Di Miller, Beat Writer Colorado Mammoth
Lacrosse is Awesome
The Colorado Mammoth (4-1) hosted the Vancouver Stealth (1-5) on Friday January 26, 2018. It was “Black-Out Night” at the Loud House and the Mammoth were donning their new black jerseys which would be auctioned off during the game. At game time the Pepsi Center had only about one-third of its normal fan base for a Mammoth game and it led one to wonder if the outcome of the Rush game two weeks previous was to blame. But once the National Anthems were sung and the cannons blasted, fireworks shooting towards the ceiling the stadium soon filled with 12,016 screaming Colorado fans. In speaking with several of the players after the Rush loss including Jeremy Noble; Zack Greer; Greg Downing; and Dillon Ward they all had the same words when asked “What went wrong?”…their answer “The Rush are a great team who brought their “A” game and we didn’t play well, simple as that”. So what happened? The Rush ran the tic-tac-toe play over and over beating Ward stick side low and top right corner. With about six minutes in that game, Ward was pulled in favor of Steve Fryer. The Mammoth would lose their first game of the 2018 season heading into the bye-week.
Vancouver had also just come off the bye-week and their first win of the season over the Buffalo Bandits (3-3) in OT, 11-10. It was imperative for a possible play-off spot, even this early in the season that the Stealth needed a win. This was a double-header weekend for them and they didn’t want to dig an even deeper hole.
The rivalry is strong between these two teams. Every game no matter whose home-turf, the games are physical and exciting at the same time. This game would be no different and as the game progressed, the fans became louder and louder; and the fighting began.
Some last minute roster changes were made for both teams. For the Mammoth, Scott Carnegie was put on the “injured reserve list”; Quinn MacKay was brought in for Carnegie; and Zack Greer was placed on the hold-out list. And, a record would be broken; Joey Cupido needed eight loose balls to hit 500 and he did just that.
For the Stealth both Logan Schuss and Scott McReady were on the suspended list pending league review; and Justin Salt was announced as a scratch.
The game started out with top-notch net-minding by both Ward and Eric Penney. Only three goals would go up on the big screen. Two for the Mammoth the first at the 6:32 mark with the feed from Taylor Stuart (2A) to Tim Edwards (1G); and the second on the power-play off Ryan Benesch (4G, 2A) at 7:54. After six minutes of back-and-forth lacrosse, Vancouver would close out the quarter at 13:22 with one from Andrew Suitor his lone of the night. Score at the end of one: Mammoth 2—Stealth 1.
The Mammoth would start out the second with one of three in the frame. Benesch would score on another power-play at 1:02 putting Colorado up by two. But Vancouver would hit with back-to-back goals from Corey Small (4G, 5A) at 2:30 and 5:14. Chris Wardle broke up the party with a goal of his own (1G) at 7:12, the helper going to Jacob “The Rooster” Ruest. That’s when Vancouver fired up the rockets and hit four in a row from Brandon Goodwin (1G, 3A) unassisted only 32 seconds later; Small with his third; Tony Malcolm (4G); and James Rahe (1G, 1A). Each of the Stealth goals hit net in the same spot, top right. Fans were silenced as the score was 7-4 in favor of Vancouver and they wondered if they were seeing déjà vu. The Stealth had maintained control of the floor for three minutes and took advantage of every scoring opportunity. Colorado would finally shut it down when Eli McLaughlin (2G, 1A) would get his first of two on the night with 1:48 left on the clock and bringing the Mammoth to within two. Score at the end of the first half: Stealth 7—Mammoth 5.
Small would start off the third for Vancouver at 1:35 putting them up by three. That’s when the Mammoth would go on a three-goal run of their own. Benesch would notch the hat-trick on his third power-play goal. Stephen Keogh (1G, 2A); “Lightning” Joey Cupido would laser it past Penney on the breakaway unassisted at 5:44 and only eight seconds later. This would tie the game with a little less than 10 minutes remaining in the period. Malcolm would hit back-to-back shots, one a power-play and the next giving him the hat-trick with the help from defender Chris O’Dougherty only 15 seconds apart. Noble would find an opening in front of the net and fire it past a surprised Penney for the final score of the period. The game had nothing but excitement for the fans and non-stop action. Score at the end of three: Vancouver 10—Colorado 9.
It was time for the Mammoth to step it up, and figure out what they needed to do. They certainly didn’t want a repeat of the previous game, nor did they want to become only the second team to be defeated by the Stealth. It was looking more and more like a repeat for the Stealth in their win over Buffalo. Colorado got to work quickly in the fourth with Ryan Lee (1G) on the power-play assist Benesch only 57 seconds in to tie it up at 10 apiece. McLaughlin would hit the next power-play shot 20 seconds later putting the Mammoth up by one. Penalties were low in the fourth and scoring was high. Stealth forward Rhys Duch (1G, 6A) would tie it back up at 3:22; and Colorado would hit right back with another from Benesch to go ahead. Talk about a tennis match with neither team wanting this one to get away. Vancouver would hit back-to-back goals from Casey Jackson (1G, 1A); and Malcolm with his fourth at 12:30. Tensions began to flare, fans were on their feet screaming “Go Mammoth”, and that’s exactly what they did. Jeremy Noble would become “Hero of the Night” when he would tie the game with picture perfect shot off the feed from Cupido at 13:36 to tie it up. At this point it was critical for both teams to win the ensuing face-off, gain control of the ball and find the back of the net while also making sure their opponent wouldn’t find that piece of twine between the four foot by four foot nine pipes. Colorado would gain possession of the ball and in almost the same fashion; we’d see the team of Noble and Cupido with the go ahead goal and 31 seconds left on the clock. Brandon Clelland transition for the Stealth and Tim Edwards defenseman for the Mammoth set up for the face-off, each of them knowing the need to win and get the ball to their offense. Colorado would win the final face-off and the Stealth would pull Penney for the EA. It didn’t pay off as the Mammoth would go for the empty netter as the final buzzer sounded. The Mammoth would be victorious over the Stealth. Final Score: Colorado 14—Vancouver 13.
After the game, Jacob Ruest said they went into the night with a game plan, it wasn’t working and they tried something different. It kept working so they stuck with it. The same thing was said during my interview with Stephen Keough.
In the previous week I had spoken with many of the Mammoth players about the bye-weeks and the large breaks between home and away games. The players don’t really like the bye-week, and I asked them why. The consensus was that because they only get to practice as a team once a week, with that extra week off they get out of the groove and it takes more to get back into it.
Unfortunately for the Stealth, they lost again on Saturday January 27 at home against the defending NLL Champions the Georgia Swarm (3-3) by the score of 16-12 giving them a record of 1-6. Word is if the Stealth can’t pull out a win in their next game they will most likely lose any hope of a chance for post-season play.
NEXT UP:
The Mammoth (4-1) will host the Saskatchewan Rush (5-1) on Friday February 2 for a rematch of the January 13 game when the Rush defeated Colorado by the score of 17-12. Vancouver (1-6) will not have an easy game on Saturday February 3 as they head to Saskatchewan to face the Rush.
Di Miller, Beat Writer Colorado Mammoth
Lacrosse is Awesome