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Stealth still seeking first win

Calgary uses dominant first and third quarters to hand Vancouver second straight loss to open National Lacrosse League season

The Calgary Roughnecks did the bulk of their damage in 30 of the game’s 60 minutes, handing the Vancouver Stealth a 15-12 loss.

The Stealth were in Calgary on Friday night at the Scotiabank Saddledome in National Lacrosse League action, scoring a dozen of their goals in the first and third quarters.

Calgary improved to 1-1 while Vancouver dropped to 0-2.

“We have 16 games left and we need to start winning, but we are not pushing the panic button,” said Stealth coach and assistant general manager Jamie Batley. “We need to get better shooting percentages and we need more goals from our guys and they know that.”

The Roughnecks raced out to a 5-1 lead and led 6-4 after one quarter. Each team scored twice in the second and Vancouver twice cut the lead to one goal in the first five minutes of the third quarter before Calgary closed the period with five of the final goals. The Stealth outscored Calgary 3-1 in the fourth but that was not enough.

“It was the little things that got away from us tonight,” said assistant captain Logan Schuss who had five goals in eight shots. He also finished with a game-high eight points.

Calgary chased starting goaltender Tye Belanger from the net just 7:52 into the game after he surrendered four goals on 11 shots. It marked the second straight week Belanger did not finish the game.

Brodie MacDonald allowed 11 goals on 42 shots.

One positive from the game for Vancouver was that their offence did find some rhythm.

Last year’s two leading scorers, Rhys Duch and Corey Small, were held to a combined three assists in week one. But in Calgary, Duch had a goal and three assists while Small set up five goals.

Brandon Clelland (two goals, two assists), Tony Malcom (one goal, two assists), Joel McCready (one goal, one assist), James Rahe (one goal) and Ryan Fournier (one goal) rounded out the scoring. Fournier’s goal was the first of his NLL career.

The Stealth are off this weekend and return to action on Dec. 29 when they hit the road to face the New England Black Wolves.



sports@langleytimes.com

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Vancouver Stealth’s Logan Schuss (right) and James Rahe celebrate a goal during NLL action at the Langley Events Centre on Dec. 8. Gary Ahuja Langley Times