Roughnecks return familiar lineup for 2023-24 NLL season

Calgary club believes there's more offence in the offing after near run to league final

Published Dec 01, 2023  •  Last updated 8 hours ago  •  6 minute read

Calgary Roughnecks thank the fans after the team's NLL season ended with a lost against Colorado Mammoth during the third game of conference finals at Scotiabank Saddledome on Saturday, May 20, 2023. Azin Ghaffari/Postmedia Photo by Azin Ghaffari /Azin Ghaffari/Postmedia

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. So the only off-season adjustment the Calgary Roughnecks made was the one forced upon them.

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That was bringing in a new coaching staff, when Curt Malawsky took his game-smarts to the West Coast. Otherwise, there was truly no need to intentionally alter the lineup for the 2023-24 National Lacrosse League season.

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Especially after the Roughnecks rolled to a fantastic 13-5 record before falling short of the NLL final by a merely a goal.

“We want to build off last year,” said new head coach Josh Sanderson, embracing the performance of the 2022-23 Riggers even though he wasn’t part of the club. “They had a great year, getting to the final four.

“Obviously, we’d like to go further. But we want try to build off of that and just get better from it, because I think they set a good standard that we can build off. We’re going to have a solid team.”

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That quest to bump up their success begins Saturday night in their season opener — against the host Rochester Knighthawks in Upstate New York (5 p.m., TSN+) — as part of the NLL’s Faceoff Weekend 2023.

And the Roughnecks — to a man — are believing they’ve got the personnel to make that run at the National Lacrosse League Cup.

“Every year here, the goal is the championship — and that’s what we’re looking for again,” said Roughnecks assistant coach Eli Salama. “Obviously, last year was a hard one — a tough pill to swallow. But against the Colorado Mammoth, we were right there with them in what was kind of a one-bounce-this-way, one-bounce-that-way (semifinal) series.

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“And then when you know the Buffalo Bandits were able to win the NLL Cup, I think most of us in the room felt that we probably could have had maybe a little bit better of a chance at it. Obviously, hindsight is 20/20, and you’re allowed to think whatever you want to think, right? But I think championships are always what’s the goal.”

With that, they wade into the fight to the final — and hopefully on to triumph — returning a similar squad from last season …

Forwards (8): Tanner Cook, Josh Currier, Haiden Dickson, Thomas Hoggarth, Jesse King, Tyler Pace, Dan Taylor, Thomas Vela

Defenders (11): Reece Callies, Zach Currier, Jeff Cornwall, Justin Inacio, Liam LeClair, Harrison Matsuoka, Kieran McKay, Eli Salama, Shane Simpson, Ethan Ticehurst, Seth Van Schepen

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Goaltenders (2): Christian Del Bianco, Adam Bland

Practice Player List (3): F Riley Isaacs, D Bennett Smith, G Steve Fryer

Injured Reserve List (3): F Logan Schuss, F Clay Scanlan, D Robert Hudson

Three names are new to the active roster — Hoggarth, Vela and Inacio.

Hoggarth is considered the Riggers’ prized pick-up of the off-season after him and young Vela were collected during the 2023 NLL Draft back in September. The Roughnecks traded forward Kyle Waters and a pair of picks in that pick-em — the 16th and 35th choices overall — to the Rochester Knighthawks for the two talented forwards.

“Thomas Hoggarth is a 30-goal scorer — he’s got sweet hands inside,” said Roughnecks GM Mike Board of the 28-year-old NLL journeyman, who’s netted 84 goals in his last three campaigns. “Thomas, we think. is a great fit, a great athlete. We think that he adds another threat for us.

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“And Thomas Vela is a really young kid with a lot of potential that shoots the ball well,” continued Board of the 21-year-old second rounder in 2022. “He’s got a good IQ.

“So we’re looking forward to see what they can do.”

In particular, Board, Sanderson and new assistant coaches Troy Cordingley and Phil Sanderson are hoping the two former Knighthawks — especially Hoggarth — can help boost the offensive totals of the Roughnecks.

The mostly-by-committee attack of the team last year saw just captain Jesse King — with 42 goals — and then-sophomore Tanner Cook — with 32 tallies — crack the 25-goal mark.

Only two other Riggers counted 20, although offensive catalyst Tyler Pace — with 24 — was limited in his appearances. Haiden Dickson — with a 22-goal 2023 campaign — enters this year with confidence after sniping 53 and earning co-MVP honours in the Western Lacrosse Association in Senior A lacrosse over the summer.

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“I think we have more goal-scoring in us,” confirmed Board. “What we realized was that the more guys you have that can put the ball in the net, the better opportunity you have. In that three-game series we lost to Colorado, take away the empty-net goal and we were separated by essentially one goal. Is that a cross-bar? Is that a missed opportunity on a power play?

“We think there’s a little more firepower in our offence this year that will help out.”

The 25-year-old Inacio, a defenceman drafted by the club 10th overall in 2021, spent last year with the Roughnecks on the injured list after a torn ACL suffered before training camp shelved him.

Two other key off-season acquisitions are left-shooting Schuss up front and lefty Hudson on the back-end. But both begin the 18-game schedule on the sidelines — the veteran Schuss due to both a torn ACL and MCL that ended his eight-year run with the Vancouver Stealth/Warriors, and sizy 26-year-old Hudson because of an upper-body injury.

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“Logan is a veteran presence and a guy that has been around the league for 10 or 11 years who can still contribute,” said Board of the 32-year-old Schuss. “Happy to get him on board.

“With Robert, we’re a team that everybody knows we’re building from the goalie out, so we can’t have enough of those good solid defenders who can run the ball,” continued Board of a defender he received from the Georgia Swarm for the 30th pick in the 2023 NLL Draft and the second-round selection in 2025. “So a guy like Robert fits in there.

“And we drafted Bennett Smith, who is very similar to Robert — he’s a smart, young player. Great athletes — both of them.”

Smith was the Roughnecks’ first-round selection — 11th overall — in the 2023 draft, after a star-studded NCAA career with the Queen’s University of Charlotte Royals.

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Riley Isaacs, a local forward drafted in the sixth round this year by the Riggers, and goalie Steve Fryer, who was released from the Warriors early last season, round out the three-man practice squad.

And Clay Scanlan, a 2019 second-round pick of the Halifax Thunderbirds, is sidelined with an upper-body injury.

“We had a very competitive camp and had some tough decisions to make, but we are excited for the upcoming season and hope to get off to a good start this weekend in Rochester,” added Sanderson. “The guys are ready to work hard, put in that strong effort that they have been all camp and just keep that going for the regular season.”

QUICK STICKS

Three regulars from last year’s roster have moved on: T Mitch Wilde, a veteran with the Riggers since 2017, signed a three-year contract with the New York Riptide in the off-season; F Zach Herreweyers was released by the Roughnecks; and D Curtis Manning retired after a stellar 13-year, 197-game NLL career — all with the Riggers … T Zach Currier replaces Manning in the team’s official leadership group, having been honoured with assistant captain’s status joining fellow alternate Salama and captain King. “It was an easy choice this year, with (King, Salama and Currier) already being incredible leaders on and off the floor,” Sanderson said. “They’ve been good for us since Day 1, and so they’ll we wearing the letters for us this season.” … The Roughnecks played three pre-season games — two scrimmages in Vancouver in mid-November, and last week’s 14-12 exhibition win over the Saskatchewan Rush 14-12 last Saturday night in Moose Jaw, Sask. … The Riggers’ home-opener isn’t until Saturday, Dec. 30, when the Las Vegas Desert Dogs visit WestJet Field at Scotiabank Saddledome.

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