The Calgary Roughnecks get set for their 8th game of the season Saturday morning, when they take on the New York Titans on The FAN 960 (10:30 am faceoff, 10 am pregame).  For the first time ever, the Riggers will play at Madison Square Garden; The World’s Most Famous Arena.  And as much of an event as it is for the team, they’ve got a job to do, and that job entails some pretty hard work.

The Roughnecks opened their 2009 NLL season with 5 straight wins, the best in franchise history.  But, following a 13-12 loss in Denver and an 11-10 loss at home to Boston, the Riggers find themselves in the midst of a little bit of a slump.  It’s not like they’ve played terrible lacrosse, in fact to the contrary.  However, they’ve seen a little inconsistency plague them, and with 2 straight subpar 4th quarters, the Roughnecks are focused on making sure it’s a 60 minute effort at MSG.  Head Coach Troy Cordingley attributes it to players getting a little too fired up and trying to do too much in the final frame.  Captain Tracey Kelusky told me the team needs to get their mental focus back in the 4th.  They can’t take bad penalties, they can’t try and do too much, and they’ve got to keep bearing down.

But it’s not just the 4th quarter for the team.  They want to get back to stifling defence and balanced, consistent offence.  In the loss to Boston, the Riggers were stagnant and found themselves standing around far too much with possession.  When the Calgary offence is clicking, there is a ton of movement with passes and shots being able to come from anywhere.  The lack of a real offensive push in the last 2 4th quarters has certainly hampered Calgary’s ability to shut down teams and put them away.  In both their losses, the Roughnecks lead heading into the final frame.

Kelusky told me maybe the Roughnecks are lacking a little confidence overall, but he also said the dynamic of the team is such that something like low confidence won’t last long.  It’ll be an interesting game…members of the team flying into NYC from Toronto got in a little later than expected, so we will see if that has any effect on the team.  Plus, the team is playing the NLL’s second best offence.  GM and President Brad Bannister said the New York Titans are one of the most, if not the most, athletic team in the NLL.  Lead by Casey Powell (who may or may not play), the Titans boast a solid offensive front with guys like Pat Maddallena and Jordan Hall trailing Powell, a 4 time All-American at Syracuse.

Lineups are up in the air heading in, but the early guess would be Matt Vinc starting in net net for New York with the Roughnecks putting Paddy Campbell in between the pipes.  Peter McFetridge will not play for Calgary at this point late on Friday night.  With the early game, I got a chance to go out with a few people and see Times Square, but am now prepping for the broadcast.  Be sure to tune in at 10 am for the pregame and then at 5 pm Saturday, we’ll be on the air with Roughnecks Radio.

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