Roughnecks hit road with advantage, momentum from massive home wins

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As turning points in a season go, the Calgary Roughnecks drilled down for a gusher in their last two National Lacrosse League contests.

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Back-to-back games 24 hours apart at home …

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Both victories …

And both coming over NLL West Division foes they’re hoping to stay ahead of in what will likely be a dogfight for post-season berths right down to the final weekend of the regular schedule.

“We’re coming through a stretch in which we’ve played a lot of good teams, both inside our division and from the East Division,” said Roughnecks GM Mike Board. 

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“Getting two wins last weekend was really important, especially against western opponents,” continued Board. “We now play within our division for the remainder of the season, and it is shaping up as a real battle for playoff spots.”

Yup … the schedule — perhaps despite the looks of it over the next few weeks — doesn’t get any easier with an all-West agenda at hand.

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Even though the Roughnecks (6-3) get the hapless Vancouver Warriors (1-8) on Friday night — that’s a late start at Rogers Arena on the West Coast (8 p.m., TSN4/TSN.ca) — and then travel to Sin City to face the expansion Las Vegas Desert Dogs (2-5) to challenge another struggling club seven days later, they can’t afford to take anybody for granted.

“The reality in this league is anyone can win on any given night,” Board said. “It will be important for us to continue to do what we have done — believe in each other, play a workmanlike game, grind it out — if we want to continue to win games.”

If not, they risk surrendering the advantage they’ve gamely established for themselves in the standings and the momentum they’ve built up from three straight victories.

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In particular, those two triumphs last weekend at the Rough House separated them from their two victims — the Saskatchewan Rush (4-3) and the Colorado Mammoth (4-4).

In both, the Riggers dominated for the most part, sinking the Rush in a 13-6 rout before downing the Mammoth 13-9. The latter tilt saw a carry over of momentum before a lapse — of sorts — down the stretch, allowing the Colorado club to attempt a rally, but that was more about two games in 24 hours rather than any kind of mental let-down.

Physically, the Roughnecks were on point throughout in collecting four points from weekend.

“Our guys battled so hard,” said Roughnecks head coach Curt Malawsky. “We didn’t have a lot left in that second half. They were resilient and that perseverance that they showed throughout that fourth quarter and just sticking with it and just dig deep, that’s a lot of heart. 

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“I’ve talked for years about old-school heart. This group’s got that. They just refuse to lose and refuse to give up, and they just stayed in the fight the whole time. That’s a huge two wins for this team.”

Even bigger is that they came ahead a stretch when they won’t be at the Dome anytime soon.

The next three games — sandwiched around a bye-week the first week of March — are all on the road. The next time they return to home floor of WestJet Field is for a St. Patrick’s Day party Friday, March 17, against the visiting Rush.

By then, they hope to have maintained — or even extended — the lead they’ve manufactured for themselves with visits to Vancouver, Vegas and Denver.

“It’s nice, right?” added Riggers goaltender Christian Del Bianco, who starred on both nights last weekend by making 89 stops. “There’s tight games, and obviously, Colorado battled back there (last Saturday), and we know any team in the West, they’re going to grind it out. They’re not going to go away. 

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“You stay the course, and obviously, you’re able to come out on top.”

QUICK STICKS

D Shane Simpson (lower body) is probable for the affair against the Warriors after missing two of the last three games. The speedster returned from injury last Friday night but sat out Saturday’s tilt for precautionary reasons … Friday’s other NLL contest pits the Rush against the top-spot San Diego Seals (6-1) in SoCal … Four games go Saturday — the Georgia Swarm (0-6) versus the host Toronto Rock (7-2), the Desert Dogs against the host Albany FireWolves (2-5), the Philadelphia Wings (3-4) versus the host Buffalo Bandits (7-2) and the Mammoth against the host Panther City Lacrosse Club (5-4) — and one wraps up Week 12 action early Sunday, when the New York Riptide (2-6) visit the Halifax Thunderbirds (4-5).

tsaelhof@postmedia.com

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