“Muffler” Mike Kostiuk – Senior Correspondent, All Lacrosse All The Time
The Las Vegas Desert Dogs faced off against the Calgary Roughnecks at the Scotiabank Saddledome in a rare Sunday night showdown. The Desert Dogs were coming off a loss at home against Vancouver on Friday night, while Calgary fell to Saskatchewan Friday night. Unfortunately for Las Vegas, they ran into a absolute buzzsaw of an opponent, as the Roughnecks administered a 21-8 drubbing to salvage a split for their weekend. The Desert Dogs fall to 2-8 with their second loss in three days, tied for last place in the standings. Calgary improves to 6-4, good for a third-place tie with Colorado.
Desert Dogs suffer yet another power outage on offense
It didn’t take long for the game to get out of hand. Haiden Dickson (1:49) opened the scoring for the Roughnecks. Justin Inacio took the ensuing faceoff and scored his first career NLL goal (1:54) to make it 2-0 Calgary. Jack Hannah (2:17) struck back for the Desert Dogs to cut the lead to 2-1, but goals from Braeden Mayea (2:33) and Jesse King (4:32 power play) put the Roughnecks up 4-1. Hannah scored again (5:25) to pull Las Vegas within two, but King (8:46) and Haiden Dickson (14:19) pushed the lead to 6-2 after one quarter.
Hannah scored on the power play (0:54 second quarter) for his hat trick to make it 6-3. Calgary responded with a four-goal run to close out the half. Curtis Dickson (5:43 power play) and Haiden Dickson (12:55) pushed the lead to five. Dane Dobbie followed with a pair of goals (14:00; 14:14) as the Roughnecks took whopping a 10-3 lead into halftime. With one minute left in the half, Desert Dogs starting goaltender Justin Geddie was pulled in favor of Landon Kells.
What’s next for the struggling Desert Dogs?
Hannah opened the second half scoring his fourth goal of the game (0:54). But Calgary continued to pour it on. Dobbie (4:02), Tyler Pace (4:54), and Dobbie again (6:09) made it a 13-4 game. Casey Jackson scored for Vegas (9:40) before Dobbie netted his fifth goal of the night (12:23 power play) for a 14-5 lead going into the fourth quarter. Haiden Dickson for Calgary (1:47) and Kyle Killen for Las Vegas (2:17) traded goals before another Roughnecks run.
Tanner Cook (2:34) made it 16-6, and Kells got replaced in the Desert Dogs’ net with Geddie again. Pace (4:26 power play), Dobbie’s sock trick goal (6:10), and Mayea’s second (6:36) increased the lead to 19-6. Tempers began to boil over as Desert Dogs faceoff man Tommy Burke racked up 15 minutes in penalties after a boarding major and match penalty. Vegas got goals from Jackson (7:55 power play) and Jonathan Donville (9:27) to make it 19-8. Calgary closed the scoring with King’s third (12:13 power play) and Haiden Dickson’s fifth of the night (12:42 power play).
The next five games for Las Vegas are: at Colorado, Halifax, Rochester, at San Diego, at Buffalo. The Desert Dogs will need to find a way to pull off some upsets to stay in the playoff hunt. Otherwise, it will be another long off-season, and one of the big questions could be whether head coach Shawn Williams and his staff are retained for 2026.
Other Stats of Note
Calgary became the first team this season to score 20 or more goals in a game
Desert Dogs: Hannah (4g); Jackson (2g, 3a); Donville (1g, 2a); Killen (1g, 1a); Adam Poitras (1a); Drew Belgrave (1a)
Roughnecks: Dobbie (6g, 4a); Haiden Dickson (5g, 1a); King (3g, 7a); Pace (2g, 9a); Mayea (2g, 2a); Curtis Dickson (1g, 5a); Cook (1g, 4a)
Cam MacLeod (CGY): 53:00, 30 saves, 7 GA; Gowah Abrams 7:00, 5 saves, 1 GA
Justin Geddie (LV): 41:26, 26 saves, 14 GA; Landon Kells 18:34, 4 saves, 7 GA
