Although the game kicked off Week 2 of the 2017 NLL season, the Vancouver Stealth flew to Calgary to square off with the Roughnecks to open both franchise’s campaigns. Friday night’s West Division showdown served as the first of four regular season meetings between the two.
It would also be the first of two games this weekend on the road for the Stealth, but the visitors couldn’t reserve anything as they took the floor for the first time.
The key was going to be pushing tempo in transition as the Stealth decided to start an extra offensive player, transition man and face-off specialist, instead of stacking up on defense as they’ve been known to do. Part of the strategy likely had to do with them facing the nineteen year old goaltending phenom, Christian Del Bianco. The young buck was served up his first NLL start after the goalie scrap between starter Frankie Scigliano and Rush tender Aaron Bold at the end of the preseason. Since Sciggs left his crease after the whistle for the fight, a one game suspension was handed over and with that came Del Bianco’s first chance at proving himself.
For Calgary, not much is different from 2016 aside from the addition of recent NLL Champion Riley Loewen and two rookies, fifth-overall pick Holden Catonni and Chad Cummings, hot off his NCAA hockey career. These three young, promising prospects should be able to grow quickly and fill the gaps around a veteran lineup that has a lot of firepower on offense and grit on the backline.
Getting the start for Vancouver would be two American rookies, Tommy McKee on the offensive side and Brendan Fowler, in to dominate the face-off dot again veteran Bob Snider. A pretty highbrow move, but like Toronto, not too surprising considering their old formula hasn’t worked for them in the past few seasons. New jerseys and new helmets hopefully mean a fresh start for the BC boys.
First Quarter
Making sure that 2017 started on a much different foot than their previous 5-13 season, none other than Rhys Duch found the rock on the opening possession and buried the quick release for the first goal of the game on the very green Christian Del Bianco.
After the first shot of the game found twine, we started to see both goalies settling down and stopping good shots. Most impressively from Tyler Richards and his Stealth defense standing tall and soaking them up too.
Going shorthanded for two minutes on a Hooking call, Del Bianco was able to control a shot to the belly, gobble the ball up and moon it down to Tyson Bell on the go. Bell streaking down and barely getting by T Rich for what seemed like the Roughnecks first goal, only to be wiped off with review.
Coming the other way, the Stealth worked a long possession and Joel McCready carried from the corner, pump faked and shot around a screen, into the net for the 2-0 lead.
Right on his heels we were treated to any early goal from rookie American Tommy McKee. Scoring off a bump from McCready that cleared out space, McKee stepped down on a low angle and beat Delby low for a two-piper and in.
With so many opportunities for the Stealth early on, it was surprising to see Calgary only running two, five-man offensive sets in the first eight minutes of the game. Halfway through the quarter, the Roughnecks finally looked to settle down after three big Stealth goals.
Trying to run a quality offensive set, Curtis Dickson did his best quarterback drop and hit Warp-toting Wes Berg nearly in mid dive to the crease for the quick turnaround on Richards for what stood as the first Calgary goal at home.
Pushing tempo in transition, Justin Salt found Keegan Bal cutting in from the gate. Bal’s first shot and goal of the season would send the young Del Bianco to the bench for a quick chat with Coach Curt Malawsky, calling for recent signee Zach Higgins to fill the net.
Going again for the Necks, sophomore sensation Wes Berg face dodged two men, cruised to the net and went airborne before slamming it home on for the second Calgary tally.
An immediate response from the Stealth followed seconds after Berg’s second, right as DelBianco returned to the floor. Corey Small put his name up in lights by bouncing it right inside the pipe to take the 5-2 lead and close the quarter.
Second Quarter
The dust just started to settle in the beginning of the second before Logan Schuss carried low and dealt back to Small, timing his shot from space and hitting the far side for the sixth Vancouver goal.
Less than a minute later, more high tempo transition moved the ball quickly the other way with Salt and Duch rushing in on Del Bianco. Duchie picked his spot and buried his second to chase Del Bianco from the net for the second time, ending his night with 7 GA on 18 SOG.
Desperate to turn the ship around, Dane Dobbie‘s first of the year came on much better ball movement than we saw from Calgary to that point, cutting the difference to 3-7.
Trying to follow Dobbie’s lead, freshman Holden Cattoni was able to walk the ball in with the extra man opportunity after a peppering on the goalie by his teammates and a handful of resets. The run was then extended to three when Dobbie found Jeff Shattler for a stinger. Shattler’s first strike was able to pull the game within two goals, 5-7.
