Photo Credit: Dan Brodie
The Colorado Mammoth (8-10) made it to the post-season for the fourth consecutive year. They faced their NLL Western Division Rivals the Calgary Roughnecks on Saturday May 3, in Calgary at the Scotiabank Saddledome. The Mammoth led the regular season series against the Riggers 2-1, both wins in spectacular OT fashion. Although Calgary was the higher seed with a record of 12-6, Mammoth fans were hopeful that their team would overcome being the lower seeded team and be the ones to face the Edmonton Rush in Round Two of the NLL Playoffs. Unfortunately for the Mammoth, it didn’t work out that way. Again the game went into overtime, but Shawn Evans was able to score the sudden-death goal to give the Riggers the win and the trip to Edmonton. The final score was 16-15.
So, what went wrong for the Mammoth? There were a lot of factors that played into the Mammoth’s sporadic season. In the beginning, the coaching staff was unable to capitalize on the raw talent of some key veteran players, specifically John Grant Jr. and Drew Westervelt. The year started out with Casey Powell on the hold-out list; he returned mid-season and was spectacular. Adam Jones suffered an injury to his shoulder which would put him out for almost six weeks. Athan Iannucci, who fans expected to see boost the Mammoth offense, unfortunately came up short.
Then on March 4, Colorado Mammoth GM Steve Govett announced that Head Coach Bob Hamley, and assistants Ed Comeau, and Sean Ferris had been relieved of their coaching duties. They were replaced by former Mammoth players Pat Coyle, Chris Gill and Dan Stroup who manned the bench as interim coaches, and worked collectively as a team.
To make matters worse, on April 24, Westervelt was placed on the injured-reserve list; Casey Powell was placed on the inactive roster (hold-out), suited up and played for the newest team to the MLL, the Florida Launch in their franchise home-opener on April 26; and on May 1, only two days before the Mammoth were set to play the Roughnecks, Dillon Ward had his only set of goalie gear stolen from his vehicle.
The Mammoth made some great moves during the drafts; acquired some great young talent; and had an amazing list of veteran players. But somehow, the chemistry wasn’t there on a consistent level. A change at starting goalie early in the season put Rookie Dillon Ward in net, and he played spectacular in his rookie season. As a matter of fact, he didn’t look like a rookie at all.
Colorado had numerous ups and downs during the 2013-14 regular season. Many felt the Mammoth would not even make it to the playoffs. The skeptics were silenced when the Mammoth overcame the odds and beat the Philadelphia Wings on April 26 by the score of 13-12, and sending them into Round One of the NLL Semi-Division finals.
Although the Mammoth gave it their all on May 3, they just couldn’t hold the 15-14 lead in the fourth quarter and the Riggers would tie the game at 8:58 on the clock. Heading into OT at 1:23 on the clock, Shawn Evans would score the OT goal to send the Riggers on to Round Two.
Some say that heart-stopping goal wouldn’t have hit net if Dillon Ward had been able to use his own gear. There’s no way for anyone to know whether or not that made the difference considering Ward played well for the majority of the game.
When you put together all the upheavals during the Mammoth season, they actually fared well. If Mammoth GM Govett is able to keep the current coaching staff in place; can retain key veterans like Grant Jr.; Jones; Sean Pollock; Westervelt; Bob Snider; and John Gallant; as well as fine-tuning the raw-talent in the rookies (who aren’t rookies any longer); continue with Ward as their starting goalie; and make smart choices in the 2014 draft, the Mammoth could turn their franchise around, and they just might bring the 2015 playoffs home to The Pepsi Center.
