Sting Set To Battle The Calgary Roughnecks In West Division Semifinal On Saturday
April 18, 2007 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Arizona Sting News Release
The Arizona Sting will be heading into familiar territory this Saturday night, needing a win at the hostile Pengrowth Saddledome in order to advance in the NLL Champion's Cup Playoffs. The Sting defeated Calgary in their only previous post-season visit to southern Alberta, vanquishing the then-defending league champions by a score of 19-15 on April 30, 2005 to capture the West Division Championship.
Arizona finished the '07 regular season with a record of 9-7, a mark that equals their franchise high for wins in a season (2005). Several Sting players set career highs this year, including Dan Dawson (points - 107), Lindsay Plunkett (goals - 31), and Craig Conn (points - 76). The team's defense allowed only 181 goals this year, the second best total in the National Lacrosse League. In addition, goaltender Rob Blasdell posted a G.A.A. of 10.94 - his best mark since becoming a full-time starter in the league in 2000.
Several team records were set in 2007 as well, with Dan Dawson shattering his own record for points in a season by tallying 47G-60A-107P on the year - 23 points more than he registered in 2005 (48G-36A-84P). Team Captain Peter Lough also set a new record for loose balls in a season by scooping up 118 on the year. In addition, 'The Punisher' set a Sting record by registering 21 LB against the Minnesota Swarm on April 14. Curt Malawsky's three straight game-winning goals also set a new Arizona record, and Lindsay Plunkett's sniping of 14 power play goals this season is highest one-season total in team history.
Despite all of the success accrued by the team during the regular season, the coaching staff and players are all focused on the task at hand: a third straight appearance in the West Division Championship.
"This is a whole new season in a lot of ways," said third-year defender Chris McKay. "The regular season is ancient history as far as we're concerned, and all we're worried about is beating Calgary on Saturday."
The Sting finished in third place in the NLL West Division despite a three-game skid to end the season. Head Coach/GM Bob Hamley is confident that his team will be able to turn things around quickly and open up the '07 playoffs with a road win in Calgary.
"This team has a great deal of resolve and I'm very confident in our ability to rebound after a disappointing end to the regular season," said Hamley. "It has been a miserable last couple of weeks for us, but we're going to be very well prepared for the Roughnecks and hopefully we can come up with a big win in their building."
Roughnecks bench boss Jeff Dowling is confident that the two-game road winning streak posted by his squad to end the season will carry over into their first round match with the Sting.
"Things really came together for us last weekend," said Dowling, referring to the Riggers' back-to-back road wins over Arizona and Edmonton. "We played two solid games and earned the right to host the opening round match in our building as a result. These two teams (Arizona and Calgary) are very familiar with one another and I expect Saturday's game to be very competitive and entertaining."
Game time on Saturday is set for 7:30pm MST/6:30pm PST. Fans can catch all the action live by logging onto B2 Networks (www.b2live.com).
STING ALL-TIME VERSUS CALGARY:
Reg. Season:
Overall:
Record: 3-7
In Calgary:
Record: 0-5
Playoffs:
Overall:
Record: 1-0
In Calgary:
Record: 1-0
TOP SCORERS:
CGY: Lewis Ratcliff (16GP-50G-54A-104P); Tracey Kelusky (16GP-35G-53A-88P); Kaleb Toth (16GP-28G-27A-75P); Scott Ranger (16GP-24G-19A-43P); Kyle Goundrey (15GP-11G-28A-39P)
ARZ: Dan Dawson (16GP-47G-60A-107P); Craig Conn (16GP-21G-55A-76P); Lindsay Plunkett (16GP-31G-35A-66P); Derek Malawsky (16GP-20G-35A-55P); Curt Malawsky (15GP-24G-21A-45P)
GOALTENDERS:
CGY: Ryan Avery (4-0 record, 10.64 G.A.A., .782 save %); Andrew Leyshon (5-7 record, 13.10 G.A.A., .782 save %)
ARZ: Rob Blasdell (9-5 record, 10.94 G.A.A., .761 save %); Mike Attwood (0-2 record, 13.14 G.A.A., .699 save %)
STING FORWARDS VERSUS ROUGHNECKS (Career):
Player GP G A P GPG APG PPG
Dan Dawson 13 28 35 63 2.15 2.69 4.85
Derek Malawsky 9 15 26 41 1.67 2.89 4.56
Mark Tinning 1 2 2 4 2.0 2.0 4.0
Lindsay Plunkett 9 11 23 34 1.22 2.56 3.78
Curt Malawsky 10 17 20 37 1.7 2.0 3.7
Craig Conn 10 16 20 36 1.6 2.0 3.6
Matt Brown 6 7 8 15 1.17 1.33 2.5
Andy Secore 2 1 1 2 0.5 0.5 1.0
STING FORWARDS VERSUS ROUGHNECKS (2007):
Player GP G A P GPG APG PPG
Dan Dawson 3 6 13 19 2.0 4.33 6.33
Derek Malawsky 3 8 9 17 2.67 3.0 5.67
Craig Conn 3 4 13 17 1.33 3.33 5.67
Lindsay Plunkett 3 5 11 16 1.67 3.67 5.33
Curt Malawsky 3 6 4 10 2.0 1.33 3.33
Matt Brown 3 4 2 6 1.33 0.67 2.0
Andy Secore 1 0 1 1 0.0 1.0 1.0
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National Lacrosse League Stories from April 18, 2007
- Sting Set To Battle The Calgary Roughnecks In West Division Semifinal On Saturday - Arizona Sting
- Minnesota Swarm's Nick Patterson Named NLL Defensive Player of the Week - Minnesota Swarm
- Roughnecks Practice Open To Public - Calgary Roughnecks
- Knighthawks' Steve Toll Wins Weekly Award - Rochester Knighthawks
- Jax Merrill 2007 NLL looseball leader - Portland Lumberjax
- Lacrosse Young Guns To Duel At The Saddledome - Calgary Roughnecks
- Luke Wiles Named Offensive And Overall Player Of The Week - San Jose Stealth
- Wiles Captures Player Of The Week Award - NLL
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