Curtis “Superman” Dickson put up a seven point night with 5 loose balls to propel the 8-7 Calgary Roughnecks to an eye opening 14-4 besting of the Panther City Lacrosse Club.
Kevin M. Neibauer
LaxPhilly-A Division of the Edge of Philly Sports Network.
A crowd of over 8,000 packed the ScotiaBank Saddle Some to take in an important NLL West Division battle between the Calgary Roughnecks and Panther City (6-9).
Something had to give as both squads were riding winning streaks.
Calgary with three and PCLC became the talk of the league with their five games.
Let’s Get Started Shall We?
An ominous beginning for Panther City with the Roughnecks jumping out to an early 3-0 lead.
Kyle Waters (2a) and Superman’s Sidekick, Jesse King assisted on a Tyler Pace (2g,1a) marker at the 4:41 mark.
Tyler Burton (1a) won the draw, Zach Currier hit a streaking Dickson (6g,1a) just :11 later.
A little over two minutes later, King was still in a giving mood, this time it was Currier and with 6:44 played, Calgary seemed to be running away with this one
Except, Cam Milligan (1g,1a) had other thoughts to end the opening stanza, 3-1.
To the Eruption
Eruption? You can say that…at the :39 mark, Patrick Dodds (2a) with Phil Caputo worked the ball to Will Malcolm (1g) and, we had a close one at 3-2.
Meanwhile, Dickson was getting into his Superman mode.
Calgary would go on the mother of runs that place over not one, not two but, three periods and 40:49 of game time.
Liam LeClair (1a) and King started things when they combined on a Reece Callies (1g) marker at 3:53.
With that, Curtis Dickson stole center stage posting a natural hat trick with the goals coming at 4:49, 7:19 and 9:37.
“We knew that yesterday was really important, but today was more important, so if we didn’t get this one we would have taken a couple steps back. We were able to stay focused on it. They’re a good hard-working young team and we have to match their work ethic. If you don’t match their work ethic, you’re not going to be successful and our guys did. They’re coming off a bye week too and that’s tough in this league, so we wanted to take advantage of that and we had great efforts from top to bottom tonight, so it was a great weekend overall.”
“I just see people in different costumes (for the Superhero Party), so I figured something was going on that way. Dickson, he does rise to the occasion. He’s been around long enough to know that he has good nights when it’s Superman night, so maybe we can have one of those in the playoffs if we get there.”
Calgary Head Coach, Curt Malawsky.
Calgary was just warming up with Currier assisting for Jesse King (2g,4a), Dickson potting his fifth and fourth in just 12 minutes.
Eli Salama felt left out so opted to be playmaker for King’s second at 13:25.
The seven markers came in just over ten minutes
When the smoke cleared, the half was upon us and a 10-2 Calgary lead.
Third Quarter
The deluge continued but the pace slowed with just three lamp lighters.
Dickson and Cook hit Pace with 1:20 played.
Zach Herreweyers (1g,1a) and Dan Taylor (1g,1a) provided a goal each to get to the final quarter with the lead increased to 13-2.
Fourth and Final
Very little suspense remained for the final 15:00.
One question everyone had.. Can Dickson get a sock trick?
Taylor and King made sure he would and goal six came on a power play at 6:35.
Christian Del Bianco was given a breather.
Landon Kells entered and was greeted by a pair of goals.
Caputo and, on the advantage, Dean Fairall (1g) to achieve the 14-4 final score
Inside the Numbers..
• Del Bianco allowed a pair of goals while stopping 29 of 32 PC shots in his 51:35.
• Kells also allowed two goals on five tries.
• For Panther City, Kevin Orleman posted 33:58 of playing time surrending 6 goals while making 21 saves.
• Nick.Damude gave up eight goals while stopping 13.
• Calgary’s Tyler Burton went 13 of 22 from the dot with an assist and 11 loose balls.
• Power plays had PC going 1 of 2 and Calgary 1of 3.
• With his assist, Mitch Wilde recorded his 100th.
• Dickson picked up his 600th assist among his 5 loose balls.
• Jesse King achieved his best season with 22 goals and 58 assists.
• How big were Superman and his sidekick King this weekend? Each picked up 14 points, Dickson had 8 Goals and 6 helpers with King posting 4 goals with 10 helpers.
“I think it’s just a big coincidence (playing well on Superhero night). The fans are awesome. You see everybody dressed up in the crowd and going nuts. It makes it easy to play. They get you up for the game, so it’s a lot of fun on nights like this.” – Curtis Dickson.
Superman With Sock Trick
Kevin has followed and promoted the game of lacrosse since May 19, 1974.
The same day the Philadelphia Flyers won the Cup, the Philadelphia Wings were introduced to Neibauer and Philadelphia.
Kevin has covered many sports, including baseball, football, basketball, and.. lacrosse. A former licensed football referee and baseball umpire, Kevin brings a unique insight to his game coverage.
A published writer in JustHockey Magazine, Kevin covered the American Hockey League as well as a monthly story on a pugilist where Kevin used the pen name, The Rink Rat. Neibauer turned his attentions to lacrosse for a few years and does his part, whether podcasting or writing to grow the game. Kevin branched out to his roots and currently provides insight for all Philadelphia teams for Edge of Philly as well as his full-time duties with LaxPhilly.
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