Di Miller, Beat Writer Colorado Mammoth
Lacrosse is Awesome
It was 303 day in Colorado when the Colorado Mammoth (6-4) hosted their Western Division rivals the Calgary Roughnecks (3-6) in front of 15,898 screaming Mammoth fans. The Mammoth have been on the road since February 4, 2017 after having defeated the undefeated Georgia Swarm at The Pepsi Center. The Roughnecks have been having a “rough” go of it dropping five in a row, with their last victory being in Colorado against the Mammoth on January 28. Colorado is still without John Grant Jr. (reasons unknown); Jeremy Noble (still recovering from the wrist injury from the boarding penalty by Greg Harnett); and Zack Greer. After last Sunday’s contest against the New England Black Wolves, “Lightning” Joey Cupido had scored two goals, giving him the lead among defenseman in the league with seven goals heading into tonight’s contest. The Mammoth had dropped the last two to Calgary and wanted revenge and the “W” and that’s exactly what they got. In a game of non-stop action, the Mammoth would dominate the majority of the game and defeat the Roughnecks. Final Score: Colorado 18–Calgary 9.
Colorado would open the scoring when Stephen Keogh, newly acquired from the Rochester Knighthawks would score his first goal on Mammoth home turf at 3:02 with a sweet top left corner shot blowing it past Christian Del Bianco who got the nod over veteran Frankie Scigliano. 
Eli McLaughlin would notch back-to-back goals at 4:39 and 7:10, the first a glove side top shelf shot; and the second a left side shot upper left stick side which deflected off the pipe and found the net. Brent Adams would fake and catch Del Bianco off guard with a bounce shot at 8:27. But Garrett McIntosh would stop the Mammoth four goal run on a breakaway scoring at 12:07 (assist Del Bianco). Colorado would close out the first with a double pump fake from Jacob “The Rooster” Ruest hitting top left stick side on Del Bianco. The shots on goal were even at 12 apiece, but the Mammoth’s shots were quality shots as they would lead at the end of the first 5-1.
The first quarter would end with the Roughnecks being man-down whenTyson Bell would be hit with a holding call with under two minutes left in the first. As soon as the penalty was released in the second, Bell charged out of the box, got the feed from Curtis Dickson and scored only 34 seconds in. They would score another goal again on the power-play when Mammoth Captain Dan Coates sat in the box for holding and the Roughnecks would capitalize with Dane Dobbie (assist Dickson, Wesley Berg) sending a shovel shot glove side low on Dillon Ward. Colorado would notch another two, with McLaughlin getting the hat-trick at 4:08; followed by Callum Crawford with his first of six on the night. Calgary would answer back with two of their own from Riley Loewen on a nice across the shoulder shot on Ward top shelf glove side; and Tyler Digby with his lone goal of the night off a nice juke move double pump bounce shot on Ward. Crawford would fake a behind-the-back shot, and caught Del Bianco moving right and would pop it over the shoulder stick side. The Riggers would notch the last point in the frame with an across the crease dive by Jeff Shattler popping it over the shoulder of a stunned Ward on the power-play at 9:51. For the remainder of the quarter, the fans would watch the net minders sit tall in between the pipes. Unfortunately for Del Bianco, the chief would pull him out of net in favor of Frank Scigliano with 2:14 left in the first half. Although Calgary had almost tripled their shots on goal in the second quarter (21-9) over the Mammoth, Del Bianco wasn’t performing in net. The Roughnecks had outscored the Mammoth in the second five to three, but were still behind 8-6 when the teams headed to the locker room.
With the start of third and defensive domination by the Mammoth, it was Scigliano’s time to set up between the pipes and attempt to stop the power-house offensive attack the Mammoth were on. Bob Snider would start if off for the Riggers (assist Scigliano) at 2:18. But then the Roughnecks would be hit with double minor penalties at 3:31 when Mike Carnegie would be called for slashing; and Garrett McIntosh a checking from behind. This put the Mammoth on a 5 on 3 power-play, and sure enough, Crawford would start a five goal run and come through again (assist Keogh) stick side top right corner on Scigliano; and only 1:02 later would notch an unassisted highlight reel goal with a spin and dodge top shelf glove side. Greg Downing (assist Cam Holding) would score at 9:21; and Keogh would get his second at 11:26 off a double pump fake stick side lower left corner. The Mammoth would pull Ward with 10.9 seconds left in the third for the extra attacker and Crawford would score with only 1.1 seconds left on the clock (assist Creighton Reid) to put the Mammoth up by six. In the third, the Mammoth would dominate with shots on goal 19-8. Score at the end of three: Colorado 13—Calgary 7.
It was looking bleak for the Roughnecks heading into the fourth. The Mammoth were pumped and the Riggers were frustrated. Tensions continued to build throughout the second and third quarters, but it was becoming evident in the fourth, that it had become a do or die situation for Calgary. Dickson would start off the scoring quickly and only 25 seconds in. Reid had the breakaway for the Mammoth with an unassisted laser at 1:32. 
Then Crawford would notch the sock-trick (assist Ruest) at 4:43. The game momentarily stopped so the field crew along with Mammoth mascot Wooley could clear socks off the field. That goal put the Mammoth at the point where they were untouchable. Dickson would notch his second and final of the night at 5:35 and the final goal for the Roughnecks in the contest. The Mammoth would close out the fourth with Keogh putting up the hat-trick at 6:06; McLaughlin his fourth of the night at 9:17; and Adams off a Riggers turnover would hit net for the final time in the contest at 10:30. For the remaining four and a half minutes, the fans would watch the 
Mammoth control the clock and Ward stand tall in net. In the fourth, the Roughnecks would be the ones to lead in shots on goal (18-13), but it was the Mammoth who were making the shots that counted. Final Score: Mammoth 18—Roughnecks 9.
The Mammoth led the league in scoring in the second quarter after their game in New England; and although they are without three key veterans, the young guns have come out blazin’ showing everyone that they’ve got the enthusiasm and the drive to do their part to put the Mammoth back on top in the Western Division.
The Roughnecks are hurting right now. They have a real dilemma between the pipes, and they’ve got to control the ball in transition; stop rushing shots; and calm their tempers. If they don’t switch things up soon, with the season at the half way point, they will remain at the bottom of the standings in the Western Division.
Next up, Colorado heads up to Saskatchewan to face the Rush (6-2), the leaders in the West on Saturday March 11 and will head back home on Sunday March 12 when they host the Vancouver Stealth (3-6).
It doesn’t get any easier for Calgary (3-6) as they head down to Georgia to face the NLL leading Swarm (7-1) for the second half of their double header weekend on Saturday March 4.
Di Miller, Beat Writer Colorado Mammoth
Lacrosse is Awesome