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BUF at SD - Sat. 10pm ET on ESPNews Schedule

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WK
1
Fri, Dec 2
FINAL
Philadelphia
8
Halifax
18
Sat, Dec 3
FINAL
Vancouver
8
Toronto
19
Sat, Dec 3
FINAL
San Diego
15
New York
14
Sat, Dec 3
FINAL
Albany
11
Buffalo
10
Sat, Dec 3
FINAL
Rochester
16
Georgia
11
Sat, Dec 3
FINAL
Colorado
6
Saskatchewan
18
WK
2
Fri, Dec 9
FINAL
Las Vegas
11
Panther City
13
Fri, Dec 9
FINAL/OT
Saskatchewan
12
San Diego
13
Sat, Dec 10
FINAL
Toronto
7
Rochester
11
Sat, Dec 10
FINAL
Vancouver
9
Calgary
11
WK
3
Fri, Dec 16
FINAL
Calgary
14
Vancouver
5
Fri, Dec 16
FINAL
Panther City
9
Las Vegas
3
Sat, Dec 17
FINAL
Buffalo
11
Toronto
8
Sat, Dec 17
FINAL
Rochester
14
Albany
13
Sat, Dec 17
FINAL
Philadelphia
13
Georgia
12
Sat, Dec 17
FINAL
Halifax
20
New York
11
Sat, Dec 17
FINAL
Colorado
12
Panther City
9
WK
5
Fri, Dec 30
FINAL
Halifax
13
Buffalo
18
Fri, Dec 30
FINAL
San Diego
17
Calgary
14
Sat, Dec 31
FINAL
Panther City
9
Saskatchewan
11
WK
6
Fri, Jan 6
FINAL
Philadelphia
14
Las Vegas
9
Sat, Jan 7
FINAL
Panther City
9
Rochester
17
Sat, Jan 7
FINAL
Halifax
14
Albany
11
Sat, Jan 7
FINAL
Buffalo
18
Georgia
9
Sat, Jan 7
FINAL
Toronto
15
New York
7
Sat, Jan 7
FINAL
Calgary
8
Colorado
9
Sat, Jan 7
FINAL
Vancouver
11
San Diego
16
WK
7
Fri, Jan 13
FINAL/OT
Albany
11
Halifax
10
Fri, Jan 13
FINAL/OT
Saskatchewan
10
Colorado
11
Sat, Jan 14
FINAL
Halifax
8
Toronto
17
Sat, Jan 14
FINAL
Panther City
12
Philadelphia
10
Sat, Jan 14
FINAL
Georgia
9
Buffalo
11
Sat, Jan 14
FINAL
San Diego
10
Calgary
14
Sat, Jan 14
FINAL
Las Vegas
16
Vancouver
19
Sun, Jan 15
FINAL
Rochester
11
New York
8
WK
8
Fri, Jan 20
FINAL
Buffalo
12
Rochester
15
Fri, Jan 20
FINAL
Vancouver
14
Las Vegas
15
Sat, Jan 21
FINAL
Toronto
14
Philadelphia
5
Sat, Jan 21
FINAL
New York
16
Albany
10
WK
9
Fri, Jan 27
FINAL
Rochester
7
Halifax
17
Fri, Jan 27
FINAL
Buffalo
13
Philadelphia
9
Sat, Jan 28
FINAL
Buffalo
16
New York
10
Sat, Jan 28
FINAL
Las Vegas
10
Saskatchewan
15
Sat, Jan 28
FINAL/OT
Toronto
11
Calgary
10
Sat, Jan 28
FINAL
San Diego
13
Colorado
9
Sat, Jan 28
FINAL
Panther City
20
Vancouver
7
WK
10
Fri, Feb 3
FINAL
Georgia
10
Colorado
13
Sat, Feb 4
FINAL/OT
Calgary
12
Halifax
11
Sat, Feb 4
FINAL
New York
14
Toronto
22
Sat, Feb 4
FINAL
Albany
5
Philadelphia
13
Sat, Feb 4
FINAL
Rochester
10
Buffalo
13
Sat, Feb 4
FINAL
Panther City
10
San Diego
12
Sat, Feb 4
FINAL
Saskatchewan
14
Vancouver
8
Sat, Feb 4
FINAL
Colorado
8
Las Vegas
13
WK
11
Fri, Feb 10
FINAL
Toronto
11
Georgia
10
Fri, Feb 10
FINAL
Saskatchewan
6
Calgary
13
Sat, Feb 11
FINAL
Halifax
14
Rochester
16
Sat, Feb 11
FINAL
Albany
12
New York
14
Sat, Feb 11
FINAL
Vancouver
13
Panther City
14
Sat, Feb 11
FINAL
Colorado
9
Calgary
13
WK
12
Fri, Feb 17
FINAL
Calgary
14
Vancouver
9
Fri, Feb 17
FINAL
Saskatchewan
16
San Diego
11
Sat, Feb 18
FINAL
Georgia
7
Toronto
16
Sat, Feb 18
FINAL
Las Vegas
12
Albany
10
Sat, Feb 18
FINAL/OT
Philadelphia
12
Buffalo
13
Sat, Feb 18
FINAL
Colorado
7
Panther City
