Calgary Roughnecks
Two playoff spots in the Western Conference are already tied up, if the Roughnecks continue to play their cards right they’ll clinch that third and final position. They’re two games above a dwindling Vancouver team that they will face twice in the coming weeks. A win this Saturday over the #1 Rush would be huge for a team that has lost 4 out of their last 7 games in overtime, the other 3 games were wins. Things can still improve, but this team has been playing much better lacrosse since finding confidence with Mike Poulin between the pipes. I don’t care that he’s 3-4, because those losses are coming in OT and he’s throwing up a .787 save average. He made 3 saves in extra-time last week against Colorado before they found twine, the guy is clutch. He just needs to get the same effort out of his group for all 60 minutes, and then some.
I don’t mean to call everyone out. Curtis Dickson is playing at an incredible pace, averaging 5.92 points per game on 48 total goals. Superman hasn’t had any trouble getting the ball into the net, but his supporting cast has put the same emphasis on scoring goals. Dan Dobbie is averaging just 2 goals per game in the 10 of 14 contests he’s played in. In 4 more games than Dobbie, Tyler Digby has accumulated 1 less point and slightly under 2 goals per game. Jeff Shattler and Wes Berg have both added only a bit above 1 goal per game despite the entire group excelling at moving the ball and racking up the assists.
Running the show in transition, Karsen Leung has 14 points from 14 games and the entire defense has racked up 15 goals as a group. The addition of Tyler Burton to the group as a defenseman and face-off guy has been huge for Calgary, he’s winning a solid amount of possessions for the Riggers and fitting in well on the backline. Scott and Mike Carnegie are combing for 43 caused turnovers, Dan MacRae has 17 of his own to add to 15 points in 14 games. The group is playing much tighter in front of Poulin, they have just 4 more games to make their case for the post-season.
