Tracey Kelusky fired five goals -- though, in truth, he had absolutely nothing to do with the last one -- as the Calgary Roughnecks surprised the Toronto Rock, 11-9, Saturday afternoon, thanks largely to a howling miscue between Rock goalie Bob Watson and defender Chris Driscoll.

Josh Sanderson served up four goals and a pair of assists for Toronto, before an apparently legit crowd of 17,942 at the Air Canada Centre.

Kelusky got the Riggers off to a fine start, twanging the twine behind Watson with a low diagonal power-play rip at 1:43. Lewis Ratcliff doubled the lead at 2:16, running home a mid-floor interception.

The Rock answered quickly. Sanderson’s first, at 3:36, came just five seconds after the Roughnecks were flagged for an illegal substitution. Blaine Manning soon knotted the contest off an open scoop along the boards and a long diagonal run.

Kelusky answered, again on the power play, with a low and sneaky shot from the high slot. But then the Rock got the man-up advantage, and Manning beat Calgary goalie Curtis Palidwor with an open slot rip, capping a bewildering four-way pass play.

But it was Kelusky’s quarter, and the Calgary captain struck again at 14:46, on a short, floating run.

4-3 Roughnecks after one.

Bob Watson kicked off the second quarter with a wonderful save, stoning Ratcliff point-blank on the rebound after denying Jesse Phillips on the Roughneck counterbreak. Rusty Kruger quickly followed up for the Rock, with a short-handed redirect on Palidwor’s porch. Josh Sanderson then gave the Rock their first lead of the afternoon, zipping one through the five-hole from forty feet out.

But Kelusky was hot, and he knotted the game again at 7:42, with a rising outside rip on the power play. Sanderson struck back with a very opportunistic goal, blazing one home after scooping up a loose ball behind a triple screen. The lead didn’t last, though. Kevin Dostie of the Roughnecks caught Watson out of position with an steeply angled shot from deep in the corner.

6-6 deadlock at the half.

Just as they did in the first half, the Riggers came out flying and were rewarded with two quick goals. Phillips got the first, simultaneously deking Watson and fighting through a check. Ratcliff struck next, cashing in a clever crossing pass from rookie Callum Crawford.

Josh Sanderson fired back, on the power play, camped near Palidwor’s post at 3:44. That would be it for scoring this quarter, although Rock captain Jim Veltman had a great chance late, when he reached high for a loose ball between two started Roughnecks. He easily outran the pair of them, but couldn’t get the ball past Palidwor at the other end.

8-7 Calgary after three.

Ratcliff was both lucky and good a minute after the break, when his 45-foot diagonal blazer got past Watson just as the 30-second buzzer sounded. Sanderson tried to answer back, but Palidwor robbed him with a perfectly timed upward sweep of his goalie stick.

Then, at 6:24, Colin Doyle shrugged off what had been a drab, out-of-synch effort for three quarters, reaching back for a downfloor pass, and smoking home a screamer from just 25 feet out.

So it was 9-8 Calgary when disaster struck the Rock. The play was over. Watson had the ball in his stick, and was looking downfloor for an open man to pass to. Inexplicably, Rock defender Chris Driscoll bumped into Watson from the blind side. The ball fell out of the goalie’s stick, kicked backwards, and settled in the net. Kelusky got credit. I’m not sure he saw it -- or was even on the floor.

With just four minutes left, Doyle ripped one off the Calgary crossbar. Back came the Roughnecks, and Watson slammed the door hard on Andrew McBride. Then Veltman zipped a gorgeous pass from the high slot to Aaron Wilson on the post, who scored easily to cut Calgary’s lead to 10-9. Palidwor then made a fine last-minute save on Blaine Manning, but the ball soon came to Kyle Goundrey, who iced Calgary’s first-ever win in Toronto with a soft, bouncing empty-netter with just 23 seconds left to go.

NOTES:

It was a terrible miscue, made even worse by the timing. I’m left with the feeling the Rock could have won this game -- and won it easily -- if their heads were fully in it and they had showed up with their "A" game. Full credit to Calgary, though, for playing a solid, professional road game, and getting out of town with a win that is really going to help them going down the stretch.

Onward!