In the wake of Gary Gait’s retirement, Colorado Mammoth general manager Steve Govett tried to attract a left-handed scorer. He failed to sign free agent Richard Morgan and couldn’t swing trades for Toronto Rock all-pro Colin Doyle or Buffalo Bandits all-pro John Tavares.
Certainly left-handed rookie Dan Carey is having an exceptional season, scoring seven goals with 13 assists. And left-handed free-agent signee Chris Gill has five goals. But after consecutive losses that dropped the Mammoth to 2-3, Govett made his move.
Enter Gewas Schindler, who was signed Tuesday as the latest solution to replace the 33 goals Gait scored last season before becoming head coach.
Schindler, 29, has scored 81 goals in his past 45 National Lacrosse League games. He started his NLL career in Philadelphia, then played for the now defunct New York Saints and the Columbus Landsharks, who morphed into the Arizona Sting.
In 2004, he has 32 goals and 35 assists for the Sting. Last spring, his relationship soured with Sting general manager/coach Bob Hamley.
“Basically my general manager told me he was going to trade me,” Schindler said. “It wasn’t any specific one thing, like an argument. We had been together four years.”
Hamley didn’t trade Schindler. Instead, he released him and Schindler was without a team for the rest of the season. When training camps started in November, his agent, Tony Glavin, wasn’t able to get him a deal.
“I’m actually pleased those deals fell through because none of them were with a first-class organization like the Mammoth,” Schindler said. “I was stressed out at missing games when the season started, but I stayed patient and I’m glad I did. I feel very fortunate to be with an organization like this.”
Schindler already knows who he’ll suit up against first: Arizona.
“I want them to see that they made a mistake by releasing me,” he said.
A member of the Onondaga Nation, Schindler lives on Onondaga Nation land near Syracuse, N.Y., and directs the Onondaga Arena, which operates ice hockey in the winter and box lacrosse in the summer. He attended Loyola University in Baltimore, teaming with Mammoth players Gavin Prout and Jamie Hanford.
Footnotes
In the middle of a two-week stretch without games, Gait is assessing all aspects of his team. “We’re one-fourth of the way through the season. We’ll look at everything.” … Defending champion Toronto Rock, winners of five of the past seven Champion’s Cup trophies, is 0-4, its worst start. … The 52-game goal scoring streak of Rochester all-pro John Grant Jr. was stopped by Minnesota’s Matt Disher, who stopped all of Grant’s attempts. … Portland’s Dallas Eliuk earned defensive player of the week for his 53 saves against the Mammoth Saturday night.
