Saturday (1/22/05) NLL Action

[Sonny]

Mammoth Robs Bandits' Firepower in 11-8 Win

DENVER – The first standing-room-only crowd of the season had plenty of reasons to get on its feet and cheer Saturday night at Pepsi Center. The Colorado Mammoth scored the game's final three goals to pull away from the Buffalo Bandits and earn an 11-8 victory before 18,137 fans.

Mammoth captain Gary Gait and Buffalo forward John Tavares did not disappoint in the matchup of the National Lacrosse League's top two all-time leading scorers. Gait led all players on the scoresheet with seven points on two goals and five assists. Tavares led Buffalo with three goals and added two helpers.

Tavares scored the only goal of the third quarter and opened the scoring in the fourth with a blast from 15 feet out that tied the game at eight. Colorado's Chris Panos answered for the Mammoth, one-timing home the game-winner off a quick pass from Gavin Prout to make it 9-8.

Chris Prat, who led the Mammoth (2-1) with three goals, scored his last of the game just 39 seconds later to push Colorado's lead to 10-8. Prout followed with his only goal of the night to conclude the game's scoring.

Dan Stroup and Panos each scored twice for Colorado and Mark Miyashita had one goal. Gee Nash backed a terrific defensive effort by the Mammoth with 46 saves and earned his second victory of the season.

Jonas Derks added two goals for the Bandits (1-2) and Mark Steenhuis, Pat McCready and rookie Delby Powless each scored once. Goaltender Steve Dietrich made 41 saves in the loss.

Late in the second quarter Stroup picked up a rebound and stuffed it through Dietrich's legs to give the Mammoth an 8-5 lead, but Tavares scored his first goal 21 seconds later to cut the Mammoth lead to two goals at halftime.

After Steenhuis tied it at three early in the second quarter Colorado answered with two goals 30 seconds apart. First Miyashita picked up Jamie Hanford's faceoff and went in alone for the score then Gait finished a pretty play after taking a 40-foot pass from Nick Carlson and beating Dietrich.

The Mammoth's first-quarter scores came on power-play goals by Panos and Stroup.

Buffalo 2 4 1 1 – 8
Colorado 2 6 0 3 – 11

Anaheim Storm Fall Short to Rochester

Anaheim, CA (January 22, 2005) - After a close game, the Anaheim Storm (1-1) fell to the Rochester Knighthawks (1-2) in Anaheim's second game of the 2005 season. The Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim had a crowd of 4, 053 for the night.

The Anaheim Storm were led by Peter Morgan (4G-1A) and veteran Casey Powell (3G-4A). The Storm had a slow start with a score of 5-1, Rochester, after the first quarter, but they came back to tie at the end of the first half 6-6 with goals scored by Casey Powell, brother Ryan Powell (1G, 1A), Peter Morgan and Richard Morgan (1G, 1A). Anaheim also rallied in the fourth quarter scoring four goals, but could not get past their opponent.

A highlight for Rochester came during the first minute of the game when John Grant, Jr. (5G, 2A) scored his 200th goal, a new record for Rochester. Grant was the leading scorer for the night.

Next weekend, the Storm face the Minnesota Swarm in Minnesota on Friday, January 28 and then return to the Arrowhead Pond to take on the defending champions, the Calgary Roughnecks, on Saturday, January 29.

Philadelphia Wings Postpone Home Opener at Wachovia Center

The Philadelphia Wings indoor lacrosse team has postponed tonight's game vs. the Toronto Rock at Wachovia Center due to a snow emergency in the City of Philadelphia. The game will be rescheduled at a later date.

[Sonny]

The Rock will have to wait until next weekend to try to match its best start in franchise history. For the first time in the club's seven-season history, the lacrosse team had a game postponed. With a blizzard belting the northeast, the National Lacrosse League cancelled last night's game between the host Philadelphia Wings (1-1) and the Rock (2-0) in the early afternoon.

Rock's roll put on hold:
http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Lacrosse/2005 ... 4-sun.html

[Sonny]

CALGARY (CP) - Kyle Goundrey would rather be lucky than good any day.

After Tracey Kelusky was stopped on a breakaway, Goundrey was there to convert the rebound into a goal and lead the Calgary Roughnecks to a 15-14 win over the Arizona Sting in National Lacrosse League action Saturday night.

