Stealth Fall to Roughnecks, 15-11

[Sonny]

(San Jose, CA, Feb. 3, 2007) --- In an adrenaline-filled game full of big hits and high emotions, the San Jose Stealth and the Calgary Roughnecks met for the second time this season tonight at HP Pavilion in front of a crowd of 6,258. The last time the two teams met, the Stealth won in Calgary in overtime 17-16 in the longest game in NLL history (nearly 72 minutes), but it would be the Roughnecks who would capture the win this time.

The Stealth got into penalty trouble early on with four penalties in the first five minutes of the game causing two different 5-on-3 situations and the Roughnecks to pull out in front with a 2-0 lead. The first strike was scored by Scott Ranger, assisted by Tracey Kelusky and Shawn Cable at 12:16, the second by Kelusky, assisted by Kaleb Toth and Ranger at 11:24. At 4:05 the Roughnecks added another tally on the power play when Kelusky found the net. Toth and Kyle Goundrey were credited with assists.

With 2:57 remaining, Toth scored the Roughnecks' fourth goal with help from Devan Wray and goalkeeper Andrew Leyshon. At 2:42, Roughnecks' player Nolan Havenor found himself in the penalty box for tripping from behind and unsportsmanlike conduct, and Toth scored a shorthanded goal at 2:01 to make it 5-0 Roughnecks with the lone assist going to Andrew McBride. With 40 seconds to go, Anthony Cosmo made a huge breakaway save for the Stealth on Jeff Moleski's try to close out first quarter action.

The Stealth came out firing in the second quarter and got on the board at 13:56 when Luke Wiles checked Moleski and forced a loose ball in the middle third. Wiles picked up the ball and took it in on Roughnecks' Leyshon, who was unable to stop the shot. Calgary responded quickly though as Kelusky beat Aaron Bold, who relieved Cosmo in the net at the beginning of the quarter, to his left at 12:55. Assists went to Goundrey and Lewis Ratcliff. Forty seconds later, Toth extended the lead by six goals with an unassisted goal.

The action didn't stop there as the Stealth came right back with their second goal of the night at 8:15. Kyle Sorensen beat Leyshon low and to the left after receiving a nice pass across the face of the goal from Darren Halls. At 9:52 the Roughnecks struck again when Ratcliff and Toth set up Ranger, who beat Bold to his left to make it 8-2 Roughnecks. At 6:31, off of passes from Kerry Susheski and Cable, Goundrey found himself all alone in front of Bold and proceeded to put the ball away to make it 9-2 Calgary. After working the ball around the net, Colin Doyle and Cam Sedgwick found Rosyski who capitalized on the power play situation with 40.2 seconds left to cut the Roughnecks' lead to six heading into halftime.

At 12:41 in the third quarter, Wiles got his second goal of the night, assisted by Rosyski and Sedgwick, making it 9-4. However, the Roughnecks would get another goal at 6:48 when Toth and Susheski assisted Ratcliff on the power play. The Stealth scored their fifth goal when Bold sent the ball to Ian Hawksbee who five-holed Leyshon at 5:12.

Emotions ran high and tempers flared at 3:44 when Susheski was slammed with an illegal cross check and game misconduct penalty and was ejected from the game. In the same play, Luke Hinton also received a five minute illegal cross check penalty. The Stealth took advantage of the man up situation and Colin Doyle scored the power play goal fourteen seconds later, Rosyski recorded his second assist of the night while Wiles picked up his first.

The Stealth were awarded a penalty shot at 2:17 after a illegal cross check penalty by Goundrey. Jeff Zywicki took the attempt but was unsuccessful. The Stealth made up for the missed chance at 1:55 and reduced the Calgary lead to three when Zywicki finished his shot on the power play with help from Doyle and Rosyski. Thirty-two seconds later Moleski responded for the Roughnecks as he scored while lying on the turf after he was leveled by a Stealth player. The goal was the second shorthanded goal for the Roughnecks and put the score at 11-7.

At 13:43 in the fourth, Moleski was sent to the box for a two-minute holding penalty, but the Roughnecks would pick up their third shorthanded goal of the night at 13:15 when Wray beat Bold to his high left. A minute later, Ratcliff scored the Roughnecks thirteenth goal. At 10:40, Toth extended the Calgary lead by seven. With a power play goal at 10:40, Goundrey and Ratcliff found Toth to expand the Calgary lead by seven.

The Stealth started to push as time winded down in the fourth quarter and would score the next four goals. Zywicki recorded the first two goals of a four goal rally, earning his second and third goals of the night. His goal at 7:45 came off a passes from Rosyski and Wiles, while his third goal, on the power play, was his nineteenth goal of the season, and was assisted by Sedgwick and Doyle. At 2:28, on a shorthanded situation, Bold fed Sorensen for his second goal of the night after a Roughnecks' shot hit the net and was ruled out of play. With 5.3 seconds left Curtis Hodgson broke away from the pack to score the Stealth's final goal of the night, but time was not on the Stealth's side as the game ended and the Stealth went on to lose 15-11.

