Mammoth over Stealth 8-7

[James Foote]

MAMMOTH DEFEAT STEALTH, 8-7
NLL
February 11, 2006

In a tight defensive battle on Saturday night, the Colorado Mammoth held off the San Jose Stealth, earning an 8-7 victory in front of a season-high crowd of 18,027 fans at Pepsi Center in Denver.

Both goaltenders shined in the contest. Anthony Cosmo made 40 saves for San Jose, while Gee Nash stopped 33 shots for Colorado.

The Mammoth opened the scoring with three goals in just over nine minutes – including two from forward Ben Prepchuk – before San Jose’s Derek Malawsky put the Stealth on the board and made it a 3-1 game at 12:22 of the first quarter.

Scoring was at a premium for the remainder of the half, despite several opportunities for both teams. In fact, the two squads combined to go 0-for-10 on the power play in the first two quarters and went to their respective dressing rooms with Colorado holding just a 3-2 advantage.

Gavin Prout, Colorado’s current scoring leader, opened the second half with his first goal of the game to give the Mammoth a 4-2 edge. However, the Stealth responded, scoring three of the next four goals to tie the contest at five heading into the fourth quarter.

The Mammoth managed three goals to open the fourth frame in just over two minutes, giving them an 8-5 advantage. However, the Stealth responded again, notching two scores of their own to pull within one at the 6:13 mark of the quarter. That would be all the scoring for the remainder of the night though, as the Mammoth defense managed to hold on to the one-goal advantage.

Nick Carlson and Ben Prepchuk led the Mammoth with two goals apiece, while Jay Jalbert, Chris Gill, Gewas Schindler and Prout each tallied singles.

Jeff Zywicki and Kevin Fines each scored twice for the Stealth, while Derek Malawsky, Cam Woods and Cam Sedgwick managed one goal apiece.

Gee Nash was solid in net for Colorado, stopping 33 of 40 shots in the contest, including 18 of 20 in the first half.

San Jose's Anthony Cosmo also had a strong game, making 40 stops on the night. Cosmo turned away all 10 Colorado shots in the second quarter to keep his club in the game heading into the half.

San Jose (2-4) is back in action on Saturday, Feb. 18 against the Rochester Knighthawks, with the opening faceoff scheduled for 7:35 PM ET at the Blue Cross Arena. Colorado (4-3), meanwhile, will return to the floor on March 3 at home against the Edmonton Rush at 9:00 PM ET.

[BigheadTodd]

This was the first indoor game I had seen since I saw the Boston Blazers play at the Hartford Civic center in '87. It was a good game. They really do it up right in Denver. It is a beautiful building that doesn't look like it should be able to hold 20,000 but it does. They have a junior mammoth game at halftime that is really great. I guess they outdraw most of the league on attendance as well. Phil Eichhorn's(CSU04) stepson plays for the junior mammoth during the halftimes. They went to san Jose for the game there, and he said they had the upper deck closed off, and the lower bowl wasn't even close to full. Denver is definately a fun town.

[James Foote]

I'm glad you enjoyed your first Mammoth game. 18-20,000 is an average attendance for their home games. We love them here in Denver.