Curtis Dickson scored six goals and added an assist to lead the Calgary Roughnecks to a 15-10 win over the Toronto Rock at the Air Canada Centre on Friday.
The win snapped a four-game losing skid for the Roughnecks (4-7), who moved past the Vancouver Stealth (3-6) and into third spot in the National Lacrosse League’s West Division.
The Riggers were also bolstered by the return to action of forward Dane Dobbie, who missed the past four games with an upper-body injury, Dobbie made an immediate impact against the Rock (2-7) with two goals and three assists.
Karsen Leung finished with a hat trick, including two goals into an empty net, while rookie defenceman Tyson Bell had his first-ever NLL two-goal game.
Goaltender Mike Poulin was solid in between the pipes for the ’Necks as he made 38 saves, while Frankie Scigliano stopped a pair of shots in spot duty.
Wesley Berg and Tyler Digby both had a goal and two assists each, while Jeff Shattler, Reilly O’Connor and Dan MacRae chipped in with four assists each.
Rob Hellyer led the Rock with three goals and four assists, while Brett Hickey also had a hat trick to go with a helper. Rock captain Colin Doyle scored once and set up three others, while Josh Sanderson, Kasey Beirnes and Rob Marshall also scored.
Rock goalie Nick Rose stopped 37 of 50 shots he faced in a losing cause.
Bell gave Calgary an early lead when he scored just 44 seconds into the game before Berg put the Riggers up 2-0 four minutes later.
After Hickey and Hellyer replied for the Rock, Dickson finished off a nice three-way passing play for his 30th goal of the season at 11:25 of the opening frame. Digby took a pass in the slot from Jeff Shattler before quickly dishing off to Dickson for the goal.
Just like they did in the first quarter, the ’Necks struck early in the second as Digby snapped a shot through Rose’s legs 29 seconds after the break.
Shortly after Leung tallied a shorthanded marker, Hickey scored a power-play goal for the Rock. Dickson then bounced a shot through his own legs and past Rose during a man advantage for the Riggers before Hickey completed his hat trick when he converted a nice pass from Colin Doyle for a quick-stick goal.
Not to be outdone, Dickson finished off his hat trick to put the ’Necks up 7-4 when he skipped a shot off the turf and into the top corner behind Rose at 9:56 of the second for Calgary’s second shorthanded goal of the quarter.
Marshall scored at 1:38 of the third quarter to pull the Rock within two goals before Dobbie sandwiched a pair of goals around a shorthanded breakaway tally by Dickson, his fourth of the game.
After goals by Sanderson and Beirnes, the Riggers took a 10-7 advantage into the final frame.
Dickson scored two more goals by the 3:31 mark of the fourth quarter to complete his sock trick before the Rock scored three of the next four goals – two by Hellyer and one by Doyle – to pull Toronto back within three goals.
That’s as close as the Rock would get as Leung put the game away with two straight empty-net goals.
Next up, the Roughnecks will host the West Division leading Colorado Mammoth (8-2) at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Saturday, March 18.
Story by Laurence Heinen for CalgaryRoughnecks.com. Photo by Graig Abel.
