Maybe this is a sign of a changing of the guard?

Thanks to an 11-point outing from Curtis Dickson and a 10-point performance from Dane Dobbie, the Calgary Roughnecks defeated the Saskatchewan Rush 17-12 Saturday night — their first win in Saskatoon since the Rush relocated from Edmonton.

“That’s the first time we’ve beaten these guys in a meaningful game in a long time,” Dickson told CalgaryRoughnecks.com. “There was a lot on the line tonight. That was a game for first place in the West, and we haven’t been this high in the standings at this point in the season in a long time. It’s nice to win one of these. I don’t want to say must-win, but that was a huge game for us.”

Calgary scored six straight in a run stretching across the halftime break to take an 12-7 lead in the final minute of the third quarter. The Riggers’ lead wouldn’t shrink smaller than three goals the rest of the way.

“We played lights out,” Dickson said. “We got out to a slow start there, but after the first half of the first quarter, it was the best lacrosse I’ve played in a long time, so it’s promising moving forward for sure.”

Saskatchewan has lost three straight and is a game back of division-leading Calgary and San Diego.

Bandits leap past Georgia

Buffalo, fresh off a surprising trade to land Chris Cloutier from Philadelphia, moved into tie for first place in the East with Toronto with an impressive 19-9 road victory against the Georgia Swarm.

Dhane Smith showed his excellent skills as a facilitator, dishing out 11 assists, as the Bandits won their third straight game and hopped the Swarm in the standings.

The Bandits scored seven straight goals stretching from the second to third quarters to go up by 10 midway through the third frame. Georgia wasn’t able to string together more than two goals the rest of the way.

Shawn Evans had four goals and six assists, while Corey Small tied his season high for goals and points with five goals and two assists.

Cloutier, the No. 2 overall pick in the NLL draft and second-leading scorer among rookies, did not make his Buffalo debut this week, so he’ll have to wait until next week’s matchup with the Roughnecks.

Mammoth prevail late

A late two-goal run by the Colorado Mammoth in the final six minutes of action Saturday saved the team from losing ground in the West Division. Eli McLaughlin and Kyle Killen scored late goals on Philadelphia’s Doug Buchan to secure a 12-10 win against the Wings at Wells Fargo Center and spare Colorado from dropping a third straight.

The Mammoth scored four power-play goals on seven attempts, as they dug themselves out of an early 3-0 hole and a 9-7 deficit after three quarters. With the win, Colorado stayed in a tie with the Vancouver Warriors for the last playoff spot in the division.

“There was a moment when [the Wings] went up 9-7, that felt like, ‘Oh no, here we go again,’” Mammoth coach Pat Coyle told ColoradoMammoth.com. “But I like how we responded when we were down 9-7. I thought that was the real telling thing for us. When we beat Calgary this year, our other win, it felt like it had been decided, maybe, going into the fourth quarter. It was nice, after being in so many close games since then, to actually win one. Maybe we can learn from this.”

Ryan Benesch had two goals and seven assists, while McLaughlin notched four goals and one helper.

Warriors make mark

The Vancouver Warriors made sure they spoiled the party this week.

San Diego, which entered the weekend surprisingly alone atop the West, struggled mightily to control Keegan Ball in a one-sided 14-6 home loss on Friday. Ball notched six goals and four assists as Vancouver rode a seven-goal run in the second half to its first regulation win of the season.

“We obviously came out strong, but unfortunately the energy wasn’t there for the full 60 minutes,” Seals transition player Adrian Sorichetti told media postgame. “[Vancouver] is a strong team, and we unfortunately didn’t show our best tonight. … Vancouver is playing for the Western Conference title as much as we are, and we had a target on our back tonight.”

The Seals remain in first in the division, but now share the position with Calgary. With their third victory, the Warriors have already surpassed the total from their final year as the Stealth.

Mitch Jones, Anthony Malcom and Jordan McBride notched two goals each, while defensively the Warriors got another strong showing from Eric Penney between the pipes. He stopped 40 of the 46 shots he faced.

Pack mentality

An 8-0 New England run in the second and third quarters, featuring three goals from Tyler Digby and two from Stephan LeBlanc, proved to be too big a hole for the Rochester Knighthawks to climb out of Saturday night.

The stretch put the Pack up 11-4, and while the Knighthawks made a run of their own in the third and fourth, they couldn’t get closer than two goals down in a 16-13 Black Wolves victory.

Callum Crawford, who eclipsed the 900 career points, led the team with five goals and five assists, while LeBlanc had three goals and five assists and Digby had three goals and two assists.

Joe Resetarits had seven points and Cody Jamieson had six for the K-Hawks, losers of three straight.

Week 10 Preview

Seals at Rock
Friday, 7:30 p.m. ET

Dan Dawson scored twice for San Diego this week, the team’s only multi-goal scorer. Seals captain Brodie Merrill was placed on injured reserve, while teammate Garrett McIntosh was moved to the short-term holdout roster. Toronto returns after a week of rest following its three-goal victory against Saskatchewan.

Black Wolves at Wings
Saturday, 7 p.m. ET

Wings at Black Wolves
Sunday, 3 p.m. ET

The Black Wolves meet their former selves in this exciting home-and-home. Kevin Crowley shot 14 times, five more than any other Wings player, but failed to score against Colorado. In addition to Crawford’s 900-points milestone, Stephan LeBlanc also notched his 700th this week. No one with more than 20 shots on the season is shooting at a higher percentage than New England’s Digby.

Roughnecks at Bandits
Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET

Halfway through the season, Evans is on pace to tie Mark Matthews’ NLL record for single-season assists. Smith is not far off, recording just one assist fewer so far.  Dickson is already fourth on the Roughnecks in scoring despite playing four games fewer than some of his teammates. Matt Vinc and the Buffalo defense have held teams under 10 goals in five of the team’s nine games.

Swarm at Mammoth
Saturday, 9 p.m. ET

This week was the first time Lyle Thompson has failed to register a multi-goal performance this season. The Colorado defense will likely need to slow him down like Buffalo’s did, considering the Mammoth have failed to score more than 12 goals in a game this season.

Rush at Warriors
Saturday, 10 p.m. ET

Saskatchewan has gotten only two power-play opportunities in its last three games, with both coming this week. The Rush scored once a man-up. The last meeting between these teams was a 14-10 Rush win featuring an eight-point performance from Ben McIntosh.