Di Miller, Correspondent Colorado Mammoth
Lacrosse is Awesome©
Featured Image Photo Credit: Jack Dempsey
On Saturday March 23, the Colorado Mammoth (6-8) hosted the Vancouver Warriors (4-10) on night two of their back-to-back series. It was Military Appreciation Night in Denver and the 12,826 Mammoth fans were ready to see the fire back in their team’s eyes as they had just come off one of their best games of the season defeating the Warriors the night before by the score of 11-7. Steve Fryer would get the nod in net for Colorado and Aaron Bold would sit between the pipes for Vancouver. In comparison Fryer would be spectacular and almost unstoppable as he held Vancouver to one goal in the second, zero in the third and another shut out in the fourth. Bold would make 44 out of 58 saves and after the seven goal run by Colorado in the second was shaking his head in disbelief. Mammoth fans wonder where the team has been all season; the rookies have stepped it up and are the catalyst of the Colorado offense as of late. Final Score: Colorado 14—Vancouver 4.
First quarter action would start off with a penalty by the Warriors at the 1:50 mark off an illegal crosscheck to Jacob Ruest putting Colorado on their first of eight power play opportunities. Rookie Kyle Killen (5G, 1A) who is on track for NLL Rookie of the Year would start it off with a cross field pass from Eli McLaughlin hitting net on the far side. Another rookie, Jeff Wittig (1G, 2A) would come through for Colorado with a stutter step towards the crease, pump fake and crease dive scoring stick side low to put the Mammoth up 2-0. Vancouver would answer back a little over a minute later when Brody Eastwood (1G) would beat his defender with the fake and bounced one in far side. At the 9:40 mark, Wittig would get hit with an illegal substitution bench minor giving the Warriors their first man up opportunity and Jordan McBride (1G) would get the feed from Mitch Jones from the wing and with the quick stick shot sent it past Fryer to tie it up. With less than three minutes in the frame, Cory Vitarelli (2G, 1A) would team up with Killen on the left wing as he fired the shot past Bold short side giving Colorado the lead 3-2 at the end of the first. Shots on goal would be in favor of Colorado 22-11.
Colorado would open up the second at the 1:47 mark and go on an amazing seven goal run controlling the ball for the first 12 minutes of play. Vitarelli would start it off with the feed from Ryan Lee hitting the net at 1:47. For the next five and a half minutes, both net-minders defended their cages well stopping shot after shot. McLaughlin (4G, 8A) would break the streak scoring back-to-back, the first from a pick set by Ruest which opened up the lane for McLaughlin and with a fake left-right-left he bounced the shot in far side; and the second in almost the identical spot, this time as Vitarelli was pummeled to the floor, Ruest would get the loose ball and with the quick stick sent the cross field pass to McLaughlin putting Colorado up 6-2. At the 10:05 mark, McLaughlin would get the turnover and passed to Killen at the front door and with a couple pump fakes, hit Bold bottom left corner. It was McLaughlin again with yet another assist, this time teaming up with Vitarelli as he split the defenders, Vitarelli would fake right and hit net past the right arm of Bold at 10:33. Chris Wardle (1G, 2) would get his lone goal of the night on the door step tip toeing the crease and with a little jump he sent another past the arm of Bold putting Colorado up 9-2. Vancouver was self-destructing as yet another penalty was called, this time a slash to the face of Robert Hope and the Mammoth would see Killen get his second power play goal on the night, as Lee made the behind the back pass to Killen for another one of his signature behind the back “no look” goals. With 14 seconds left in the first half, Lee would get hit with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and head to the sin bin for two. Vancouver would capitalize with a soft goal as Keegan Bal (1G, 1A) would take the shot hitting Fryer who made the initial save, but when the ball popped out of his leg guard, it would roll just past the goal line as Hope unsuccessfully tried to stop the trickling ball. With four seconds remaining, the shutout was gone. Shots on goal were still in favor of Colorado 34-22. Score at the end of two: Colorado 10—Vancouver 3.
The third quarter was all bullet proof net minding with only two goals scored, the first at 4:24 and the second at 8:36. Bold faced 11 shots on cage only allowing in two; while Fryer faced 16 shots allowing zero. Colorado would score the two lone goals, the first from McLaughlin as he fired the shot from the outside bouncing it in just inside the line as the shot flew out the net giving him his hat-trick on the night at 4:24. Vancouver was continuing their melt down as their shots on goal were erratic; they were missing loose balls and making bad passes. If not for Bold being a brick wall in net, the way that Colorado was shooting, the score would have been exponentially higher. On the other side, the Mammoth man defense was tremendous and if it had been this way throughout the season, their record would have been much better. After a little over four minutes of scoreless lacrosse, Ruest would get goal number two as he fought his way past his defender firing the shot far side lower right corner. At that point, all Bold could do was shake his head in disgust as their fate was almost sealed. With 1:32 left on the clock, the frustrations on the Warriors side came to a head as a fight ensued and Matt Beers would head to the box for slashing putting Colorado up on another man up situation. For the last 28 seconds as Colorado was sending shot after shot at Bold, he did not allow a goal in those last seconds of the frame. Shots on goal still in favor of Colorado 45-38 and Fryer would see his first shutout quarter in the game. Score at the end of three: Mammoth 12—Warriors 3.
With the last 15 minutes of regulation, Vancouver’s chances were slim to none and Colorado took advantage. Killen would get his fifth on the night splitting the defenders hitting five-hole on Bold and the Mammoth would go up 13-3. The Warriors would break their scoring drought with a nice crease dive goal short side from Tony Malcom (1G) at 2:49. After another eight minutes of scoreless lacrosse and spectacular defense on both sides, Colorado would put the final nail in the coffin at the 8:22 mark with another from McLaughlin from the right wing as he stepped in blowing it past Bold short side. As the clock ticked down, Beers would get hit with another penalty at 3:02 on a five minute major illegal body check to Vitarelli, this penalty would send him to the locker room and the Mammoth would play the remainder of the game man-up. That would be it on the night as Colorado would come away with the decisive victory and final score: Colorado 14—Vancouver 4.
The Colorado Mammoth have of late, been playing like a team who should be sitting in first place. Their rookies Killen; Wittig; and their younger veterans Lee and McLaughlin have been the anchors for the team this season. There have been some shakeups on the Mammoth roster this season and it looks like those changes have made a difference, but is it too late?
GAME STATS:
Colorado—58 SOG; 18 SOFF; 80 LB; 15-22 FO; 3-8 PPG
Vancouver—53 SOG; 18 SOFF; 52 LB; 7-22 FO: 2-3 PPG
GOALIE STATS:
Steve Fryer—4 GA; 53 SOG; 49 Saves; .924 Sv%
Aaron Bold—14 GA; 58 SOF; 44 Saves; .758 Sv%
STARS OF THE GAME:
Steve Fryer: .925 Sv%
Eli McLaughlin: 4 goals, 8 assists
Kyle Killen: 5 goals, 1 assist
NEXT UP:
Colorado (6-8) has the week off and will be back in action on Saturday April 6 to host the Saskatchewan Rush (6-6) for Lacrosse out Cancer night, game time 7:00 p.m. EST.
Vancouver (4-11) will head to Saskatchewan to face the Rush (6-6) on Saturday March 30, game time 9:00 p.m. EST.
Di Miller, Correspondent Colorado Mammoth
Lacrosse is Awesome©