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The UFC kicks their spring schedule into high gear on Wednesday night with the 18th edition of Ultimate Fight Night Live on Spike TV and Rogers Sportsnet.  While the card is headlined by a welterweight bout between Carlos Condit and Martin Kampmann, it’s a light heavyweight battle involving Ryan Bader that has me most intrigued.

The 9-0 Bader will have his second fight inside the UFC on Wednesday night when he hooks up with 10-2-1 Carmelo Marrero.  For Bader, it’s a chance to continue his extremely impressive career that has him poised, in my opinion, to make some real waves at 205 pounds.  The former 2 time All American at Arizona State University won season 8 of The Ultimate Fighter and turned some heads in the process.

I had a chance to interview Bader on Monday afternoon, and was blown away by the poise and humility of the guy.  I had a blast chatting with the guy, but that’s not why I think this guy has very big things ahead of him.  There are a number of things that I think put him ahead of other up and coming light heavyweights at this point in terms of his skill set and ability.

First of all, the pure wrestling skill puts him in fairly good standing right from the get-go.  This guy was a Division I All American and PAC-10 Champion, and knows how to apply those wrestling skills to MMA.  That’s not an easy task, wrestling is one thing, but making the switch to MMA-wrestling is something totally different.  Those who do it have success, and there is a proven success rate with wrestlers who then turn into mixed martial artists.  Ask Tito Ortiz, Josh Koscheck, Brock Lesnar and the most famous example…Randy Couture.  If a wrestler can expand their dimensions inside the MMA game and hone the rest of their game, the inherent wrestling background sets them up success.

Second, Bader has raw power.  Look at the guy.  He’s a freak of nature with one of the best frames in the sport.  The knock on him, at least on the other team, during TUF was that he had no standup game.  Yet, on the finale show in Vegas, it wasn’t a ground and pound victory over Vinicius Magalhaes…it was an early TKO.  When I chatted with him, he told me that was his gameplan for the fight.  He wanted to stand and show that he had more than just wrestling in his repertoire, and that’s exactly what he did.  And when he gets behind a punch, watch out, because he can do some damage.

And finally, he’s got the right attitude, because he’s always learning.  “People haven’t even seen my jiu-jitsu,” was what he told me, because he’s working on this stuff non-stop.  Bader knows he has a great base for a strong UFC career, but he also knows how important it is to keep that wrestling base sharp AND continue working on the other facets of the sport.  You can tell by looking at the dude that he doesn’t shy away from training, which I believe will keep him in good standing in the future.

His fight on Wednesday against Marrero will be a battle of 2 very good wrestlers.  Expect this thing to go to the ground a few times, but I’m sold on the stand up potential of Bader and I think that carries him to a win.  Also on the card on Wednesday is former housemate of Bader Junie Browning.  He’ll fight TUF alumni member Cole Miller while Tyson Griffin fights Rafael Dos Anjos in what should be a really exciting fight.  Not bad for free tv!

While it wasn’t a perfect weekend for the Calgary Roughnecks, they earned a split and more importantly have clinched a playoff berth, the first team to do so in the National Lacrosse League.  Calgary fell 12-10 to Toronto on Friday before a 13-10 win on Saturday over Minnesota.

We’ll start with the game on Friday.  Calgary just wasn’t sharp against the Rock, and it was tough to put a finger on just why that was.  In talking to the guys after the game, it just seemed like they weren’t prepared and didn’t do the things they needed to do consistently.  On far too many occasions, there were let downs on both ends of the floor. 

While Calgary played great defensively in the second half, they were brutal at times in the opening 30 minutes.  For whatever reason, the Riggers couldn’t make an outlet pass work out of their own zone, and it lead to far too many turnovers.  The team admitedly left goalie Matt King out to dry.  Offensively, it just wasn’t clicking throughout…while the Roughnecks mounted a comeback, they were just a step or 2 off all night long.  Passes weren’t working, shots were missing, and balls were popping loose.  It was very odd, but correctable.

And things were corrected on Saturday night.  I think Calgary deserves a ton of credit for their effort in Minnesota.  You knew they were going to be a dog tired team (out of the Dome late on Friday, 8 am flight on Saturday), and they fell behind early.  For the second straight game (and only second time this season), Calgary trailed at half.  However, unlike Friday, Calgary made sure their second half push-back was a sustained one.

