“I really don’t care about Panther City and I don’t care about Texas.” - Malawsky
Panther City Lacrosse Club
It’s certainly safe to say that Calgary Roughnecks’ Head Coach Curt Malawsky was not even a smidge satisfied with his club’s performance in last night’s loss to the depleted Vancouver Warriors, 11-10.
The Warriors, who were already without leading forward Mitch Jones to a long-term injury, announced hours before Friday’s game against the Roughnecks that they were also forced to move standout starting goalie, Alex Buque, and top face-off taker, Tyrell Hamer-Jackson, to the injured reserve. Buque was reported to have been suffering with an illness that was not COVID related.
The Roughnecks moved defenders Curtis Manning & Eli Salama to COVID protocol prior to the game.
“I didn’t think we played our best,” Malawsky said during last night’s media appearance (Calgary Sun). “At the end of the day, they won the game, but I think we facilitated that.
“I thought we made a lot of errors. We had a lot of turnovers. They had three power-play goals in the first half. They had two transition goals — one off the face-off, and one five-on-five. And then we were fighting for everything we could get. I don’t think our power play was very good either — I think it stunk.”
The Warriors may not entirely agree.
Calgary Roughnecks (Photo: Candice Ward)
“We like being the underdog,” said Vancouver goalie Steve Fryer during last night’s post-game comments on TSN. “I think in every game every team has been looking at us like we’re an easy win, but we’re a new Vancouver Warriors team here, and I think we’re showing it, and we’re just going to keep going.”
The start was Fryer’s first this season while playing behind Buque. His 41-save performance last night was a key to Vancouver’s very impressive third straight win, pushing them to 5-3 and firmly in control of third in the West. If the Colorado Mammoth lose to the Saskatchewan Rush tonight, the Warriors would then be tied for second in the division currently led by the San Diego Seals (6-1).
The Roughnecks won’t have to wait long to get back on track, travelling to Fort Worth to take on the expansion Panther City Lacrosse Club on Sunday afternoon.
Malawsky, never one to mince his words, commented on Calgary’s upcoming clash with the first-year franchise.
“It’s a character check,” confirmed Malawsky. “We’re going to know what we have in this room. We’ll know what we have in this room on Sunday at 3 o’clock…I know what we have in that room and you’re going to know after the weekend. And I’m pretty sure I know what side of the stick we’ll be on.”
“You want the truth? I really don’t care. I really don’t care about Panther City and I don’t care about Texas. All due respect, I can’t control what they’re going to do. We’re going to game plan and prepare as best we can…at the end of the day, we just have to do our job.”
Both clubs have struggled this season. The 2-5 Roughnecks sit tied for fourth with the Rush in the West, while PCLC’s 1-7 record is tied for the worst league wide.
🔊 “I’m tired of learning lessons, to be honest with you.”
— Calgary Roughnecks (@NLLRoughnecks) February 19, 2022
Head coach Curt Malawsky on tonight's game. pic.twitter.com/4BAKZVSVJh
Headlines
The Province confirmed that Jones (broken foot) will be sidelined for another five weeks before being able to hopefully return to Vancouver’s active roster…The Toronto Rock tweeted that defenders Latrell Harris (IR) & Jason Noble (PUP) would return to the lineup for the team’s away game against the Albany FireWolves. The Rock also confirmed that Zach Manns & Chris Weier had been moved to their injured reserve list. Specifics of their injuries were not disclosed…“The whole team as a group is very eager to get back to Halifax. We have missed our home arena, having not played there in over two months, and we missed the fans and having that feeling of home.” - Austin Shanks on the Thunderbirds’ return to their home floor in Halifax (The Chronicle Herald) after moving & postponing games due to the province of Nova Scotia’s strict pandemic-related restrictions. Halifax hosts the Georgia Swarm at the Scotiabank Centre tonight, officially on their home floor for the first time since December 10th against the Rock.