Still on the road, the Vancouver Stealth entered the Pepsi Center for their second game of the weekend, this time against the 1-0, but rested, Colorado Mammoth. Leaving their hotel in Calgary at 4am, following a nail-biting 12-11 win, to travel south to Denver can be the recipe for disaster. Yet, with a new look and revamped roster, the road warriors entered the Loud House with something to prove.
Following big performances from Colorado’s Greer and Vancouver’s Bal in their opening games, both squads turned the reigns over to new leaders on Saturday.
First Quarter
The game was an up and down contest until things were put into motion when Bryce Sweeting was sent to the box for two minutes from Holding the Stick. No one loves the powerplay like Vancouver and Rhys Duch got the party started. After running a shift on offense and defense, Duch came back down the floor, got the ball in a set play and let it soar from the high slot hitting netminder Dillon Ward but trickling in for the game’s first.
Catching a powerplay of their own, Colorado made the most of their opening man-up opportunity with John Grant Jr.‘s first goal at home. Moving to his strong side across the top of the floor, Junior snipes over a wall of players right inside of the pipe. Not waiting to take a lead, defenseman Greg Downing found the ball in transition and running it down on goaltender Tyler Richards and pulling it overhand, right on the crease to go ahead, 2-1.
Caught with Too Many Men, Colorado was down for two and the ensuing powerplay ended successfully when Logan Schuss caught the swing pass in the high slot and marched it down the middle, sticking it far-side to knot things up.
A lost ball in transition immediately came back to bite the Mammoth. The following Vancouver possession ended with a second from Schuss, from the edge of the shooter’s position to get a one goal lead to close things out.
Second Quarter
Colorado fell down a hole of unforced errors until an Over and Back translated into Corey Small‘s first goal. The Stealth chased it down, set up Small on the boards allowing him to come around a textbook pick from Jordan Durston.
Cherry picking Ilija Gajic found his first goal of the season, breaking loose knowing Zack Greer was coming up with it in the defensive end. Collecting the pass, Gajic sprinted it down one-on-one with Richards and finished on his former goaltender.
The back and forth exchanged was extended when Duchie weaseled his way around two defenders and came in hard for the settled, even strength notch.
But Colorado would answer again for another two goal lead. Gaining an extra-attacker, Callum Crawford laid down a silky pump fake, followed by a quick touch over to Eli McLaughlin right on the doorstep for a one-timer.
Caught Holding, Crawford would sit for sit for two and the flawless Stealth powerplay unit would strike again. Dueling up-picks cleared space for Small to walk down the middle until finding his spot, drawing back and letting it fly. Not learning their lesson, the Mammoth would give up another two minutes in the box and, again, it wouldn’t go their way.
Because…when he’s hot, he’s hot! A hat trick for Rhys Duch was pulled off before we could get out of the first half on some crazy business. While completely bear hugged from his defender, Duch turned and timbered, sinking the SC Top 10-worthy shot. The spectacle took a clear three goal lead to close the half, up 7-4.
Third Quarter
Not in the scoring mood, Greer spent his night making others’. His third assist dropped on the Ryan Wagner High Sticking Major powerplay. Moving it like a hot potato, Greer’s eyes found McLaughlin on the backdoor to start the half. Still riding the Major, Jeremy Noble launched a missile from the high slot straight to twine. Finishing two for two on the Major would end the powerplay unit’s night with a 100% success rate.
Trying to keep the crowd in it, McLaughlin took the swing from Crawford and made an almost too easy face dodge past Curtis Hodgson to the cage tying the game with his hat trick. Ready for one of his own, Crawford then came around a perfect pick from rookie Jacob Ruest and slung it past Richards to take their first lead since the first frame.
Keeping his team, and the fans, fired up, Ward was making some unreal saves to keep the flow. But he could only do so much when served the Joel McCready Special. Getting under his man, McCready tucked and went straight to the house to tie things up. Keeping the rhythm, the ball came down to the Stealth end and as things were settling, Schuss cranked it over a screen and between the irons take the lead back.
A game of runs it was, as another one was added by Rhys Duch left wide open off a double team on McCready. The fourth strike from Duchie would to take the two goal lead before the defense would quietly close the quarter, up 10-8.
Fourth Quarter
On the very first possession of the last quarter, the Stealth set up shop and got to work. A quick swing across the floor from Small to Duch finished through Ward’s five hole, silencing the Loud House in the first 14 seconds.
Proving that they needed to stick with good ball movement, another sling from McLaughlin on a beauty swing pass from Noble locks in his fourth of the night to get the crowd back into the game.
A dogfight of strong possessions ensue until the Stealth could make the best of it. Running a clinic in reverse transition, Rhys Duch finds the end of the play on the doorstep earning the sock trick and three goal cushion.
Defenseman Chris O’Dougherty followed with another great heads-up play. Quickly scooping a contested loose ball, OD immediately lofted a pass up to Justin Salt already on the go for a smooth breakaway touch. The Stealth kept pushing to keep up the pace and not let their opponents find a late run like Calgary did on Friday.
Teams should know this by now, but give Schuss too much space and his quick trigger will kill you. Walking in, his body language gives the appearance that he’s waiting for his team to set up, but how wrong we all are. Snapping one off, Ward is charged for another and what appeared to be the nail in the coffin.
Perhaps pulling Ward for the extra man too early, the Stealth defense knocked down a shot and Travis Cornwall came up with the loose change and placed it in the empty net, closing out Vancouver’s second road win, 15-9.
Eye Opener for Colorado
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXspyR7xzlQ
Obviously winning is the goal, of which they fell short, but there was a lot the Mammoth did right. Finishing three of three on powerplays, edging out the face-off battle and taking more overall shot attempts. Regardless what the score read, Dillon Ward played, dare I say, an excellent game at times. He finished with a .74 save percentage, but notably closed the first half with two, double digit save quarters.
The problem stood mostly with the goal scorers. Only young gun Eli McLaughlin buried multiple goals. Greer, Grant, Crawford and Noble, all essentially silenced by a Stealth defense that did their homework. Maybe it’s about rolling some of the focus back from pushing the tempo in transition and really hammer down the settled 5-on-5. They have a deep roster of guys that can single-handedly takeover a game, but do they need to play that way?
Colorado will fight to get back on the winning side of things against the Black Wolves on Saturday, still in the Pepsi Center.
Full Stealth Ahead
It was Tyler Richards in the opposite cage with the hot performance. T Rich blocked 43 of 52 shots on goal and the only thorn was giving up 3 of 3 penalty kills. The Stealth are winning because of what Richards is pulling off in the crease, believe that.
The Stealth’s second win of the season comes on the road in one weekend, this time 16-9 over the Mammoth. Now 2-0, Vancouver already has 40% of last year’s wins and one more than they won on the road all last season.
Nine different scorers in two games is a flash of brilliance for Vancouver. When they move the ball quickly, they’re extremely successful. This allows for more Schuss signature quick trigger pulls, Duchie wizardry and snipes from Small. Having O’Dougherty back in the lineup and focus on defense is likely another key reason they walked away with a clean victory, unlike their squeak past Calgary on Friday.
The Stealth will look to ride in on their newfound success next Saturday when they take on Calgary again, this time in Vancouver.
