ROCHESTER – The Calgary Roughnecks fell behind early and never caught up Saturday night succumbing 15-12 to the defending NLL champion Rochester Knighthawks. Facing Rochester for just the second time in franchise history, the rare cross-border cross-country trip would end up being decided in the first quarter as the Knighthawks staked themselves to a 5-1 lead in front of 8,871 fans on hand at Blue Cross Arena for Crazy 80s night.

Calgary whittled its deficit to 10-8 by the end of the third quarter thanks to a four unanswered goals. However, that's as close as the Roughnecks would get. Pacing the offence for the Riggers (2-4) was Jeff Shattler with three goals, his second hat-trick of the season. Lewis Ratcliff had two goals and three assists while Scott Ranger and Kaleb Toth each scored twice and chipped in a pair of helpers. Greg Hinman, Chris Seller, and Curt Malawsky also scored.

Calgary was again without a couple of key players. Missing his fifth game in a row with a concussion was captain Tracey Kelusky. Also sidelined with a concussion was 2006 NLL Most Valuable Player goaltender Steve Dietrich. Rochester (3-3) was led, as usual, by perennial top scorer John Grant, who scored four times and added six assists. Scott Evans also scored four times while brother Shawn Evans notched three goals. Mat McLeod scored twice with David Brown and Shawn Williams scoring once each.

With the Riggers trailing 11-9 in the fourth quarter, Grant authored the back-breaking goal at 3:53. After fending off Ryan McNish, the all-star forward acrobatically leaped into the air from behind the Riggers net and looking more like a basketball player dunking a shot past surprised goaltender Pat Campbell.

Campbell was just signed to the Calgary roster on Wednesday when Dietrich was placed on injured reserve. He began the night as the back up to Ryan Avery but entered the game in the second quarter after Rochester scored to go ahead 7-3. With the 10-year NLL veteran in net, the Riggers outscored Rochester 9-8 over the final 35 minutes.

Nicknamed "Cannonball", Campbell's Calgary debut came against the team he played for from 2002-2005, where he backed up Knighthawks goaltender Pat O'Toole, who entered the night as the NLL's reigning Player of the Week after he earned both Overall and Defensive Player of the Week honours for shutting out the Toronto Rock for the final 37:44 of the game in the Knighthawks 11-4 win last Saturday.

Calgary didn't wait long to break the shutout streak though with Shattler scoring at 2:32 of the first quarter tying the game 1-1. Down 10-4 halfway through the third quarter, it was then that Calgary launched its biggest threat. A power-play goal from Ranger at 8:24 followed by a shorthanded goal from Seller less than two minutes later cut the deficit to 10-6. Hinman's gritty effort made it 10-7 at 14:09 and Ranger scored again 24 seconds later as Calgary stubbornly pulled to within two goals with one quarter remaining.

The Riggers return to action next Friday night at the Rose Garden Arena in Portland where they'll try to make it two straight victories over the LumberJax. Calgary beat Portland 13-6 at the Pengrowth Saddledome on Jan. 26. Calgary's next home date is Sunday at 3:00 pm when they take on the archrival Colorado Mammoth in the Riggers only home matinee of the season.

Line Score   1 2 3 4 TOTAL
Calgary      2 2 4 4  12
Rochester    5 3 2 5  15

1st Quarter
Rochester - John Grant (Scott Evans (sc), Mat McLeod) 2:15
Calgary - Jeff Shattler (Dane Dobbie, Kaleb Toth) 2:32
Rochester - John Grant (penalty shot) 6:49
Rochester - Shawn Evans (sh) (powerplay) (Shawn Williams, Scott Evans (sc)) 7:12
Rochester - John Grant (Chris Schiller, Pat OToole) 9:08
Rochester - Scott Evans (sc) (Shawn Williams, John Grant) 11:22
Calgary - Lewis Ratcliff (powerplay) (Nolan Heavenor) 14:59

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2008-02-17