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| Author: | Cl11234566 [ Fri Dec 13, 2019 4:10 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Canadians converted |
CALGARY -- Its rare to see a penalty shot in the National Lacrosse League, let alone in a playoff game. So when the Calgary Roughnecks were awarded a penalty shot down by a goal with less than a minute remaining in Game 1 of the NLL West final against the Edmonton Rush, they took full advantage of the opportunity. Curtis Dickson tied the game for Calgary with 22 seconds left on the clock, and Jeff Shattlers goal 46 seconds into overtime gave the Roughnecks the thrilling 12-11 victory. "Thats probably only the second or third (penalty shot) that Ive seen since Ive been in the league," said Dickson, who added that although it was a "nerve-wracking" experience, he felt confident making the play. "Ive been in this situation before. We need a goal late to tie it up or get the win. I just did what I know how to do. I saw my spot, took a shot at the opening, and lucky enough it went in." Leading 11-10, Edmonton had the ball in the Calgary end, and the Roughnecks had an empty net after pulling their goalie earlier. But with the play along the boards by the benches, the Rush were assessed a rarely called illegal substitution penalty. "I guess we had too many and its the last two minutes so its a penalty shot, which is fine. I dont have a problem with that except for the fact they had about nine guys on the floor too," said Edmonton coach Derek Keenan. "If theyre going to call it on us, they should have called it on them too, or not call it. It was ridiculous." Shattler, who had two goals on the night, was equally amazed. "That call that they made was pretty gutsy," he said. "Too many men with 22 seconds left. I dont know many refs that would make that call." Shattler showed off his athleticism on the winning goal. After his original shot missed the net, the ball bounced high in the air off the end boards. Shattler, who saw it the whole way, raced after it, leaped high in the air and in one motion flung the ball into the top corner past Edmonton goaltender Aaron Bold. "When I looked at Boldie, he was still looking the other way so I thought if I get up there fast enough, Ive got a chance," said Shattler. "I shot it before I even looked at the net." He didnt have to look to know it went in as a deafening roar erupted from the Scotiabank Saddledome crowd of 13,618. "Tonight was an amazing experience, it was unreal," said Shattler. Greg Harnett, Shawn Evans, Karsen Leung, Daryl Veltman, Dane Dobbie and Scott Ranger also scored for Calgary. Edmontons offence was led by Mark Matthew, who scored three goals. Robert Church and Zack Greer each had a pair, while John Lintz, Curtis Knight, Riley Loewen and Nik Bilic added singles. The two teams will play Game 2 of the West final next Friday in Edmonton. Should the Rush win that game, a 10-minute mini game will immediately follow to decide who will advance, with sudden death overtime if still tied after that. "If we play as well as we did tonight with a couple little adjustments, well have a good opportunity next week for sure. We have to worry about that first one and then go from there with that quirky 10-minute deal," said Keenan. "When push comes to shove, you cant lose those one-goal games like that being up 5-1 and not putting the foot on the pedal," said Matthews. "We didnt do that and they came out with a lot of energy in the second half and beat us." After giving up the games first goal, Edmonton scored the next five and were cruising along nicely early in the second quarter when they were held to one goal on a five-minute power play. Calgary scored three straight right after that and the game was close the rest of the way. Edmonton led 7-5 at half-time and Calgary was up 9-8 after three quarters. "I thought we played well enough to win the game, to be honest," said Keenan. "I thought we played a real good game right from the start to finish. In all areas of our game I thought we were good and it came down to a couple of breaks that they got and they got the win. It was a tough one." Notes: Edmonton won three of the four meetings during the regular season ... Calgary was without veteran Geoff Snider (lower body), injured last weekend. Snider is also the Roughnecks main face-off specialist. Garrett McIntosh took most of the draws after only taking six face-offs all season ... Edmonton won the two previous playoff meetings between the provincial rivals, both wins (2010, 2012) were upsets in Calgary. . With a victory seemingly slipping away late in the third quarter, his quick scoring flurry helped Golden State regain control early in the fourth. . The kind he has every so often. The kind he has when