Calgary Roughnecks bow out of NLL playoffs early with loss to Thunderbirds
Another NLL Cup will have to wait at least another year for the Calgary Roughnecks.
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Because their bid to capture their fourth such trophy — realistic due to their dynamic personnel — came to a heartbreaking halt Saturday night on the East Coast.
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A 16-12 loss to the host Halifax Thunderbirds did them in, with the usual bugaboos of slow starts and inconsistency getting the better of their talented high-octane roster in the National Lacrosse League single-game quarterfinal.
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'It sucks — it stings,' Roughnecks assistant captain Eli Salama told TSN, moments after the buzzer sounded on their one-step-forward, one-step-backward season at Halifax's Scotiabank Centre.
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'It's just a bummer,' continued Salama. 'Like we've got some guys that are getting up there in age, and we don't know how many more years they have left in the game, and they mean a lot to the guys in the room.'
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Roughnecks legends Dane Dobbie, 38, and Curtis Dickson, 36, who shockingly both arrived back in Riggers gear during a tumultuous off-season for the NLL franchise after bolting for sunny San Diego years earlier.
Their return did wonders for a club choked by the hold-out of MVP goaltender Christian Del Bianco at one end and hurting for production at the other.
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'Having Dobes and Dicks come back is huge,' Salama said. 'You know those guys were super influential for me as a young guy coming into the league.'
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When the dynamic duo was wheeling and dealing during the regular-season, it was like magical times again for the Roughnecks, giving them every reason to believe they could ride another run to the league championship.
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At least not in the first half.
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