Mammoth Move Into First & Clinch Playoff Spot With “W” Over Seals 4/9/22

Christopher Crane, NLL Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©

Featured Image Photo Credit: Di Miller

With not many games left in the regular season some teams must win out to secure that fourth and final playoff spot or to move up in seeding. This weekend’s matchup between the San Diego Seals (9-6) who visited the Colorado Mammoth (10-6) at Ball Arena in front of a crowd of 9,560 fans, it would be a crucial Western Division win for each team as they would be jockeying for the first and second seeds respectively. Both teams would be evenly matched throughout this back-and-forth contest, but it was the two extra scores by the Mammoth in the second period that would be a difference maker, allowing them to come back being down after the first period and hold on for the win. This moved Colorado into first place in the Western Division for the time being with San Diego in second place one game behind. Final Score: Mammoth 11—Seals 10.

The game got off to a slow start with Frank Scigliano spectacular in between the pipes staving off the Mammoth offense for 11:40. In the first six minutes, San Diego had two shots on goal and of those two shots, they’d score at the 6:40 mark with Casey Jackson (4g) notching his first of four. They’d tally a power play score from Wes Berg (2g, 2a) at the 8:24 mark. Colorado would get on the board late in the period when Tyson Gibson (2g, 3a) got the feed from Ryan Lee and would find the back of the net at the 11:40 mark getting them on the board. Score at the end of one: Seals 2—Mammoth 1.

Colorado would pick up where they left off in the first as they started the second period and would go on a three-goal run. Getting things started for the Mammoth would be Connor Robinson (3g, 3a) finding the back of the net at the 1:01 mark of the period tying it 2-2. Colorado’s next goal would come off a downfield pass by Warren Jeffrey to a streaking Jordan Gilles (2g), all alone he’d fire it top corner under the stick of Scigliano. Dylan Kinnear (1g) found the back of the net with a nice crease dive increasing the lead by two making it 4-2 in favor of the Mammoth at the 4:09 mark of the frame. San Diego would make it a 4-4 game tallying off back-to-back markers. Drew Belgrave (1g) would notch one on a one-on-one breakaway about a minute later, then Austin Staats (2g, 3a) would find the back of the net on a power-play marker at the 6:16 mark of the period. The Mammoth got one back a minute later with Gibson and Lee teaming up again, with Gibson once again finding twine and he’d tally one at the 7:16 mark for the lead 5-4. Both teams would then exchange scores in the final three minutes of play. Netting scores for the Seals were Jackson who got the pass behind the net, came around from the left side and was able to dunk it in on Ward to tie it 5-5. Berg also netted his second on the night. Tallying scores for the Mammoth would come at the hands of Gilles with another breakaway beating Scigliano who was visibly frustrated that he let another get by, and teammate Eli McLaughlin (1g, 2a) burying one to give Colorado the lead heading into halftime. Score at the end of two: Mammoth 7—Seals 6.

The Seals would get on the board first early on. Staats notched his second tying it up again at 7’s. It took about five minutes before we’d see another tally. Colorado would put up back-to-back markers with Robinson scoring one past the left side of Scigliano and Ryan Lee (2g, 5a) with a step-down shot fired a laser on the right side increasing the lead by two 9-7. Jackson would notch his hat-trick when he got away from the screen, had zero coverage when he headed to the crease and was wide-open in front of Ward closing the gap to one. Score at the end of three: Mammoth 9—Seals 8.

San Diego would take that momentum into the fourth period with Jackson notching another off a rebound to tie it at 9-9 at 2:02. Colorado answered right back when Lee found the back of the net just 16 seconds later with a bouncer shot from the outside for the lead once more. Robinson would notch the final Mammoth tally on the night giving him a hat-trick at the 5:01 mark of the period putting them up 11-9. San Diego would get one more score from Mac O’Keefe (1g, 2a) at the 9:18 mark for the final tally of the game. Both teams would battle it out for the remainder of the frame with each net-minder making amazing saves when needed, but unfortunately San Diego couldn’t get one past Ward for the tying goal as Colorado would hold for the win. Final Score: Mammoth 11—Seals 10.

STATS:

Colorado Mammoth—SOG 49; Saves 41; Face-offs 12-25; Assists 15; LB 59; PP 0-2
San Diego Seals—SOG 51; Saves 38; Face-offs 13-25; Assists 14; LB 72; PP 2-2

NEXT UP:

The Colorado Mammoth (10-6) will travel to the north country to face the Saskatchewan Rush (5-10) at Sasktel Centre on Saturday April 16^th, game time 7:30 p.m. Fans in the USA can catch the action on ESPN+. Fans in Canada can see the game on TSN.ca or the TSN app.

The San Diego Seals (9-6) will play host to the Panther City Lacrosse Club (6-9) at Pechanga Arena on Friday April 15^th, game time 9:30 p.m. EST. Fans in the USA can catch the action on ESPN+. Fans in Canada can see the game on TSN.ca or the TSN app.