The Calgary Roughnecks and Toronto Rock entered Saturday night’s affair in much different positions. The Rock were leading the East Division with a 3-1 record, while the Calgary Roughnecks were sitting in the West Division’s basement with an 0-3 record. While the Roughnecks put forth a much better effort on Saturday night, they once again found themselves on the losing side of things, dropping the game by a score of 12-11.
While the Roughnecks were able to mount a late fourth quarter comeback to tie things at 11, it was veteran Josh Sanderson who put the Rock ahead for good at the 13:16 mark of the fourth quarter, sending the 11,716 fans at the Air Canada Centre into a frenzy.
The game opened up with an early first quarter power play goal by Dane Dobbie that looked to get Calgary off on the right foot. However Rob Hellyer would reply for the Rock, to knot things up at 1-1 at the 8:16 mark of the first quarter. Dan Dobbie would again find twine, just 54 seconds after Hellyer’s marker, to put the Roughnecks back on top. But that’s when the Rock went on a run of their own, scoring back to back goals to close out the first quarter with a 4-2 lead.
Toronto continued their run, potting another two goals from the sticks of Hellyer and Kasey Beirnes, to extend their lead to 6-2. Just when things looked like they could be getting out of hand, Peter McFetridge halted the Rock’s run, burying his first of the season. The McFetridge tally did little to deter the Rock offensively, as Brett Hickey would score back to back goals at the 8:20 and 9:23 mark of the second quarter to extend the Rock lead to 8-3. With just 1:05 remaining in the first half, the Rock look poised to take their five goal lead into the second half, however back to back goals from Roughnecks Shawn Evans and Jeff Shattler just 27 seconds apart would pull Calgary within three, heading into the break.
The third quarter opened with the teams trading scoring chances, but with little to show for it. With Toronto Rock defender Jeff Gilbert in the penalty box serving a delay of game penalty, it would be the Rock who found twine shorthanded, as Brock Sorensen streaked in and beat Roughnecks goalie Frankie Scigliano to put the Rock up 9-5. However just 20 seconds after Sorensen had extended the Rock lead to four goals, Peterborough, Ontario native Shawn Evans responded for the Roughnecks with his second of the game. The Rock would find twine again at the 6:35 mark of the third quarter, as Damon Edwards would bury the Rock’s third shorthand marker of the game, giving the Rock a 10-6 lead. With Calgary desperate to close the gap, veteran Curtis Dickson would find the back of the net for Roughnecks to narrow the Rock’s lead to 10-7 heading into the fourth quarter.
Kasey Beirnes got the Rock off on the right foot to open the fourth quarter, as he beat Frankie Scigliano for his third of the game. With the Rock now up 11-7 with 10:13 to play in the game, Toronto seemed to have things under control and were ready to ride their four goal lead to victory. However that would not be the case, as the Calgary Roughnecks stormed back, scoring four straight goals. Curtis Dickson would pot back to back goals at the 7:40 and 9:53 mark of the fourth quarter, before Shawn Evans found twine on two occasions to tie things up at 11 with just over three minutes to play. With the Air Canada Centre crowd on the edge of their seats, veteran Josh Sanderson would put the Toronto Rock ahead for good at the 13:16 mark of the fourth quarter, as he found the back of the net for the first time of the game. While Calgary would mount a couple last minute scoring chances, the Toronto Rock defense would hunker down and keep them off the board to secure the 12-11 victory.
The Roughnecks Shawn Evans would lead all scorers on Saturday night picking up four goals and six assists for 10 points. While Toronto Rock righty Rob Hellyer wasn’t far behind, picking up two goals and five assists for seven points in the Rock’s fourth win of the season. Josh Sanderson had another stand out performance for the Rock, as he picked up six points on a goal and five assists, to extend his NLL scoring lead to two points over Calgary’s Shawn Evans. Frankie Scigliano went distance for the Roughnecks in goal, making 40 saves on 52 shots, in what was a rare start for the 23 year old from Coquitlam, BC. Brandon Miller picked up his third win of season and 50th of his career in what was a game changing performance. Miller made a number of game changing saves, stopping 46 of 57 shots on goal, and was named first start of the game for this efforts.
The Rock head into their second bye week of the season sitting atop of the East Division after five games, with a 4-1 record and holding a 1.5 game lead on all other East Division teams. Meanwhile the Calgary Roughnecks fall to 0-4 on the season and now find themselves in a game and a half hole behind third place Vancouver for the final playoff position in the Western Conference. With a home matchup against the Buffalo Bandits on the schedule for next week, some major changes could be headed Calgary’s way if they don’t pick up the win next weekend.
