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Wowzer home win to start weekend double-dip with Rush drives Riggers into seventh spot
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Turns out eight is enough for the Calgary Roughnecks. But nine? That would really do the trick in the push for the National Lacrosse League playoffs.
A ninth-straight head-to-head victory with the Saskatchewan Rush on Saturday night in Saskatoon, following hard on the heels of Friday evening’s 12-10 win over their rivals at Scotiabank Saddledome to start the home-and-home weekend series, would further solidify the Roughnecks in the chase for a coveted NLL post-season spot.
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“It starts with the first five minutes, right?” said Roughnecks superstar Christian Del Bianco, looking ahead to the rematch with the host Rush moments after celebrating a dynamic Dome home triumph. “I think the big thing for (Friday’s) game was not worrying about (Saturday).
“So now when we get to Sask (Saturday), everyone does what you have to do to get ready and you play that first five minutes.”
They did that well — and then some — Friday night.
In fact, the first four minutes for Del Bianco and the Riggers proved sharp, getting the jump on the Rush on goals from Tyler Pace and Tanner Cook.
And the hosts took it from there for leads of 4-0 after the first quarter, 5-2 at halftime and 9-4 after the third frame, highlighted by Del Bianco putting on a steady performance and the offence wowing the Dome crowd of 10,993 fans with a few highlight-reel goals on WestJet Field.
The result bounced them up into a three-way tie — at 7-8 — with the New York Riptide and Panther City Lacrosse Club, with tiebreakers in their favour to vault them back into a playoff spot they haven’t occupied for a few weeks.
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Another win over the Rush on Saturday would further boost them in the hunt for one of the last two post-season positions.
“We do that just with a solid effort like we did (Friday),” said Roughnecks transition Harrison Matsuoka. “We only played about 45 minutes (Friday). So (Saturday), we’ve got to put in a full 60 minutes. But it’s a good stepping stone, and now you take it to Saskatchewan in their own house. So we’re now looking forward to it, and we need it to get back to .500.”
Matsuoka himself played a key role in helping the Riggers move closer to evening out their win-loss record and securing a playoff spot.
His goal at the end of the first quarter was of exceptional quality. The Calgary native caught a long pass from Del Bianco and managed to quickly take a shot that beat Rush goalie Frank Scigliano despite being tackled by a Rush defenseman.
This play gave the team a significant boost early in the game.
“It did, because it was such a tough play,” said Roughnecks head coach Josh Sanderson. “Obviously a great pass by Del Bianco, but Harry didn’t have a lot of room to catch that and get it on net before he gets in the crease or gets crushed.”
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The hits, mostly in favor of the Riggers, continued throughout the game.
Tomas Hoggarth also impressed with a fantastic goal, part of the host team’s four-goal third quarter, where he scored a no-look, windmill shot through his own legs while driving towards the net.
“We were telling him not to shoot one-handed, and then, of course, he goes and scores one-handed,” said Sanderson, half-jokingly. “So we’re kind of stuck now. It was a big goal. A lot of our guys scored big goals on Friday. But that was a big goal.”
Another crucial goal ensured the win as the Rush made a late comeback in the fourth quarter. Cook and Dan Taylor managed to pass the ball to Haiden Dickson for his third goal of the game.
“Definitely didn’t ask them to be creative,” continued Sanderson. “I just said I wanted to see the ball cross the line. We talked through the week about just trying not to let our foot off the gas. We’ve had some 9-6 leads that turned into a one-goal loss. Last night, we got that lead and wanted to see if we could widen the gap, and I thought we answered well all night.”
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The team was led by Cook with his career-high eight-point performance, Dickson’s hat-trick, and two goals each from Pace and captain Jesse King.
Del Bianco played exceptionally well, stopping 52 Rush shots.
“It was close to it,” said Sanderson, referring to whether it was the team’s best effort of the season. “We were just real good. I thought we had a good start, and Sask had good shots, and both goalies played pretty solid. We just need to find a way to win and have a bit more of a killer instinct in the second half.”
The loss was a setback for the Rush, dropping them to 6-9.
“We knew how big the game was,” added Sanderson. “We needed the result before we went to their barn. Are we going to have to be better tonight and clean up a couple of things? We do.
“But to get this win, all the guys were focused. Credit to all the guys.”
QUICK STICKS
Forward Hoggarth (upper body), transition Justin Inacio (lower body), and defender Ethan Ticehurst all returned to the Roughnecks on Friday night after being sidelined for various weeks. Prior to the game, the Riggers placed rookie Bennett Smith on the practice player list. Scratches for the first game of the weekend double with the Rush were forward Logan Schuss and defenseman Robert Hudson.
tsaelhof@postmedia.com
http://www.x.com/ToddSaelhofPM
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