Roughnecks Get Back To Winning Ways Against Swarm

By Alex Medina | NLL.com Staff Writer
Photo Credit Candice Ward

The Calgary Roughnecks came in Saturday night firing on all cylinders and with something to prove.

The Roughnecks scored 13 goals in the first half one shy of their record of 14, which was done twice, most recently against the Toronto Rock on March. 1, 2014, en route to an 18-11 win over the Georgia Swarm.

While the offence racked up the goals, the defence was strong holding the Swarm to only three goals in the half, shutting down opportunities and getting big saves when needed by Frank Scigliano.

“We made a couple adjustments and it benefitted us tonight,” said Scigliano.

“My play comes with the defence. When they’re rolling, I’m rolling.”

On paper, the Swarm looked like they would be on their way to a victory against a Roughneck team that were coming into the matchup on a five game losing streak, but the Roughnecks proved that they should never be overlooked.

The Swarm did manage to provide a bit of a scare in the fourth quarter, when they came within four goals, till Dane Dobbie scored his sixth of the game to ensure that the home side came away with the win.

Dobbie finished the game with seven goals and four assists to end the game with 11 points and earned high praise from head coach Curt Malawsky.

“Dane is an old school warrior,” Malawsky said

“He takes the teams success and failures personally and how do you not love a guy like that.”

The victory improved the Roughnecks record to 4-6, getting their first home win since Jan. 28 against the Colorado Mammoth, while the Swarm lost just for the second time this season, dropping to 7-2.

The victory comes off the heels of a loss the Roughnecks suffered the night before against the Mammoth, and were looking to come off the back-to-back weekend on a high note with a victory.

“We wanted the opportunity to play right away and redeem ourselves,” Curtis Dickson said.

“We found holes in their defence and just rolled with it throughout the rest of the game.”

The Roughnecks will now look to build on the victory next weekend when they head to Toronto to take on the Rock, where they will look to avenge an 11-7 loss the Rock dealt to them back on Feb. 12.

“We have to play similar like we did tonight,” Dickson said.

“They handed it to use earlier on in the season so we’re looking for redemption.”

Dickson pointed out that the key to find success against the Rock and for the rest of the year is to get out to quicker starts offensively as they were able to against the Swarm.

“When we get down early that’s kind of our Achilles heel,” Dickson said.

“It’s all about the start.”

Three Stars of the Game

Dane Dobbie – Roughnecks
Curtis Dickson – Roughnecks
Lyle Thompson – Swarm