Shakeup fuels Roughnecks past Mammoth

February 25th, 2008 by Bob Chavez

Lots of coaches talk about shakeups. Gotta do something, anything, to get the fire back into my team and break the funk.

Troy Cordingley did just that for his Calgary Roughnecks lineup, but some will tell ya it was more than a shakeup. It was a downright gamble. Cordingley made Kaleb Toth and Devan Wray healthy scratches, but the move worked as the Roughnecks broke their three-game losing streak with a 12-9 home victory over the Colorado Mammoth on Sunday.

Toth? On the bench? Are you kidding me?

“It’s not fun sitting guys, especially a guy like Kaleb, he’s the picture of Roughnecks lacrosse and a phenomenol player,” Cordingley told The Canadian Press. “But he’s been struggling a little bit lately and we thought by giving him the night off, giving him a chance to sit back and look at the game differently, it would help.”

Lewis Ratcliff and Nolan Heavenor each scored three goals to pick up the offense, with Scott Ranger and Jeff Shattler each adding two for the Riggers, who improve to 3-5 and bring back a bit of parity to the West Division. Colorado drops to 5-2 with its second straight loss.

Gavin Prout scored a pair of goals for the Mammoth, whose offense was stuck in the mud with just four goals through most of the game. The Mammoth scored five goals in the final half of the fourth quarter.

“They outworked us, they were a better team today than we were in all aspects of the game, and it was a little embarrassing,” said Prout.

Defense served Riggers well: CalgaryRoughnecks.com

Chavez is an avid lacrosse player in Rochester and a journalist for the Democrat and Chronicle as well as a longtime Inside Lacrosse contributor. Email him at bob.chavez@nllinsider.com or go to RochesterSports.com.

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