EVERETT — Sunday night’s game against the Calgary Roughnecks might have had more riding on it than any other game the Washington Stealth have played all season.
But you wouldn’t have known that from watching. Just ask the 3,441 in attendance who watched the Stealth fall 17-13 to the Calgary
Roughnecks.
The Stealth looked a lot more like the team that started the season with a record of 3-5 — struggling on the defensive end — than the team that scored 38 goals in their previous two games.
“I think our five-on-five defense was pathetic,” Stealth head coach Chris Hall said. “One of the worst defensive performances of the year.”
Washington had a chance to move within a half game of first-place Calgary in the NLL’s West Division with a victory. The Stealth also would have taken the season series over the Roughnecks, giving Washington the all-important tiebreaker. Instead, the Stealth fall to 5-6, drop the tiebreaker to Calgary (7-3) and have their work cut out for them as they try to climb out of third place in the division.
“That sort of puts first place out of the picture,” said Stealth defenseman Mike Grimes after the game.
Not only did the Stealth lose in perhaps the most important game of the year, but the anticipated brother versus brother match up in the faceoff circle didn’t happen either. Calgary’s Geoff Snider, who suffered a head injury last week, said on Thursday that he would be playing and taking the faceoffs against his brother, Washington’s Bob Snider. However, Geoff was a scratch before the game and Bob took the majority of the faceoffs against Calgary’s Devon Wray, who was playing his first game in the NLL.
Both Snider brothers are near the top of the league in faceoffs won and faceoff percentage. Bob won 27 of his 33 faceoffs on Sunday. Wray won only three of his 25.
Hall, who had thought his team had turned things around after two straight victories, was upset with his team’s performance.
“It was almost as if we didn’t come to play with grit and determination tonight,” Hall said. “Evidence of that is when we gave up two short-handed goals in the first quarter.”
Hall was referring to the back-to-back goals scored by Curtis Dickson and Jeff Shattler just 30 seconds apart in the first period that gave Calgary a 2-1 lead. Shattler added a second goal as time expired in the first quarter to give the Roughnecks a 4-3 lead.
That buzzer-beating goal seemed to spell the Stealth’s fate. Shattler added another goal for the Roughnecks early in the second quarter and 30 seconds later Dane Dobbie scored his first goal to give Calgary a 6-3 lead two minutes into the period. The Stealth would battle back, but were never able to draw even with Calgary.
Dobbie’s goal was the first of many for the Ontario native. He finished the game with five for the Roughnecks. Shattler also had a big offensive game for Calgary, scoring four goals and rookie Curtis Dickson scored three goals. Both players had hat tricks by halftime.
Washington forward Lewis Ratcliff said mental preparation played a role in the loss.
“I think we thought we were back to where we were last year,” Ratcliff said, referring to the Stealth’s run to the NLL championship a year ago.
Forward Luke Wiles paced the Stealth offensively, scoring four goals and adding one assist. Forward Rhys Duch added two goals and four assists, Ratcliff scored two goals and had one assist and forward Cam Sedgwick scored two goals for Washington. Stealth goalkeeper Tyler Richards saved 37 shots.
The Stealth trailed 12-9 early in the fourth quarter, but quick goals by Duch and Sedgwick gave cut the Calgary lead to only one goal.
But it was Dobbie who was the star of the game answering every Stealth rally. Dobbie scored with 7:39 to play in the game to give the Roughnecks a two-goal lead again.
Duch scored to move the Stealth to within 13-12 with 7:16 left. Again, Dobbie answered, scoring with 6:33 remaining to close the door on Washington. Kaleb Toth scored a goal in the final minutes and Shattler and Dobbie added empty netters to give the Roughnecks a 17-12 lead.
Wiles added his fourth goal in the final seconds to make the final score 17-13.
Washington has a bye next weekend before the Boston Blazers (6-5) come to Everett for a March 25 game. Somehow, the Stealth have to find a way to regroup.
“We need to figure out how we went from two very good performances to fundamentally one very bad one,” Hall said.
