NLL Insider

Sure, the Calgary Roughnecks are without captain Tracey Kelusky right now.

And, yes, they are still minus starting netminder Steve Dietrich.

However, the biggest reason for the teams 3-6 record is the absence of scoring in the fourth quarter of games this season.

The Toronto Rock outscored the Riggers 3-0 (including an empty netter) to record a 9-7 win in a game last Saturday in which the Roughnecks held the edge in play and outshot the homeside.

With that game factored in, the Roughnecks have now been outscored 40-20 in the final 15 minutes this season. That’s right, outscored 40-20 in the fourth quarter! Unreal.

While the team does miss Kelusky on the floor, they have no excuse for that gawdy stat. Kaleb Toth has been nearly non-existent on the scoresheet, Lewis Ratcliff is shooting the ball plenty but not finding the twine often enough and Curt Malawsky has been inconsistent from week to week when it comes to scoring. Still, toss in Kelly Hall, Scott Ranger and Jeff Shattler and Calgaryhas more than enough firepower on paper to still win without TK.

So while a completely overhauled, very young and often affected by work-related absences defense (including two newbies to the league in the Carnegie brothers) and valiant play from goaltender Pat Campbell has been better than pundits could have predicted or team officials could have hoped, it’s the team’s attack – long considered its strong point – that’s let them down so far.

THIS WEEK’S NUMBER: 6.2

As in the number of points Buffalo’s Mark Steenhuis is averaging per game this season. That PPG average puts Steenhuis – who collected four goals and 10 points in Buffalo’s 21-12 demolishing of Philly Saturday night – ahead of teammate John Tavares (5.8) and has him trailing only Athan Iannucci (7) and John Grant Jr. (6.625) in that category this season. And he has 70 loose balls to go with. Steenhuis’ breakout season has put in serious contention for MVP honours if he keeps it up.

QUICK STICKS:

I’ve waxed on about New York’s Mike McLellan before but feel his deserves more kudos. McLellan’s shooting percentage is a disgustingly good .377 and he has 20 goals on the season. To put that into context, the next best shooting percentage among the top 10 goal scorers is San Jose’s Jeff Wywicki (.273). The worst among the top 10 is Calgary’s Lewis Ratcliff (.147) . . . If Roughnecks goalie Pat Campbell keeps playing like he has since returning to the N LL, he may snatch the comeback player of the year award from Jake Bergey . . . Is it just me or has there been a lot more running of goalies this year? Much like NFL quarterbacks, goalies have to be protected from reckless plow downs and the refs need to start tossing offenders who take blatant runs at netminders.

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