Saturday night at the LEC was the definitely “Heartbreaker” night for the 0-6 Calgary Roughnecks, as the Vancouver Stealth (3-3) walked away with the 13-9 win front of the home crowd. Stealth fans not only got the treat of seeing WWE Super Star Bret “The Hitman” Hart drop the ball, but also got to witness a game that saw one hour and 16 minutes of penalties, eight power play goals, and Calgary literally throwing in the towel.
Calgary started the first quarter strong, with the fire you’d expect from a team coming in at 0-5 on the season. First to strike 2:30 in was the right-handed defenseman Garrett McIntosh. One of the Roughnecks’ best, Jeff Shattler would follow up about five minutes later with the only other goal of the quarter, giving Calgary the 2-0 lead.
Captain Curtis Hodgson would ignite the Vancouver bench getting the team’s first goal. Calgary’s Matthew Dinsdale would score unassisted to put the Roughnecks lead back to two. The Stealth who seemed to be clicking on all cylinders in the second quarter would rattle off four straight to take the lead. Tyler Garrison and Cliff Smith would score a goal apiece as both teams were at even strength. Rhys Duch, and Tyler Digby would score the next two goals off the Stealth power play. Superman Curtis Dickson would score on a Calgary power play to stop some of the bleeding before the half. Tyler Digby would score off a beauty of an assist from Johnny Powless to keep the two-goal lead entering the half.
Two former Rochester Knighthawks would trade goals to get the third quarter scoring started. First would be Joel McCready for the Stealth, then exactly a minute later Shawn Evans answered back for the Roughnecks. Mike Carnegie would also score for the Roughnecks cutting the Stealth lead to one. Corey Small would tally his only goal on the night to put the Stealth back up by two. Superman had other thoughts as Daryl Veltman assisted Dickson on a follow up power play goal. Waiting in the wings, and seeming to heat up was the all time franchise scorer for the Stealth Rhys Duch, getting his hat trick and closing out the third with the last two goals.
The fourth quarter started the same chippy way as the rest of the game, as the Roughnecks seemed to be holding on, fighting with what appeared to be desperation rather than confidence. Dane Dobbie would come out of silence to score his first of the night on a power play goal to get Calgary on the board first. Tyler Garrison would get his second on the night, followed by Rhys Duch and his fourth to keep the Stealth lead strong. Shawn Evans would score a short-handed goal to keep Calgary’s hopes alive at the 13:00 mark. Ilija Gajic would put the proverbial nail in the coffin on his empty netter with a little over one minute to play. About this time is when things got interesting for Calgary, as the bench started throwing white towels on to the field in protest of the officiating and at the fact that they just lost their sixth straight to start the 2015 season.
The frustration may continue in Calgary, there may be a new coach in the near future, who knows? One thing is certain; the Roughnecks find themselves in a bad spot at the bottom of the West and the league. They do have the roster and talent to turn things around, and once they refocus they can come back strong, so the Stealth should be on notice as they head to Calgary next Saturday night for the rematch. Fans can catch the game live, TSN, or on Watch ESPN.
