Sting Wrap Up Regular Season With Two Huge Games This Weekend

April 12, 2007 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Arizona Sting News Release


The only thing that members of the Arizona Sting know for certain entering the final weekend of the NLL's regular season is that they will be playing beyond Week #16. Who and where they play in the opening round of the Champion's Cup Playoffs is very much up in the air however. With a record of 9-5, the second-place Sting have a chance to finish first in the West Division with a pair of wins this weekend and a pair of losses by the Colorado Mammoth. Arizona could also finish third or fourth depending on how San Jose and Calgary fare in their weekend matches. All things considered, it will definitely be an intense few days for all involved in the 2007 NLL playoff race.

"There are a lot of different scenarios in play this weekend we're definitely happy to have clinched a post-season spot already," said Sting Head Coach/GM Bob Hamley in Wednesday's pre-game press conference. "That being said, we definitely want to go into the playoffs on a high note, and this weekend gives us the chance to build some real momentum and fine tune our lineup as we get ready to take another shot at bringing a Champion's Cup back to the desert."

On Friday night, the 7-7 Calgary Roughnecks will make their second trip to Jobing.com Arena this season. Earlier this year, on March 16, the Sting beat the Riggers by a score of 14-10 in Glendale in a match that featured a dominating performance from All-Star goalie Rob Blasdell (38 saves and an empty net goal). Blasdell and the Sting were not quite as impressive the following week though, as the Roughnecks pulled out a 14-12 win at the Pengrowth Saddledome despite a late surge of offense from the Sting, who at one point in the contest trailed 7-1. This week's grudge match is of paramount importance to the Roughnecks, who have yet to clinch a playoff spot entering the regular season's final days.

"This is a huge weekend for our team," said Roughnecks Head Coach Jeff Dowling. "Ultimately, we control our own destiny, and if we play up to our potential and take care of business on our end, we don't have to worry about any other teams winning or losing."

Last weekend the Roughnecks fell to the Edmonton Rush by a score of 13-12 on their home floor, keeping their provincial rivals' playoff hopes alive in doing so. Only two Roughnecks forwards registered goals in that match, with Lewis Ratcliff (7G-4A-11P) and Tracey Kelusky (5G-3A-8P) providing the entirety of Calgary's offensive production.

"Lewis and Tracey were playing so well last Friday that everyone was trying to get them the ball on every possession," said Dowling. "We'd definitely like to do a better job of ball distribution and hopefully we'll see more guys contributing offensively against the Sting this week."

The Sting will be guaranteed at least one home playoff game with a win over Calgary on Friday night. The Roughnecks have won just once in the Valley of the Sun since Arizona's 19-15 West Division Championship win over the Riggers in 2005.

"We love playing in our building," says Team Captain Peter Lough, whose team is 6-1 at Jobing.com Arena thus far in 2007. "Calgary and Arizona have a really great rivalry going and I'm sure Friday's game will be very entertaining for our fans."

Following their tilt with the Roughnecks, the Sting will travel to the North Star State for a Saturday night showdown with the Minnesota Swarm. The Swarm are currently in third place in the East Division, but have yet to submit their completed RSVP to the NLL's 2007 Playoff Party, needing to win at least one of their two remaining games to do so. Following a Friday night match versus the Philadelphia Wings, Minnesota will return to the Xcel Energy Center to play host to Arizona for the first time in franchise history. Swarm bench boss Duane Jacobs has a lot of respect for the Sting, and is anticipating a hard-fought contest in St. Paul on Saturday.

"Arizona is a very dynamic team," said Jacobs on Wednesday. "They have a lot of guys that can put the ball in the net and their defense is very solid. I think the game will come down to special teams, so hopefully we can play disciplined lacrosse and not give them too many chances on the power play."

The Sting and Swarm have only played once since Minnesota entered the league two years ago, with Arizona prevailing by a score of 17-16 on February 18, 2005 in Glendale. In that match, Sting forward and 2007 NLL MVP candidate Dan Dawson set a career high by scoring six goals. Coach Hamley is looking forward to the challenge of facing a team that his players are relatively unfamiliar with.

"Minnesota has arguably the best young team in the league," said Hamley. "We'll definitely have our hands full on Saturday and we're looking forward to making our first trip up there in team history."

Friday night's match versus Calgary will be shown live on COX 7 and also on B2 Networks (www.b2live.com). Saturday's game will be shown on B2 Networks.

WEEKEND MATCH-UPS:

Sting All-Time Versus:

Calgary

Record: 3-6

Goals For: 97

Goals Against: 128

Minnesota

Record: 1-0

Goals For: 17

Goals Against: 16

TOP SCORERS (as of 4/12/07):

ARZ: Dan Dawson (14GP-43G-52A-95P); Craig Conn (14GP-15G-49A-64P); Lindsay Plunkett (14GP-31G-29A-60P); Derek Malawsky (14GP-15G-29A-44P); Curt Malawsky (13GP-19G-16A-35P)

CAL: Lewis Ratcliff (14GP-45G-45A-90P); Tracey Kelusky (14GP-32G-43A-75P); Kaleb Toth (14GP-24G-38A-62P); Kyle Goundrey (13GP-10G-25A-35P); Scott Ranger (14GP-16G-18A-34P)

MIN: Ryan Ward (13GP-18G-48A-66P); Sean Pollock (13GP-22G-37A-59P); Mike Hominuck (12GP-18G-34A-52P); Dean Hill (12GP-27G-15A-42P); Kasey Beirnes (13GP-20G-18A-38P); Spencer Martin (12GP-12G-26A-38P)

GOALTENDERS (as of 4/12/07):

ARZ: Rob Blasdell (9-3 record, 10.51 G.A.A., .770 save %); Mike Attwood (0-2 record, 12.73 G.A.A., .701 save %)

CAL: Andrew Leyshon (5-7 record, 12.83 G.A.A., .740 save %); Ryan Avery (2-0 record, 12.14 G.A.A., .764 save %)

MIN: Nick Patterson (6-5 record, 11.77 G.A.A., .766 save %); Matt Disher (1-2 record, 16.39 G.A.A., .673 save %)

STING FORWARDS VERSUS ROUGHNECKS (Career):

Player GP G A P GPG APG PPG

Dan Dawson 12 27 32 44 2.25 2.70 4.95

Derek Malawsky 8 14 22 36 1.75 2.75 4.50

Lindsay Plunkett 8 11 18 29 1.38 2.25 3.63

Curt Malawsky 9 14 18 32 1.56 2.00 3.56

Craig Conn 9 14 16 30 1.56 1.78 3.34

Matt Brown 5 4 8 12 0.80 1.60 2.40

Andy Secore 2 1 1 2 0.50 0.50 1.00

STING FORWARDS VERSUS SWARM (Career):

Player GP G A P GPG APG PPG

Dan Dawson 1 6 1 7 6.0 1.0 7.0

Lindsay Plunkett 2 1 3 4 0.5 1.5 2.0

Derek Malawsky 2 0 3 3 0.0 1.5 1.5

Curt Malawsky 1 0 1 1 0.0 1.0 1.0



National Lacrosse League Stories from April 12, 2007


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