Zywicki's three goals on the night put his season total at 19, moving him up to 10th place on the Stealth Single Season Goals record. Two of his goals were on the power play and put his season total to eight, and moved him up to eighth place on the Single Season Power Play Goals record. Doyle's three assists moved him up to 10th place tie with Curt Malawsky for Single Season Assists record. Wiles finished with two goals and two assists, while current franchise point leader Rosyski had one goal and four assists. Bold's two assists tonight gives him three total career assists, and two points total for the season.

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Revenge is sweet, it is said, and so it was for the Calgary Roughnecks in San Jose Saturday night. In the home opener on January 12, the Stealth scored six unanswered goals down the stretch to pip the Riggers 16-17 in the longest game in National Lacrosse League history. There was to be no similar heroics on this evening. The Roughnecks took advantage of early San Jose penalties to take a 5-0 lead, and though they themselves fell foul of the officials later on, they never looked like losing on the way to a 15-11 victory.

"It was a solid team performance from beginning to end," said Roughnecks General Manager Kurt Silcott. "Everyone played well, but none better than Kaleb Toth."

Toth, the only player to have appeared in every Roughnecks game since the club entered the NLL six seasons ago, registered eight points, with four goals and four assists. He was one of three Riggers to score with the team a man down. The others were Devan Wray and Jeff Moleski. Calgary now has 12 short handed goals in five games. The NLL season record is 15.

Scott Ranger was cut by San Jose at the end of last year and was picked up by the Roughnecks through free agency in the summer. He helped repay the club's confidence in him, by collecting two goals and a helper against his former team-mates. Assistant captain Kyle Goundrey, playing in his 100th NLL game, kicked in a goal and four assists.

Calgary's leading scorers, Lewis Ratcliff and Tracey Kelusky, each registered a hat trick. The Riggers' 4-1 record places them 2nd equal in the NLL's West Division alongside the Arizona Sting. Colorado leads the pack at 6-1. Andrew Leyshon went all the way in goal for Calgary and got his third victory of the campaign. Rookie Luke Hinton, playing defence in place of the unavailable Andy Ogilvie, acquitted himself well in his first ever NLL game.

Line Score 1 2 3 4 TOTAL
Calgary 5 4 2 4 15
San Jose 0 3 4 4 11

Scoring Summary

1st Quarter
Calgary - Scott Ranger (powerplay) (Tracey Kelusky, Shawn Cable) 2:44
Calgary - Tracey Kelusky (powerplay) (Kaleb Toth, Scott Ranger) 3:36
Calgary - Tracey Kelusky (powerplay) (Kaleb Toth, Kyle Goundrey) 10:55
Calgary - Kaleb Toth (Devan Wray, New Player) 12:03
Calgary - Kaleb Toth (shorthanded) (Andrew McBride) 12:59

2nd Quarter
San Jose - Luke Wiles (unassisted) 1:04
Calgary - Tracey Kelusky (Kyle Goundrey, Lewis Ratcliff) 2:05
Calgary - Kaleb Toth (unassisted) 3:00
San Jose - Kyle Sorensen (Darren Halls) 3:45
Calgary - Scott Ranger (powerplay) (Lewis Ratcliff, Kaleb Toth) 5:08
Calgary - Kyle Goundrey (Kerry Susheski, Shawn Cable) 8:29
San Jose - Gary Rosyski (powerplay) (Colin Doyle, Cam Sedgwick) 14:19

3rd Quarter
San Jose - Luke Wiles (Gary Rosyski, Cam Sedgwick) 2:19
Calgary - Lewis Ratcliff (Kaleb Toth, Kerry Susheski) 8:12
San Jose - Ian Hawksbee (Aaron Bold) 9:48
San Jose - Colin Doyle (powerplay) (Gary Rosyski, Luke Wiles) 11:16
San Jose - Jeff Zywicki (powerplay) (Colin Doyle, Gary Rosyski) 13:05
Calgary - Jeff Moleski (shorthanded) (unassisted) 13:37

4th Quarter
Calgary - Devan Wray (shorthanded) (unassisted) 1:45
Calgary - Lewis Ratcliff (unassisted) 2:45
Calgary - Kaleb Toth (Kyle Goundrey, Lewis Ratcliff) 4:20
San Jose - Jeff Zywicki (extra attacker) (Luke Wiles, Gary Rosyski) 7:15
Calgary - Lewis Ratcliff (Kyle Goundrey) 8:19
San Jose - Jeff Zywicki (powerplay) (Cam Sedgwick, Colin Doyle) 8:54
San Jose - Kyle Sorensen (shorthanded) (Aaron Bold) 12:32
San Jose - Callum Crawford (unassisted) 14:54