After Calgary held serve in the 3rd quarter, they turned up the heat in the final frame and snapped a streak of 5 straight games of being outscored in the 4th.  Calgary would edge Minnesota 6-2 in those final 15 minutes to take control of the game, while Calgary’s defence stayed stingy throughout the entire contest.  It would have been very easy for the Riggers to give in to some fatigue, and come out with a listless second half effort.  That’s not what happened, and that’s why this team remains the top team in the NLL.

An incredible weekend for Kaleb Toth, who finished with 15 points in 2 games.  He had a 5 goal, 8 point effort against Toronto and then followed with a 7 point (2,5) outing against Minnesota.  By far, Toth was the most consistent player over the weekend and gave Calgary continued life when they started to sag.  And his points came at key times…on Friday, his 1st half goals kept Calgary in the game when it could have gotten out of reach with Toronto completely controlling the play.  And on Saturday, he had 4 of his 7 points in the 4th quarter when Calgary needed them the most.  I guess we shouldn’t be surprised.

After the weekend, Josh Sanderson remains the leading scorer on the season with 75 points…right behind him, Toth, Dane Dobbie and Tracey Kelusky all have 64 points.  Solid weekends for Devan Wray, who was great defensively in both games and even scored on Saturday; Nolan Heavenor who was Calgary’s best transition player by far; Scott Carnegie who kept the physical edge sharp in both games; and both goalies, Matt King and Paddy Campbell.

Next up for Calgary, Saturday night against the Rochester Knighthawks on The FAN 960 (7 pm faceoff, 6:30 pm pregame).

The Calgary Roughnecks get set for a busy weekend where they play on back-to-back nights, starting this evening.  The Riggers welcome the Toronto Rock at the Dome and on The FAN 960 (7 pm faceoff).  Calgary then travels to Minnesota to hook up with the Swarm (6 pm, NLL.com).

For the Riggers, it’s an opportunity to clinch a playoff spot, and it’s all in their hands.  All that needs to happen for Calgary is a win, and their playoff berth is secure.  They can also get in with a win and a San Jose loss or no wins and 2 San Jose losses and/or 1 Edmonton loss.  Basically, it comes down to…win and you’re in, and that’ll be the mindset for the Roughnecks.  As much as all the scenarios are fun to break down, Calgary is going to look at it that way and that’s the best way for them to look at it.

The first game is tonight when Calgary (8-2) welcomes Toronto (4-7), the second and final meeting between the 2 teams this year.  Back on January 17th, the Roughnecks dominated Toronto at Air Canada Centre, taking a 16-9 win.  Calgary was especially impressive in the second half, outscoring the Rock 5-1 in the final 30 minutes, including laying a goose-egg in the 4th quarter.  It was as impressive a win this season for Calgary, as the defence was smothering and was at its shut down best.

Calgary enters the game with 3 straight wins, dating back to late February’s win over the New York Titans.  That was followed by an absurdly easy 22-10 win in Edmonton, and finally a 13-10 win last weekend at home to Colorado.  The Mammoth and Titans games are the real indicators, as there isn’t much to take from the Edmonton game…it was so lopsided and silly.  In both games, Calgary lead big heading into the 4th quarter, and in both games the opponents mounted a comeback .  However, on both those days, Calgary was able to score a few timely goals to really put things away.  Last weekend, it was a Dane Dobbie marker that put it away in the 4th.

The challenge on Saturday night will be to stay fresh for the 5-6 Minnesota Swarm.  That’s the second of 2 meetings between those teams as well.  Back on February 6th, Calgary took a 13-8 win over the Swarm, which was the 5th straight win at the time for Calgary.  Tracey Kelusky was the man of the moment that night, scoring a highlight reel goal from behind the net that finished in the Top 5 NLL Plays of the Week.  What Minnesota does well is keep things low scoring…they play a different defence as opposed to the Roughnecks, yet it still is effective.  The problem with what Minnesota does is that it can’t compensate for an offence like Calgary’s.  If the Roughnecks continue their offensive consistency, they should be able to win this one.

I want to point your attention to a couple of videos that have taken UFC 94’s “Grease Gate” controversy to a whole new, and completely stupid level.  Apparently BJ Penn just can’t let it go, and is out to prove that his one-sided loss to Georges St. Pierre was not his fault.  Whatever.

