Di Miller, Beat Writer Colorado Mammoth
Lacrosse is Awesome
On Saturday, May 3, 2018 the Colorado Mammoth (7-3) hosted the Buffalo Bandits (6-5) the leaders in the Eastern division in front of 16,062 pumped Mammoth fans at the Pepsi Center in downtown Denver, Colorado. The Mammoth had just come off a nail-biter victory the night before in Georgia where they faced the 2017 NLL champions the Georgia Swarm (5-6). The Mammoth would defeat the Swarm by the score of 11-10 in the last seconds of the game. Tonight’s contest would be much of the same as the Mammoth would defeat the Bandits. Final Score: Mammoth 8—Bandits 7.
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Back up net-minder for the Colorado Mammoth, Steve Fryer got the call up two minutes prior to game time and was told would be making his first start after six years in the NLL. He was nervous but knew what he needed to do in order to allow his team to come out victorious in their double-header weekend. The two teams came out on the floor and hopes were high on both sides of the floor. Buffalo would score first at the 4:54 mark with a nice pass from Dhane Smith to Josh Byrne (1G, 3A) on the power-play. Less than a minute later “Lightning” Joey Cupido (1G) would get the fast break head down the field and with the cross crease pass from Taylor Stuart, Cupido would jump and slam dunk the ball over the left shoulder of Alex Buque. Almost seven minutes would tick off the clock before the Bandits would put the final point on the board. Smith (3G, 2A) and Byrne would connect again, this time with Smith hitting twine at 12:47. The remainder of the frame would see outstanding net-minding and perfect defense as neither team could find the space between the pipes. Penalties in the first totaled four: holding; check from behind; tripping; and illegal substitution. Score at the end of one: Bandits 2—Mammoth 1.
Colorado would dominate the second quarter with four goals going on the board. Jeremy Noble (1G, 5A) would start the scoring only 16 seconds in. The crowd was fired up and so were the Mammoth. Chris Wardle would hit back-to-back goals at 4:14 and 5:46, assists from Noble on the first, and Jacob “The Rooster” Ruest on the second. Ryan Benesch (2G, 2A) was the last to score with 6:10 on the clock allowing the Mammoth to go into the locker room at halftime leading 5 to 2. In speaking with Steve Fryer after the game, he didn’t even realize that he had shut out the Bandits in the second. He felt a sense of extreme success after knowing what he done but knew he still had 30 more minutes of playtime before he could celebrate a victory. There we no penalties in the second.
Starting off the third with a bang would be Colorado yet again. Ruest (1G, 4A) hit the net at 56 seconds (assist Benesch). But Buffalo would come back quickly with back-to-back goals at 1:43 off Jordan Durston (1G); followed 10 seconds later by Nick Weiss (1G) assist to Vaughn Harris. The crowd silenced a bit as the Bandits had come to within two as the score board showed 6-4 in favor of the Mammoth. Benesch would come back for Colorado at the 4:27 mark to put them up by three. Again the goalies stood strong in their respective nets as almost seven minutes would click off the clock as the fans watched ping-pong lacrosse and top-notch defense. Colorado would close out the quarter with one more. Zack Greer
would get his only point of the night at 11:13 to break the drought and close out the quarter. Penalties were abundant in the third as both teams were playing hardball lacrosse, and frustrations were high. The fans would see three separate penalties at 8:15, all involving a scuffle behind the Mammoth net. Eli McLaughlin of Colorado got hit with a delay of game; Steve Priolo of Buffalo got hit with an unsportsmanlike for pushing Stephen Keogh; and Keogh received a matching unsportsmanlike when he pushed Priolo. For 30 seconds, both teams had two men in the box and neither side would capitalize on the man down situation. Score at the end of three: Colorado 8—Buffalo 4.
Although Buffalo shut out the Mammoth in the fourth, the Mammoth offense was able to recover almost all of their rebounds resetting the shot clock time after time. Buffalo would put three on the board even though they had not controlled the ball for most of the frame. Smith would open and close the quarter with goals at 7:56 and 11:20 giving him the hat-trick; and Mitch Jones (1G, 1A) would find the net at 10:03. Fryer knew he needed to stay strong in net and he did. Within the last four minutes of play, the Bandits were only able to get two shots on goal. At around the 54 second mark, Buffalo would pull Buque in favor of the extra-attacker, but it didn’t pay off. With about 5 seconds remaining, the Mammoth went for the empty-netter but the ball bounced over the goal. In a scramble to gain control of the ball time ran out. But to the dismay of the crowd who were on their feet in exuberation, the referees put one second back on the board. The clock reset seemed futile as neither team would score. Final Score: Mammoth 8—Bandits 7.
After coming off an extremely tough game the night before, the Mammoth were pumped and ready to fire on all cylinders and they did. Their transition was amazing; the defense was on fire blocking the Bandits from scoring; they worked the shot clock; and Steve Fryer was extremely strong in net staving off shot after shot, it was as if he was a brick wall that the Bandits could not penetrate. Fryer had 45 shots saves and was ecstatic that in his NLL debut he came away with the “W”.
Player of the game goes to Steve Fryer for staying tough in net with what I’m sure was butterflies knowing that this could be his first NLL victory after six years in the league.
Next up Colorado hosts the Calgary Roughnecks (4-6) for Military Appreciation night on Saturday, March 10 and we will be there covering the game. Buffalo has a bye week and will try and regroup to get themselves back on track.
Di Miller, Beat Writer Colorado Mammoth
Lacrosse is Awesome