The Colorado Mammoth have had issues at the goaltender position this season. Matt Roik and Chris Levis, their goalies at the start of the season, are now gone. Now they bring in former second round pick Tye Belanger and youngster Dan Lewis. Belanger was expected to get a chance out of camp but suffered an injury beforehand.
Belanger started in his first career game against Buffalo last week, and allowed just six goals. “To get my first start of the season in Buffalo was a surreal experience.” Belanger says. “Before the game I felt relaxed and not nervous at all. Which is surprising because I was about to go play in front of one of the most hustle environments in the NLL. I have been training real hard to get myself back into game speed coming off my injury, so all that preparation gave me confidence to go out and play my game. I’m glad it was a good experience that I can build off of and not a memory that I wish could have gone the other way.”
The Mammoth have struggled this season but the win over Buffalo was huge for the confidence of the team, Belanger says. “The win was a huge moral builder for the team. I don’t feel as we have been playing poorly the last handful of games, it just hasn’t turned out in our favour in the win column. The work ethic of the team has been great and it was just a matter of time before we notched the win. We knew the fans feed off how their team plays, so our plan was to shut them down early and often. Once Buffalo jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in the first I could feel the crowd starting to get real loud. That soon stopped as we settled down and played great the rest of the way.
“Buffalo was missing a few key players in their line up that can impact a game tremendously. I don’t think we got the full extent of what they truly have to offer offensively. Next game will be different. There are offensive studs on every team in this league. Being ready for what you have to face on that given night is the challenge.”
One big thing in the game last week was the huge line brawl that everyone but the goalies were a part of, and Belanger told us about that. “I had no idea it was going to be a line brawl. It was almost a given that there was going to be at least one fight by the way the Buffalo bench reacted to the time-out we called late in the game. But once all 5 players on both teams were fighting I was trying to sit back and watch it all from a great view of the action.”
Next week the Mammoth play the Bandits again and Belanger says it will be more of the same. “It will be like deja vu. Buffalo may have a few roster chances to make, but the majority of the shooters will be the same. Our defence has been solid as of late and believe they will be up to the task again this weekend. . It is an amazing feeling to win the way we did. Even though we were down early, we didn’t let the score dictate how we played. Our defence made it easy for me to make the saves as most of the shots were perimeter shots that give me time to see the ball and react. Whether I let in 11 or 6, it didn’t matter as long as we came out with a win.”
