Jan. 26, 2008

from staff reports

SATURDAY
Philadelphia 15, Buffalo 14 (OT)
Jake Bergey scored the game-winning goal just 20 seconds into overtime as the Philadelphia Wings overcame a second half comeback by Buffalo to win their third straight game, a 15-14 victory over the Bandits at the Wachovia Center on Saturday evening. The win gives Philadelphia its first 3-0 start since 1997 while dropping Buffalo's record to 2-2.

Bergey, who scored a game-high four goals in the win, converted a pass from Athan Iannucci and scored past goalkeeper Mike Thompson to give the Wings the victory. The win snapped Philadelphia's two-game losing streak against its long-time rival.

Led by three goals from Mark Steenhuis, the Bandits took a 5-4 lead after the first quarter. However, the Wings ran off five straight goals, including a pair of Iannucci markers, to lead by 9-5 at the intermission.

After a Taylor Wray goal extended the Philadelphia advantage to 10-5, the Bandits scored five of the next eight goals to narrow the margin to close within 13-10 heading into the fourth quarter.

Kevin Dostie scored two power-play goals in the first six minutes of the fourth quarter to ignite a four-goal spurt by Buffalo, giving the Bandits a one-goal lead. But, Jamie Rooney scored with 1:53 left to tie the score and force overtime.

Iannucci posted a game-high seven points by scoring four goals with three assists while Merrick Thomson added a goal with four assists.

Steenhuis and John Tavares combined for six goals and six assists to lead Buffalo in a losing effort.

Toronto 14, New York 10
Ryan Benesch scored a game-high 4 goals against New YorkTrailing by 8-3 at half-time, the Toronto Rock put together an 11-2 run during the second half to earn their first home win of the season, a 14-10 victory over the New York Titans in front of 14,142 fans at Air Canada Centre on Saturday evening. With the win, the Rock improve to 3-2 on the season while New York falls to 1-2.

Blaine Manning led the Rock to the victory with two goals and five assists while Ryan Benesch tallied a game-high four goals.

The Titans jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the first quarter as Ryan Boyle tallied a pair of goals while Casey Powell had three assists.

After Josh Sanderson scored to cut the margin to 4-2, the Titans ended the first half with another 4-1 spurt for an 8-3 lead at the intermission.

However, the Rock came out of the locker room and scored seven straight goals to take a 10-8 lead with 11:48 left in the fourth quarter. Benesch scored three of his goals during the run.

The Titans got back-to-back goals from Powell and Jeff Ratcliffe to stop the spurt, but the Rock scored four unanswered goals to finish the comeback.

Bob Watson made 33 saves in the victory for Toronto while Matt Vinc tallied 37 saves in the loss for New York.

Chicago 17, Edmonton 11
Callum Crawford scored four goals and dished our assists while Jason Clark chipped in with one goal and six helpers, leading Chicago to an easy, 17-11 victory over Edmonton. Mike Accursi posted a six-point (3g, 3a) evening in the loss.

Minnesota 18, Rochester 17
Sean Pollock sent the game into overtime and then potted the game-winner in extra time off a dish from Andy Secore, allowing the Swarm to salvage a game they lead by seven goals in the first half. Scott Evans (6g, 2a) and John Grant (3g, 5a) recorded eight-point games in the loss.

Colorado 11, San Jose 6
Gee Nash made 29 saves, including 15 in the fourth quarter, to stifle San Jose and give Colorado an 11-6 victory. Brian Langtry and Gavin Prout each dished out five assists.

Calgary 13, Portland 6
The Roughnecks scored the first two goals of the game and Ryan Avery was solid in net, helping Calgary breeze to the 13-5 triumph. Kelly Hall, Lewis Ratcliff and Scott Ranger notched hat tricks in the triumph.

FRIDAY
Calgary 16, San Jose 13
The Calgary Roughnecks avenged an earlier setback to the San Jose Stealth while earning their first National Lacrosse League victory of the season on Friday night.

Following a 13-12 overtime loss to the Stealth in Calgary on Jan. 12, the Roughnecks had nearly two weeks to prepare for the rematch in San Jose. Despite trailing 4-1 early and 6-4 after the first quarter, the Riggers rebounded to earn a hard-fought 16-13 win over the Stealth (1-1).

"I thought our team showed a lot of character," said head coach Troy Cordingley in a phone interview after the victory.

