In the Colorado Mammoth’s first game of the season, they were blasted by the Saskatchewan Rush, 18-6, and didn’t look anything like the team that won the National Lacrosse League Cup a year ago.
The up-and-down play continued throughout an injury-affected regular season, as the Mammoth finished 9-9 and fourth in their division.
But Colorado’s made all those struggles look like a red herring in the playoffs as the Mammoth dispatched of the San Diego Seals and the Calgary Roughnecks to set up an NLL Finals rematch with the Buffalo Bandits.
“I think we had a bit of a championship hangover going into the season, where it was such a long and grueling season to win the title, and maybe we thought it was going to be easy this year,” Mammoth coach Pat Coyle said. “It didn’t seem like we had the same intensity that we ended the season with the year before.
“That being said, the experience from last year served us well when we didn’t play well. Making the playoffs, it was closer than we hoped. The last two games we knew we were in the playoffs and maybe we took our foot off the gas (in two losses). But once we hit the playoffs, it felt like we became the playoff team that we learned to be the year before.”
The Mammoth are the betting underdogs (+1.5) in the best-of-three series against the Bandits, who are making their record 12th appearance in the finals and have won four titles, but none since 2008.
Add in the fact that the Mammoth beat them in three games last year, in Colorado’s other title victory in 2006 and during the regular season (13-8 in Buffalo) in March, and Coyle knows Colorado has provided the favorites with plenty of motivation. In the 2022 NLL Finals, Buffalo took Game 1 before the Mammoth won Game 2 in comeback fashion and then Game 3 on the road at the KeyBank Center.
“It’s hard not to think they’re going to come in with a bigger sense of urgency than they did last year,” Coyle said. “It felt like last year, they maybe took us for granted. I don’t expect that from them this year. It’s going to be harder for us, and it’s hard to repeat anyways, but we’re really looking forward to the challenge.”
As Coyle aims for his seventh NLL title (five as a player, including ’06 with Colorado, and then last year as coach), the Mammoth are headlined by the same cast that led them to last year’s championship.
Eli McLaughlin led the Mammoth in goals (44), assists (39) and points (83) during the regular season, while the Mammoth’s balanced offense also features Ryan Lee (team-best 21 playoff points), Connor Robinson and Zed Williams.
“If Eli doesn’t score, there will be two or three guys behind him who are scoring,” Coyle said. “And the great thing is, any guy on our team would say they’re okay with that balance. There are some really good scorers on this team who don’t necessarily get their due as superstars.”
Defensively, 2022 NLL Finals MVP Dillon Ward, who gave up 11.19 goals per game during the regular season, is allowing 9.75 goals through four playoff games. Ward has played for the Mammoth since 2014 and also previously played for the Denver Outlaws. While Ward is the Mammoth’s “calming force,” Bandits goalie Matt Vinc is giving up just 7.07 goals per game.
“All year, Buffalo’s had a high-flying offense with a really good defense and really good goaltending,” said Ward, who set a record with 55 saves in the championship clincher last year. “We’re going to have to find a way to slow them down and break their wall on the back end.”
Colorado is attempting to become the first NLL team to repeat since the Rush did so in 2015 (as the Edmonton Rush) and ’16 (as the Saskatchewan Rush).
“We had to weather the lows, because everyone in the room knew where we wanted to be, and how we’re playing now is the level we thought we should be at all year,” McLaughlin said. “We lost to some teams we shouldn’t have lost to. To be able to be mentally strong and bounce back to beat stronger teams to get here is a good sign. If we pull this off, we’ll be remembered as one of the best playoff teams in NLL history.”
Game 1 of the NLL Finals is set for 5 p.m. Saturday in Buffalo, and will be broadcast on ESPNU. Game 2 is 2 p.m. Monday at Ball Arena (TV: ESPN2), and Game 3, if necessary, is Saturday, June 3, back at the KeyBank Center at 5:30 p.m. (TV: ESPN+).
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