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John Grant Jr. Colorado Mammoth NLL vs New England Black Wolves Photo Credit Khoi Ton
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New England Black Wolves at Colorado Mammoth – Game of the Week

Editor’s Note: We’re back with another NLL Game of the Week! Thanks to the help of the innovative team at SISU Guard, the Official Mouthguard of the NLL, we are beefing up our National Lacrosse League coverage for 2016! We hope you enjoy our look at the NLL season through a new lens with the aid of our partner SISU!

We’re going for it and you can’t stop us. The way the Mammoth have been playing they deserve back to back Games of the Week. Now we’re in the second half of the NLL season and no better way to kick things off than with #1 vs #1.

New England has been good on the road, but Colorado has been flawless so far at home. This game is setting up to be a thriller, at two losses each, the top spot in their conferences and the two best goal ratios in the NLL, New England at Colorado is the fix we need to keep riding the high from last weekend.

NLL Game of the Week

New England Black wolves (3-4) at Colorado Mammoth (7-2)

John Grant Jr. Colorado Mammoth NLL vs New England Black Wolves Photo Credit Khoi Ton
Photo Credit: Khoi Ton

When: 3/5/2016 – 9:00 pm ET
Where: Pepsi Center – Denver, Colorado
Watch: Watch ESPN, TSN GO

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[mks_one_half]Standing: 1st in Eastern Conference

Watch For: The defense to body up on the Colorado shooters and show their strength. The Mammoth offense isn’t known for dropping gloves so the defense go risky and push their limits early or hang back and play the shooters straight up. I beg for the first choice.

Points Leader: Shawn Evans – 22 goals, 30 assists

Things to work on: Run away with the game and don’t look back. Their last three games have been decided by two goals, or less, including one in OT. Kirk is playing on fire in the goal, don’t let the game turn into him bailing out the rest of the team.

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[mks_one_half]Standing: 1st in Western Conference

Watch for: Colorado to slow the ball down and continue to work the offense through Jones and Grant. Crawford has been doing what he wants, when he wants, so he will be a handful for the defense. We could see more production out of the role playing forwards, a short leash in goal and an exciting loose ball fight.

Points Leader: Callum Crawford – 13 goals, 39 assists

Needs to work on: Get the ball into the hottest sticks. Both Grant and Jones took over 10 shots before things got good for Jones. Taking over a game like he did isn’t going to happen often. Work to get more looks from Noble and McLaughlin.

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In one of only three games going down Saturday night, we get treated to first place in the Eastern Conference on the road at first place in the Western Conference. The Mammoth are 4-0 in the Pepsi Center and the Black Wolves are coming to town with a 2-1 road record and a new look on defense. Yesterday the Wolves announced that Brian Megill is out for the season with the leg injury he suffered on Sunday. Replacing Megill is former captain Andrew Suitor coming out of injury and Brett Bucktooth is back from suspension. The defense should be in good shape if they can get into a groove early. The Stealth had a lot of luck containing John Grant Jr. and Callum Crawford last weekend, they also had a hold on Adam Jones until his 6 goal 4th quarter. Jones’ spree aside, the Mammoth were held to 4 goals over the first 3 quarters in their own barn. It’s possible to take them down, but it takes vigilance, consistency and a strong attack on cage.

For New England, Shawn Evans is putting up points like a reigning MVP should while Kevin Crowley and Pat Saunders have been right by his side in the goals column. On top of Evans’ 52 points, he scooped up an absolutely absurd 50 loose balls. Where does one find the time? Their staring down an aggressive defense that doesn’t have a lot of problems forcing the turnover. Greg Downing and Robert Hope can press out, but the focus needs to be the overall containment of Evans before attacking elsewhere. The Wolves are more built to pull a transition goal out of midair but both teams have a knack for finding those forwards coming from the bench.

I’m most excited to see which scorer from the Mammoth roster is going to make it their night. Adam Jones is 2nd in the NLL for goals with 27 scored, while Colorado newcomer Callum Crawford sits in 2nd in overall points with 55. John Grant Jr. is hanging a point above Jones with a total of 46 and is making sure the lesser experienced Jeremy Noble, Eli McLaughlin and Chris Wardle are all seeing good touches every quarter. It’s going to be much less force the turnover for the reshaped New England defensive unit and much more contain the shooters, cover the backside and let Kirk get a good look at it. The Mammoth shooters are going to shoot, it’s all about limiting from where and what’s in between.

Goaltending will be an interesting topic too. You have arguably the top net-minder in the league, Evan Kirk, heading into his 8th game of the season with a 6-1 record on one side. While we expect to see Dillon Ward on the opposite end considering his .791 save average and matching 5-1 record, he was pulled from the crease last weekend and replaced with sophomore star Alex Buque, who came in the game down 2-8 to save 11 of 13 shots and collect the win. My guess is Ward gets another crack at it before the trigger is pulled for Buque to takeover at first sign of slipping.

 

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Week 10 Games

Saturday

  • Rochester Knighthawks at Toronto Rock – 7:00 pm – Fox Sports GO
  • Buffalo Bandits at Vancouver Stealth – 10:00 pm – Fox Sports GO

SISU Guard Official Mouthguard of the NLL

Which game are you looking forward to the most? Make your predictions for this weekend and the rest of the 2016 NLL season in the comment section below!