Sting Lose Third Straight Game
February 18, 2006 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Arizona Sting News Release
GLENDALE, ARIZONA --- The Arizona Sting fell victim to a desperate team on Saturday night, as the Calgary Roughnecks, fresh off an embarrassing home loss to the hapless Edmonton Rush, put forth an impressive effort against Arizona in a game that they needed to win to in order to remain in contention in the NLL's West Division. After falling behind 9-3 in the first half, the Sting mounted a modest comeback in the third quarter, but were ultimately unable to climb back out of the hole in which they had dug themselves early on.
Dan Dawson got things underway with a goal 40 seconds into the first quarter to provide the Sting with what would prove be their only lead of the night. Calgary then scored four unanswered goals before Bruce Murray ripped a shot that beat goaltender Curtis Palidwor to pull the Sting within two goals in the early going.
Kevin Dostie scored his second goal of the night to open the second quarter, extending Calgary's lead to three goals. Jason Wulder made the score 6-2 in the Roughneck's favor on a power play tally at the 5:29 mark of the second. Lewis Ratcliff and Tracey Kelusky continued the Roughneck onslaught, scoring goals 100 seconds apart to make the score 8-2 for Calgary. Andy Biers made the score 9-2 before Jonas Derks scored near the end of the first half to pull the Sting within six goals. Arizona was out-shot 29-20 in the opening two quarters.
Jason Crosbie scored the opening goal of the second half, netting his sixth of the season at the 9:24 mark of the third quarter. Pat Maddalena scored to make the score 9-5 before Taylor Wray netted the tenth Calgary goal of the night to give the Roughnecks a five goal advantage going into the fourth quarter. Goaltender Rob Blasdell played phenomenally in the third period, holding Calgary to a single tally and making several spectacular saves.
"We tried to make a comeback, but we didn't get there," said Blasdell "The opposition played extremely well tonight and we will just have to rebound from this and try and get back into first place."
Matt Brown and Craig Conn scored back-to-back goals to bring Arizona back to within four with just over seven minutes remaining in regulation. Kyle Goundrey put Calgary back up by five two-and-a-half minutes later and Kevin Dostie scored on a penalty shot (awarded due to an illegal substitution by Arizona) to cement the Calgary victory and send the Sting fans home unhappy.
Head Coach/General Manager Bob Hamley was decidedly unimpressed with his team's effort, but gave credit to Calgary for playing an impressive four quarters of lacrosse.
"Full marks to Calgary," said Hamley. "They played desperate and we didn't. They came to play and we didn't. We really need to look in the mirror after this game, both players and coaches, to see how we can bounce back in the second half after suffering three straight losses. This is disappointing to say the least."
Forward Dan Dawson echoed his coach's sentiments following the demoralizing inter-division loss. "We didn't play well tonight, that's the bottom line," said Dawson. "We just need to get back to basics and put a winning streak together after the break."
Five members Sting will take part in next weekend's All-Star Game in Toronto. The whole team will see action March 4 as they travel to Edmonton to take on the 1-6 Rush.
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