Photo Credit: Dan Brodie
The Calgary Roughnecks (6-5) journey to British Columbia to face the Vancouver Stealth (3-8) tonight. Both teams are on two-game losing streaks, so victory is critical to both squads.
The Roughnecks were savaged by the Edmonton Rush last weekend, suffering a 15-7 beat down. They’ll be looking to bounce back and solidify their hold on second place in the West Division. The Stealth meanwhile are off to a terrible start to the season and are trying to crawl out of the cellar in the division.
Calgary’s offense still runs through rightie Shawn Evans who is fourth in the NLL in scoring with 66 points. Evans has not scored a goal in two games, but he continues to rack up the assists. Dane Dobbie is the top goal scorer in the league right now, with 31, while Curtis Dickson has jumped up to a tie for fifth with 26 goals after a slow start.
Notwithstanding last week’s performance against Edmonton, goalie Mike Poulin has picked up his game significantly in recent days. In four games between Feb. 15 and Mar. 8, Poulin posted a .795 save percentage and surrendered just 10.25 goals per game.
Geoff Snider’s next faceoff win will make him the NLL all-time leader in faceoff wins. With a league-leading 64.3 percent success rate—and facing weak competition in Vancouver’s Tyler Garrison (43.2 percent success at the faceoff dot)—that record-breaking win should be the first faceoff of the game.
Garrison’s defense has been solid, however—he is second in the league in forced turnovers with 22 to go along with a team-leading 65 loose balls, both career highs for the sophomore defender.
Goaltender Tyler Richards is having another good season, posting an 11.56 goals against average and a .773 save percentage. Richards should once again keep the Stealth within striking distance, if the offense can get to Poulin.
Rhys Duch once again leads the Stealth in scoring with 52 points and 24 goals while rookie Tyler Digby is second in both categories with 39 points and 17 goals. Since returning from injury, Brett Bucktooth has put up 21 points in just four games, providing excellent support to Duch and Digby.
To hang with Calgary’s potent offense, Vancouver will also need former Roughneck Lewis Ratcliff to step up and provide some more scoring on the left side.
Calgary has handily won both previous meetings of these two teams this year, including a 20-9 pounding in mid-February. Vancouver will have to pick up their game on both ends of the floor if they hope to take this one.
The action gets underway at the Langley Events Centre at 8:00 pm PT.