Here is the first of the videos, the initial shot across the bow if you will from “The Prodigy” BJ Penn…http://www.mmalinker.com/xExternal.php?vidid=13061In this video, which he posted on his website BJPenn.com, it alleges not just that St. Pierre cheated in his fight at UFC 94, but alleges that this was not a 1 time thing.  Of course, the background on this story is as follows: GSP creamed BJ in their superfight at UFC 94, BJ then alleged Georges had used vaseline illegally on his back, blaming that for his lack of any fight back.  He filed a complaint, and nothing came of it, while Georges happily accepted a rematch.

Here’s the main problem I have with this.  In the span of around 3 months, BJ Penn has gone from newly matured, focused fighter to a petty, sore loser to a delusional, vindictive moron.  Focusing and bitching about this 1 singular fight is one thing, however calling into question the morals and ethics of one of the most accomplished fighters of all time is another thing.  I know it’s hard for Penn to believe that someone could be THAT good so consistently, but it’s pretty easy…unlike Penn, GSP has trained his entire life for this and hasn’t been a soft, doughy guy for a good majority of his career getting by on sheer talent alone.

Look it, the worst part about this is that BJ Penn has completely soiled his reputation.  How many people, aside from fans of Penn, are going to remember this clown as a guy who did anything BUT whine after a loss to a better fighter?  I’ll say the same thing I did after this first surfaced…vaseline did NOT have anything to do with Penn getting outdone while standing, being taken down at will, and having his hands totally controlled by Penn.  Plain and simple, I still think this argument has little to no validity.Thankfully, we have a response from Georges…and it’s not some petty response.  It’s actually pretty funny…

Thank goodness we have SOMEONE who is treating this as it should be…as a complete joke.  My hope is that this will finally go away, because it makes the sport look like pro wrestling…a complete soap opera.  But I know it WON’T go away, because the driving force behind this apparently hasn’t changed like we thought he had.

The Calgary Hitmen head up the QE2 for games 3 and 4 of their first round series with Edmonton.  Game 3 goes tonight on FAN960.com for Husky Hitmen Hockey (7 pm).  The HItmen lead the series 2-0 after the first 2 games at the Dome, including a 2-1 overtime win on Sunday afternoon.

In that game, Carson MacMillan would pot the winning goal off a point shot from Paul Postma.  It came at 8:04 of the extra period, a frame where the Hitmen looked unstoppable.  The problem is, that effort wasn’t there for the 60 minutes before it.  Calgary started the game flying, like we thought they might, and peppered Oil Kings goaltender Torrie Jung with a number of quality chances.  A run of Edmonton penalties gave the Hitmen a ton of powerplay time, including 2:15 combined time of 5-on-3, but the WHL’s number 1 powerplay was unable to score in the first period.

The Hitmen took their own penalties in the middle frame, 5 straight in fact, and Edmonton was able to score as a result…their first goal of the postseason.  From the 2nd period to about midway through the 3rd, it was a Hitmen team that couldn’t stop tripping over themselves, with passes missing and shots going wide time after time.  But credit Calgary, they were able to stick with it, tie it in the 3rd and win it in overtime.  It wasn’t a great effort, and the Hitmen were all aware of that.  Talking to Head Coach Dave Lowry and defenceman Michael Stone following the game, the team knows they need to be much better and can’t have many more letdowns like that.

I know Lowry was riding the Hitmen in practice prior to game 2, making sure they were aware that this series is far from over.  They know that now and I think we’ll see a fired up Calgary team tonight.  Give Edmonton credit, they clogged it up real nice after taking the 1-0 lead.  They’ve got to do that again, and do it better tonight.

Joel Broda and Paul Postma lead the Hitmen with 3 points in 2 games while Martin Jones has let in just 1 goal in 128:04 minutes of play.

For the first time in almost a month, the Calgary Roughnecks will call the Pengrowth Saddledome home on Saturday night.  The Riggers take on the Colorado Mammoth on The FAN 960 (7:30 faceoff, 7 pm pregame).  It’s the second meeting this year between Calgary and Colorado.

The Riggers return to action after their all-too-easy 22-10 win over the Edmonton Rush last Friday night at Rexall Place.  It was a game where Calgary dominated right out of the hop, and this game was never in doubt for the duration.  When looking at this season as a whole, there is no question that was Calgary’s most complete effort thus far.  They were smothering defensively, consistent offensively, and even though he wasn’t tested, Matt King was great in net.

This game is a little different though.  The Mammoth are 5-4 on the season and are certainly a much better test than the Rush.  Colorado handed Calgary their first loss of the season back on Valentine’s Day, a 13-12 setback for the Riggers which dropped them to 5-1.  The Mammoth matchup very well with the Roughnecks, and we won’t see any 22 goal outbursts this time around.  Colorado is 1 of 3 NLL teams to have allowed less than 100 goals this season, and play a very solid defensive system.

