When the Calgary Roughnecks went into to Toronto 0-3 to start the season last Saturday night head coach Curt Malawsky knew he had to make some lineup changes which included re-inserting captain Andrew McBride into the lineup and you could see the difference on defense with his effort and tenacity. But, the biggest change some might say was letting backup goalie Frankie Scigliano get the start against a red hot Rock team who started the season the exact opposite of Calgary getting a respectable 3-1 record going into that night.
The difference seemed to spark the club as they came out of the gate with energy and poise having last years leading goal scorer Dane Dobbie bury two early ones to get the away team on the board and leading 2-0 early and after seeing a few shots Scigliano looked comfortable and in control. If you follow him and how strong he plays on his summer team in the Western Lacrosse Association with the Maple Ridge Burrards this is nothing new.
Last year as a full time starter for the Burrards Scigliano won Rookie of the Year and Goalie of the year honors on a Burrards team who made playoffs before bowing out to eventual WLA champs, Victoria Shamrocks but the play was nothing new and in this scribs opinion it was well overdue that Frankie got a start in a game that meant more then just a W in the standings. This was Curt Malawsky sending a message to a struggling Roughnecks squad to say they whole team needed to wake up.
To earn him the goalie of the year nod, Scigliano had a final record last year of 6-6-1 with a meare .665 goals against average and a stellar save percentage of .838 in 13 games played, only allowing 85 goals the entire season while stopping 440. His next closest competitor let in 92 goals on 463 shots, so it was only a matter of time before Mouse gave Mike Poulin the night off and let the kid do all the heavy lifting.
It’s not like Frankie hasn’t seen playing time. He amassed a record of 0-1 last season with a respectable 146:28 total play and a goals against of 13.52 mainly coming in as relief for Mike Poulin but rarely staying in long term, usually Poulin doesn’t even take his helmet off with most times it being a possession or two to wake the team up or try to kill the other teams momentum and the tandem trade places again. In fact, Scigliano saw some playing time in last years playoff run to the Champions Cup final.
After it was all said and done, the team made a valiant attempt late after going down and actually having a tie game late before Josh Sanderson snuck behind the defense and buried a quick stick with about a minute left to secure a home win for the Rock but a solid game between the pipes for Scigliano against a very strong Toronto offence which at times has looked unstoppable but they seemed to realize early they were up against a tough goalie.
The Roughnecks next hit the floor this saturday Feb 7, game time is 7pm mt at the Scotiabank Saddledome. Don’t be surprised if you see Frankie get another start after how solid his performance was last week.
