Di Miller, NLL Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©
Photo Credit Featured Image: Di Miller
On another Sunday afternoon in January, the Colorado Mammoth (1-2) would host their Western Division rivals the Calgary Roughnecks (3-4) for what turned out to be an extremely physical game of lacrosse. It was Kids Night in Colorado and the 11,101 fans wanted to see their Mammoth get their first win of the season. On this beautiful Sunday afternoon, the teams would have to play without their trusty shot clocks as they both went out about a third of the way into the first quarter making it difficult for the players to set up the shots. The In Arena announcer would call the time with 10 seconds left on each shot clock. The game was a tennis match with Colorado coming out on top. Final Score: Mammoth 12—Roughnecks 7.
In last week’s contest Dillon “The Wall” Ward would have a career high 57 shots on goal against the Toronto Rock. It was because of his heads up play that the score wasn’t astronomical. Today, Ward would hold tough in cage yet again as he would walk away with 32 saves and increase his save% to .821.
Colorado would see two of their rookies in the lineup as well. Julian Garritano (2LB), a defenseman selected in the Third Round (35th Overall) in the 2018 Entry Draft; and Kyle Killen (2G, 1A) who was selected in the Second Round (22nd Overall) in the 2018 Entry Draft. It would be a momentous night for Killen as he would score his first career NLL goal and would top it off with his second and an assist.
The Roughnecks would come out of the gate first with their only goal of the frame and after almost seven and a half minutes of scoreless lacrosse and very few shots on goal. Calgary was looking a bit out of sorts having just come off their second loss in a row, this time to the San Diego Seals and it looked like this was going to be a long night for the Riggers. Dane Dobbie would send the behind-the-back toss to Ryan Martel to Dan Taylor (2G, 1A) for the slam dunk top left at 7:27. The Mammoth would dominate the remaining eight minutes scoring three in a row. The first was a beauty which almost seemed out of reach as Jacob Ruest sent a high pass to Ryan Lee (2G, 1A) who snatched it out the air and dove across the crease hitting Christian Del Bianco glove side to tie it up at 8:27; and Jeremy Noble would send the cross field pass to Chris Wardle (1G, 2A) for the quick stick shot blowing it past Del Bianco top right shelf at 9:31. About a minute and a half later Ryan Martel would receive a beautiful pass from Riley Loewen, but the goal was reviewed and it was determined that Martel’s foot had touched the crease and the goal was called back. This would have tied the game at two apiece. Instead, the Mammoth would take advantage of the disappointment and Ryan Benesch (3G, 4A) through the screen caught Del Bianco off guard putting the ball in net at 11:43. John Lintz would head to the box for slashing with 50 seconds remaining in the frame putting the Roughnecks on their first power-play opportunity. Shots on goal: Colorado 12—Calgary 8. Score at the end of one: Mammoth 3—Roughnecks 1.
The second quarter started out a whole new game as the Riggers would dominate the frame outscoring the Mammoth 3-2. Curtis Dickson (1G, 2A) returned to the Roughnecks only two games ago, and had not gotten into the groove, but this beauty of a goal would say otherwise. Zach Currier with the fast break fired a pass to Dickson as he pump faked left and hit net right past Ward to start the three goal run. Tyler Burton (1G) would fire back next with a sweet crease dive goal on Ward to tie the game at the 5:00 mark. Mammoth Assistant Captain Robert Hope would get nabbed with a holding call at the 6:26 mark. The play looked more like a lynching as the Roughnecks player had his head snapped back before he went down, so Hope was fortunate the penalty was not more severe. The penalty allowed Calgary to go on their second man-up opportunity and this time it paid off. Loewen (2G) snatched the cross crease pass from Dickson went airborne for the slam dunk stick side putting them up 4-3 at 7:36. Scott Carnegie would head to the sin bin on an illegal cross checking penalty at 9:25 giving Calgary their third opportunity, but they couldn’t capitalize. Chris Boushy was nailed for a tripping call at 9:55 and the teams would go on the four on four as Ward headed off the floor at 10:05. The Mammoth were able to put one in on the power-play with 24 seconds left before the penalty was up as Benesch fed a behind-the-back pass to Eli McLaughlin (2G, 4A) as he tip toed the crease to tie the game. Colorado would go on a 3 on 5 for about 45 seconds but the Roughnecks held strong. At the 12:37 mark, Rookie Kyle Killen
would get his first career NLL goal as he dove from the door step and hit twine on Del Bianco. The Mammoth would continue to lead in shots on goal 24-19 over Calgary. Score at the end of the second: Colorado 5—Calgary 4.
The third quarter would not disappoint the fans as there was a scoring barrage with Colorado outscoring Calgary 5-3. Although there were four penalties in the frame, there were no power-play goals as both defenses tightened up. Calgary would start off the frame with another from Taylor with a crease dive goal as he paid the price when a Mammoth defender landed on him. At 1:25 into the third, Calgary would tie the game at five a piece. Colorado lit the back burners and went on a four goal run scoring at 2:34; 3:01; 3:40 and 7:03. It started off with the feed from Josh Sullivan to McLaughlin; Lee with an identical goal as he had in the first; a beautiful goal off the behind-the-back pass from Benesch to Taylor Stuart (1G) giving Colorado the same number of goals they had scored in the full 60 minutes against Calgary on January 6; and Benesch with the left right left stick side as he rattled the cage to give the Mammoth their largest lead of the night, 9-5. The Riggers offense was stifled until they hit the 9:28 mark and would break the Mammoth run. Ryan Martel (1G, 3A) from behind the cage hits Ward stick side hitting the right arm and the shot went in as he dove through the crease. Loewen would get the Roughnecks back to within two as he sent one in through the five hole on Ward at 10:01. Killen would close out the frame as he went airborne and somehow stayed out of the crease hitting Del Bianco stick side. Shots on goal: Colorado 43—Calgary 28. Score at the end of three: Mammoth 10—Roughnecks 7.
The fourth saw stellar defense and net minding as there were only two goals in the final 15 and both were power-play goals by the Mammoth. Two thirds of the 15 saw penalty minutes as Calgary would implode with four in the frame and Colorado with one. Jacob Ruest (1G, 1A) would get his only goal of the night with the pump fake as he tip toed the crease at 2:43; and Benesch used the screen to pump fake and hit Del Bianco glove side giving him the hat-trick at 3:34. That was it in the fourth. Bench Coach Malawsky would pull the Kid around the 11:00 minute mark in favor of the extra attacker but it would not provide fruitful. Frustrations on the Riggers side of the floor were evident as the penalties mounted while the clock ticked down. Final Score: Mammoth 12—Roughnecks 7.
Game Stats:
Calgary—39 SOG; 22 SOFF; 73LB; 14-23 FO; 1-5 PPG
Colorado—52 SOG; 26 SOFF; 62 LB; 9-23 FO; 3-9 PPG
Stars of the Game:
- Ryan Benesch—3G, 4A
- Eli McLaughlin—2G, 4A
- Dillon Ward–.851 SV%
NEXT UP:
Colorado (1-3) heads out on their first road trip of the season, spanning three weeks where they’ll start off in Vancouver to face the Warriors (1-5) on Friday January 26, game time 10:00 p.m. EST.
Calgary (3-4) gets the week off to regroup and figure out what is going wrong. They’ll head home to host the Vancouver Warriors on Saturday February 2, game time 9:00 p.m. EST.
Di Miller, NLL Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©