Calgary moves on with win over Mammoth

May 4th, 2008 by Danielle Bernstein

Well, I managed to make it to the Pepsi Center to witness playoff lacrosse at it’s best. Special thanks to the University of Colorado for scheduling finals on Saturdays. Skipping out early on a test might cause my GPA to suffer a little but that doesn’t matter because I made it to game one of the western division semifinals. San Jose and Portland will come head-to-head in the second game of the west semis on Sunday at 6:00 ET at the HP Pavilion in San Jose. Right now we’re concerned with Colorado and Calgary, a heated rivalry that will only escalate in this playoff game. Here’s what went down…

First quarter

Calgary got on the board first with a goal by Josh Sanderson. In case you forgot, Sanderson was the trade deadline pick-up by the Roughnecks in exchange for Lewis Ratcliff. Looks like it’s a trade that’s paying off - Sanderson has put up 7 goals and 13 assists since joining Calgary.

The Mammoth went on a 4-0 run to end the quarter, getting goals from Nick Carlson, Jason Wulder, Brian Langtry and Chris Gill.

Second Quarter

Mammoth opponents have scored more goals in the second quarter than any other and tonight was no exception. Calgary outscored Colorado 5-1 in the second frame.

Calgary took a 6-5 lead into the locker room at halftime on the back of Kaleb Toth who added two goals and an assist in the second.

Third Quarter

Gavin Prout ripped two from way up top to knot the game at 7 and Jordan Cornfield scored to give the Mammoth back the lead.

Penalty shot coming up for Tracy Kelusky. The Mammoth were assessed a penalty for too many men on the floor. Since it was called on a breakaway, Calgary got a free shot on Nash. Kelusky scores on that… as if there was any doubt. With a shot like his, that’s almost a guaranteed opportunity.

Chris Gill scored a diving goal from Jason Wulder who picked up Brian Langtry’s rebound. Both teams have gotten scoring opportunities from picking up the trash in front of the net, as Jeff Shattler also picked up a rebound and buried it for the first goal of the half.

Fourth Quarter

The Mammoth entered the fourth quarter riding a 10-9 lead. Colorado is 8-1 when leading after three quarters so things are looking pretty good for them right about now.

Someone flipped the switch off on the Mammoth offense. They were making some good connections in the third quarter but can’t seem to get anything going now in the fourth.

Calgary scored five unanswered goals and will be headed to the West Division finals.

Final Score: Calgary 15 Colorado 13

Up and Down

Lead changes are a stat looked at a lot in basketball. But let’s take a look at it here. There were seven ties and four lead changes through the course of the game. It just simply came down to who was ahead when the clock hit zero. Calgary used a 6-3 run in the fourth quarter to seal the win.

“That was a huge comeback for us,” Roughnecks head coach Troy Cordingley said. “I thought both teams were real good offensively. We’ll take it. We get to move on so that’s what we’re happy about.”

Chugger

Calgary goaltender Steve Dietrich posted a .690 saves percentage on the night, considerably lower than his .765 average throughout the course of the season.

“Our goalie didn’t have the best game,” Cordingley said. “but he made some great saves and closed the door when we needed him to. It’s funny because defense wins championships but the offense won it for us tonight.”

Season Over

After jumping out to a 5-0 record to start the season, the Mammoth struggled down the stretch, losing three of their final five and failing to clinch the Western Division regular season title. The absence of all stars Dan Carey and Josh Sims didn’t exactly help but the overriding reason to the Mammoth’s struggles was a lack of consistency.

“There’s a lot of parity in this league,” Mammoth captain Gavin Prout said. “and that goes to show that regardless of what place you finish in the regular season - in a one game playoff anyone can win.”

Don’t Stop Believing:

Journey makes a good point and as the song blasted from the Calgary locker room after the game, Tracey Kelusky was quick to echo the sentiment.

“A lot of people wrote us off a long time ago but we never stopped believing in what we have,” he said. “If we keep playing with confidence, we’re going to be tough to beat.”

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