By Lindsey McGuire / NLL.com Correspondent
West Division Rivals, the Calgary Roughnecks and Colorado Mammoth, faced off Friday night for the first time since 2016 playoffs. Between Zach Herreweyers’ 1st career goal and Dane Dobbie’s 300th career goal, this game was historic.
The Mammoth kicked off the first quarter with a 12:28 goal by Defenseman Jordan Gilles, but the lead didn’t last long. Calgary’s top scorer Curtis Dickson fired back just 26 seconds later to put the Roughnecks on the board. Calgary Forward Dane Dobbie brought the score to 2-1 and became a member of the NLL’s 300 club with a goal with 3:52 left in the quarter. He is the 25th player in NLL history to score 300 goals.
Dobbie and teammate, Jeff Shattler, assisted Tyler Digby on a goal making the score 3-1 Calgary with 3:06 left in the quarter. But Dobbie wasn’t done yet. He found the back of the net once more at 0:19 to widen the lead over the Mammoth and launch that career goal number up to 301. The quarter wound down with Colorado Forward Jeremy Noble’s 6th goal of the season, making the score 4-2 at the end of the first.
Calgary didn’t waste any time upping their score in the second quarter. Jeff Shattler scored at 13:44, bringing the Roughnecks’ lead to 3 over their rival. A penalty by Calgary’s Scott Carnagie with 11:21 left in the quarter put Colorado on the power play, but Calgary was still able to strike with one man down. Shattler put one more on the board with his 7th goal of the season. Mammoth Forward Jeremy Noble put an end to the Roughnecks’ hot streak with a goal of his own. Bell and Digby stepped up next in line to score next for Calgary to push the Roughnecks lead to 8-3.
The Mammoth would need to make some moves in order to enter the half on a high note–and they did. Jeremy Noble came through with Goal #4 for the Mammoth. Colorado Rookie Zach Herreweyers also jumped on the come-back train with his first ever NLL goal. The goal would go under what probably felt like the longest review of the rookie’s life.
“It was a key part of the game, just was hoping it was a good goal to help the momentum keep going,” Herreweyers recalled after the refs confirmed the goal.
The score was 8-5. New Colorado Forward Zack Greer claimed the final goal of the quarter with just 45 seconds left. The adversaries walked off the field at halftime with an 8-6 Calgary lead on the scoreboard overhead.
Dickson fired another shot past Mammoth Goaltender, Dillon Ward, a little more than 3 minutes into the third. It wasn’t long before a classic rivalry scuffle broke out on the field. The refs would hand out penalties to both sides (Noble, Burton, Ruest, Bell) by the time it was over. Zack Greer channeled that energy into a goal to make the score 9-7. However, the Roughnecks weren’t done roughing up the Mammoth quite yet. Chad Cummings received a minor penalty on a dead ball. Colorado Defenseman Joey Cupido returned a favor with a minor holding penalty at 6:25. Then the back-and-forth started up once again. Calgary’s Tyler Digby scored for the 3rd time to make it 10-7, then Colorado’s Joey Cupido scored, then Digby again, and then Cupido again—all in just 68 seconds to make the score 11-9!
Crawford used a 5-on-3 post-scuffle power play to bring the Roughnecks’ lead back down to 1 for the first time since the first quarter. The score was 11-10 at the end of the third.
Bell scored his 2nd goal of the night just 12 seconds into the fourth quarter to extend Calgary’s lead 12-10. Colorado Forward Eli McLaughlin answered back 22 seconds later with his first goal of the night, making the score 12-11. Digby expanded Calgary’s lead back up to 2 at 13:20. Curtis Dickson backed up his Superman reputation with another goal at 6:15. It was his 3rd on the night to make it 14-11 Roughnecks. Zack Greer got his chance to shine with a successful penalty shot with just 0:48 left in the game but it just wasn’t enough to close the gap.The Calgary Roughnecks (2-1) were able to head home with a 14-12 win. The Mammoth will get their chance at a rematch next Saturday, January 28 at Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary.
3-Star Selections:
1st Star: Digby – Calgary
2nd Star: Dickson – Calgary
3rd Star: Noble – Colorado