Jeff Shattler led the way with four goals and four assists for the Roughnecks (1-2), playing once again without captain Tracey Kelusky, who's out with a concussion.

"We have a lot of depth," Cordingley said, commending Shattler for his performance while also praising Kaleb Toth, who had a hat trick to go with two assists and a great night fighting for loose balls with eight pick-ups. "Kaleb Toth stepped it up tonight."

Scott Ranger scored twice and set up five goals for Calgary, while Lewis Ratcliff had two goals and three helpers. Andrew McBride also scored twice, one on a shorthanded breakaway in the first quarter, while Dane Dobbie (1g, 2a), Ryan McNish (1g, 1a), Bruce Codd (1g), Kelly Hall (3a), and Curt Malawsky (2a) also contributed to the important win.

Goalie Steve Dietrich made 35 saves to earn his first victory as a Roughneck since being acquired in the off-season from the Buffalo Bandits in a trade involving three teams.

"He makes big, timely saves," Cordingly said of his 5-foot-9, 260-pound netminder. "He's a top-notch goalie."

For the Stealth, Colin Doyle and Jeff Zywicki recorded hat tricks to go with three assists each, while Gary Rosyski also had three goals along with one helper. Peter Veltman, Cam Sedgwick, Eric Martin and Curtis Hodgson also scored for the Stealth.

Things actually got interesting late in the game after Toth scored his third goal of the game at the 12 minute mark of the fourth quarter. Rosyski then scored twice with the Stealth net empty in favour of an extra attacker to pull the Stealth within a pair of goals.

Calgary coach Troy Cordingley then called a timeout to settle down his troops and the strategy worked as McNish scored into an empty net when play resumed to round out the scoring and seal the victory for the Riggers.

"We just wanted to refocus," Cordingley said. "We had the game in hand and we wanted to make sure everyone knew that."

THURSDAY
Colorado 12, Portland 11 (OT)
Round one of the heavy weight battle between the Portland LumberJax and the Colorado Mammoth didn't quite go 15 rounds, but it was close.

In the midst of a very physical, balanced game the Jax (0-2) fell in overtime 12-11 to the Division Rival and still perfect Mammoth (3-0). The Jax led 9-6 with 11:53 left in the game, but the Mammoth pulled out the overtime road win in front of 6,322 at the Rose Garden Arena Saturday night.

The Jax were the first to answer the call as Brodie Merrill caught Mammoth goalie Chris Levis napping in transition and put one past the veteran net minder with 11:54 left in the first quarter. Peter Morgan followed with just over ten-minutes to play when he beat Levis to double the Jax lead. Credit assists to forward Ryan Powell and Scott Stewart. The Mammoth responded with a Dan Carey goal to trim the lead at the end of the first quarter.

Gavin Prout sent a screamer past Matt King to start the second quarter and even the game at two. Powell put in his third goal of the season to reestablish the Jax. Spencer Martin kept the scoring going by slipping one past Levis to give the Jax a 4-2 edge. The Mammoth scored the final two goals to make it 4-4 at the break.

Brian Langtry beat King for his second goal of the game to give the Mammoth their first lead of the game at 5-4. The young phenom, forward Peter Jacobs scored his second goal of the season with 7:46 left in the third to tie it up at five. King, who finished the game with 33 saves, blocked four consecutive shots on one Mammoth possession to keep the Jax momentum going late in the third. However, Carey bested King with 14.5 seconds left in the third to give the Mammoth a 6-5 edge entering the fourth.

Stewart tied the game at six with 14:04 left in regulation off a series of passes from Powell and Martin. Powell's assist was good for his 100th point with the Jax. He's now the franchise's all-time leading scorer, breaking a tie with forward Peter Morgan.

Dan Dawson followed with back-to-back goals before Merrill notched his second goal to give the Jax a 9-6 advantage. The Mammoth were able to tie the game at nine before Derek Malawsky slipped another goal past Levis for the 10-9 advantage.

Another Colorado tie broke the Jax momentum before second-year defenseman Ian Crashley put the Jax back on top. Jamie Shewchuk tied the game at 11 before the end of regulation.

Overtime was as back-and-forth as the first four quarters. Both teams traded several possessions before Jamie Wulder put one past King for the game winner. Game one went to the Mammoth, but there's still two more regular season meetings between the two prize fighters.