13
Sun, Feb 19
FINAL
New York
12
Halifax
13
WK
13
Fri, Feb 24
FINAL
Panther City
12
Colorado
14
Fri, Feb 24
FINAL
Calgary
9
Las Vegas
11
Sat, Feb 25
FINAL/OT
New York
10
Rochester
11
Sat, Feb 25
FINAL
Albany
4
Georgia
20
Sat, Feb 25
FINAL
Vancouver
16
Saskatchewan
12
WK
14
Fri, Mar 3
FINAL
Buffalo
10
Halifax
9
Sat, Mar 4
FINAL
New York
12
Philadelphia
19
Sat, Mar 4
FINAL
Las Vegas
12
San Diego
15
Sat, Mar 4
FINAL
Rochester
8
Toronto
9
Sat, Mar 4
FINAL/OT
Georgia
9
Albany
8
Sat, Mar 4
FINAL
Saskatchewan
10
Panther City
16
Mon, Mar 6
FINAL
Toronto
10
Philadelphia
11
WK
15
Fri, Mar 10
FINAL/OT
Halifax
9
Buffalo
10
Fri, Mar 10
FINAL
Calgary
16
Colorado
10
Sat, Mar 11
FINAL
Albany
6
Toronto
12
Sat, Mar 11
FINAL
Philadelphia
10
New York
13
Sat, Mar 11
FINAL
San Diego
12
Saskatchewan
11
Sat, Mar 11
FINAL
Vancouver
14
Las Vegas
5
Sun, Mar 12
FINAL
Rochester
19
Georgia
18
WK
16
Fri, Mar 17
FINAL
Saskatchewan
6
Calgary
11
Fri, Mar 17
FINAL
San Diego
16
Vancouver
9
Sat, Mar 18
FINAL
Georgia
13
Philadelphia
12
Sat, Mar 18
FINAL
Toronto
12
Halifax
14
Sat, Mar 18
FINAL
Albany
10
New York
13
Sat, Mar 18
FINAL
Colorado
13
Buffalo
8
Sat, Mar 18
FINAL
Las Vegas
8
Panther City
11
Sun, Mar 19
FINAL/OT
Philadelphia
9
Rochester
8
WK
17
Fri, Mar 24
FINAL
San Diego
17
Panther City
9
Sat, Mar 25
FINAL
Toronto
11
Albany
9
Sat, Mar 25
FINAL
Halifax
14
Philadelphia
10
Sat, Mar 25
FINAL
Georgia
13
New York
8
Sat, Mar 25
FINAL
Calgary
14
Saskatchewan
6
Sat, Mar 25
FINAL/OT
Buffalo
7
San Diego
6
Sat, Mar 25
FINAL
Colorado
12
Vancouver
14
Sat, Mar 25
FINAL
Rochester
7
Las Vegas
12
WK
18
Fri, Mar 31
19:00:00
New York
Georgia
Fri, Mar 31
21:00:00
Las Vegas
Colorado
Fri, Mar 31
22:00:00
Calgary
San Diego
Sat, Apr 1
19:00:00
Buffalo
Toronto
Sat, Apr 1
20:00:00
Albany
Panther City
Sat, Apr 1
21:30:00
Vancouver
Saskatchewan
Sun, Apr 2
13:00:00
Georgia
Halifax
Sun, Apr 2
18:00:00
Rochester
Philadelphia
WK
19
Sat, Apr 8
19:00:00
Albany
Rochester
Sat, Apr 8
19:00:00
Saskatchewan
Georgia
Sat, Apr 8
21:00:00
Panther City
Calgary
Sat, Apr 8
21:00:00
Vancouver
Colorado
Sat, Apr 8
22:30:00
San Diego
Las Vegas
WK
20
Fri, Apr 14
21:00:00
Las Vegas
Calgary
Fri, Apr 14
21:00:00
San Diego
Colorado
Sat, Apr 15
19:00:00
Philadelphia
Toronto
Sat, Apr 15
19:00:00
Georgia
Albany
Sat, Apr 15
19:30:00
New York
Buffalo
Sat, Apr 15
21:30:00
Halifax
Saskatchewan
Sat, Apr 15
22:00:00
Panther City
Vancouver
WK
21
Fri, Apr 21
20:30:00
Calgary
Panther City
Sat, Apr 22
18:00:00
New York
Halifax
Sat, Apr 22
19:00:00
Georgia
Rochester
Sat, Apr 22
20:00:00
Toronto
Buffalo
Sat, Apr 22
21:30:00
Colorado
Saskatchewan
Sat, Apr 22
22:00:00
Las Vegas
San Diego
Sun, Apr 23
15:00:00
Philadelphia
Albany
WK
22
Sat, Apr 29
19:00:00
Philadelphia
Rochester
Sat, Apr 29
19:00:00
Buffalo
Albany
Sat, Apr 29
19:00:00
Halifax
Georgia
Sat, Apr 29
22:00:00
Colorado
San Diego
Sat, Apr 29
22:00:00
New York
Vancouver
Sat, Apr 29
22:30:00
Saskatchewan
Las Vegas
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Ready To Rock: Toronto Visits Calgary