Dwyane Wade sits. James scored 43 points -- 25 in a bewildering first-quarter shooting display -- and Chris Bosh added 21, leading the Miami Heat to a 100-96 win Tuesday night over the Cleveland Cavaliers, who played their first game without injured All-Star guard Kyrie Irving. http://www.cheapairmaxchinawholesale.co ... utlet.html. Players suspended during the season for a performance-enhancing drug violation will not be eligible for that years post-season. In addition, discipline will increase from 50 games to 80 for a first testing violation and from 100 games to a season-long 162 for a second. A third violation remains a lifetime ban. .A. Happ is coming off his first start of the year, a win at Philadelphia Monday. The former Phillie allowed three hits in five scoreless frames of a 3-0 triumph. . He will just have to wait a little longer. Bester grabbed an early lead before Scotlands Darren Burnett took over and ran away with the mens singles lawn bowling final 21-9 on Friday.TORONTO -- Ken Hitchcock has a theory on how to deal with his team not scoring a lot of goals. "Just not talk about it," he said. "Talk about something else." Thats the approach the Stanley Cup-winning coach is taking with his St. Louis Blues, who have gone through a mini scoring slump. Of course they still lead the Western Conference, which is based on large part on being one of the NHLs stingiest defensive teams. "Ive always believed, like a lot of coaches, if youre not scoring, talk about checking. If you check better, youre going to get more chances," Hitchcock said Monday at Air Canada Centre. "The structure of our game, were just going to weather the storm. The structure of our game has got to stay solid like it is right now, and then well weather it and well come out on the other side fine." An 82-game regular season is a totally different animal than the Olympics, but a similar philosophy guided Team Canada to gold. Worries about a lack of offence from star forwards -- at least externally -- lasted well into the playoff round, but those were quieted by dominant play on the puck. "Its about controlling the hockey game. And you dont control the hockey game with offence, you control it with checking," said Hitchcock, who was one of Mike Babcocks assistants in Sochi. "We were tied or leading by one goal -- we werent concerned with the way we were playing that we werent scoring. It doesnt matter if youre leading 5-4 going into the third period or 1-0 as long as you have the lead youre in good shape." Like with Canada, Hitchcock said he feels comfortable seeing the Blues checking well because it means theyre "committed to the right things." One of those things hes proud of is that for a couple of games in a row St. Louis has displayed a high work standard. To Hitchcock, thats a bigger deal -- the way the Blues play -- than having ann offence thats always rolling or a power play thats constantly clicking at a high rate.dddddddddddd As far as special teams go, hes more concerned about the penalty kill and what that could mean come playoff time. "Ive seen a lot of (teams) who have had bad power plays do really well in the playoffs, but Ive never seen any team play worth a damn if you cant kill penalties," Hitchcock said. "Its more on can you kill the penalty at the right time because you can live with poor power plays and still win hockey games. But you cant survive if you cant kill penalties because your whole game falls apart, youre nervous, youre uptight, you panic and weve got to be great killing penalties." That would also follow Canadas blueprint. The gold-medal-winning Canadians converted on just 16.67 per cent of their power plays in six games, middle of the pack in the tournament, yet led the Olympics with a 93.75 per cent penalty-killing rate, giving up one goal on 16 chances. Hitchcock, though, must guide the Blues through choppier waters than Canada endured at the Olympics. Sixteen playoff victories are required to win the Stanley Cup, and most of those wont be by large margins. Perhaps thats one way the Blues balance plays in their favour. The have no one player in the top 35 in the league in scoring, but 10 with at least 30 points, led by Alex Steen and T.J. Oshies 54. St. Louis isnt built on scoring, which means they could be built to withstand droughts like this. "Youre going to go through stages where youre not scoring, and youre still going to have to win hockey games," Hitchcock said. "If youve got to win for a week or 10 days, youve got to win 1-0, 2-1, youve got to do it until you get back engaged where youre going to score again." Until then, the Blues are happy to talk about -- and execute on -- checking well and frustrating opponents in the process. ' ' ' |
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