The Buffalo Bandits (2-1) and the Colorado Mammoth (1-4) will face off for the first of two 2014 NLL regular season matchups Saturday January 18th, 2014 at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado. The last time these two teams met was a 2013 Week 11 battle at the Pepsi Center where the Mammoth emerged victorious with a 16-13 win at home.
In Week 3 action last week, the Bandits were faced with doubleheader action and emerged victorious with a 12-10 home win against the Toronto Rock on January 10th and a 12-11 overtime win on the road against the Philadelphia Wings on January 12th. With those two Week 3 wins in hand, the Bandits are riding a large wave of momentum and plan on coming away with a win on the road against the Mammoth to make it three in a row.
On the other side of the coin, the Mammoth 2014 season is headed into a tailspin. Unfortunately for the Mammoth, they lost both Week 3 contests with a 13-11 road loss to the Calgary Roughnecks on January 10th and a 17-6 road loss to the Edmonton Rush on January 11th. The Mammoth’s road troubles followed them into Vancouver for their Week 4 matchup yesterday with the Stealth at the Langley Events Center. And yet again, the Mammoth were on the losing end of the matchup with a 14-13 overtime loss. This latest loss for the Mammoth now increases their losing streak to three games heading into their next game with the Bandits.
The Bandits (2-1) are currently second place in the East Division while the Mammoth (1-4) are still fourth place in the Western Division. With only three teams making the playoffs in each division, Mammoth general manager Steve Govett and head coach Bob Hamley felt some changes had to be made to their current roster in hopes of turning the 2014 season around.
This week, the Mammoth released Jamie Lincoln #44 transition and Jordan McBride #14 forward. On Wednesday, the Mammoth signed free agent Athan Iannucci #23 forward. Iannucci was previously released by the Vancouver Stealth after their 2014 final active roster was completed. Iannucci won the NLL MVP award in 2008 after he shattered the league record for goals scored in a season with 71. Iannucci’s NLL resume is stellar. Iannucci has 196 goals in 79 games played and is a six-year NLL veteran with 148 career assists.
Another interesting addition to the Mammoth active roster this past week was the promotion of former Buffalo Bandits defenseman Mike McNamara. McNamara spent the previous two seasons with the Bandits before being released on December 16th after their 2014 final active roster cuts were complete. A week later, McNamara was signed by the Mammoth and placed on their practice squad. In his previous two seasons with the Bandits, McNamara recorded four assists and 35 loose balls in 13 games.
The main question heading into tonight’s game will be whether the recent active roster additions of Iannucci and McNamara for the Mammoth can gel quickly enough to help the team fix some of its current issues and save their 2014 season.