The Calgary Roughnecks (3-8) will host the Toronto Rock (10-3) at Scotiabank Saddledome for the second and final matchup of the season between the two teams on Saturday at 9 p.m. ET. Watch the game live on TSN GO in Canada and NLL LIVE in the U.S.

The Riggers are going into this game after a big 20-9 win against the New England Black Wolves last weekend, which seems to be a good starting point for the winning streak the team needs.

“We challenged the guys to be better, we don’t have tomorrow; we have to win now,” said Roughnecks head coach Curt Malawsky. “We can’t give up games, we can’t pass up games. You never want to express that urgency to the players to put a lot of pressure on them, but the gloves and helmets are off for us now, they all know where we sit. The challenge was it’s either today or never. We’ve got a lot of character in that room, the guys stepped up they played really well… We liked the way we played and it was a good stepping stone for us moving into this weekend.”

Knowing where they stand, and the immediacy of their situation sparked a fire for the ‘Necks players. The team’s blowout victory last week was its strongest performance this season.

“They played with a lot of passion and emotion that I hadn’t seen all year,” Malawsky said. “These guys really care about team success, and that was a big turning point for me looking at the guys on the bench.”

After celebrating a huge win, the Roughnecks are now back to business and focusing on Saturday’s game, the team is fully aware of the threat the Rock poses to its playoff run.

“It’s a whole different animal playing the Rock,” Malawsky said. “I watched the game on the weekend against Edmonton and that was a war. We had a war down in Rochester and it was a war up in Edmonton, so we’ve been a part of a few of those. But you gotta battle for every inch you got on the floor…I expect them coming hard at our guys.”

“They’re very well coached and very disciplined, they move the ball very well, they have great goaltending and their defense is big, strong and very aggressive. We’re going to have to come up with a real good game plan,” Malawsky added.

Falling to another team after every triumph is a trend for the Roughnecks this season, they are looking to break that pattern and string together two wins for the first time this year. However, it will be an uphill battle with the Rock in town.

“This weekend’s a huge game for us coming off a big win, every time we come off a big win we kind of face a good team. It’s gonna be another test for us this weekend,” said Roughnecks forward Shawn Evans.

Replicating the strong start the Riggers had against the Black Wolves will be a key factor for the team, as they focus on defeating the Rock, who are first in the NLL.

