Di Miller, Colorado Mammoth Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©
Featured Image Photo Credit: S. Hiscock
The Colorado Mammoth (9-8) headed to Saskatoon to face the Saskatchewan Rush (7-10) on Saturday April 22, 2023 and were hoping to secure their third place spot in the West, but as always the Rush have their number and once again the Mammoth waited until the last quarter to put their offense together and couldn’t pull off the overtime win. The Rush would have their rookie Laine Hruska get his first career NLL start and he did not look like a rookie in between the pipes. He was able to hold the Mammoth’s powerful offense to only seven goals in the first three quarters and kept them out of the net in the extra frame. The Rush’s victory gave them the series win and also dropped the Mammoth back down to fourth the West forcing them to a must win in San Diego next weekend if they want to move back up to third in the West. Eli McLaughlin would score 63% of the Mammoth goals and was the hero on the night for the squad and a career best. Final Score OT: Rush 12—Mammoth 11.
The Rush got on the board 3:44 in when Clark Walter (1g, 1a) on the run out in front from distance, sniped a shot and found the back of the net 1-0 Saskatchewan. The two squads went 10 minutes without scoring and only a total of seven shots on goal between the two. With 4:08 to go, Zed Williams (1g, 3a) waited for an opening in the defense, and fired one high to low stick side for the equalizer 1-1. In the closing seconds and only five seconds on the shot clock, Rhys Duch (2g, 1a) took a shot from the restraining line through a triple screen and went five-hole with 20 seconds in the frame and said “Hey back at ya Colorado” for the go ahead tally. Score at the end of one: Rush 2—Mammoth 1.
Saskatchewan kept it going in the second. Ryan Keenan (2g, 3a) was in the perfect spot to get the rebound off the post, Ward had slid left and couldn’t get back to the right side and Keenan put it near side at 3:43 to make it 3-1. Less than a minute later at the 4:34 mark, Duch used the screen and went high to low far side and it was 4-1 in favor of the Rush. Connor Robinson (1g, 5a) stopped the run when he was all alone in front, he got the high pass, got open and went low in front to find the back of the net at 5:48 and it was 4-2. But on the ensuing face-off, Matt Beers (1g) on the run would get the dish from Mike Messenger and went top shelf only eight seconds later to increase the lead to three 5-2. Colorado would go man up about 30 seconds later and Eli McLaughlin (7g, 1a) used a couple of pump fakes and pulled it short side over the shoulder for his first of two power-play tallies at the 6:09 mark and it was 5-3. Neither team could score for five minutes as both Ward and Hruska stood tall between the pipes. The Mammoth broke the drought when McLaughlin tallied another off a beautiful BTB feed from Williams out in front, and he’d jump and dunk it on the far side with 3:00 to go to get them to within one 5-4. With 1:38 on the ticker, Messenger on the breakaway dished to Mark Matthews (1g, 6a) on the crease and he put it five-hole. It was called a “no goal” as the official thought Messenger’s foot touched the crease before the ball passed the plane. Rush Bench Boss Jimmy Quinlan tossed the challenge flag so hard it flew all the way across the floor. The review was quick as it immediately showed the ball crossed the plane way before Messenger stepped down so the call was overturned. But before the end of the frame, Robert Church was attempting another shot, ran behind the crease and Dillon Ward had done what he had done in the past two contests and ran behind the cage to put a hit on Church. The officials called the penalty on Church for “body checking” and a two minute penalty. While on the way to the sin bin, Church got vocal and was called for another “unsportsmanlike” and was hit with another two minute penalty. He was not happy about it and made Colorado pay during the third, fourth and OT frames. Score at the end of two: Rush 6—Mammoth 4.
