A Washington Stealth Fan Blog
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Tonight is a meeting of two teams that are in very different places at mid season. The Lumberjax are finally starting to click, though their two victories have come against the very weak Edmonton Rush. This match against the Calgary Roughnecks will prove if the Jax are improved are just also preying upon the weak.
The Calgary Roughnecks are dealing with serious injuries to both their starting goalie Steve Dietrich and All Star forward Tracey Kelusky. Sadly, these injuries are going to be the difference maker in the game. A healthy Roughneck squad will squash the Lumberjax squads from any of the games we’ve seen this year. Aside from the typical Lewis Ratcliff game, the ‘Necks are relying on Scott Ranger, Jeff Shattler and others as well as a good transition game to score their goals tonight. It worked earlier this year at San Jose for the Roughnecks and they’ll need it to work tonight. But Portland’s transition game is young and fast and should hold Calgary in check there.
I fully expect last Sunday’s offensive explosive to continue for Portland they might even let a lefty forward like Pete Jacobs or Derek Malawsky get in on the action. That is the only piece they were missing last week despite the route they put on the Rush.
Predicition:
The Jax have been on a roll and got to stay home all week to get ready for this crippled Roughnecks team. The home crowd gets to enjoy a nice 14-11 victory moving the Jax in to third place and tied for wins with the 2nd place Stealth until tomorrow night.