Calgary Roughnecks Game Preview - Saturday, May 7 at Colorado

May 7, 2016 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Calgary Roughnecks News Release

CALGARY ROUGHNECKS (8-10) at COLORADO MAMMOTH (12-6)

Saturday - 7:00 p.m. - Pepsi Center

WEST DIVISION SEMIFINAL

Tonight the third-seed Calgary Roughnecks will open the 2016 NLL Playoffs against the second-seed Colorado Mammoth in the West Division semifinal at Pepsi Center in Denver. The Roughnecks finished the regular season with an 18-17 overtime win against the Toronto Rock last Saturday in front of 15,980 fans at the Scotiabank Saddledome. Calgary rookie Wesley Berg scored the game winner, his sixth of the night, just over four minutes into the extra frame. The 23-year-old Denver resident added an assist to finish his personal-best goal effort with a seven-point performance. Calgary also received goals from Jeff Shattler (4), Curtis Dickson (4), Tyler Digby, Peter McFetridge, Garrett McIntosh and Karsen Leung who returned to the lineup following a three-game absence with an upper-body injury. Dan MacRae, rookie Reilly O'Connor and Brandon Goodwin contributed on the attack with four helpers each while Mike Poulin, who received the start for Calgary, and Frankie Scigliano combined for 43 saves in the regular season finale. Colorado, who has only lost one home game this campaign, wrapped up the regular season with an 11-10 win against the Vancouver Stealth last weekend.

ROUGHNECKS BROADCAST INFORMATION

TV: TSN2

Webcast: TSN GO

________________________________

PLAYOFF PICTURE

Results: Round 1

- May 6: East Division Semifinal ... Georgia (13) at New England (14) - OT

NOTEWORTHY

HEAD-TO-HEAD: 2016 REGULAR SEASON

Category

Roughnecks (7-11)

Mammoth (9-9)

Home Record

4-5

6-3

Away Record

3-6

Goals For

212

Goals Against

217

218

Power Play Pct.

55.29

49.43

Penalty Kill Pct.

64.36

46.84

Faceoffs Won-Taken

302-495 (61.0%)

235-502 (46.8%)

Loose Balls

1,066

1,023

Points Leader - Series

Evans (26)

Jones (15)

Points Leader - Season

Evans (130)

Jones (93)

VS COLORADO: This evening marks the ninth time the Roughnecks and Mammoth have met in the post-season. Last year on May 9, the two clubs faced off at Pepsi Center in the opening round of the playoffs with Calgary defeating the Mammoth 11-6 to advance to the West Division final. Four Roughnecks players recorded five-point efforts in the semifinal victory including Curtis Dickson (3g, 2a), Dane Dobbie (1g, 4a) and Jeff Shattler (5a). Frankie Scigliano, in his first career playoff start, made 45 saves to pick up the win while Dillon Ward and Alex Buque had a combined 40 stops for Colorado.

Playoff Records

- All-Time: 7-1

- All-Time in CGY: 4-0

- All-Time in COL: 3-1

- Last CGY Win: May 9/15, 11-6 at Pepsi Center

- Last COL Win: Apr. 22/06, 18-17 OT at Pepsi Center

Regular Season Series Recap

Calgary and Colorado met three times during the regular season with the Mammoth picking up two wins in the series including an overtime victory. Curtis Dickson (8g, 10a) led Calgary with 18 points against the Mammoth while Callum Crawford (6g, 14a) topped Colorado with 20 points in the regular season series.

- Feb. 13/16 at CGY: COL 13 CGY 8 ... The Mammoth stretched a 7-5 third-quarter lead to a 13-8 win.

- Mar. 19/16 at CGY: CGY 13 COL 9 ... Mike Poulin made 48 saves in the victory.

- Mar. 26/16 at COL: COL 13 CGY 12 (OT) ... John Grant Jr. scored at 1:56 of overtime, his fourth goal of the game.

- Shots on Goal: CGY 156 COL 160

- Power Plays: CGY 5-9 (55.6%) COL 5-8 (62.5%)

Regular Season Records

- All-Time: 17-21

- All-Time in CGY: 11-10

- All-Time in COL: 6-11

- Last CGY Win: Mar. 19/16, 13-9 at the Scotiabank Saddledome

- Last COL Win: Mar. 26/16, 13-12 OT at Pepsi Center

Did You Know

Since 2012, the Roughnecks and Mammoth have seen eight of their 14 regular season games go to overtime. Colorado holds the advantage during this span, winning seven of the eight extra-frame contests. Mammoth star John Grant Jr. has scored four of the seven overtime winners.

POST-SEASON EXPERIENCE: Calgary has a combined 226 games of playoff experience. Jeff Shattler leads all Roughnecks players with 23 post-season games played. Dane Dobbie tops the team in playoff points with 79 (40g, 39a).

PLAYOFF RECORD: Calgary has an all-time post-season record of 15-14. The Roughnecks have competed in eight playoff games against Colorado, posting a 4-0 record when playing at home and 3-1 mark on the road. Calgary is 2-1 all-time in playoff overtime games.

HOW TIGHT IT IS: Dating back to the start of the season, the Roughnecks and Mammoth have now met four times with the winning team scoring 13 goals in each regular season victory ... In two of the three regular season contests, the winning team held their opponent to under 10 goals ... Two of the three regular season games saw Calgary and Colorado tied 5-5 after the first half ... In 12 regular season quarters, both clubs outscored their opponent six times.

