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ROUGHNECKS OUTLAST RUSH, 13-8

Roughnecks win round two of the Battle of Alberta

02/06/2010

By Joshua Chalmers for NLL.com

The Calgary Roughnecks ended a three game slide with a 13-8 win over the provincial rival Edmonton Rush in front of 10,724 raucous fans at Pengrowth Saddledome. The win improves the Roughnecks record to 2-3, while the Rush fell to 3-2 on the season.

"It was good to get the ball rolling back in the win column," said Roughnecks defenseman Andrew McBride. "We talked about it all week. We weren't happy with the first four games. We knew if we played our lacrosse the way we could, we should come out with the W and that's exactly what we did today."

Looking for more effort out of his players, Roughnecks Head Coach Dave Pym got what he wanted.

"The guys talked about their actions speaking louder than their words and they really delivered on that promise to their teammates," said Pym.

The Roughnecks came swarming out of the gate, pulling away to a 3-0 lead. With the teams third goal being spectacular individual effort by Scott Ranger, part of a five point night for the forward. Ranger shook off three Rush defenders before putting the ball over Rush goalie Matt Disher's shoulder with some quick hands.

Pym emphasized the importance of the quick start.

"Last year, (when the team won the NLL championship), we had a lot of quick starts." Pym said. "When we have quick starts it gets the guys focused and energised."

The Rush responded to Calgary's early lead with two straight goals by forward Ryan Powell, who missed last week's game between the two teams in Edmonton because of commitments to Team USA. On the second of his goals, 'Necks goalie Matt King looked to have stopped the threat, but gave up a rebound that left him way out of position.

The Roughnecks had a dominating second quarter, outscoring the visitors 5-0 in the frame. The squad regained a two goal lead when Scott Ranger grabbed his own rebound from in tight and proceeded to completely undress Disher. The goalie lay on the ground as Ranger popped the ball into a virtually empty net.

The quarter was highlighted by specialty teams with the Riggers scoring one goal on the powerplay and two short-handed. The first goal came from the hands of Josh Sanderson during a five minute major to Rush defenseman Brett Mydske. Four seconds after the expiration of the penalty, and with the Rush on a five on three powerplay, Tracey Kelusky backed Ian Crashley almost into his own crease before spinning around and putting the ball in the net. A minute later Jeff Shatler potted the second shorthanded goal, this time the Rush were up by a man after the expiration of one of the Calgary penalties.

The third quarter saw a slow down in scoring with the Roughnecks getting a quick goal off the stick of Shattler. The Rush scored two in the frame but never put together the string of unanswered goals necessary to overcome such a daunting lead.

The fourth quarter featured three fights. The Roughnecks Jeff Moleski dropped the gloves with Derek Suddons after Calgary took an 11-5 lead, adding insult to injury Moleski slammed the Rush player to the carpet to conclude the fisticuffs. The second saw Rush defender Brodie Merrill split open Mike Kilby just above the left eye as Merrill fed haymaker after haymaker to Kilby's face. The third happened with just over a minute remaining and looked to be over before it started as Calgary's Scott Carnegie and Rush player Jim Quinlan tumbled to the ground quickly, only to get back up and provide an entertaining slugfest.

"We had some key guys drop the mitts and that's huge for the squad, to see us bond together," said McBride.

Roughnecks forward Kaleb Toth played in his second straight game after sitting out the first three of the season.

"The hamstrings still bothering me, but I still had lots of opportunities," Toth said. "I'm trying to play a little smarter with old age and with injuries."

Toth, who was held goalless on the night, said the offensive production will come back.

"You go through training camp and get in real good shape and you're timing's good. Then all of a sudden you hurt yourself right before the first game and you sit out for almost a month. It's tough to get that timing back. I've got a feeling it's going to come back real soon. I'm happy with the outcome. I don't really care if I score goals as long as we keep winning that's the big picture."

The Roughnecks were led by Sanderson (3g,3a), Kelusky (2g,3a), Dane Dobie (1g, 4a), Ranger (2g, 3a) and Shattler (2g, 2a). While the Rush got major contributions from Gavin Prout (2g,3a), Merrill (3a), Powell (2g, 1a) and Ryan Ward (2g).

Shots on the night were 54-41 in favor of the Riggers. The Roughnecks capitalized three times in seven chances on the powerplay while the Rush scored two in seven tries. Calgary dominated the face-offs holding a 17-8 advantage.

Next up for both teams is the Toronto Rock with the Rush heading to the Air Canada Centre on Friday, while the Rock visit Calgary for a Valentine's Day clash on Sunday.