In their first game, Calgary carried a 2 game lead into the 4th quarter, leading 8-6 at the time.  It started a trend the Riggers are hoping to change…4 straight games where they have been outscored in the final frame.  In that game, Colorado outscored the Riggers 5-2 en route to the 11-10 win.  The following game, Calgary lead 9-7 over Boston heading to the 4th before falling 11-10; New York had a 4-3 advantage in the final frame in their game at MSG, the Roughnecks did win that game. 

Then last week, Edmonton outgunned Calgary 3-2 in the 4th.  Now, you can basically throw that out.  Calgary was leading by such a silly amount, it would have been tough to bear down any more…the game was over long ago, so to me, I don’t count that.  However, in talking to Andrew McBride and Devan Wray on Thursday, they still were a little ticked that Edmonton was able to put up 10 on them.  The moral of the story; Calgary wants to bear down late in games, regardless of the score.

Will be interesting to see who gets the start in net for the Roughnecks on Saturday.  Paddy Campbell had been the unquestioned starter before the game against New York, but the coaching staff wanted to give Matt King a start, and he showed well.  Last Friday in Edmonton, King got the start again.  The other interesting story to watch will be Nolan Heavenor.  He’s sat out the last 2 games as a healthy scratch, his first 2 scratches in his NLL career.

The Calgary Hitmen opened their 1st round playoff series with the Edmonton Oil Kings on Thursday night, taking a 5-0 win over their provincial rivals.  It was a game that had it’s good moments, but after the game, both Calgary players and coaches knew they were capable of much better.

Head Coach Dave Lowry admitted that his team was probably nervous heading into the first postseason game of the year.  Edmonton had momentum, as they played just 2 days before; a 1 game playoff win over Prince Albert.  The Oil Kings were skating early while Calgary came out a little flat, and a result, the Hitmen took the first 3 penalties of the game.  Calgary’s penalty kill finished perfect, killing off all 8 situations, but the consensus was, too many trips to the box.

Calgary was able to slowly take control of this game however, scoring late in the 1st period and 3 more times in the middle frame to take control.  The team that was 48-1 leading after 40 minutes in the regular season made it 1-0 in the postseason, scoring once more en route to the 5-0 victory.  I liked how Calgary was able to adjust from the sloppy sort of mistakes they were making in the opening frame.  Passes were going awry, there were too many giveaways at the line, and there was a general consensus that this wasn’t how they wanted to start the game.

2 things pop out from the game.  First, Calgary knows they can’t start games like that.  Had the Oil Kings had any more finish, they could have taken a 1 or 2 goal lead early.  Second, it’s kinda scary that we’re talking about a team wanting to improve after a very one-sided game.  Game 2 will be very interesting to see how much jump the Hitmen come out with.  Joel Broda finished with 3 points while Martin Jones posted the shutout.  Game 2 is Sunday at 2 pm on The FAN 960 (1 pm pregame).

Tonight marks night 1 of the quest for the Memorial Cup for the Calgary Hitmen, the number 1 team in the Canadian Hockey League.  After an incredible regular season, the Hitmen open the WHL postseason tonight against the Edmonton Oil Kings on The FAN 960 (7 pm puckdrop, 6 pm pregame).

It’s a matchup that clearly favors the Hitmen, as Edmonton had to win a 1 game playoff on Tuesday night just to qualify for the second season.  In that game, the Oil Kings beat Prince Albert 2-1 in overtime.  Edmonton finished 29-34-4-5 with 67 points to get the 8th and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.  Calgary went 59-9-3-1 and almost doubled Edmonton’s point total; Calgary finished with 122 points.

With a ton of all stars and potential award winners, the Calgary Hitmen are clearly stacked, and the regular season results speak for themselves.  The Hitmen were the number 1 scoring team in the WHL, with 330 goals; they were 1 of 2 teams in the WHL to score over 300 goals.  The Hitmen averaged 4.6 goals per game and scored 6 or more goals 27 times this season.  As for Edmonton, they were 18th of 22 teams scoring 191 goals during the regular season.  They are the second lowest scoring playoff team, and the lowest scoring team in the Eastern Conference.

