TOP FACE-OFF SPECIALIST ACQUIRED BY MAMMOTH
DENVER – Face-off specialist Bob Snider was acquired today by the Colorado Mammoth from Vancouver in a trade that sent transition player Ilija Gajic to the Stealth, pending league approval. Snider, 27, has a career 68-percent winning percentage at the ‘X’.
“It was a tough decision, having to say goodbye to a genuinely great person in Ilija,” said Mammoth president & general manager Steve Govett. “That said, we couldn’t pass on the opportunity to get Bob.”
Snider’s 262 face-off wins, and his face-off winning percentage, were second-best in the NLL in 2013. Only his brother, Geoff (Calgary), eclipsed Bob’s marks. Bob’s 169 loose balls were fourth-most in the NLL, 68 more than any Mammoth player this past season.
Colorado won just 158 total face-offs in 2013, a 36-percent clip. Based on Snider’s face-off winning percentage last season, Colorado would have won 112 more with him in the line-up.
“Seven more possessions per game…” explained Govett. “That’s also seven less times that our opponent has the ball. This off-season, our focus has and will continue to be about adding players that will fill roles to win games.”
The team hasn’t had a dominant face-off presence since Jamie Hanford’s last season in Colorado in 2007. Hanford won 64 percent of his draws in his five-year Mammoth career.
Snider, a Calgary native, compiled a 75-percent face-off winning percentage and 32 loose balls in two games against Colorado last season.
-ColoradoMammoth.com-
