Roughnecks lose heartbreaker in OT
January 12, 2007 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Calgary Roughnecks News Release
Calgary, AB - The 12,370 fans in attendance at the Pengrowth Saddledome Saturday night certainly got their money's worth, although they weren't pleased with the final outcome.
Luke Wiles scored his second goal of the game at 11:42 of overtime to lead the visiting San Jose Stealth to a thrilling 17-16 win over the Calgary Roughnecks in their home opener. Wiles finished the contest with two goals and two assists, while Jeff Zywicki notched seven goals for the visitors.
Lewis Ratcliff paced the Calgary scoring attack with four goals and four assists, while Riggers captain Tracey Kelusky (3g, 4a), Kerry Susheski (3g) and Kaleb Toth (2g, 3a) also had multiple-goal games. Kyle Goundrey (1g, 2a), Jeff Moleski (1g, 1a), Nolan Heavenor (1g, 1a) and Scott Ranger also hit the scoresheet, while Shawn Cable had three assists and Jeff Shattler contributed with two helpers.
Toth picked up eight loose balls in the contest to up his total to 601 in his NLL career.
For San Jose (1-1), Colin Doyle had an impressive nine assists in the contest, while Gary Rosyki (2g, 3a), Callum Crawford (2g, 2a), Eric Martin (4a), Cam Sedgwick (1g, 2a) also Curtis Hodgson (1g, 1a) had multiple-point games. Rounding out the scoring for San Jose were Kyle Sorensen and Wes Green.
The Stealth opened the scoring 32 seconds into the game when Rosyki's low shot beat Calgary goalie Andrew Leyshon. After Kelusky notched a short-handed goal at 2:03, Zywicki counted a pair of power-play markers to put San Jose up 3-1.
The Riggers cut the lead to 4-3 before the end of the first quarter before the Stealth went up 6-3 early in the second quarter. Ratcliff and Goundrey then replied with goals for Calgary to narrow San Jose's lead to one goal.
After Goundrey's marker, San Jose goalie Anthony Cosmo disputed the goal and argued the fact with NLL crew chief Grant Spies. While doing so, he hit Spies with his goalie stick and was subsequently assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and a game misconduct. That forced San Jose coach Walt Christianson to put back-up netmdiner Aaron Bold in between the pipes. Bold helped the Peterborough Junior A Lakers win the Minto Cup this past summer.
The Roughnecks couldn't capitalize on the opportunity right away and it was the Stealth who seemed to gain a spark from losing their starter as they scored twice to build up an 8-5 lead. Before the end of the half, Toth spun around to elude a defender and then knocked another to the ground before snapping a shot past Bold to narrow Calgary's deficit to two goals.
In the third it was all Roughnecks as they outscored the Stealth 9-2 to take a 15-10 lead. During the quarter, Ranger, a former member of the Stealth, notched his first-ever goal as a Roughneck on a nice feed from Kelusky. Toth's second goal of the game was a beautiful behind-the-back shot at 4:18 of the quarter to put the Roughnecks up 10-9, their first lead of the game. Susheski, who played with the expansion Edmonton Rush last season, scored his first three goals as a Roughneck during the quarter as well.
San Jose then rebounded to score three times to start off the fourth quarter and pull to within two goals before Heavenor scored his first goal as a Roughneck to put Calgary up 16-13 with 7:53 to play in the contest.
The Stealth weren't finished though as they reeled off three more goals, including Crawford's second of the contest with 1:05 left to go in regulation, to tie the game and send it to overtime.
In overtime, Bold proved tougher to beat than he was in the third quarter as he made at least three quality saves on Ratcliff and others on Kelusky and Toth. The Riggers outshot the Stealth 10-9 in the extra frame and finished the contest with a 67-52 advantage on the shot clock.
Zywicki nearly connected on his eighth of the game twice, but both times he hit the post. Leyshon made good saves on shots by Martin and Rosyki to keep the game tied before Wiles spoiled Calgary's first contest of the season.
Next up, the Roughnecks head up north for a Saturday night tilt against the Edmonton Rush before they return home next Saturday night for a home game against the Colorado Mammoth at 7:30 p.m.
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National Lacrosse League Stories from January 12, 2007
- Roughnecks lose heartbreaker in OT - Calgary Roughnecks
- Knighthawks announce promotional schedule - Rochester Knighthawks
- Mammoth signs Davidson - Colorado Mammoth
- Sting set for Saturday night showdown with San Jose - Arizona Sting
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