Tonight at 6pm the Colorado Mammoth have their last chance to make the playoffs this year, if they lose, they will be the only team in the NLL not to make the playoffs. Last weekend the Mammoth lost at home to their division rival Minnesota Swarm 17-12, which clinched their playoff spot with the win.
The Mammoth just could not get their offense going, they struggled all game to score and found themselves down by 7 at halftime. John Grant Jr. wasn’t himself at all last week, usually the team can count on him to score when they need it and put a spark into the offense, but he was off his game. Junior only scored twice with 5 assists, which for any other player would be a pretty solid night.
For the Swarm, Jordan MacIntosh had an outstanding game. He scored 5 goals with 1 assist and won 22 of 31 face-offs. The Mammoth defense will have a hard time keeping him at bay in front of his home crowd. Tyler Carlson who had 36 saves last week will be a big part of tonight’s game, if he plays well, then the Mammoth will have a tough time coming out with a win. However, as happened last week, sometimes a goalie just can’t seem to make saves in front of his home crowd.
If the Mammoth are victorious, they will finish the regular season with a 7-9 record. This may be disappointing at first glance, but as happened last year, a team with a losing record (Rochester Knighthawks) could still win the Champions Cup. So unless they lose, there is still a chance that anything could happen. If they lose, then the fans can look forward to a high draft pick for next season.
Either way, it makes sense that next season the Mammoth will have more success. Tye Belanger will have more games under his belt, and going into training camp as the starter, he will be more confident in goal. Casey Powell will feel more at home after spending an off-season with the team, and not being forced to hit the ground running. So fans can look forward to the future, even if things don’t work out as hoped this year.
