Game #11: Stealth sneak by Roughnecks in OT
It was the first game of the 2006 season that Andrew Leyshon was given the nod to start. This, of course, was based on his stellar performance against the Mammoth in game 9.
After the decisive win in Edmonton the Roughnecks had an early wake up call to hop on the bus and head down to San Jose. Now, when I say early, I mean early. We’re talking 3:45am after a game night. Of course, this is the life that the boys choose and it’s just part of the game until the NLL gains more popularity and has more pull with the arenas. Anyway, on to the game.
San Jose got off to a very large lead early in the first quarter with goals by Fines, Zywicki, Reisig, and Boyle. Rosyski and Zywicki would put a few more past Leyshon in the opening frame after Kevin Dostie (2) and Captain Tracey Kelusky started a comeback. The quarter ended at 7–3 in favor of the Stealth.
Proving to be the lowest scoring quarter, the second frame must be where both netminders decided to bring out the best. After shaking the cobwebs out from the long trek to San Jose, the Roughnecks — Kelusky and Kaleb Toth — out scored the Stealth — Malawsky — closing the gap to within 3.
Calgary continued the scoring trend in the third with goals from Jason Wulder (2), Kelusky (2), and Toth. Wulder’s first was 1:32 into the quarter and also on the power play — something the boys need to capitalize on much more often. Zywicki managed the lone goal for San Jose this frame leaving the score at 10–9 for the Roughnecks.
The fourth quarter, also known by myself as the see-saw quarter, started off with Boyle scoring 28 seconds in to tie the game. Captain Kelusky put us ahead by one but Fines and Sedgwick made short work of the lead by putting San Jose back on top. Lewis Ratcliff, scoring his first of the game, evened up the score again and Toth capped off his hat trick putting the tally at 13–12. Less than a minute later Rosyski would tie the game again and also be the final goal of the quarter.
OT, my favorite part of the game, was very short lived. 5 seconds and the first shot in OT was all Rosyski needed to end the game at 14–13 for the Stealth.
With this win San Jose is narrowly at the top of the West Division by a few percentage points. San Jose shares that spot with the Calgary Roughnecks and Colorado Mammoth (full standings). With the Arizona Sting and Portland Lumberjax only half a game behind the rest of the season is definitely going to be very crucial and very exciting.