Photo Credit: Calgary Roughnecks
The Calgary Roughnecks (11-6) and Vancouver Stealth (4-13) conclude their respective seasons Saturday night in Langley, BC. For the Roughnecks, this will be the final tuneup before the playoffs begin; for the Stealth, it will be the end of a disappointing year.
Vancouver lost on Friday night to the Edmonton Rush by a score of 10-5. The Rush outscored the Stealth 6-2 in the second quarter to put the game out of reach, but the game was very close otherwise. Unfortunately for them, a 15-minute lapse is more than enough to lose a game in this league.
The Stealth’s offense will have to pick up their socks against Calgary. Rhys Duch, Tyler Digby and Lewis Ratcliff combined for just two goals and two assists against Edmonton. If those three can’t contribute four points each against the Roughnecks, they’ll be in for a long night.
Calgary’s offense is scoring a league-best 13.1 goals per game this year and they’ve scored a whopping 48 in the three previous games they’ve played against the Stealth this year—that’s 16 goals per game on average. If Vancouver can’t get their offense into the groove, they’ll be creamed by the weapons the Roughnecks will have at the ready.
Shawn Evans has 98 points on the season and is very probable to break the 100-point barrier for the second year in a row. Add in Dane Dobbie’s league-leading 48 goals, Curtis Dickson’s 41 goals and Jeff Shattler’s 33 goals and you have an attack that is balanced and very, very dangerous.
Frankie Scigliano got the start in net for Calgary last week and may be called upon once again to give No. 1 goalie Mike Poulin a bit of rest going into the playoffs. If not, the Poulin Wall is more than capable of shutting the door.
For Vancouver, Tyler Richards will probably get the nod between the pipes. He made 35 saves last night against Edmonton against 10 goals—a solid effort by most standards, although not as good as the 40-save performance put in by Aaron Bold for the Rush. If T. Rich can have another similar outing against Calgary, he’ll give his team a chance to win.
When all is said and done, however, this game is fairly meaningless for both teams, so both may sit some regulars and try some backups to see how they perform.
Game time is 7:00 pm PT.