ELITE COMPANY: Curtis Dickson finished the regular season with a career-high 61 goals, setting a new franchise single-season goals record. Previous records were held by Dane Dobbie (51, 2014), Lewis Ratcliff (50, 2007) and Tracey Kelusky (45, 2005). Dickson is now the fourth player in NLL history to reach the 60-goal plateau, joining the company of Dhane Smith, who set a new league record with 72 markers this season, Athan Iannucci (71, 2008) and Gary Gait (61, 2003).

COMMUNITY SUPPORT: On Apr. 28, the Calgary Roughnecks proudly announced the Star Wars-themed jersey auction, held from April 6-25 at ElevateAuctions.com, raised a site-best $24,900. The auction dollars combined with private donations saw a total of $25,200 directed to STARS Air Ambulance. The limited edition jersey, featuring Darth Vader, the Death Star, TIE fighters and the Imperial Star Destroyer, made its one and only appearance of the 2016 NLL season on Apr. 9 when the Roughnecks hosted the Vancouver Stealth in the first-ever Star Wars Night at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

COLLEGIATE HONOURS: Last month, Roughnecks rookie Wesley Berg was honoured by the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame as the Male Collegiate Athlete of the Year. Berg spent his collegiate career with Denver University's men's lacrosse team, helping the Pioneers capture the NCAA championship in 2015. With DU from 2012-15, Berg became the Pioneers' all-time leader in points (255) and goals (188). Calgary selected Berg, who was named the NLL Rookie of the Month for March, fourth overall in the 2015 NLL Draft.

CAREER YEAR: Jeff Shattler recorded four assists on Apr. 2 against Saskatchewan to become the franchise's new all-time assists leader at 355. He eclipsed the previous mark of 354 set by Kaleb Toth who suited up for the Roughnecks from 2002-12. In Week 16, Shattler surpassed 600 career NLL points with an eight-point game against Vancouver. He also eclipsed 1,000 career loose balls, becoming the 23rd player in league history to achieve this feat. Shattler, now in his 10th season with Calgary, has 366 career assists, 614 career points and 1,014 career loose balls.

NAIL-BITERS: Nine of Calgary's 18 regular season games were decided by one goal with the Roughnecks winning three and losing six one-goal decisions. Calgary was 1-2 in two-goal games and 3-0 in four-goal contests. In games decided by five or more goals, the Roughnecks were 1-2.

ROUGHNECKS VS: (BUF 0-1), (COL 1-2), (GA 2-0), (NE 1-0), (ROC 0-1), (SAS 0-4), (TOR 2-0), (VAN 2-2)

RECORD WHEN:

Leading entering second half......3-3 Outshooting opponent...... 4-3

Trailing entering second half.......4-4 Outshot...........................3-7

Tied entering second half...........1-3 Shots are tied..................1-0

REGULAR SEASON TOP 10: Curtis Dickson finished the regular season with the second-most goals in the NLL at 61 while his career-high 107 points ranked seventh. Of his 61 goals, 13 came on the power play (tied for third among all players) while his six shorthanded markers topped all players. Tyler Digby netted 11 goals while on the man-advantage, tied for 10th in the league. Greg Harnett and Dickson wrapped up the regular season in a 12-way tie for eighth in the NLL with two game-winning goals each. Jeff Shattler's career-high 57 assists placed him in a three-way tie for ninth in the league. Dan MacRae closed the regular season with a career-high 21 points (4g, 17a), tied for top spot among all defenders, while Jon Harnett finished eighth with 12 points (3g, 9a). Wesley Berg recorded 67 points (27g, 40a) in his regular season debut, third best among all rookies, while Reilly O'Connor finished seventh among first-year players with 36 points (6g, 30a). Tyson Bell led all rookies with 49 penalty minutes and finished seventh in loose balls with 71. Mike Poulin closed the 18-game regular season fourth among league goaltenders with an 11.46 goals-against average and fellow netminder Frankie Scigliano finished ninth with a 12.20 goals-against average.

TRADE WINDS: Oct.26 - Acquired forward Tyler Digby, a first-round pick in the 2018 NLL Draft and a first-round selection in 2019 from the New England Black Wolves in exchange for forward Shawn Evans and a 2018 third-round pick; Dec. 28 - Acquired transition player Brandon Goodwin from the Buffalo Bandits in exchange for defenceman Mitch de Snoo.

PLAYOFF MILESTONES

- Dan MacRae is four loose balls shy of 50.

- Dane Dobbie needs five loose balls to hit 50. With 11 more assists, he will reach 50.

- Karsen Leung is seven loose balls away from 50.

- Mike Carnegie is 18 loose balls shy of 100.

- Mike Poulin is 73 saves away from 500.

TRANSACTIONS

APRIL 2016

- 3rd - Placed defenceman Mike Carnegie on the Injured Reserve List - Second Level (lower body) from the Active Roster ... Placed transition player Bob Snider on the Active Roster from the Injured Reserve List - Second Level (maintaining Practice Player tag).

- 7th - Kept transition player Karsen Leung on the Injured Reserve List - First Level.

- 13th - Placed transition player Bob Snider on the Practice Player List from the Active Roster ... Placed transition player Karsen Leung on the Active Roster from the Injured Reserve List - First Level.

- 16th - Placed transition player Curtis Manning on the Short-term Holdout List from the Active Roster ... Placed transition player Brandon Goodwin on the Active Roster from the Practice Player List (maintaining Practice Player tag).

- 19th - Placed transition player Curtis Manning on the Active Roster from the Short-term Holdout List ... Placed transition player Brandon Goodwin on the Practice Player List from the Active Roster.

- 25th - Placed forward Dane Dobbie on the Injured Reserve List - First Level from the Active Roster ... Placed transition player Brandon Goodwin on the Active Roster from the Practice Player List (maintaining Practice Player tag).

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