by “Muffler” Mike Kostiuk
2019-2020 Record: 5-5, 4th place West Division
New Faces:
F Tanner Cook, F Kyle Waters, T Harrison Matsuoka, T Ethan Ticehurst
Key Losses:
F Dane Dobbie, F Rhys Duch, D Tyson Bell, D Chad Cummings, D Anthony Kalinich
Technically, the Calgary Roughnecks remain the defending Champions, almost two and half years after lifting the NLL Cup in 2019. But the franchise has already begun taking on a different appearance since that now-iconic overtime Cup-winning goal was scored (and I don’t just mean the new uniforms and color scheme). A somewhat minimalist approach by the front office, maintaining a steady amount of draft picks each year, prioritizing less glamourous trades to blockbuster ones, and taking into consideration who might be lost to Expansion have allowed the team to keep their roster at near-peak capability. Let’s look at the Calgary Roughnecks as they prepare to defend the NLL Cup in the 2021-2022 season…
Offense
Departures on Calgary’s offensive end in recent years have included Jeff Shattler, Holden Cattoni, Rhys Duch, and now Dane Dobbie signing with San Diego in free agency this summer. While the caliber of players mentioned above tends to make those departures seem all the more crippling, what tends to get lost in this slower-paced shuffling of personnel is the long-term planning the front office does, as described above.
With Dobbie’s departure, Curtis “Superman” Dickson is now the primary focal point of the offense, with a realistic chance to surpass Dobbie as the franchise’s all-time points leader in the next 2-3 years. His supporting cast consists of brothers Jesse (left) and Marshal (right) King, hometown product Dan Taylor (left), Ryan Martel (left), Tyler Pace (right), and recent draft picks Tanner Cook (2020) and Kyle Waters (2021). With so much talent at forward across the league, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Calgary also keeps an eye on capable forwards who just miss the final rosters of other teams following training camp, picking them up in a “low-risk, high reward”-type free agent signing.
Defense
Calgary’s defense has experienced a similar string of high-profile player departures in recent years: Dan MacRae, Scott and Mike Carnegie, Jon Harnett, and now Tyson Bell (signed with Halifax this summer). In addition, Chad Cummings and Anthony Kalinich were traded to Panther City for the 15th pick in the 2021 draft, which was then packaged in a trade with Philadelphia to move up to the 10th pick in the draft (highlighting the front office prowess discussed above). The 10th pick was used on Justin Inacio, who will compete with incumbent veteran Tyler Burton for face-off duties.
Joining Burton as elder statesmen on the defensive unit are Greg Harnett and Mitch Wilde (11-year veteran Curtis Manning remains unsigned as of this writing). Behind them is a large core of younger players, including transition wizard Zach Currier, Reece Callies, Shane Simpson, and Eli Salama. Despite the impressive junior resumes of the aforementioned young core, the Roughnecks ranked dead last in both Loose Balls and Caused Turnovers during the 2019-2020 season. With an eye on improving those rankings, Calgary drafted transition players Harrison Matsuoka and Ethan Ticehurst in 2020, along with Inacio this year. Fans can expect the infusion of these new young players to greatly increase the speed of the defensive unit, and allow goaltending phenom Christian Del Bianco the chance to expand on his transition assisting skills. The new core will also help to bridge the age gap as the older veterans approach retirement, likely as the front office had planned all along (wink wink).
Gary Groob has been involved with Lacrosse for the majority of his life, whether playing, coaching, or covering the sport for the media.
An avid fan, with a real drive about helping to “grow the game”, Gary became part of podcasts about the game in 2010. Through the podcasts, Mr. Groob was given an opportunity to write about lacrosse, and the rest as they say, is history.
Through many miles (flying and driving) Gary has made inroads with the National Lacrosse League, Major Series Lacrosse League, the Ontario Lacrosse Association, as well as the Arena Lacrosse League, covering the leagues, their teams, and players, working for, and in concert with all of them.
In the year 2020, Mr. Groob was made the media person for the Arena Lacrosse League, voted onto the board of directors of the Brampton Excelsiors Lacrosse Club, as well as being made administrator of the Lacrosse page “Global Lacrosse” with a membership of 9000 members in over 90 Countries. Gary was also made an administrator of Lacrosse History Past Present and Future in 2022.
Mr. Groob co-hosts a weekly Lacrosse show on Spanglish Sports World, and ZingoTV channel 250, as well as writes a weekly lacrosse column for La Portada Canada News (both in print, and online).
Gary also hosts a Lacrosse talk show and podcast for The Edge of Philly Sports Network, seen live Sunday nights at 9pm (ET), and archived on the Edge of Philly YouTube page, as well as Spotify.
Mr. Groob’s other sports interests include Hockey, Football, Boxing, Wrestling, and Baseball, competing competitively in Boxing and Wrestling for many years.
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