The Calgary Roughnecks (0-1) look to get into the win column today as they visit the Colorado Mammoth (1-0) in Denver at the Pepsi Center with the Mammoth looking to avenge a first round playoff loss that ended their season last year against the Roughnecks.
Both teams had good showings last week with both teams having issues at some points in the game but they will have to have short memories going into this week. While both teams had eleven goal stretches last week in their respective games, it was the eleven goals straight given up by Calgary that went lasted through the second all the way to the fourth quarter without ever scoring one on the opponent. That has to change and the team is well aware.
Even though offensive catalysts Curtis Dickson, Dane Dobbie and Jeff Shattler all had hat tricks in the loss, the team knows it’s the little things that win lacrosse games and going quiet through three quarters won’t win any games.
Credit the Stealth who woke up and started a push that ended up getting them a win after struggling to finish games last season. Calgary also knows Colorado is coming off a big win last week against the Minnesota Swarm last week.
The Roughnecks went 2-1 versus the Mammoth last season with both teams winning in blowouts on each others home floors and Calgary squeaked past Colorado in overtime in the west semi finals last year.
These are the games the players have no problem getting excited for. The Roughnecks are well aware they are going against league future hall of famer John Grant Jr and a energy filled arena they need to take advantage of and turn that momentum in their favor. The Mammoth seem to struggle at home at times with away teams having a 20-15 win advantage since the 2010 season which the Roughnecks need to have work in their favor.
The Roughnecks will look to tighten up their defence last week which at times looked out of sync and just plain behind the eight ball. One big thing that affected the team last week was getting players on and off the floor with bad decisions. It seemed the team was using the crowds energy in a negative way trying to force plays that weren’t there which would end up leaving players out of position and in turn causing players to scramble and give up chances that simply can’t happen at the pro level.
Mike Poulin also seemed to struggle last week with these chances giving up playing time to Frankie Scigliano for much of the second half which seemed to be Curt Malawsky’s way of stopping the bleeding but the team just couldn’t get their feet back under them ultimately ending up in a loss after starting the game up and never really gaining the momentum needed to win at the pro level that the Stealth seemed to cruise on once they started capitalizing on Calgarys mistakes.
Calgary also knows this is a big game having a bye week next week before they play host to provincial rival the Edmonton Rush so they know they need to come out swinging and leave it all on the floor to make the week off more enjoyable and get some early traction in the standing in what looks to be a very tightly contested west division which has already seen totally different standing than anyone expected with them being exact opposite of how they started last year it just shows the diversity of the league and how teams can evolve and compete after struggling previous years.
Either way, this game has all the billings of a shootout with which both teams rarely disappoint and this divison rivalry is always a heated battle with the history these two teams have. Unfortunately, this game isn’t televised but you can find it on TSNGO with opening faceoff at 7mt .