Tired of all of the noise filling the Saddledome, Bal stepped in and put some mustard behind his shot, mailing it in from just inside the restraining line for his second, cutting the mini streak of Calgary.
On the next Rigger possession, Dickson called for the ball, then backed down Ryan Wagner making him look foolish as he drove in and buried his first of 2017, draped over his falling defender.
With the difference cut to only two, the Stealth looked to slow things down a bit. Powerplay patience paid off when a swing over to Schuss was able to fool Higgins and bump the lead back to three for the Stealth.
Penalties fell constantly for both teams in the first half. Although nothing seemed too aggressive, the refs set the tone early to keep control. Fours uneven scores followed eight combined penalties in the half alone.
Third Quarter
A few minutes of unsettled play ticked by before the Stealth started to regain their footing. McKee carried down, popped it back to Duch on the wing, who swung it over to Small for the catch and release, 10-6, goal.
With Higgins taking over the game, Vancouver started to see a lot more good opportunities turned away in the crease. With both goalies dialed in, we saw sometime pass before the next horn would sound.
Coming in like a bat out of hell in shorthanded transition, Berg pushed the ball down the floor, looking off his partner until the final second for Dobbie to get a quick one-timer and cut the game within three.
Looking to retaliate quickly, unreal ball movement worked the ball quickly around the horn before landing in Thomas Hoggarth’s stick on the crease for the tiptoe twister on the near pipe. The Riggers would attempt a challenge but the review stuck and the score hit 11-7 heading into the final frame.
Fourth Quarter
No one likely expected Keegan Bal to be the first Stealth shooter to join the hat trick club in 2017, but he got it done minutes into the final frame with a beauty step down past Higgins.
Trying to make sure that the fat lady didn’t sing too early, Dan MacRae handled the ball cleanly and legged it down the floor for a breakaway twister on Richards, netting the first Roughnecks goal in about nine minutes.
Down only 8-12, Shattler recognized the game still wasn’t over. Taking a run out of the corner, Shattler went up and across the crease to slam in the Riggers’ ninth goal and cutting the difference to three.
As time continued to pass, the Stealth continued playing as a team, while Calgary appeared to be a collection of individuals trying to make anything happen. Once the clock hit three, Higgins took off for the extra man and the advantage gave Tyler Digby the chance to get free on the crease, then redirect a feed for a huge goal to get the game to 12-10, with two minutes left.
It started to seem like doorstop rejections and pipe shots couldn’t stop this Roughneck comeback. With 48.2 seconds left, Berg found the rebound with momentum heading toward the cage and finessed it in over the goalie to make it a one goal game. The late bury sent all 11.5k fans to their feet for a “Go Roughnecks, Go!” chant! The first Roughneck hat trick of the season came to Berg at the most clutch moment, with still time left to force the tie.
Fowler initially won the final draw for the Vancouver, but the ball would end up stuck under the carpet on the wall and demand a re-face. Snider would come up with it but six shooters and a long possession couldn’t produce a shot on goal. The Stealth would come up with a big loose ball find a way to run it out, staving off a close comeback, 12-11.
Looking Back
If the stats are correct, the Stealth outshot the Roughnecks, 57-47, on goal. That’s a great sign for Vancouver considering their powerplay success last year, but lack of scoring in even strength. What’s alerting is Calgary being credited for 32 shots off target, to their opponents’s 14. That’s an insane amount of shots to miss. Especially because most of it was coming during jumbled play, unable to lock in consistent offense for most of the game.
Seeing American McKee finding success early, taking fearless runs at the cage and fitting in with a veteran offense was a pleasant surprise. Fowler started strong against veteran face-off guru Bob Snider, but the Riggers were clearly gunning for him on every draw making sure to lay a hit whenever possible. Finishing 13 of 28 wasn’t a rough start, but I’d be a lot more comfortable with the Stealth starting defensive veteran Chris O’Dougherty instead of all of the inexperienced talent just to make sure they don’t blow it in the final minutes… like they almost did!
At the end of the night, Calgary wasn’t having the magic touch and on the other end, Tyler Richards was hot when he needed to be and closed it out for his squad. The Roughnecks are going to have high hopes on the return of Frankie Scigliano next week, looking to repress the memories of Del Bianco’s lackluster debut.
Vancouver won’t wait long before returning to the floor, taking an early morning commute from Calgary to Denver for Saturday night’s West Division matchup again the Mammoth. The Roughnecks will look to get clicking in the next week as they prepare for the rematch in Vancouver next Saturday night.