The two teams would match score for score in the third with the first three tallies being power-play markers. Robinson sent a nice feed to McLaughlin who was behind the net and he timed his jump perfect and put it in on the right side 1:27 for the first man up tally 6-5 Rush. About five minutes into the third, Matt Beers would hit 1,000 loose balls in his career. The next power-play tally was notched by Saskatchewan. Keenan on the backdoor with an impossible angle shot found a small opening and beat Ward on the left side at the 6:32 mark and put them back up 7-5. With 7:36 in the frame, and only nine seconds into the power-play, Robert Church (4g, 2a) would tally his first of four on the night after a couple of pump fakes, he went five hole and it was 8-5. Things just got worse for Colorado as they’d get called for an illegal substitution penalty with 4:16 in the third and the Rush were awarded a penalty shot and they’d give it to none other than Church. He headed down the floor, stared down Ward, looked high and went five-hole to make it 9-5. Colorado would tally two more. Dylan Kinnear (1g, 1a) would fire one between two defenders and went five hole with 2:32 left 9-6 Rush. With 1:58 on the timer, Colorado who was on a six on five, had McLaughlin near the cage and he had a wide open look and with a quick stick went near side for his 40th of the season to get them back to within two. But once again, the Rush closed out another quarter. On a sloppy goal, Ryan Barnable (1g) grabbed the garbage in front of the net and somehow got the ball to go in. Mark Matthews got the assist on this goal giving him 600 career assists. But it was called a “no goal” and again another call on the field was overturned and it was a “good goal” with 1:03 in the quarter. Score at the end of three: Rush 10—Mammoth 7.
The fourth quarter had not been kind to Saskatchewan and this season they had a total of 60 goals total scored against them in the fourth. They were sitting 2nd in the league for most goals against in the fourth only behind Vancouver. So the odds weren’t in their favor. But Colorado had not played well in the first three and Hruska was doing well so it was anyone’s guess. Tyson Gibson (1g, 4a) would get Colorado on the board first at 2:31 when he got a high pass and brought it back down low to go five hole to make it 10-8. The teams went scoreless for over five minutes before Church notched his hat-trick. He faked the scoop pass and brought it back up and painted the top corner with 7:16 left to make it 11-8. The Mammoth did their six on five again and the Rush hadn’t caught on. This seemed to be working as McLaughlin buried it far side with 4:22 to go and it was 11-9. With 2:17 in regulation, McLaughlin notched his sock-trick on another six on five. He got the rebound off the pipe, jumped and found twine to get them to within one 11-10. Once again, McLaughlin would tally his third with 51.7 on the buzzer. From way out, he fired one over the shoulder of Hruska for his seventh on the night to tie it up 11-11. After the ensuing face-off the Rush would win the draw and couldn’t hold possession. Colorado would call a timeout with 26.8 left. They couldn’t score on their possession and after the turnover, the Rush would call a timeout with 7.5 left. Same thing, they couldn’t score sending the game into OT. Score at the end of four: Rush 11—Mammoth 11.
Heading into over-time the Rush would win the draw but couldn’t capitalize. There was a change of possession and Hruska would make the save of his life keeping Colorado out of the net. Who but Church would get the ball and from right out in front, he’d go five hole 1:38 into OT for the win. Final score OT: Rush 12—Mammoth 11.
STATS:
Colorado Mammoth—SOG 47; Saves 37; Sv% .755%; FO 19-27; PP 2-6
Saskatchewan Rush—SOG49; Saves 36; Sv% .766%; FO 8-27; PP 2-4
NEXT UP:
The Colorado Mammoth (9-8) will head to Pechanga Arena on Saturday April 29, 2023 to face the San Diego Seals (13-4), game time 10:00 p.m. EST. This is a must win for Colorado if they want to move back to third in the West. If they lose, they will head back to San Diego for Round One of the playoffs and the Seals are going to want revenge as the Mammoth knocked them out of the playoffs in the 2021-22 season. This is the Game of the Week for fans in the USA and the game can be seen for free on ESPNU. Fans in Canada can see the action on TSN.ca or the TSN app.
The Saskatchewan Rush (7-10) will head to Michelob Ultra Arena to face the Las Vegas Desert Dogs (5-12) on Saturday April 29, 2023, game time 10:30 p.m. EST for the final game of the 2022-23 season for both teams. Fans in the USA can see the game on ESPN+. Fans in Canada can see the action on TSN.ca or the TSN app.
Di Miller, Colorado Mammoth Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©