Di Miller, Colorado Mammoth Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©
Featured Image Photo Credit: Di Miller
The Colorado Mammoth (3-5) headed to Pechanga Arena on Sunday February 4, 2024, to face the San Diego Seals (6-2) in the hopes of keeping their two-game winning streak alive. Unfortunately, the Seals would have a multiple milestone night. Not only did San Diego score 11 goals in a row, but Dane Dobbie would notch his 1,1ooth career point on his fourth goal of the night with 3:38 left in the contest, and Austin Staats would score his first career sock trick and almost outscored the Mammoth’s total goal scored. For the first time this season, the Seals would shut out their opponent in the third. This was a tough one to watch if you were a Mammoth fan because Dillon Ward gave up 13 of those goals before being pulled from the contest and the end of the third. Final Score: Seals 16—Mammoth 7. The Mammoth would open up the contest scoring the first three on the night. Connor Kelly (3g) used a nice dodge move, spun and stung the far corner just 57 seconds in and it was 1-0 Colorado. The scoring would stall with neither offense finding the back of the net and the Seals only having one shot on goal at 8:43 in. But the Mammoth would finally break the drought with a nice goal from Zed Williams (2g). He’d used a nice dodge move around his defender, dove across the crease and put it far side with 6:47 to go 2-0 Colorado. The final goal for the Mammoth in the frame came off a well-developed tic-tac-toe play. Eli McLaughlin ran point, flipped to Connor Robinson who passed to Kelly and his quick stick found the back of the net for a power-play tally with 5:20 to go. The Seals would get it going off a nice goal from Dane Dobbie (4g, 3a). He hesitated, broke through the screen and found twine with 2:33 in the first and it was 3-1 still in favor of Colorado. Next up, Randy Staats (6g, 3a) ran through the lane, faked high, went low and stung the corner with 1:47 to go. The next goal was originally called a “no goal” by the crease official with 15 seconds on the ticker. Seals Bench Boss Patrick Merrill would throw the challenge flag at the buzzer. After the goal was reviewed, Staats had put an almost identical goal in the net that he had done 1:30 prior to tie up the game with 15 seconds on the clock. That was the spark that the Seals needed, and they ran with it. Score at the end of one: Mammoth 3—Seals 3.
San Diego would win the draw to open the second and after a couple of possession changes, Tyler Garrison found Williams coming out the “O” door, passed across the floor to Williams on the run, he was all alone on the doorstep and finished with a beautiful transition goal 2:10 in and it was 4-3. It took only 30 seconds for the Seals to fire back. Kyle Jackson (1g, 1a) got the cross-floor pass from Tre LeClaire, and he buried it near side high late in the shot clock to tie it up again 4-4. Colorado would score their final goal for the next almost 38 minutes. Dylan Kinnear (1g) fought his way through his defender, got Chris Origlieri to drop down and fired it low to high 3:07 in for the last lead the Mammoth would have for the remainder of the game 5-4. San Diego would start their 13-goal run at the 4:37 mark in the second. Staats from the outside got one to go top cheese far side for his hat-trick and it was 5-5. Colorado would get hit with two penalties within 48 seconds giving San Diego a 5 on 3 and they took advantage on both. Staats flicked his wrist and painted the top corner for his power-play tally 6:54 in and it was 6-5. Right after that, Curtis Dickson (3g, 7a) would fake a BTB pass, faked low and went high to pull it near side for their second power-play marker on the night with 7:27 to go 7-5. With 6 seconds left in the half, Dickson passed to Staats who was out in front, he fired and hit the back of the net to close out the second. Score at the end of two: Seals 8—Mammoth 5.
Typically, the Mammoth are a second half team coming back from deficits while the Seals had the worst defense in the league in the third. But tonight was much different as they would shut out the Mammoth in the frame and would put up another five. Colorado would go man down 4:11 in and San Diego would get a “gimme” goal. Dobbie went low, the bounce shot was initially stopped by Ward, but Paul Dawson while trying to keep it from rolling over the goal line made a crucial error and knocked it in at the 4:34 mark giving Dobbie his second on the night and the third power-play tally for the Seals. At this point, the Mammoth had lost all offensive momentum, couldn’t find the open man or any separation from the defense and it only got worse from there. The scoring would slow down, but once again San Diego struck twine. With 5:49 left in the third, Dobbie would notch his first hat-trick of the season when he tucked one inside the crossbar top corner to double up Colorado 10-5. A little over a minute later, Staats stepped in and fired a laser under the arm of Ward giving him his first career sock trick and 4:36 left in the third. Off the ensuing draw, Trevor Baptiste (1a, 15 LB, 1 TO) saw Dickson breaking down the floor, flip tossed to a wide-open Dickson who went five-hole only 7 seconds later and it was 12-5. The final tally in the frame was a hat-trick for Dickson with 8.6 seconds on the timer. He was out in front and fired a low-to-low bounce shot five hole to close it out. Score at the end of three: Seals 13—Mammoth 5.
With Colorado having the statistically worst fourth quarter defense in the league, they had a huge hill to climb. Mammoth Bench Boss Pat Coyle finally made the decision to pull Ward after less than a stellar performance in the first 45 and Tyler Carlson got the nod. The Seals would continue their run to 13 starting off the fourth. Dickson on the nice two-man game, flipped a BTB pass to Wes Berg (2g, 5a) out in front, he jumped up and fired a twister shot across his body and hit top right corner 4:05 in and it was 14-5. Berg ended the 13-goal run when he fought his way past his defender, fired on the cage, got his own rebound and fired one near side with 6:55 to go and the Seals had tripled up the Mammoth 15-5. Tyson Gibson (1g, 1a) would end the almost 38-minute scoring drought and the 13 goal Seals run with 4:39 left in the game. He got Origlieri going left to right and put it in left side and it was 15-6. Kelly would put up the final Mammoth marker on the night. He came out of the box and buried one far side for his hat-trick goal with 4:18 left on the clock. The final Seals tally was a milestone. Dickson passed to Dobbie, he cut to the middle and fired it low far side for his 1,1ooth career point and joined the 1,100 Point Club with 3:38 on the night. Tempers were flaring and in the last 24.6 seconds another set of penalties occurred to close out the contest. Final Score: Seals 16—Mammoth 7.
STATS:
Colorado Mammoth—40 SOG; 45 Saves; .737 Sv%; 7-27 FO; 1-3 PP
San Diego Seals—61 SOG; 33 Saves; .825 Sv%; 20-27 FO; 3-5 PP
STARS OF THE GAME:
Austin Staats-San Diego Seals: 6g, 3a
Dane Dobbie-San Diego Seals: 4g, 3a
Curtis Dickson-San Diego Seals: 3g, 7a
NEXT UP:
The Colorado Mammoth (3-5) will head to Dickie’s Arena to face the Panther City Lacrosse Club (3-4) on Friday February 9, 2024, game time 9:00 p.m. EST. This is the Game of the Week for fans in the USA who can catch the game on ESPNU and ESPN+. Fans in Canada get to see the action on TSN+.
The San Diego Seals (6-2) will head to Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum to face the red-hot New York Riptide (4-4) on Saturday February 10, 2024, game time 7:30 p.m. EST. Fans in the USA can see the game on ESPN+. Fans in Canada get to catch the action on TSN+.
Di Miller, Colorado Mammoth Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©