The finale of the Friday night slate in week 11 was set to be a good one. The action came to you from Rogers Arena as the hometown Vancouver Warriors welcomed in the Calgary Roughnecks. It was an interesting game, as the total scoring by quarter was as follows: eight, eleven, seven, one. This should tell you that it was an absolute track meet for 45 of the 60 minutes, and the fourth quarter saw the action come to a screeching halt. Funny how that works, eh?
At any point, it could have been anyone’s game. There were multiple multi-goal runs by both sides, concluding with a three-goal run for Calgary which proved to be the decider. The Roughnecks withstood the flurries from Vancouver and snuck out with a 15-12 win. Hold on tight.
Vancouver pleased the home crowd with the first two goals of the game, one from Riley Loewen and the other from Kevin Crowley. Calgary answered back, and in a big way. They scored the next five goals of the game, and nine of the next ten. Those five goals were scored by Tyler Pace, Dane Dobbie twice, Haiden Dickson, and Ethan Ticehurst. Loewen buried his second to close out the frame. 5-3 Roughnecks after one.
Cue the next four-goal run for Calgary. What made it even crazier is those four goals were scored in the first 2:42 of the second quarter. The scorers were Curtis Dickson twice, Tanner Cook, and Bennett Smith. Blink your eyes and it was 9-3 Riggers with 12:18 to play in the second. Vancouver must have gone into panic mode, as they had a very clear push in offense to try and get back into the game. The Warriors answered back with three-straight courtesy of Loewen and Marcus Klarich twice. Haiden Dickson stopped the bleeding, but here came Vancouver again, much like Calgary in the first quarter. Three more Warrior goals closed out the second. Those were scored by Johnathan Peshko, Keegan Bal, and Crowley. We told ya to hold on tight. 10-9 Calgary at the break.
“They’re playing in pretty tight, and I feel like we’re spreading out”, said Loewen about his first half hat trick. “The guys are just finding me. It’s a game of momentum, they went on theirs, we went on ours. Our D settled in there at the end of the half and our offense is keeping us in it.”
It was just one of those games for the men between the pipes. Both offenses were rolling, and it was tough to settle in. For Calgary, Cam MacLeod stopped 22 of 31, while on the other side, Aden Walsh made 15 saves on 25 shots.
The track meet continued for a vast majority of the third quarter. The first five goals scored in the frame were every other, with the advantage going to Vancouver, which meant this one was all tied up. Adam Charalambides scored twice, and Bal got the other on the power play. For the Roughnecks, it was Curtis Dickson and Mathieu Gautier. We sat at 12-12 with 2:56 to play in the third quarter. From this moment on, Calgary completely shut the game down and took control the rest of the way. The Roughnecks tacked on two more goals to close out the quarter, one from Jesse King and the other from Cook. The biggest story was any momentum Vancouver thought they had was well gone at this point. 14-12 Calgary after three.
As we said at the beginning, the first three quarters were insane, and in the fourth, everything came to a screeching halt. Haiden Dickson got his hat trick at the 10:45 mark of the quarter, and that would be the only goal scored the rest of the way. The Roughnecks’ defense, along with MacLeod settled right in and completely shut the Warriors down. Your final from Vancouver, 15-12 Roughnecks.
Players of the game for Calgary were Curtis Dickson (3+4), Haiden Dickson (3+1), and Dobbie (2+4). MacLeod turned it up when his team needed him, stopping 40 of 52 in total. Big moment for Curtis Dickson as he passed Dan Dawson for sixth all-time in goals scored. For Vancouver, Loewen (3+2), Bal (2+6), and Charalambides (2+4) led the way. Walsh had an eventful night in net, stopping 34 of 48.
“It’s a tough place to play”, said Curtis Dickson. “They’re playing good lacrosse right now, being able to come in here and avenge our loss from earlier in the year means a lot.”
To the point of passing Dawson on the all-time list, Dickson said, “it’s a cool accomplishment; it’s something I’ll be able to look back on at the end of my career and enjoy.”
Calgary (5-3) continues to scale the standings in the right direction. They look to build off this win as they head back home to welcome in the team ahead of them, the Saskatchewan Rush (6-2). That game is this Friday at 9:30pm. Vancouver (4-5) will look to get back into the win column after having their seven-game home win streak snapped. Their next crack is on the road against Las Vegas (2-6). That game is also this Friday at 10:30pm.
