The last time there was a National Lacrosse League game in Alberta’s capital city, Mark Matthews, Chris Corbiel, Riley Loewen and the rest of the Rush were celebrating Edmonton’s first ever NLL title. Sadly, the team would leave for Saskatoon and go on to win two more championships with a stacked roster that had been largely forged in Edmonton.
Fast forward 10+ years and the NLL was back in “the City of Champions” with its UnBOXed Series. Ironically enough, Friday night’s game was played at Rogers Place which was the underlying cause for the departure of the franchise in the first place. Phew! History lesson over – onto the game.
The Georgia Swarm were listed as the home team and they certainly delivered an epic performance for their adopted fans. The Swarm hung seven goals on the Roughnecks in the opening frame while Lyle Thompson led the way with a ten-point night as Georgia cruised to a 19-9 victory.
The Swarm offense had a huge night and looked unstoppable at times. The team fed off the play of their superstar leader Lyle Thompson. Thompson, who’d been off to a slow start by his standards, caught fire early and carried that confidence throughout the game scoring four goals and assisting on six more. The Georgia attack had a superb balance of veterans – Thompson, Jackson, and Cole – and exciting young talent – Byrne, Benedict, Eccleston and Moon. The veterans put up a combined 24 points on the night while the aforementioned youngsters had 18 points. While it was easy to focus on the play of the offense, the defensive unit backstopped by Brett Dobson was equally impressive. Dobson surrendered just four goals on thirty-five shots and left the game after three quarters. Ex-Roughneck, Seth Van Schepen, scored once and led the team with eight loose ball recoveries.
As for the Calgary Roughnecks, their difficult season continued. While it could be argued that they deserved better fates in earlier games against Toronto and Vancouver, Friday night’s game was never in doubt. A disastrous first quarter was followed up by a parade to the penalty box including Head Coach Josh Sanderson getting ejected halfway through the third.
“It started right away. Seems like everything they were shooting was going in, so we got ourselves in a big hole – five, six nothing right away and it was tough to climb out. We just weren’t as sharp as we needed to be in all areas to be honest. Every aspect of the game they beat us in,” Josh Sanderson told Roughneck TV after the game.
(One more fun fact – Josh Sanderson played in that final game in Edmonton for the visiting Toronto Rock scoring once and adding three assists).
Despite the loss, there were several performances that stood out for the Riggers. Tanner Cook scored three times giving him sixteen on the season. With the departure of Jesse King and Curtis Dickson, Cook has elevated his game and assumed a bigger role in the offense. Eight-year veteran Tyler Pace notched his 150th career goal with the Riggers and currently leads the team with 36 points.
The Georgia Swarm (3-3) stay on the road with a game against the Nick Rose-less Toronto Rock (3-2). Calgary (1-5) will get next week off before returning to action on January 30th with a game in Saskatoon against the league leading Rush (6-1).
