Di Miller, Beat Writer Colorado Mammoth
Lacrosse is Awesome
The Colorado Mammoth opened the 2016-17 season with a bang. They headed to Buffalo to face the Bandits at KeyBank Center in front of a crowd of 14,268 fans. Bandits fans wanted that home opener victory, but it wasn’t in the cards. Tonight’s loss was only second to the worst opening night in Bandits history when they were defeated by the Rochester Knighthawks in 2010 by the score of 10-5. They squeaked by their worst opening night loss by one goal. Final Score: Mammoth 12—Buffalo 8.
Colorado would start out guns a blazin’ with the only offense in the first quarter of play. Chris Wardle would hit net at 3:54 (assist McLaughlin, Noble). The fans would have to wait almost seven minutes before they would see their team let another one go past Cosmo in net. Zack Greer would put his first point on the board as a Mammoth player at 10:26. Greer came over from the Saskatchewan Rush in the surprise trade for Adam Jones. Defenseman Dan Coates would put the final point on the board for the Mammoth on a short-handed goal with 46 seconds left (assist Gajic, Hope). Cosmo would have 13 saves in the first; with Ward having seven. Although the Bandits were firing at Ward, he was making quality saves and shut out Buffalo in the first. Score at the end of one: Mammoth 3—Bandits 0.
The second quarter would start out with the Bandits putting it between the pipes with a burner from Ryan Benesch at 1:05 (first of three in the contest). The Mammoth would fire back-to-back goals from Greer; followed by John Grant, Jr, both power-play goals and assisted by Jeremy Noble. It took only 21 seconds for transition player Brad Self to put the Bandits second point on the board, but Noble would put the Mammoth back up by four with less than five minutes in the first half and the last goal of the period. With less than a minute on the clock, Coates, defenseman for the Mammoth would be called for holding a stick, putting the Bandits on the power-play. 
The Bandits would send a barrage of shots at Ward, but he wasn’t having anything to do with it and stopped six straight shots on the power-play and did not allow Buffalo to capitalize on the power-play opportunity. The saves would swap in the second with Ward having 18 to only nine by Cosmo. Score at the end of the first half: Colorado 6—Buffalo 2.
Starting off the third, the Mammoth would draw first blood with Creighton Reid getting his first and only goal of the night. That’s when Callum Crawford sent a pass far side to the newbie of the Mammoth squad Jacob Ruest (Rooster) to give him his first ever NLL career goal at 5:40. Ruest was signed as a free agent after being cut by the Calgary Roughnecks. Ruest would beat Cosmo in the five hole, low and between the wickets. Crawford would come back with a shot of his own at 6:28 (assist Greer, Wardle). That’s when the Bandits would pull Cosmo in favor of Davide DiRuscio. The Mammoth would lead 9-2 with less than nine minutes in the frame. At 8:56 in the quarter, Benesch would be called for an illegal cross-check. This didn’t stop the Bandits from putting up a short-handed goal by Alex Kedoh Hill at 9:26. But with the penalty still in effect and the Mammoth with their fifth power-play opportunity on the night, Crawford would capitalize (assist Ruest). It was a nice shot top left corner over the shoulder of DiRuscio. The Bandits had thought they would have another on the board with a three on two breakaway, but an illegal pick by Self on Noble (check in the back), the goal was waived off. Buffalo would close out the quarter with only 36 seconds on the buzzer and one second left on the shot clock, with a shot from Benesch (assist D. Smith, Wilde). At this point in the game, Dhane Smith couldn’t get the ball past Ward which was key for the Mammoth. The Bandits would pull DiRuscio for the extra-attacker in an attempt to put one more on the board before time ran out, but they just couldn’t capitalize. At the end of three: Colorado 10—Buffalo 4.
Buffalo had their last 15 minutes of play to overcome a six goal deficit. Greer would start it off for the Mammoth only 23 seconds in (hat-trick). That’s when Buffalo made their move going on a three-goal run. Kedoh Hill came back at 2:30 and hit net; Nick Weiss had a nice unassisted goal taking the ball across the restraining line shooting low, glove side on Ward and caught Ward moving right in the crease. This was the first time in the contest that Buffalo had put back-to-back goals on the board and they were looking for more. Benesch would get the hat-trick on the night less than a minute later. 
It was a nice side arm shot that he sent with a one hopper up and over the hands of Ward to beat him glove side. Dhane Smith still had no goals although he had 11 shots on goal with 5:29 left in the game. With only three minutes remaining, Ruest would get his second on the night when he flared one that got past the arm of DiRuscio and trickled into the net stopping the three-goal run by Buffalo. The Mammoth were doing their best to run out the clock, but Buffalo was able to get one in with 52 seconds left with a shot and the hat-trick by Kedoh Hill (assist Benesch, Riorden). Final Score: Colorado 12—Buffalo 8.
Although the Bandits controlled at the face-off winning 15 of 24, Colorado dominated on the power-plays scoring on three of five. Buffalo shot themselves in the foot with penalty minutes with a total of 10 on the night opposed to four for the Mammoth. In the save category, it was fairly close; Ward with 47 and the Cosmo-DiRuscio combo combining for 41.
The key to the Mammoth victory tonight was good ball control; they had eight different players hit net; 10 players with assists; their defense was double-teaming and crushing the Bandits all night; Ward was like a Mack Truck between the pipes; and they held Dhane Smith to no goals.
Can the Mammoth bring this momentum back home on January 7, when they face the Vancouver Stealth at the Pepsi Center? They’ve got their core team back from 2016 and some fantastic new faces on the roster for 2017. If they can stay healthy and continue with strong offense and defense they will be a strong contender in 2017.
Di Miller, Beat Writer Colorado Mammoth
Lacrosse is Awesome