NLL Insider

Mike Carnegie and the Necks won big last night against the Rock (Photo: Larry Palumbo)

It’s not typical to yank your keeper after the epic save the Calgary Roughnecks’ Matt King almost punked the Toronto Rock’s Colin Doyle with, King first saving a Rock blast with his face, then while crashing into the cage, literally on his back, getting his stick in front of Doyle’s gimmie, his momentum however pulling him and the ball into the Necks net. Save of the year had he been able to push that ball forward. Seemingly injured on the flurry, King went to the bench to make room for recently aquired keeper Mike Poulin, who made his on-floor debut in-between Calgary’s pipes, and oh man what a debut.

The fomer Toronto and Boston Blazers’ backup allowed just three goals over 40-plus minutes against arguably the league’s most lethal offensive attack, standing strong in the final minutes of action while the Rock poured it on heavily, helping pull the defending champs even at 3-3.

“That’s the way you want to introduce yourself to a city,” Poulin told the Canadian Press. “That felt great. It always makes you a little bit more fired up to play an old team, but any team who’s 6-1 you want to come in and really help your teammates out.”

PLUS THE LINKS

Wannabe – “They are at where we want to be. They’ve played this system for three years so they are at where we want to get to. Basically it’s what we look to. If we can keep working, that’s the team we’re going to be.” – Steve Dietrich, who like Poulin had a strong game in last night’s all-Canadian battle (Toronto Sun)

Poulin Wall- “It seems to be working, so we’ll keep it as long as it works. It will stick now.” – Poulin on his aka in Alberta after last night’s debut (Calgary Sun) Plus… The Sun’s three stars and out highlights from last night’s tilt (Calgary Sun)

Second round spark plug- “When we were down 5-1 Toronto was winning the small battles. I don’t know what the spark was, but in the second half we started to bear down and win the small battles.” – Poulin (NLL)

Ball movement – “We said, ‘Hey listen. If we move the ball offensively, and create gaps, the shots are going to manufacture themselves later in the game.’ And that’s exactly what happened.” – Calgary captain Tracey Kelusky – (Calgary Herald)

Lax lungs – “When I was younger, I always used the sport of lacrosse as a way to prepare for the upcoming hockey season. Both hockey and lacrosse combine cardiovascular training, and has allowed me to be prepared for training camps.” – Recent Minto Cup finalist and Brampton Sr. Excel draft pick Andrew Marcoux, also a former Nipissing Lakers & OHL (IceDogs) hockey player (Bay Today)

HNIT – Jeff Marek, part of the CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada team, was tweeting last night during the Rock vs. Necks game. “And yeah, I miss Tim “The Surgeon” O’Brien too. I still have his jersey!” (Twitter)

For those that missed it Saturday night, benches cleared and fists flew, Sean Pollock and Tyler Richards kicking things off in Minnesota…

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