The Colorado Mammoth are set to take on the Vancouver Stealth on Friday January 17, 2014 at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, BC. The last time these two teams met was on Saturday January 4, 2o14 at The Pepsi Center in Denver. The Mammoth were victorious by a score of 13-12. Now the Mammoth travel to the Stealth’s home turf in the hopes of another victory against the Stealth. The Mammoth’s current record is 1-3 and they are looking to redeem themselves and get back on track in the Western Division where they currently sit in fourth place.
The Mammoth played the Calgary Roughnecks on January 1o, 2o14 at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary where they lost by a score of 13-11. The game was exciting to watch, but the Mammoth seem to continue to have problems in the second and third quarters. On January 11, 2014 the Mammoth headed to Rexall Place in Edmonton to play the Edmonton Rush. In that game, the Mammoth scored a season low six goals for a final score of 17-6. There really wasn’t anyone on the team that played consistently well. Offense, defense and goalies all struggled. Hopefully the short week will allow the Mammoth to regroup and not give them too much time to think about the previous two losses.
This week the Mammoth made some changes to their roster. Jamie Lincoln, #44 transition and Jordan McBride #14 forward were both released. On Wednesday they signed Athan Iannucci, forward who shattered the NLL scoring record in 2008 with 71 goals. He has 196 goals in 79 games played and is a six-year NLL veteran with 148 career assists.
Also recently added to the Mammoth roster was Joel Delgarno #96, forward. He scored 19 goals in 1.5 years for the Mammoth and last year racked up 18 points in 12 games played.
The Mammoth have multiple stellar players who have broken or hold multiple records during their NLL careers. The most notable being John Grant, Jr., #24 forward who holds eight records which include third in points with 1,184; third in Average Goals Per Game with a percentage of 3.021; third in goals with 562; and fifth in assists with 3,344. In 2003 he had the most SOG per game with 16.13 and 285 SOG, and in 2012 set the NLL record for the most points in a season with 116.
Other key players are Adam Jones, #16 forward, the 2012 NLL Rookie of the Year and Joey Cupido #82 transition the 2013 NLL All-Rookie Team honoree.
The Mammoth need to watch out for Lewis Ratcliff #42, forward who is sixth in the NLL in career goals with 411 and ninth in the NLL in total points with 889. Then you have Rhys Duch #10, forward who scored 4 goals and had 2 assists against the Mammoth in their last meeting.
According to Team Scoring stats as of January 9, 2014, between the two teams, you have seven of the top 20 points leaders in the league: Mammoth players Jones, Grant, Jr., Cameron Holding #19, Drew Westervelt #26 and for the Stealth there’s Alex Gajic #9, Duch #10, and Tyler Digby #7.
The Colorado Mammoth players are looking to turn things around and need to do so quickly in order to be able to compete against the top ranking teams in the NLL. The fans are anxious to see what the new changes to the roster will bring to the team and if it will allow them to play as a team, work together and ultimately start to and continue to win games. They have to be able to score consistently throughout the game and take pressure off the goalies. The key is they’ve got to play a full 60 minutes of quality lacrosse if they want to win.
With all the talent the Mammoth have on their roster, they have the necessary ingredients to again become contenders in the NLL, and if the Mammoth can work as a team, play better offense, work on rebounds, loose balls, forced turnovers and defense as well as getting their goalie situation resolved; this should be another exciting game.