On the other side of the puck, Edmonton wasn’t great either.  With 252 goals against, they only posted 3 shutouts this season, and clearly rely on goaltender Torrie Jung.  Jung posted all of his team’s shutouts, and was in net for every game when the Oil Kings allowed just 1 goal.  Since taking over in late October, Jung played 48 of the final 57 games for the Oil Kings; he was 20-20-3-5.  The Oil Kings were 5-9-1 before he took over.

The Hitmen allowed just 159 goals during the regular season, which was 3rd best in the WHL.  Only Spokane and Vancouver allowed fewer goals.  25 times this season, the Hitmen held their opponent to 1 goal or less, including 7 shutouts.  Martin Jones became one of the WHL’s best goaltenders, posting a stellar 45-5-3-1 record.  His 2.08 GAA was 3rd best in the WHL as was his .933 SP%.

Calgary finished 5-1 against Edmonton during the regular season, winning the final 5 games by a combined score of 28-7.  Brett Sonne and Paul Postma each had 10 points during the season series.  The Hitmen play game 2 of the series on Sunday afternoon on The FAN (2 pm) before shifting to Edmonton for games 3 and 4 at Rexall Place on FAN960.com.

For so long, the weak link for the UFC was their heavyweight division.  We saw plodding fights with personalities hard to get behind; ala Tim Sylvia and Andrei Arlovski.  But with new top names being developed, the return of a legend, and a very good crop of potential future contenders, the heavyweight division is no longer an afterthought.

I look at it and pinpoint a few different names who have redefined the division.  There is still work to be done, the lightweight division and light heavyweight division; even the welterweight division are more stacked.  But the improvement we’ve seen in the weight class has been dramatic, and certainly notable.  Here are the main reasons why…

Brock Lesnar - The current UFC Heavyweight Champion is one of the most polarizing figures we’ve seen in a long time.  Whether or not you like the road he took to get it, you can’t deny the fact that he is the champ…no “interim” tag.  He won the belt fair and square off Randy Couture and has been nothing short of dominating his last 2 fights.  Lesnar is one of the biggest signings Dana White and the UFC have ever made, for so many reasons.  He has a following, coming from his collegiate and WWE wrestling background.  He’s a straight-up jerk on camera, which means people either love him or hate him.  And what he does inside The Octagon polarizes people too.

There are some, myself included, who believe his loss to Frank Mir was a fluke and he’s as scary a force as we’ve seen in the sport.  Those people believe he is a legitimate heavyweight force and have no problem with him holding the strap right now.  His wrestling is perhaps the most dominant ever in MMA and his ability to take down opponents is second to none.  His raw power is also superior to most in the sport, and one shot that connects can send a fight spiralling out of control…just ask Heath Herring.  But the skeptics point to 2 things.  First, his lack of finish.  Granted, he dominated Herring but couldn’t finish the fight.  However, Brock took a TKO win over Randy Couture, so that eliminated that argument right there.  The second, he’s too 1 dimensional.  He was submitted early in a fight by Mir and has relied on his superior wrestling fairly heavily.  To which I say…so?  If you’re good at something, do it.  I believe he’ll have no problem with Mir in their rematch.

Frank Mir - The current Interim Heavyweight Champion polarizes people as well, and has helped boost the division in a huge way as well.  First of all, there’s a story behind Mir’s return to the top of the mountain.  The former undisputed champ was involved in a major motorcycle crash in 2004 and had to relinquish his title as a result.  It took a long time, including some lackluster outings, to return to any sort of relevance in the UFC.  But Mir perservered, and earned a shot at Antonio Nogueira, and he deserves a lot of credit for that.

But Mir has more going for him than just the tearjerker story.  He, similar to Lesnar, can come off in a not-so-great manner, which has fans either love him or hate him.  When I talked to him a few months back, it took a little while for him to start answering my questions in more than 3 or 4 words.  He was great once he got going, however.  So, again, people will watch the guy to cheer or jeer him.  Inside The Octagon, Mir has transformed his game.  His win over Noguiera was extremely impressive because of the way he was able to dominate the standup game.  We’ve known Mir was great on the ground, but the improvement while standing was very remarkable.

Randy Couture - The UFC Hall of Famer was a huge boon for the UFC, albeit short term.  One of, if not the, most popular fighters in UFC history left on a lengthy hiatus before being convinced to return against Lesnar.  He’ll fight again in a few months against Noguiera.  It doesn’t matter if The Natural is fighting Chuck Liddell, Brock Lesnar, or Gabriel Gonzaga; he’ll always draw a huge buyrate, and he’ll always give the UFC more visibility.  His return to the heavyweight division was extremely helpful.

