After their harsh defeat Friday night by the expansion Edmonton Rush, the Calgary Roughnecks hopped a plane to Arizona Saturday to take on the first place Sting. I’m not the only fan that expressed a sever distaste for the way this season has been going but we were all hoping this game would be the turn around point. (more…)
I’m getting sick to my stomach just thinking about the game last night. Some may consider that a strong statement but it’s the truth. Game #7 had the Calgary Roughnecks playing the expansion Edmonton Rush for the third time. This was also the first game for Roughneck newcomer Grant Hamilton. (more…)
The pattern has reared its ugly head again–this time to the disappointment of many fans. What pattern am I talking about? This season’s record goes as follows—win, loss, win, loss, win, loss. That’s the pattern I’m talking about. Anyway, back to the game.
Being the first game since last years regular season closer against the Toronto Rock (1-4)—a game in which we trampled the Rock on the scoreboard and in the fights–everyone knew it was going to be a good game. Here’s how it broke down. (more…)
Hot off the heels of being served up an overtime loss to the Arizona Sting the Roughnecks traveled to Portland to face the 2-1 Lumberjax. With our seasonal pattern of win-loss-win-loss I was silently crossing my fingers that the trend would continue, luckily it did. This also proved to be the game that brought both Lewis Ratcliff and Kaleb Toth out of their shells.
Now, in the past I’ve said that games have started off with a bang but this is the topper. Just 27 seconds into the opening quarter our boys – Ratcliff and Toth – teamed up for the first goal of the game (Ratcliff getting the assist). This would be the first of many goals set up and scored by the dynamic duo. About a minute later Portland’s Ryan Powell tied it at one. The rest of the quarter was all Calgary – Toth, Ratcliff, Travis Gillespie, and Kyle Goundrey rounded out the scoring for the Roughnecks.
The second quarter turned out to be the opposite with Dowling, Morgan (2), Dwane, and Stewart scoring for the Lumberjax. Tracey Kelusky and Devan Wray had the two Calgary goals. This put us at 7-6 for the Roughnecks at the half.
By comparison the second half of the game was started off a little slow. Portland came on strong with two goals – Powell and Merrill – while Ratcliff provided the lone Roughneck goal. On the other hand, I would have loved to have watched the fourth quarter. If anyone has video of it let me know. Our boys had 4 unanswered goals that quarter and I’m wondering if the expansion Lumberjax actually started crying during the game. The goal scorers for us in this quarter were Ratcliff, Toth, Gillespie, and McNish.
Looking at the stats for this game is seems that our accuracy is improving – 46 shots on goal against the Jax versus 50 shots on goal against the Sting. Yeah, it doesn’t really sound all that impressive but any improvement is good.
The Roughnecks next game is against our bitter rivals from the east, the 1-4 Toronto Rock. Game time is 1:30pm on February 5th. Get there early and support our boys by wearing red.
Fresh off of a win against the 0-3 Edmonton Rush, the Roughnecks had their first game against then undefeated Arizona Sting last weekend. This was the first time our Roughnecks would face the team that took the Western Division last year, robbing us of a repeat at the Champions Cup.
Going up against an undefeated team is always an uphill battle, even if it’s early in the season. Considering the Sting’s offensive power and our seemingly constant problems with containing Dan Dawson last year I had high hopes for our boys in red. (more…)
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.
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.