Roughnecks embrace Superhero roles to roll Panther City
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The Dynamic Duo showed up to the Superhero Party at Scotiabank Saddledome.
So, too, did Thing, Aquaman, Superman II, The Flash, The Mailman and the Cookie Monster.
It really was a whole host of Calgary Roughnecks avengers in on the action Saturday night, as the local heroes put together enough of a show of force to topple the visiting Panther City Lacrosse Club.
Indeed, the 12-5 triumph was underscored by a powerful push offensively, with plenty of home-side peacekeepers getting in on the attack led by the Dynamic Duo of Jesse King and Tyler Pace on WestJet Field at Scotiabank Saddledome in front of 11,404 fans.
“Batman and Robin … I’m Batman,” said Pace, cracking a tight smile after his two-goal game to complement King’s hat-trick.
“Sure,” agreed King. “You can be Batman.”
Kyle ‘Aquaman’ Waters and Tanner ‘Cookie Monster’ Cook also chipped in with two goals apiece, while Haiden ‘Superman II’ Dickson, Shane ‘The Flash’ Simpson and Josh ‘The Mailman’ Currier each delivered singles in the National Lacrosse League victory.
And at the other end, it was Christian Del Bianco — looking like the brick-wall ‘Thing’ — with his usual goaltending heroics, stopping 31 shots fired at him by Panther City to give him a career-high 11th win on the National Lacrosse League season.
The decision also meant an 11th victory on the NLL schedule for the Roughnecks — for the first time since 2014.
Even better, it propelled the Riggers (11-5) one step closer to hosting at least one home playoff game — after they clinched a berth in the post-season last week — because they now own a two-game lead over third-place Panther City (9-7) with only two weeks remaining in the regular season.
They are firmly entrenched in second spot of the NLL’s West Conference, trailing only the top-spot San Diego Seals (11-3).
“Just being able to potentially clinch a home playoff game is huge for us,” Pace said. “It gives our management time to potentially sell some tickets and put a big crowd into our stadium. And whenever we have 12,000, 13,000, 17,000 people in our stadium, it’s tough for the other team to come into and awesome for us.”
It was PCLC goalie Nick Damude, despite a solid 34-save effort, who felt the Roughnecks wrath on this night.
For the fifth straight affair, King opened Roughnecks scoring — this one on a goal 4:44 into the game to beat Damude over the far shoulder.
King capped first-half scoring for the Riggers, as well, with a no-look shot from the slot on the power play.
In between, Waters and Cook also fired long shots to beat Damude before Waters scored in tight — for his second of the evening — and Dickson made a beauty move, diving into the crease.
In the meantime, it was the Phil Caputo Show for Panther City, as he netted both goals to beat Del Bianco in the opening half.
The villains fought back to start the second half, with Tony Malcom and Cam Wengreniuk finding room behind Del Bianco for the first two goals to cut their deficit to 6-4.
But a power-play goal by Tyler Pace — on another strong shot from well out to cap King’s feed — put the Roughnecks back on top by three.
And another by Pace snapped home from in close in the waning seconds of the third quarter — again on a King assist — re-staked the four-goal lead they owned at the half.
“That’s a playoff mentality we tried to come out with,” said Roughnecks head coach Curt Malawsky. “We wanted to play fast — we wanted to be really aggressive. There’s going to be highs and lows in the game, and they battled back to within a couple. We went from 6-4 to 8-4, and next thing you know, we just kind of took off. When our defence is getting stops and we’re pounding them, it takes pressure off our offence and we can just do our job and stay the course.”
To start the fourth frame, Simpson picked up a loose ball, took off in transition and totally fooled Damude with a major move.
That was followed by King’s hat-trick tally, again on the power play, on a feed from Pace.
After Malcom netted his second of the night for the visitors, Currier scored on a strong outside shot and Cook rounded out scoring in tight.
While King and Pace — each with a game-high six points — were the superhero headliners, Cook and Waters were solid sidekicks.
“We always joke with Cookie and Waty being these two big guys — they don’t look like much when you see them in street-clothes,” Del Bianco said. “But Cookie has that edge and a ton of grit. It’s nice to see another guy like Waters getting some good bounces and some goals. And they are kind of those glue guys in our dressing room, because you watch them argue and do dumb stuff, but when it comes to game-time, they buckle it up. Like they work so hard and go to the dirty areas — the stuff you don’t see on a stat-sheet.”
Added Pace, “Off the floor, they’re the dynamic duo. It helps our locker room thrive. And I would argue that we have the best locker room in the league, and those two are a massive part of that. To see them get rewarded with goals from hard work and grit, it’s exciting for the bench.”
The Roughnecks are back on their home floor next Friday, when they play host to the Las Vegas Desert Dogs at the Dome (7 p.m.).
QUICK STICKS
For the third time in his career, T Zach Currier reached the 200 loose-ball recovery mark with his efforts Saturday night … Both Pace and D Jeff Cornwall drew back into the Roughnecks lineup after missing last week’s loss to the host San Diego Seals … Both D Mitch Wilde (lower body) and T Ethan Ticehurst (lower body) remains injured and didn’t play against Panther City … Scratches for the home side were D Kieran McKay and F Zach Herreweyers … D Nick Scott was released by the Roughnecks earlier in the week.
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