The Colorado Mammoth (8-10) have made it to the first-round of the NLL playoffs, and are ready to take on the Calgary Roughnecks (12-6), their NLL Western Division Rivals on Saturday May 3 in Calgary at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
The Mammoth won the regular season series 2-1. The first two games between the teams during the regular season were in Calgary where the teams split. Calgary came away victorious in the first game on January 10 by the score of 13-11, but Colorado came back with a vengeance, and took the second game in OT on January 25, 14-13. The final meeting of the two teams was on March 8 at the Pepsi Center in Denver where the Mammoth for the second time beat the Roughnecks again in OT by the score 10-9. So, how do the two teams match up?
In looking at the Mammoth, they’ve got one of the best players in the league in forward John Grant, Jr. (40 G, 51 A, 64 LB, .151 shooting percentage). On April 19 when Colorado played the Minnesota Swarm, Grant Jr. scored his 600th career goal, making him only the third player in NLL history to do so. He now holds that record with John Tavares of the Buffalo Bandits, and former Mammoth star Gary Gait. Grant Jr. was acquired by the Mammoth in the fall of 2010. Since that time he has scored his 500th and 600th career goals, recorded his 1,000th career point, been named an All-Pro twice, and in 2012 won the NLL’s MVP award.
Forward Adam Jones is back in the line-up (39 G, 26 A, 65 LB, .247 shooting percentage), and then you have Sean Pollock (23 G, 28 A, 46 LB, .190 shooting percentage). Unfortunately for the Mammoth, forward Drew Westervelt (30 G, 33 A, 34 LB, .195 shooting percentage) was placed on injured reserve on April 24. Casey Powell, forward is on the inactive list as well. But the Mammoth have forward Joel Dalgarno who has come on strong (11 G, 31 A, 35 LB, .138 shooting percentage); and forward Athan Iannucci (14 G, 19 A, 21 LB, .179 shooting percentage).
In transition, Cam Holding has 108 LB only second to defenseman and face-off specialist Bob Snider with 161 LB. The defense has been playing well towards the end of the season. Dan Coates 2 G, 14 A, 71 LB, and .167 shooting percentage; followed by Colton Clark with 2 G, 6 G, 59 LB, and .125 shooting percentage.
In goal for the Mammoth you have rookie Dillon Ward, who certainly hasn’t been playing like a rookie. In his first season in the NLL, he recorded 7 W, 7 L, 174 GA, 11.58 GAA, 766 saves, and a .773 save percentage.
Who do the Mammoth need to watch out for? Roughnecks forward Dane Dobbie who set a new franchise record for goals scored in a season with 51 goals, breaking Lewis Ratcliff’s record of 50 set in 2007. Dobbie ended the regular season with 51 G, 39 A, 32 LB, .225 shooting percentage. Forward Shawn Evans in his last regular season game recorded a hat-trick, and added four assists to finish the season with 105 points, which put him second in the NLL in scoring behind Cody Jamieson of the Rochester Knighthawks with 108 points. Forward Jeff Shattler has put up 35 G, 49 A, 71 LB, and .183 shooting percentage.
On defense the Riggers have Jon Harnett (2 G, 14 A, 84 LB, .200 shooting percentage); Dan MacRae (7 G, 8 A, 73 LB, .412 shooting percentage); and Curtis Manning (4 G, 7 A, 69 LB, .222 shooting percentage).
In goal for the Roughnecks, is Mike Poulin. His record is 12-5, with 180 GA, 11.45 GAA, 782 saves, and a .770 save percentage.
On faceoff the fans get to see another battle of the Snider brothers. The last time these two teams met, Geoff and Bob went head to head. Bob Snider, Mammoth faceoff specialist has 3 G, 6 A, 161 LB, 279 FOW, and a FO winning percentage of .565. Geoff Snider, Riggers faceoff specialist, has 17 G, 16 A, 209 LB, 317 FOW, and a FO winning percentage of .643. It should be a good match-up as the brothers meet at mid-field for the faceoffs.
When you look at the rosters, the stats, and talent on each team, this should be an excellent game of lacrosse, with both teams wanting to advance to the second round of the playoffs.
For those of you unfamiliar with the new postseason format, which was a part of the seven-year collective bargaining agreement this year, here’s how it works. The two regular season division champions earn a first-round bye as top seeds. The second seed hosts the third seed in their respective divisions for the single-game elimination Division Semi-final in the first round.
The top seed from each division will play the winner of the Division Semi-final between the second and third seeds, with the lower-seeded team hosting the first game, and the higher seed hosting the second game of the series.
Teams who win both games win the two-game series. In the event there is a split in the series, a 10-minute tiebreaker game will be played immediately following the end of the second game to determine the winner of the playoff series.
Whoever wins Saturday night’s game will host Game One of the West Division Finals on the weekend of May 9-11 against the West Division winning Edmonton Rush (16-2), then head to Edmonton on Friday May 16 for Game Two.
