Go! ‘Necks! Go!

Continuing the series on lacrosse penalties, here is another rule I wasn’t aware of – as many fans may not be. While a defensive player can check, poke, and hit, the offensive player cannot check back – they have to take it like a man. If the offensive player does check back they will lose possession.

Often times I’ll notice players away from the ball pushing off and checking. So, does this rule strictly apply to the offensive player with possession of the ball? Furthermore, if an offensive player is checked and a loose ball ensues can anyone check until one team gets possession?

Tonight the Roughnecks will be taking on the Arizona Sting in the Glendale Arena. This is the match I’ve been waiting for all year – yeah, yeah, I know it’s still early in the season but bear with me.

Last year the Sting took the Western Division title, stealing our chance for a repeat with the Champions Cup. With both of Arizona’s victories – 8 games all-time played – against Calgary being on their home turf this game just got a whole lot more interesting.

Jesse Phillips (#74) is back in the lineup after the doctor’s cleared him for play action this week. According to General Manager Kurt Silcott, “Jesse is the heart and soul of this team.”

I’m looking forward to the difference Phillips is going to make. It seemed to me that our defense has been a little lacking – with the exception of our amazing penalty killing against Edmonton last week (two 5-on-3 opportunities and no goals for the Rush? Hell yeah that’s what I’m talking about).

Sadly, the game won’t be televised in my area so I’ll be watching Edmonton visit Toronto starting at roughly 5:30MST on Sportsnet.

If you are running Windows – which I’m not – you can purchase the all NLL games by making sure your Windows Media Player is up to date and visiting http://www.nll.com/b2networks.shtml. Each game is $6 but at least you get to watch it live.

In an effort to both explore some of the minor infractions and rules of lacrosse and make this site as valuable to you as possible, I thought it would be fun to write about them.

First up is the “push off” or “push” rule. This rule – which I’ve often missed while watching games and sat wondering why a call was made – states that a player with the ball cannot push off another player with his free hand or arm.

I may be stating the obvious but this is a pretty minor infraction. The consequences for pushing off is merely loss of possession.

So next time you’re watching the Roughnecks working their offense, you hear a whistle, and we loose possession, it’s probably pretty likely that one of our Roughies pushed off a defensive player.

Just a quick reminder that tonight’s Roughnecks game against the Edmonton Rush will be broadcast live on Rogers SportsNet West. Start time for the broadcast is 8pm or shortly thereafter.

This is the first away game for the Calgary Roughnecks this season and it’s coming off a loss to the Minnesota Swarm – more on that later – so let’s hope the boys put their helmets on straight. This is where we show the Rush what we’re made of.

The time has come for game number two of the 2006 season for our Roughnecks. Tonight we’ll be facing the dreaded Minnesota Swarm for the first time ever. With a 1-1 record so far this season the Swarm are fresh off of a road game victory.

While the Swarm’s first win was less of a squeaker than our triumph over the Rush, tonight’s game should definitely be a game to catch. Minnesota boasts a strong offense but we’ll be the judge of that.

We’ll see you at the game.

Well, the season has officially started for the Calgary Roughnecks and it started with a bang. Technically the game was last Friday but I’ve been a little tied up with some things so that’s why you’re getting this post today ;^)

The first game of the year was against the often rival city of Edmonton. I say often rival because it’s very true for hockey and football but since this is Edmonton’s first year in the NLL I can’t say this rivalry will be anything like our current rivalry with the Toronto Rock - talk about rivalries, it’s pure adrenaline when these teams play each other.

I’m pleased to report that the first digit in our record will be firmly placed in the W column. Take that you northern bastards! If you think that’s a little harsh I’ll give you some background. In an attempt to create a rivalry and inspire the ire of Calgarians, the owner of the Edmonton Rush took out a half page ad in our newspaper calling us out. I think the ad even mentioned them opening a certain can of whoop ass. Well, my dear Edmonton Rush, it looks like your can opener is busted.