Stealth eliminated from NLL playoffs
April 19, 2004 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
San Jose Stealth News Release
SAN JOSE - The San Jose Stealth saw their inaugural 2003-04 season end on Sunday night as they lost to the Calgary Roughnecks, 15-14, in the Western Conference Semifinals of the National Lacrosse League Playoffs, before a crowd of 4,874 at HP Pavilion at San Jose.
Calgary (11-6) advances to the NLL Western Conference Finals and will face the Colorado Mammoth at 1 p.m., Mountain Time, on April 24 at Denver's Pepsi Center.
San Jose (11-6) was paced by Rusty Kruger's game-high six goals. Kruger scored five of those six goals in the first half. Gary Rosyski was second on the Stealth with three goals. He also led San Jose with five assists.
Calgary's top scorer was Tracy Keluski with five goals. Lewis Ratcliffe led the Roughnecks with five assists.
The Stealth was down 4-2 in the second quarter when Kruger scored three straight goals. His last two goals came 43 seconds apart (7:05 and 7:48) and gave the Stealth their lone lead of the night at 5-4. But San Jose's lead was short-lived as the Roughnecks scored four consecutive goals - three during a 51-second time span. Two of those goals came from Keluski.
San Jose scored three of the last four goals of the first half and was down 9-8 at halftime. However, Calgary scored all five goals in the third quarter and led 14-8 going into the fourth quarter.
The Stealth rallied by scoring five consecutive goals - two by Josh Sanderson -- to cut Calgary's lead to 14-13. But Calgary's Andrew McBride scored an empty-net goal at 14:53 to secure the win for the Roughnecks. Rosyski scored his third goal of the game six seconds later, but time ran out on the Stealth.
In addition to the offense, Calgary was paced by goaltender Curtis Palidwor, who saved 47 of 61 shots.
STEALTH NOTES: San Jose outshot Calgary, 61-46, including a 17-shot barrage in the fourth quarter...The defeat was San Jose's second at home. Their previous home loss came on March 13, a 17-14 decision to Calgary...The loss snapped San Jose's four-game winning streak. Wins during that streak came against Anaheim (twice), Arizona and Calgary...Before Sunday's game, San Jose had won two of the three regular season meetings against the Roughnecks...The Stealth was the most successful of the NLL's three expansion teams. Their 11-6 overall record (11-5, second in the Western Conference in regular season) was better than the Arizona Sting (7-9, fourth) and the Anaheim Storm (1-15, sixth).
• Discuss this story on the National Lacrosse League message board...
National Lacrosse League Stories from April 19, 2004
- Bandits Hold Practice at HSBC Arena Tomorrow - Buffalo Bandits
- Mammoth to Host Roughnecks Saturday - Colorado Mammoth
- Stealth eliminated from NLL playoffs - San Jose Stealth
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