“I definitely think the start’s going to be a big part of it,” Malawsky remarked. “Early in the year, teams were attacking us early thinking we’re going to fold, we took that personally. We tried to really work on our starts, and we came out of the gates hot last weekend. We’re hoping to do the same thing because you get behind five or six against Toronto, I don’t think you come back.”

Evans will be looking to stack more points onto the 83 he has tallied so far this season. He believes that playing with the same energy they did last week should propel them to victory.

“Toronto’s a good team,” Evans said. “We watch video on them; we watched their game last weekend too. They’re a strong team that moves the ball well we gotta come out a quick start like last weekend…If we do that, I’m sure that things are gonna hopefully go our way.”

Using its losses as a lesson has been important to the Roughnecks. The coaching staff is looking back at their Rochester games, and will be looking for the ‘Necks to get into the rougher areas on Saturday night.

“I think our guys learned from the fact that when we got a couple put on our wrists, and tailbones in our Rochester games,” Malawsky admitted. “We stood around the outside, I expect our guys to get right to the dirty areas, that’s the only way to score against Toronto, you gotta get to the middle of the floor and they don’t make it easy. By far, I believe this is going to be our toughest test of the season.

The Rock, fresh off its first home loss of the season, look to rebound on the road and will have to do so without their top player in Rob Hellyer, who suffered an upper body injury in last Saturday’s defeat against the Edmonton Rush. Hellyer left for the locker room ahead of halftime and never returned. Following the game, Toronto Rock owner and general manger Jamie Dawick explained the injury as just a precaution. However it was reported Wednesday morning that Hellyer will be placed on injury reserve, which means the league’s leading scorer will have to sit out for a least ten days. At which time, Hellyer will be reevaluated by the team’s medical staff.

“Losing him, it’s obviously a big hole for us,” said Rock forward Kevin Ross. “But we’re not an offense, that’s going to rely on one guy on any given night to get the job done.”

The Rock are no stranger to suffering big losses. Roughly the same time last season, Toronto lost Garrett Billings to a torn ACL. At the time of injury, Billings, like Hellyer, was leading the league in scoring and looked poised to hold that title until season’s end.

The Rock called upon Hellyer to fill the void Billings left and his 86 points (31+55) over 13 games this season speaks loudly to his success in doing so. But the Rock’s back pocket, at least for now, is without a savior anywhere close to Hellyer’s caliber. Toronto is faced with the objection of acting as one, functioning by committee on offense.

“The key to our offense this year is our unselfish mentality and keeping the ball hot,” said Ross, who has tallied up 40 points (16+24) thus far.

Exit Hellyer and enter Brandon Benn, a 22-year-old Orangeville native with only a couple NLL preseason games under his belt. Despite this, the Rock hold very little reservation in adding brand new skin to the lineup.

“We got a great guy in Benn, I think he showed in the preseason that he is an NLL caliber player and we don’t expect him to replace Rob, but we expect him to have a good showing,” Ross added.

Over two preseason games, Benn found the back of the net four times, finding success both on the powerplay and five-on-five play. The youngster nabbed a hat trick against the Rochester Knighthawks in a game played played at the Bell Centre in Montreal.  

“Benn is going to be one of our rights on the team and it’s going to be a tough game for him in terms of playing his first game in the NLL, but coming out of training camp he was very good,” said Toronto head coach John Lovell.

“We have confidence he’s going to be able to do this.”

Benn and the rest of the Rock squad will get their first taste of life without Hellyer against the Roughnecks, a once struggling team that may have finally found their balance. After starting the year to a franchise-worst 0-6, Calgary has won three of their last five games. Two of those wins were against Rochester and Edmonton, teams with a combined record of 15-7.

“I still think Calgary is one of the best teams in this league, they present an unbelievable challenge in terms of their offense. They have four or five real good players there,” said Lovell. “They are always a major challenge to defend.”

The biggest challenge for Toronto’s back-end will surely be forward Shawn Evans, who carries the league’s best points per game average (7.54).

In related news, the Knighthawks signed restricted free agent Garrett Billings to an offer sheet on Friday night which means that the Toronto Rock have until Monday night to match the offer in order to retain the services of the All-Pro forward.

By Laura Bates (@RoughnecksBeat) & Justin Millerson (@RockBeatToronto) for NLL.com. Photo by Dave Abel.

NLL