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TITANS HOST ROUGHNECKS IN REMATCH OF '09 FINAL

First-place Orlando hosts Calgary on Saturday night

03/18/2010

Titans host Roughnecks in first meeting between clubs since 2009 Championship Game

By Josh Chalmers for NLL.com

The Orlando Titans (6-3) will host the Calgary Roughnecks (5-4) at the Amway Arena on Saturday at 7:35 p.m. ET in a rematch of the 2009 NLL Championship game. This will be the first time since the Roughnecks beat the Titans 12-10 in the championship game in Calgary that the two teams will meet.

"It seems like a lifetime ago now," said Titans Head Coach Ed Comeau. "Obviously when you play a team that you played in the championship you would like to go out there and win, but we're not focused on [avenging that loss], we're focused on the 2010 season."

The Titans head into the game in first place in the Eastern Division after beating Philadelphia and Rochester on back-to-back nights last weekend.

The Titans were led in those wins, as they have been all season, by Goaltender Matt Vinc. Vinc stopped 43 of 50 shots faced in an 11-9 win over the Wings on Friday and turned in a stellar 47 stops on 51 shots in a 9-4 win over the Knighthawks on Saturday.

On the season Vinc leads the NLL in goals against average (8.78) and save percentage (.826) and is tied for the league lead with six wins.

The Roughnecks are currently in third place in the Western Division after losing for the first time in five games last weekend. The division leading Washington Stealth (7-3) pulled out a 12-11 victory in a tight game in Calgary.

Calgary Roughnecks Head Coach Dave Pym was not impressed by his squad's performance in the loss to the Stealth.

"We weren't happy with getting away from our defensive system too many times," said Pym. "Offensively we were standing around quite a bit, and we have got to be better between the pipes."

Forward Casey Powell, who leads the Titans in goals (22) and is second on the team in points per game (5.57), missed last week's games and Comeau describes his status as day-to-day.

"I think the rest was good for him and we're hoping to have him back this weekend," Comeau said.

Comeau points to last week as showing the league that the Titans aren't completely reliant on Powell. "I think we saw that without our best player we still had a very solid effort and got the job done," Comeau said.

The March 16 trade deadline came and went with no trades being swung by either team. However, the Roughnecks did sign transition player Mark Scherman and released rookie forward Carlton Schuss.

"(Scherman is) a hometown Calgary boy," Pym said. "He fits in with the overall scheme of things that we like to see with the Roughnecks. He's going to bring some energy and athleticism to our front end and we're looking forward to getting him into practice when we get back home."

Scherman played during the 2008 and 2009 seasons for the Toronto Rock. During that time he played 12 games scoring 2 goals, 7 assists and collecting 39 loose balls.
Schuss was the Roughnecks first selection in the 2009 NLL entry draft in the third round, 27th overall pick. Schuss played in one game for the Riggers and did not score a point.

Comeau, who is also the Titan's General Manager, is prepared to stick with his current roster down the stretch.
"We kicked a few tires and spoke to a few teams but we're pretty happy with our roster," he said.

Defender Rob Kirkby missed the last game for the Riggers. Pym says he won't be in the lineup for a couple of weeks after tweaking his Achilles in practice.

This will be the only time this season that the two teams will meet. The Roughnecks will play the Minnesota Swarm next Friday at home. The Titans will host the Toronto Rock a week from Saturday. This week's game can be seen live on the NLL network at NLL.com.