Antonio Minotauro Nogueira - The addition of Nog to the heavyweight roster was a very underrated move when it was made in 2007.  The former PFC Heavyweight Champion gave the UFC instant credibility in the minds of hardcore fight fans, and Nogueira did the rest with his personality and fighting style.  Nog did a few things for the division.  First, he gave them a myriad of intriguing potential matchups they can put a lot of marketing force behind.  The history of Minotauro is such that any fight he has will be against a top name…so you can either bill it as a rematch (Heath Herring, UFC 73) or a first time meeting (Sylvia, Couture, Mir).  He’s also very likeable, and came across as such in his run as a coach on The Ultimate Fighter.

Shane Carwin - I put Carwin in here because of the heat starting to build behind him.  He’s now 11-0 in his MMA career, and the UFC has done a very good job in protecting a valuable asset and building him up to be a perceived power.  His first real test was at UFC 96 against the aforementioned Gonzaga, and he passed with flying colors thanks to a devestating knockout 69 seconds in.  He’s got a great wrestling pedigree, a great look, and an undefeated record to exploit to gain followers.  If he holds up his end of the bargain, he could be looking at a very nice run the next few years.

The Rest - What I really like is the depth in this division behind the guys we’ve already pinpointed.  Chiek Kongo is a guy that impresses me more and more every time he fights.  He’s big, and he delivers scary strikes.  His all round game has come around, as he no longer looks like a fish out of water on the ground.  Heath Herring is always a tough fight and even if he never gets to the top of the pack, he’s always capable of pulling out an upset over a top name.  Mirko Cro Cop will be back with the promotion, and Gonzaga is going to be on a mission to get him back to the top of the pack.

I really like what has happened in this division as of late, and I really like that it’s going to continue for the next little bit.  Let me know if I left anyone out!

Friday night in Edmonton was certainly something to behold.  The Calgary Roughnecks rolled to a 22-10 win over the Rush, improving their record to 7-2 on the season.  The most incredible thing about Friday’s game was that score…it flattered the losers and doesn’t tell the story of just how one-sided an affair it was.

As the Roughnecks started their torrid scoring pace in the 1st quarter, it was clearly evident this was not going to be a close game.  One team had prepared to a ridiculous degree and was out there to put the game away right from the get-go.  It was 10-1 after the 1st quarter and 14-3 at half.  We have a seen completely dominating spans for the Roughnecks this season, but not to as consistent a degree as we saw Friday.  There wasn’t a doubt for 30 straight minutes followed by another message-sending 15 in the 3rd quarter.  Calgary simply put it in neutral for the final frame.

The score probably would have resembled something like 18-5 or 17-4 had we not been witness to how the 3rd quarter began.  Clearly on order, the Rush started the second half by jumping all 5 members of the Roughnecks, starting 5 seperate fights.  It was something that did not go over well with Calgary, and for good reason.  Instead of scaling down the offence and going into shut down mode, the Roughnecks kept the throttle open a little longer, scoring 6 more times in the 3rd quarter.

But as crazy good as Calgary’s offence was on Friday, the most impressive thing was just how intense they looked defensively.  So far this season, we have seen teams have trouble with Calgary’s defence and get frustrated by the lack of room it creates.  But Edmonton looked completely shell-shocked by the coverage they were seeing for the first half, and completely lost for the remainder of the game.  The Rush had no answer to the tenacity of players like Mike Kilby, Devan Wray, Mike Carnegie and Bruce Codd.  The amount of forced loose balls was very noteable, and Calgary’s profiency in scooping those LB’s up was even better.  Head Coach Troy Cordingley told me after the game it was probably the best defensive effort he’s seen this team put forth.  It’s tough to argue with that logic.

Now with 2 consecutive wins, you could probably make a safe bet that Calgary has put their 2 game slump behind them.  At 7-2, Calgary has a 1.5 game lead on top of the West Division, with Portland sitting second.  But for the Riggers, it’s all about carrying it over now.  They have the Colorado Mammoth on Saturday night (7:30 pm, The FAN 960), one of the 2 teams to beat them this season.  It always ends up being close when those 2 teams hook up.

Of note on Friday, Dane Dobbie tied a Roughnecks team record with 11 points in a single game (7,4).  Dobbie joins John Kilbride and Lewis Ratcliff as the only 2 players to do that.  Scott Ranger was right there with 10 points (5,5).