"If Tracey didn't score, I was hoping there would be a rebound and luckily there was," said Goundrey, who dove and knocked in the loose ball past goaltender Mike Miron.

Roughnecks pound Sting
http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Lacrosse/2005 ... 58-cp.html

[Sonny]

DENVER - Gary Gait got plenty of help from his friends Saturday night in his final game against the Buffalo Bandits.
His Colorado Mammoth dominated the fourth quarter and claimed an 11-8 victory before a sellout crowd of 18,137 at the Pepsi Center.

Chris Panos, Chris Prat and Gavin Prout scored successive goals early in the final period to turn an 8-8 deadlock into the final margin.

Gait had two goals and five assists in his 26th and final scheduled game against Buffalo. The 15th-year pro, who has announced that he will retire after this season, is the top career scorer in National Lacrosse League history.

John Tavares led the Bandits (1-2), who began the two-game road trip to the West with a 15-10 victory over the expansion Minnesota Swarm Friday night in St. Paul, Minn., with three goals and two assists against the Mammoth.

Prat had three goals while the Bandits got four assists from Bryan Kazarian, two goals and an assist from Jonas Derks, three assists from Dan Teat and 41 saves from goaltender Steve Dietrich.

Gee Nash was brilliant in goal for the Mammoth with 46 saves, including nine in the final quarter when he held Buffalo off the scoreboard for the final 14:21.

Gait-led Mammoth too much for Bandits
http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20 ... 048137.asp

[Sonny]

01/23/05 - The Minnesota Swarm rallied from a 5-3 halftime deficit to outscore the San Jose Stealth, 6-3, in the second half and earned a 9-8 win on Saturday night before 5,059 at HP Pavilion in San Jose.

The Stealth (2-2) dominated the game early as they outshot the Swarm, 16-7, in the first quarter and 25-11 in the first half. San Jose scored the game's first three goals in the first 10 minutes, with two coming from Ryan Boyle, San Jose's No. 1 pick in the 2004 National Lacrosse League Entry Draft.

Minnesota (2-2) came back to score three times in the last four minutes of the first quarter. Former Stealth forward Kelly Hall finally put the Swarm on the board at 11:46 on the first of four power play goals for Minnesota.

Minnesota tied the game at 5-5 as they started the second half with goals from Jamie Taylor at 4:21 and Ryder Bateman at 6:50. San Jose's Gary Rosyski gave San Jose a 6-5 lead at 8:21 with the second of his three goals on the night. But the Swarm tied the game at 6-6 towards the end of the quarter with a goal from D'Arcy Berthiaume and took a 7-6 lead with just 34 seconds gone in the fourth quarter on Hall's second goal of the game.

The Stealth tied the game again on Rosyski's third goal at 1:21, but the Swarm took and maintained the lead on power play goals from Taylor and Kerry Susheski. Boyle's third goal of the game at 13:44 with an extra attacker put the Stealth within one and despite a last minute rush and having an extra attacker on the turf, San Jose couldn't force overtime.

Two factors played a role in Minnesota's win. Goaltender Matt Disher stopped 38 of San Jose's 46 shots on goal - including 18 of 21 in the second half. The Swarm converted on four of 12 power play opportunities while holding the Stealth to no goals in nine chances with the man advantage.

Boyle and Rosyski each had hat tricks for the Stealth. Each also had hat tricks in their win the previous night in Arizona. Boyle, Luke Gilbert, Derek Malawsky and Cam Sedgwick each had two assists to pace the Stealth. Anthony Cosmo went the distance in net for San Jose and saved 23 of 32 shots.

STEALTH NOTES: Once again, San Jose split their back-to-back set of games. Last night, the Stealth won in Arizona, 14-13. San Jose split their home-and-home against the defending National Lacrosse League Champion Calgary Roughnecks on Jan. 7-8, winning at the Pengrowth Saddledome. The next back-to-back games comes in a home-and-home series March 11-12 vs. Arizona . . . The nine goals allowed by the Stealth is the fewest the franchise has surrendered at home in its one-plus year history. On the other hand, the eight goals scored by San Jose is also the fewest they've ever scored at home. . . Tonight's game was also the first of two straight at HP Pavilion for the Stealth. San Jose returns to action next Saturday against the Colorado Mammoth at 7:30 p.m.