It was military appreciation night at Ball Arena in Denver Colorado on Friday night. The Mammoth donned some pretty sweet black-and-camo uniforms as they prepped for Panther City Lacrosse Club and game three of their season series. Colorado took game one back in December, and PCLC took game two last weekend. Game two was ugly, there’s no other way to put it. Only being a week removed, this one was going to be fun.
Colorado was going to be without one of their leading scorers, Eli McLaughlin. However, in losing him, they gained Ryan Lee back for the first time this year. The Mammoth have been looking for that offensive spark and Lee definitely is the type of guy to provide that. On the other side, PCLC has been red hot. The youngsters looked to continue scaling the West Conference standings.
There weren’t as many penalty minutes, but game three did not disappoint. Lee had a monster return game and Colorado outlasted PCLC 14-12. Get your popcorn ready.
The beginning of this game was eerily similar to the end of game two. In the first 2:24 of game play, there were 14 combined penalty minutes and one scrum resulting in goaltender Dillon Ward being right in the mix and being given a penalty. Ding, ding, ding! After all that, it resulted in a penalty shot. Who but Callum Crawford lined up, and we all know what happened next. Crawford beat Ward top right to give PCLC the early lead.
Jonathan Donville tallied the next goal with a fantastic individual effort, as he spun through defenders and rifled a twister. Zed Williams answered right back with a powerplay goal. The “Loud House” is one of the toughest places to play because, well, it’s loud. The roof almost blew off on the next goal. Lee found himself outside, received a pass and fired a bullet past Nick Damude. The kid is back. Ty Thompson gave Colorado their first lead with his first of the night with under a minute left. 3-2 Colorado after one.
The game really calmed down in the second quarter. Both defenses settled in and both Ward and Damude were outstanding. Oh, and there wasn’t a single penalty minute in the frame. Definitely didn’t have that on the bet slip. Only three goals were scored in the quarter, the first was at the 6:35 mark by Brett McIntyre. Will Malcom got his first and Lee got his second to end the quarter. 5-3 Mammoth going into the break.
“It felt great, guys set picks and opened me up,” said Lee about his diving second goal. “It didn’t work the first time earlier in the quarter, but I’m glad it worked this time. We wanted to come out a little chippy to start, but we kept our composure, it feels good.”
As we said, both goaltenders were sparkling. Ward was arguably the reason Colorado was sitting pretty. He made 28 saves on 31 shots. Damude was no slouch either, stopping 22 of 27.
The first half was pretty relaxing, right? Hold on to your seat for this second half, because me, oh my, it was a track meet. Thompson got his second on the powerplay and was followed up by Connor Robinson’s first, also on the powerplay. More penalties between these two, color us shocked. Dylan Kinnear tickled twine next for the Mammoth and we were approaching the danger zone for PCLC.
One name we haven’t heard much from is Patrick Dodds. Dodds scored his first of the game on the powerplay to stop the bleeding for a moment. Colorado answered right back with a sick transition goal from Jalen Chaster. Chaster broke down the field, was knocked to the ground, got up, spun and shot. Another fantastic individual effort. Crawford got one back for PCLC on the powerplay before the unicorn of the game happened.
At the 3:39 mark, Damude made a save after Colorado sneakily pulled Ward to gain an extra attacker. Damude fired the ball down and after bouncing a few times, it went in the net. Goalie goals are like finding the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. It was Damude’s second career goal – he also scored last season in March in the very same arena.
Thompson got his hat trick and Mathieu Gautier got his first on the powerplay to end the quarter. 10-7 Colorado going into the fourth.
Out of breath? Sorry, the fourth quarter was just as bananas. Zed got his second of the game, just 30 seconds in. The younger Malcom, Tony, got his first of the game to answer, and was followed up by Dodds’ second on the powerplay. Robinson’s second and Evan Downey’s first kept the Mammoth lead comfortable, but not for long. PCLC went on a three-goal run, with two from Dodds and one from Josh Medeiros. 13-12 with 3:51 to play.
Uh oh. Hate to rain on the parade PCLC faithful, but that’s as close as they’d get. Williams got his hat trick with under a minute left to ice it. Your final from the Loud House, 14-12 Mammoth.
Players of the game for PCLC were Dodds (four goals), Crawford (2+4) and Will Malcom (1+3). Damude kept PCLC in it all throughout the second half. The netminder made 35 saves on 49 shots. As for Colorado, Lee (2+8), Williams (3+1), and Thompson (3+1), led the way. Robinson also had a five point night. Ward showed why he was last year’s Finals MVP, stopping 46 of 58 on the night.
“I was just trying to make a play,” said Williams about his game-icing goal. “That’s all I try and do.”
Regarding Lee being back in the lineup, Williams said, “He’s such an awesome competitor and awesome player. He’s worked so hard to get back, I’m so proud of him.”
PCLC (6-5) still is in good shape when looking at the standings. They have a tough matchup next as they host Saskatchewan (5-3) March 4th at 8 p.m. Colorado (5-5) definitely helped their cause with this big win. They, too, have a huge matchup next. The Mammoth host Calgary (7-4) March 10th at 9 p.m. Things are heating up.
