The Colorado Mammoth’s contest against the New England Black Wolves this past week was delayed from 1pm to 2pm due to what was called a weather related issue. Now, we know what the issue really was.
While watching the game, a 14-12 victory from Colorado, you may have noticed a few Mammoth players didn’t have matching helmets. If you were really observant, you would have noticed on the Mammoth bench that backup goalie Alexis Buque didn’t actually have goalie pads.
Turns out, the team’s equipment never got to the arena.
Several Mammoth players were travelling from their home in Ontario to the game in Connecticut and were en route to Hartford but due to the weather that has been so bad in New England, they had to take some bags off the plane to add more fuel if the plane had to arrive elsewhere.
The team thought the gear would be there in time, and delayed the game to 2pm in hopes it would appear, but the bags were sent to Boston and were not going to get to the arena before 5pm.
“They ended up sending the bags to Boston to ship to the arena,” Mammoth general manager Steve Govett said to Lacrosse Magazine. “Ten minutes before the game, we thought equipment was coming because we were told by Air Canada that it would be there. Then they told us it wasn’t getting there before 5, so we had to scramble.”
Dan Ball and Joey Cupido borrowed helmets from the Black Wolves, and Cupido was using the backup stick of rookie defenseman Robert Hope. As for Buque, the plan was for him to use Dillon Ward’s gear and switch if he had to come into the game at any point.
Tye Belanger, a former player with the Mammoth, had the same issue and didn’t have his pads, but instead used backups from the team.
