Roughnecks win first game of the season.

After losing Friday night at home in overtime to the San Jose Stealth, the Calgary Roughnecks rebounded 24 hours later to defeat the Edmonton Rush 13 -12 at Rexall Place in Edmonton to take the first round of the 2007 NLL Battle of Alberta.

The Rush offence came out in full force during the first half as they scored two on the power play. The Roughnecks tried to catch up but only managed to get the score to 8-5 before halftime.

The Rush led for most of the second half, but the Roughnecks pressed hard to catch up and finally did as Jeff Shattler's goal in the fourth quarter brought the teams even at 11-11. A goal by Kaleb Toth, his second of the evening, then pushed the Roughnecks into the lead. The Rush caught up though and tied the game 12-12 at 9:49.

That even score didn't last long though as Devan Wray scored the game winner at 12:15 to put it away for the Roughnecks. The Rush thought they had tied the game in the dying two seconds when Dan Stroup tried to pull out the "Air Gait" from behind the Calgary goal, but the officials ruled a crease infraction and the Roughnecks held on.

Lewis Ratcliff led the Roughnecks with two goals and two assists while Tracey Kelusky chipped in a goal and three assists. Jason Wulder, who was making his debut with the Rush after an off-season trade with Calgary, led Edmonton with two goals and four assists against his old club. Stroup and Randy Daly each had five points for the Rush with Jamey Bowen, Chris Gill, and Jimmy Quinlan all had four points.

Andrew Leyshon made 36 saves for the Roughnecks, while Rush goaltender Pat Campbell made 43 stops.

The Rush and Roughnecks will meet again on April 6 at the Saddledome in Calgary and the season series will wrap up on April 14 at Rexall Place.