I know at this point I should be railing about crucial losses, playoff hopes, head to head matchups against a key rival, blah…blah..blah. But right now. I just want to write about one helluva lacrosse game.

The implications for both clubs werre clear. The Roughnecks have been scrambling all year, back and forth between good and awful as they’ve tried to give the season some direction. Edmonton was looking to make the transition from expansion whipping boy to serious opponent. Both made strides Saturday night.

The biggest question for Roughneck fans was how the team would react after the Lewis Ratcliff trade. The answer was, pretty well. Josh Sanderson worked at fitting in in an uncomfortable situation, although I expect the best is yet to come as ‘Shooter’ chipped in two goals, but not the playmaking I’m expecting to see. Edmonton has to be admired for the fact they blew up this team from top to bottom after an 0-6 start, turning a league laughingstock into a team that has the potential to embarrass anyone in the playoffs, providing they make it.

How can you find anything to complain about after a nail biting, edge of your seat back and forth battle that entertained from start to finish? If you have to dissect one side or the other to find fault, there’s a few things, but again, this was just an outstanding game that gave anyone who paid for it money on the dollar. How about Tracey Keluksy. Is there anyone in the history of the game beter at firing a ball into the top corner? How about Dan Stroup. Can Kaleb Toth set up an alumni association of ex-Rock players so we can honour them all at once for what they’ve done for the NLL in Toronto and elsewhere?

But if you want to find the root of what made this game great, you have to use two words that aren’t normally used in an NLL game. Goaltender’s duel.

I was surprised to see Pat Campbell get the start. As I mentioned in my last post, I thought Steve Dietrich would get the nod just for the sake of shuffling the deck, not because of anything that was wrong with the goaltending. Troy Cordingley went with Campbell, the former Rush MVP. Good call. Paddy was awesome time and again. especially on the breakaway opportunities created by the big bombs launched by Curtis Palidwor.

Ah yes, Curtis Palidwor. The man who backstopped the Roughnecks to a Champions Cup, but played his way out of town with two years of inconsistent performances after that. Consigned to expansion hell, Palidwor wanted to show the Roughnecks organization he had someting left. He did. Again, you can whine and wonder where highlight reel nights like that were when he played for Calgary, but instead, just revel in the fact you got to see it.

Because it’s what I get paid to do, I can nitpick at a few things, and commend others. To commend, I want to start with Scott Ranger, who showed signs he will be the guy to take over the Roughnecks offense. Ranger showed a goal scorers’ hunger in driving to the net, and in connecting from outside. I want to commend Campbell for his ability to move the ball forward, and at the same time to slap him on the head for trying to match Palidwor in the long bomb department. Paddy, that’s not your strength. Don’t do it.

Maybe it’s a result of two weeks off, but the one element of the Roughneck game that’s been a huge weapon this year was hit and miss. The transition game hit for three big breaks with McBride, Hinman and Seller busting out, but it needs to be better. There, that’s it for criticism.

I want to commend Edmonton coach Bob Hamley. Brought in mid-season to take over a team in disarray, he refused to sit back and a wait-until-next-year approach. The Rush have bene blown up, made over, and re-inspired to make something of themselves this season. An 0-6 team is now fighting for the playoffs. The Roughnecks would do well to take a lesson from that desparation.

Seeing as these teams meet twice more, and seeing as the Riggers have won the season series with Portland, it’s not quite time to push the panic button. It ain’t great, but whateve happens, as a fan I beg of these teams two more games like the one they gave me on Saturday night. See you next Saturday at the Dome.

PS…I know I haven’t been perfect on my B2 calls…..but calling Kely Hall Hal Kelly and referring to Tracey Kelusky as recently acquired????? For gawd’s sake Shaw guys…r

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 5th, 2008 at 11:54 pm and is filed under Misc. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.