After a disappointing end to the 2012 season, the Colorado Mammoth continued that downward spiral dropping their home opener to the Washington Stealth last weekend 17-13. The biggest lead Washington took on the Mammoth was 8 goals in the third quarter. The Mammoth will have to wake up as they head to Calgary to take on the Roughnecks.
Calgary themselves are in the same predicament as Colorado is. The Roughnecks were knocked out of the 2012 playoffs and also dropped their 2013 home opener to Toronto 13-11. They will look to dominate Colorado as they did during their preseason matchup where the Roughnecks took home a 20-11 win.
Leading the Mammoth in their loss with points was none other than John Grant Jr, who posted a six point performance (3G, 3A). Adam Jones snuck in one point shy of Grant Jr with three goals and two assists while Gavin Prout had one goal and four assists.
On the defensive side, the Mammoth rotated their goalies, Chris Levis and Matt Roik. Roik (25/36, 11GA) got the nod to start, but was taken out early and replaced by Levis (13/19, 6GA). Unfortunately Levis’ time in goal was cut short as Roik went back in. Together, the pair posted a .682 save percentage. Having goalie issues this early in the season is not a good thing, for any team. Colorado will have to get some sort of game plan together if they want to make a deep season run.
For the Roughnecks, Geoff Snider came away with 19 faceoff wins out of the 26 he took and scooped up 16 loose balls. Shawn Evans had three goals to lead Calgary in scoring along with 2 assists. Daryl Veltman came away with five points as well, recording a goal and four assists, along with Curtis Dickson, who had two goals and three assists. Defensively, Mike Poulin played the entire game, saving 35/48 shots he faced, posting a .729 save percentage.
This game will be brutal as both teams try to come away with their first win of the 2013 NLL season. Fans can catch the game on The Lacrosse Network on YouTube, which starts at 9PM EST.
