COLORADO MAMMOTH LOSE THEIR SECOND TO THE STEALTH 2/6/16
By: Di Miller, Beat Writer Colorado Mammoth
On Saturday February 6, 2016 the Colorado Mammoth (4-1) would head to the Langley Events Centre in Langley, British Columbia to face their Western Division rivals the Vancouver Stealth (1-3). The last two times these teams met in B.C. on January 23, 2016, the Mammoth were the ones to score 15 goals while holding the Stealth to five. However, in front of a crowd of 4,066 fans, the Mammoth would suffer their second loss of the season to the Stealth by the score of 15-7.
The Stealth would start the game off with the first score only 1:21 into the period when Ryan Wagner would hit net, followed by Jordan Durston a little over two minutes later. But the Mammoth would answer back with goals from John Grant, Jr. and Callum Crawford to tie the game at two apiece. Five minutes later Stealth Transition player Travis Cornwall would score, but the Mammoth would answer back 30 seconds later when Cam Holding found a spot between the pipes to tie the game again. But Rhys Duch of Vancouver would break the tie with 24 seconds remaining in the period. There would be only one penalty in the first quarter when Josh Sullivan of the Mammoth would get a two-minute illegal cross check at 13:06 in the period. At the end of the first Vancouver would lead 4-3.
The second quarter was agonizing as only two goals were scored, the first 10:45 into the period when Duch would hit for the second time followed less than a minute later when Corey Small scored giving the Stealth a three goal lead. The second quarter would be heavier on the penalties starting off with Cam Holding of the Mammoth only 42 seconds into the period receiving his first penalty of the season, a two-minute hooking call. It took less than a minute before the next two penalties would be called at 1:38 when Eric Penney of the Stealth would be hit with a two-minute illegal body check; and Jeremy Noble of the Mammoth would receive a two-minute hooking call, the second hooking call on the Mammoth in the quarter. The final penalty of the half would come at 12:02 when Tyler Garrison of the Stealth would be called for a five-minute major for boarding. At the end of the first half the Stealth would still have the lead 6-3.
Starting off the second half, it would be quite a different scenario than the second quarter. There would be a total of eight goals scored. It started out when Ilija Gajic scored at 3:46 into the quarter, his first of the season for the Mammoth and against his former team. Vancouver would dominate the next seven minutes of the third with six unanswered goals. Garrett Billings would start the scoring frenzy thirty seconds after the goal by Gajic, and that’s when Logan Schuss would make his move scoring three back-to-back goals at 5:24; 5:48 and 9:57 giving him a rare immediate hat-trick in the game. The Mammoth made the decision after the Stealth had scored nine goals in the game to replace Alex Buque (32 SV—41 SOG) with their starting net-minder Dillon Ward. The next two goals would come from Durston with his second of the game followed only seven seconds later by Tyler Garrison. The Mammoth would get the last goal of the third at 13:01 when Creighton Reid hit net. All penalties in the third were against the Mammoth who were obviously frustrated. Greg Downing would receive a two-minute holding at 3:34; John Grant, Jr. and Adam Jones would both be called for two-minute delay of game calls at 7:21 and 13:40. At the end of the third the game was out of reach for the Mammoth with the score Vancouver 12-4.
In the final quarter, Vancouver would start right out of the gate when Duch would get his third of the game at 1:17 giving him a hat-trick. But the next goal would be one to go down in the record books when John Grant, Jr. would get his 1,400th career point off an assist to Eli McLaughlin at 2:36. Unfortunately the stellar moment wasn’t at home in front of the Colorado fans would have been on their feet screaming “JGJ”. The Stealth fans would have to wait another six minutes before the ball would hit net and again the Stealth would be the ones to score when Joel McCready would get his first of the game at 8:19. Adam Jones would get his only goal of the game with 4:24 left in regulation keeping his scoring streak alive and now at 53 games. The Stealth would get the final goal of the game at 12:17 with a goal from Small his second of the game. The penalties were huge in the fourth as the game became more aggressive. There would be three 10 minute penalties; and two 15 minute penalties in the final 15 minutes of play. Vancouver would receive six penalties starting off with Cliff Smith called for too many men bench a two-minute penalty; Tyler Garrison at 13:26 would receive a two-minute illegal body check; Mitch McMichael got nailed for a two-minute slashing call at 14:30; then Matt Beers would receive double penalties at the end of regulation, one a five-minute major for elbowing and the other a 10 minute game misconduct; with the final penalty for the Stealth being called on Garrison, his second of the fourth quarter also at the end of regulation and a 10 minute game misconduct, the second misconduct penalty for the Stealth at the 15 minute mark. The only penalty for the Mammoth was called on Team Captain Dan Coates at 9:23 when he was hit with a ten minute match penalty match call. Final Score: Vancouver over Colorado 15-7 giving them a record of 2-3.
The Mammoth still sit in first place in the NLL with a record of 4-2, however they have several team knocking at their back door so they need to tighten up the defense and figure out who will be at X for the face-offs.
Dan Coates of the Mammoth had been awaiting the decision on his appeal of a two-game suspension for an illegal cross-check on Vancouver forward Cliff Smith at the 5:37 mark of the fourth quarter on January 23. Coates did not win the appeal and will be forced to sit out the next two games on Thursday February 11th at home in Denver against the Saskatchewan Rush (3-1) and on Saturday February 13th when the Mammoth head to Calgary to face the Roughnecks (3-3) at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
Game Stats:
Colorado Mammoth: 47 SOG; 25 SOFF; 63 LB; 10-26 FO; .385 FO%; 2-4 on the PP
Vancouver Stealth: 55 SOG; 15 SOFF; 69 LB; 16-26 FO; .615 FO%; 3-3 on the PP
Goalie Stats:
Colorado Mammoth: Alex Buque—35:58 minutes; 32-41 Saves; 780 SV%; 9 GA
Colorado Mammoth: Dillon Ward—24:02 minutes; 8-14 Saves; .571 SV%; 6 GA
Vancouver Stealth: Eric Penney—60 minutes; 40-47 Saves; .851 SV%; 7 GA
The Mammoth are still having major problems in the face-off position. During the game they had four players taking face-offs: Joey Cupido 0-1; Greg Downing 1-3; Corbyn Tao 0-3; and Ilija Gajic with 9-19. Without a starting face-off specialist the Mammoth will continue to struggle as we all know if you lose in the face-off category there’s a high probability that you will lose the game.
Colorado has a short week heading into their next game at home after coming off their longest road trip of the season at 1-2 losing back to back games. On Thursday February 11, 2015 the Mammoth (4-2) will host the defending world-champion Saskatchewan Rush (3-1) in Denver at the Pepsi Center. Face-off time 7:30 p.m. MT.
Di Miller, Beat Writer Colorado Mammoth
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