Go! ‘Necks! Go!

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.

The action started off in a ‘Neck friendly way with Hamilton scoring the first of the game and his first in uniform at 1:23. Edmonton’s Hillier and Daly answered back while Taylor Wray and Jason Wulder put us ahead by one. Shortly after our go-ahead goal by Wulder, the Rush’s Quilan tied the score at 3 to round out the first quarter. The ‘Necks were definitely starting to show their championship form with some great play-making.

Our boys were a little more sloppy in the second quarter but still had the championship spirit that won us the cup in 2004. Giles and Howard were the goal scorers for Edmonton while a pair of goals for captain Tracey Kelusky and a powerplay goal by Lewis Ratcliff put us up by one at the half.

Head coach Chris Hall must have given an inspired half-time speech because the boys came out fighting in the third. Unfortunately a few bad passed and some poorly timed turnovers began to plague the Roughnecks. Edmonton capitalized on these opportunities by scoring two goals — by Susheski and Bowen — while we were held at one — Andrew Biers.

With the score tied at 7, the fourth quarter proved to be do or die time for the Roughnecks. Edmonton came out strong and hard adding four goals — Bowen, Daly (2), and Cornfield — to their total. Campbell continued to stonewall us until 9:49 where Ratcliff finally put one passed him. The next five minutes was some of the most exciting lacrosse play I’ve seen in a long time.

Starting off the excitement to the quarter was a fantastic boxing match between the Roughneck’s Ryan McNish and Edmonton’s Chris Stachniak. This was foreshadowed the previous quarter when McNish started playing a little rough with some of the Rush. As the boys dropped their gloves the fans rose to their feet. McNish and Stachniak squared off at center field and began to exchange blows. Stachniak should have thought about his choice a little better because for the first time ever in an NLL fight I watched a player get K.O.’ed. McNish dominated the fight with a series of rights — the fourth of which put Stachniak flat on his back (13MB Quicktime video).

Down by three with a little over three minutes left in the game the crowd definitely became a factor in juicing up the ‘Necks offensive line. At 11:32 of the fourth, Kevin Dostie put us within two and I started biting my nails. Pulling out all the stops, Hall began a possibly dangerous tactic of pulling netminder Curtis Palidwor at every opportunity. This proved to be a successful technique as Ratcliff scored his third of the game at 14:15.

Under a minute to go the entire 12,000+ crowd at the Saddledome were on their feet chanting, cheering, and carrying on. We needed one goal to tie the game and send us to overtime. After a short time-out, Palidwor stayed on the bench — Calgary had possession when the time-out was called — to allow the extra attacker for the Roughnecks. To the pure exhilaration of all the fans, at 14:50 Kyle Goundrey put a stellar shot in the net to tie the game at 11. The Saddledome exploded.

With 9 seconds left in the game Palidwor was back in goal to protect the tie for the last seconds. After a quick face-off Edmonton ended up with possession and Cam Bergman made their last ditch effort by rushing the goal and just taking the first — and only — shot he could. “Shut the door” Palidwor stopped the shot but gave up a rebound. To the dismay of all 12,000+ fans in attendence the ball bounced off the ground and hit a Roughneck defender sending it spinning back into the goal.

The Rush began celebrating and flooded the playing field while the crowd pointed to the clock and started chanting “no goal!” As I slowly looked up I saw that the time on the clock had run out. The officials had no choice but to go upstairs and visit the replay. After a tense minute or two the replay official ruled the goal as fair since the ball passed the goal line with 0.1 second left on the official clock. I just about threw up right there.

I feel terrible for the Roughnecks because the fought so hard and came back from a big deficit only to lose it in that way. Most fans in Calgary will write this off and play the blame game, chastising the player who accidentally tipped the ball. I’m not going to do that though. Any athlete that has played any competitive sport knows exactly what that player is going through right now. It was a fluke bounce and bad timing.

Although I’m hesitant to admit it, Rush goaltender Pat Campbell did an amazing job at stopping the onslaught of Calgary shots — making his player of the game head nod a much deserved one. Now that the Rush finally have a win it will be interesting to see how the rest of the season plays out.

As far as the Roughnecks are concerned I can only hope that they regroup for the game against Arizona tonight. Once that game is over they will have three weeks off to get their heads straight and their game tight for the last few games of the season.