Saturday night’s tilt between the hometown Colorado Mammoth and the Buffalo Bandits was a massacre. It’s time for some honesty: terms to describe what Colorado did to Buffalo in this game. Dominated, thrashed, rolled, whooped, beat on. Colorado proved why they are arguably the hottest team in the league, spanking the Bandits 20-9, winning their fifth-straight game. Right when you thought the Loud House couldn’t get louder. Mammoth fans, cheers. Buffalo fans, it might be time to look away.
It took 20:36 for the Bandits to get on the board. It was a picture-perfect game for the Mammoth, but an even more perfect start. Colorado kicked things off with a six-goal run stretching into the second quarter. As for the first, it was very evident from the jump that Colorado was coming out with their foot through the gas pedal. The Mammoth netted four goals in the opening frame courtesy of Andrew Kew twice, Jack Hannah, and Thomas Vela. The offense was there for Colorado, but the defense and Dillon Ward were equally powerful. 4-0 Mammoth after one.
Goals five and six of the run were beauties from Colorado, specifically Hannah and Kew on the power play. Kew had about 67 goals in this game (not really, he finished with seven), and his patented laser shots in the middle were working like a charm. Buffalo finally cracked the scoresheet as Tehoka Nanticoke and Dylan Robinson went back-to-back. Just a mere 17 seconds later, Jalen Chaster had the answer for Colorado. Nanticoke responded with a sick dunk from behind the net, but once again, Colorado swung the momentum back, this time in the form of two-in-a-row. Both of those goals were scored by Dylan McIntosh, the first one chased Matt Vinc from the game, and the second caused him to come back in. Ian MacKay buried his first, but that’d be it for Buffalo’s scoring in the first half. The Mammoth closed out the second quarter on a three-goal run. Those three were scored by Kew, McIntosh, and Braedon Saris. That three-goal run would eventually turn into six going into the third quarter. 12-4 Mammoth at the break.
“I think we came out and had good energy”, said Hannah. “We’re running our systems and doing a good job executing.”
As we said, Colorado came out in the third quarter with the same amount of energy as the previous two. They kicked things off with three-straight goals courtesy of Kew, Connor Nock, and Tim Edwards. Kew’s was a funny one as he intended to complete a pass to a teammate that ended up in the back of the net. Josh Byrne finally stopped the Mammoth run, but Colorado came right back with two more, one from Kew and the other from Saris. Dhane Smith netted his first in the waning seconds, but this one was all but over. 17-6 Mammoth after three.
For only the second time in the game, Buffalo scored more than one goal in a row. The opening two goals of the fourth quarter were scored by Smith and Ryan Benesch. MacKay scored the third and final goal of the game for Buffalo. Colorado matched Buffalo’s goal total in the final frame with markers from Kew, McIntosh, and Saris. Talk about the tale of two sides. Colorado is firing on all cylinders, while it might be time to hit the panic button if you’re in Buffalo.
Players of the game for Buffalo were Nanticoke (2+3), Smith (2+2), and MacKay (2+2). Vinc and Evan Constantopoulos both had games to forget. Vinc stopped 21 of 32 in 27:33, while Constantopoulos stopped 17 of 26 in 32:27. For Colorado, Kew (7+4), McIntosh (4+1), and Hannah (2+7) led the way. Ward was stellar and was given a much-deserved break after three quarters. He stopped 26 of 32. Nathan Whittom came in at the beginning of the fourth quarter and kept right up, stopping 15 of 18.
“I think it’s just a biproduct of everyone working together,” said Kew about the team’s offensive success. “It was just a good win all around.”
Colorado is now on a five-game winning streak and will look to continue their hot play. They have a bye week and then hit the road for their next contest when they take on Las Vegas. That game is on Friday February 13th at 10:30pm. Buffalo has some soul-searching to do. They head back home for their next game as they welcome Philadelphia to town. That game is on Saturday February 7th at 7pm.
