let them push us too far.”
Del Bianco and the Roughnecks got off to a hot start with goals from Tyler Pace, Cook, Dickson and a highlight-reel goal from Harrison Matsuoka. Matsuoka caught a 150-foot pass from Del Bianco and in one motion tucked it top shelf all while being crunched to the ground by Adam Jay. The resulting goal had the Roughnecks up 4-0 after one quarter.
Saskatchewan got on the board courtesy of Mike Triolo’s 14th goal of the season. Haiden Dickson and Robert Church exchanged goals making it 5-2 at the break.
Six goals were scored in the third quarter, but only one had lacrosse fans joining commentator Teddy Jenner in saying “Oh… my… goodness!” At the 5:09 mark, Tanner Cook hit a cutting Thomas Hoggarth who neatly flicked the ball underhanded through his own legs beating Frank Scigliano glove side. The score nearly brought the house down as 10,000+ Roughneck faithful went absolutely crazy.
Despite being down 9-4, the Saskatchewan Rush picked up their game and dominated the fourth quarter. Six goals from six different scorers wasn’t quite enough for the comeback, but it was a clear message to Calgary that they better be ready for game two. (To find out how that game unfolded, check out Jim Flannery’s upcoming recap).
The Rush were led offensively by Robert Church and Mike Triolo, who each had four-point nights. Mike Messenger was a force in every aspect of the game winning 19 of 27 face-offs, scooping 13 loose balls and contributing a goal and two assists.
Week 20 has both teams facing stiff competition. Calgary (7-9) travels to Buffalo (9-7) to take on the Bandits while Saskatchewan (7-9) will host the San Diego Seals (12-4).
It’s nail-biting time.