“I think the week off comes at a bad time after a tough loss, but we have to make sure we are ready to go,” Ratcliff said.
Roughnecks 17, Stealth 13
Calgary 4 5 2 6 — 17
Washington 3 3 3 4 — 13
1st Quarter–1, Washington, L. Wiles 21 (J. Dalgarno, J. Moleski), 3:29. 2, Calgary, C. Dickson 18 4:54 (sh). 3, Calgary, J. Shattler 18 (P. McFetridge, J. Harnett), 5:25 (sh). 4, Washington, C. Sedgwick 11 (R. Duch), 5:55 (pp). 5, Washington, L. Wiles 22 (R. Duch), 6:13. 6, Calgary, C. Dickson 19 8:51. 7, Calgary, J. Shattler 19 (C. Conway, K. Toth), 14:59 (ea). Penalties–A. McBride Cgy (cross checking), 4:30; I. Hawksbee Was (holding), 11:36.
2nd Quarter–8, Calgary, J. Shattler 20 (D. Veltman), 1:29. 9, Calgary, D. Dobbie 13 (N. Heavenor), 2:00. 10, Washington, M. Grimes 8 (J. Moleski), 4:50. 11, Washington, L. Ratcliff 24 (R. Duch, C. Conn), 7:53. 12, Calgary, K. Toth 10 (C. Conway, P. McFetridge), 10:30. 13, Calgary, D. Veltman 4 (K. Toth, S. Ranger), 11:15. 14, Washington, L. Ratcliff 25 11:56. 15, Calgary, C. Dickson 20 (S. Ranger, J. Shattler), 14:01. Penalties–K. Toth Cgy (intentional contact, fighting), 2:00; C. O’Dougherty Was (fighting), 2:00; A. McBride Cgy (misconduct), 14:35; S. Ranger Cgy (holding), 14:35.
3rd Quarter–16, Calgary, S. Ranger 23 (C. Conway, D. Veltman), 3:20 (pp). 17, Washington, M. Grimes 9 (P. Rabil), 5:50. 18, Calgary, D. Dobbie 14 (J. Shattler, D. Veltman), 10:29. 19, Washington, L. Wiles 23 (L. Ratcliff, R. Duch), 12:09 (pp). 20, Washington, E. Martin 3 (J. Moleski), 12:37. Penalties–I. Hawksbee Was (cross checking), 1:13; C. Hodgson Was (holding), 1:32; J. Shattler Cgy (holding), 8:04; M. Carnegie Cgy (slashing), 11:46.
4th Quarter–21, Calgary, D. Veltman 5 (S. Ranger, J. Harnett), 2:58. 22, Washington, R. Duch 28 (M. Grimes, P. Rabil), 3:35. 23, Washington, C. Sedgwick 12 (L. Wiles, J. Zywicki), 5:34 (pp). 24, Calgary, D. Dobbie 15 (J. Shattler, N. Heavenor), 7:21. 25, Washington, R. Duch 29 (J. Moleski), 7:44. 26, Calgary, D. Dobbie 16 8:27. 27, Calgary, K. Toth 11 (J. Shattler, S. Carnegie), 9:48. 28, Calgary, J. Shattler 21 (N. Heavenor, D. MacRae), 13:03 (en). 29, Calgary, D. Dobbie 17 (J. Shattler), 13:44 (en). 30, Washington, L. Wiles 24 (J. Moleski, C. Hodgson), 14:49. Penalties–J. Shattler Cgy (holding), 4:15; K. Toth Cgy (roughing), 10:52; M. Beers Was (roughing), 10:52.
Shots on Goal–Calgary 16-16-11-11-54. Washington 9-14-12-16-51.
Power Play Opportunities–Calgary 1 of 3; Washington 3 of 6.
Faceoffs–Calgary 6 of 33; Washington 27 of 33.
Goalies–Calgary, Poulin 7-3-0 (51 shots-38 saves). Washington, Richards 4-4-0 (52 shots-37 saves).
A–3,441
Referees–Todd Labranche (12), Greg Pepper (51).
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