Coming off the heels of the Calgary Roughnecks' third straight loss, falling 14-11 to the Edmonton Rush in National Lacrosse League action, Roughnecks head coach Dave Pym was furious about the officiating.

“(It) was absolutely terrible and I don’t care if I get fined for (saying this) or not. It was atrocious,” said Pym in a phone interview Sunday night.

“It’s very frustrating for players, but we aren’t going to use that as an excuse for losing. It affects the flow of the game when there is flow and momentum with our team. We are really, really good and really, really dangerous and officiating can destroy that. And it’s not good for the league.”

He pointed out two specific incidents that were momentum changers against the Roughnecks.

“Second goal of the game for Edmonton, Josh Sanderson gets cross-checked in back, it gets turned over and they go down the floor and score. That’s a backchecking penalty and we should have been on the powerplay.

Calgary Roughnecks head coach Dave Pym talks to his team during a timeout in the recent Roughnecks game against the Washington Stealth on Jan. 23 at the Saddledome.

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“Andrew McBride gets cross-checked in the back. Could have been a loose ball push but in any event, it should have been our possession. They award possession to Edmonton. Our guys are running off the floor because it’s obvious what it is. They award possession to Edmonton, Gavin Prout shoots it top shelf. And it just went down hill from there.

“I think the referees have got to do a better job. There was all sorts of technical calls that went just bizarre.

“It wasn’t just our team, I mean they (the Rush) were on the receiving end of some things too. (Calgary Roughnecks player Jeff) Shattler got cross-checked right in the head, his helmet comes off, he’s bleeding and they weren’t even going to call a penalty. They ended up calling a penalty and they call it on the wrong guy.”

“We’ve had some really good officiating down in Minnesota, we had an issue with the way they adjudicated a penalty where two guys got penalties, one had some extra minutes. That was really the only other time I think that anything drastic.

“You have little calls here and there but this is by far and away probably the worst game that I have seen in the five years that I’ve been involved with the Roughnecks.”

Officiating wasn’t the only aspect of the game that Pym was angry about. With about five minutes left in the second quarter, Roughnecks goalie Chris Levis was called for not wearing legal equipment, and was sent off the floor to change his shoes. Levis was not wearing Reebok shoes that every player must wear due to a sponsorship agreement.

"The Rush called him on what I think is just something that I as a coach would never do...one of their players, Jimmy Quinlan, walked behind him and saw that he didn’t have Reeboks. If you look at a goalie’s leg pads and they cover the entire shoe except for the very back.

“If a team can’t beat us, they have to use other means of beating us than actually playing straight up on the floor, then I think it’s chintzy. It’s just a lack of respect.”

Rush head coach Derek Keenan had no comment via email.

The loss drops the Roughnecks to 1-3, sitting fourth in the Western Conference at the quarter mark of the season.

In what may be their best defensive outing of the year, it was the transition game that sunk the Roughnecks.

“I think the game was won between the lines,” said Roughnecks captain Tracey Kelusky. “They were able to manufacture goals in transition and unfortunately we weren’t able to get goals in transition.”

Pym added, “Unfortunately, our offence was a little slow on too many occasions coming off the floor, which allowed the Rush to transition and score on us.”

With the shot total 56-36 in favour of the Roughnecks, Rush goaltender Matt Disher played extraordinary.

“He was the difference, he played a great game, not going to take anything away from him, but you know what, we didn’t bury opportunities,” said Kaleb Toth, who played in his first game of the year after being sidelined with a hamstring injury.

“We had a couple of chances where we were tight, one-on-one, and we just didn’t put in that extra effort to finish and that’s what we need to do.”

Toth picked up a Gordie Howe hat trick in his season debut, scoring twice, adding two assists and finished it off with a fight against Rush defensemen Ian Crashley. Kelusky, Josh Sanderson, Scott Ranger and Dane Dobbie each fired a pair with Jeff Moleski pocketing a single. Sanderson also added five assists, propelling him to second in league scoring with 32 points.

The second edition of the Battle of Alberta goes this weekend at the Saddledome. Faceoff is 7:30 p.m. on Friday.