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This week’s column is brought to you courtesy of Saturday’s Roughnecks/Lumberjax game.

The lopsided 13-6 Calgary win gave me plenty of things to talk about.

The first was the opportunity to revisit a debate that raged 2 1/2 years ago when Portland won the expansion lottery and received the coveted first-overall pick.

There was no question Brodie Merrill was the top guy in the draft. So heralded was Brodie, that many teams across the league came a-callin’ to offer various packages to Jax GM and head coach Derek Keenan.

Now, I wasn’t party to any actual offers but I’ve heard there were some pretty sweet packages on the table.

At the time, the question was should Keenan take a deal or take Merrill. He chose the later.

It seemed a brilliant move the first season as the team grabbed a playoff berth and Merrill grabbed league-wide acclaim. Heck, Inside Lacrosse later proclaimed him “The Best Player in the World.”

But last year the team tanked in the standings and as I watched them against the Riggers, I can’t help but see the same fate this season.

Their goaltending was OK, the defense didn’t play strong, they didn’t have much in the way of transition (their bread-and-butter the first season) and their offense looked horrible.

Remember, this is an offense that picked up two stars in Dan Dawson and Derek Malawsky - and is still bad. Imagine what it would have been like without that pair.

So, with hindsight being 20/20, it begs the question: Should Portland have dealt the pick for a package that would have made for a stronger foundation for an expansion team?

There is no doubt Merrill is an incredible player - one of the best in the game - but my thought is you can’t build an expansion team in this league around one guy. Much too big of a gamble.

KING GETS CROWNED

The chance to level a goalie with a huge hit - fair and square - doesn’t happen often in lacrosse.

Roughnecks assistant captain Kaleb Toth got the opportunity to lower the boom on Lumberjax netminder - and former teammate - Matt King Saturday night and took full advantage.

King took off out of his crease with a loose ball, turning up floor and running right along the boards with Calgary’s Scott Ranger in hot pursuit. The 6-ft., 200-lb. Toth closed the gap on a intercept course and met the 6-ft.-1, 210-lb. King at the boards, stepping into him with the shoulder.

King didn’t go flying, but crumpled into the boards and fell to the turf.

An alert Ranger scooped up the ball and fired it into the net between two Portland defenders to break a 3-3 tie midway through the third quarter.

The hit was clearly the turning point in what had been a relatively tight game.

The most surprising thing about the hit was that nobody stepped up to fight Toth.

Instead, the incident electrified the hometown crowd and Calgary scored four more goals to end the half en route to the 13-6 pasting.

While it was a totally clean hit, a guy who levels your goalie like that usually has to pay some type of price. Toth is one tough kid and obviously nobody wanted any part.

MERRILL V. MOLESKI

Speaking of fights, while there was no taker for Toth, there was a scrap late in the second half of the Calgary/Portland tilt.

Given the absence of highlights on TV or the Net when it comes to the NLL, the Wingszone message board often features pleas from fans eager to know what happened when there’s a scrap.

So, here goes.

It seemed like a bad call to me when Merrill dropped the mitts right off a whistle with Jeff Moleski. The Roughnecks defender - who works at a paper mill in Northern B.C. - is considered one of the toughest guys in the NLL; someone who has danced with Tim O’Brien on multiple occasions and held his own.

That said, the fight was a draw with a decision by the judges likely going to Merrill. The two landed only a few punches as they wrestled for position before Moleski went face first into the carpet as the two fell opening up a cut on his face.

THIS WEEK’S NUMBER: 13

As in the number of points former first-round pick Scott Ranger had in a pair of wins for the Roughnecks. With fellow righty and team captain Tracey Kelusky sidelined for the team’s two weekend games with a lingering concussion, Ranger stepped up with five goals and eight helpers in victories over San Jose and Portland.

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