With three weeks remaining in the National Lacrosse League regular season, 10 of the NLL’s 11 teams remain in contention for eight playoff berths. Four teams, including the Colorado Mammoth, could clinch this weekend.
Colorado (7-5) must defeat the Arizona Sting (6-5) on Sunday night at the Pepsi Center and rely on help from the Buffalo Bandits and Calgary Roughnecks. On Saturday, the Bandits would have to defeat Arizona and the Roughnecks would have to down the San Jose Stealth.
“We’re looking to take care of what we need to do, get a win this weekend,” Mammoth coach Gary Gait said.
The Sting is led by Craig Conn and 6-foot-5 Dan Dawson. Conn scored eight goals against Colorado on Feb. 3 and boasts the best shooting percentage (.259) among the NLL’s top 25 scorers.
Dawson uses his long arms for an effective swim move that frees him for point-blank shots.
Colorado counters with a scoring-by-committee approach.
Only four players – Dan Stroup, Jay Jalbert, Andrew Burkholder and Chris Gill – have scored four or more goals in a game this season.
On the plus side, opponents cannot key on a few scorers. But when there’s a drought, there’s no go-to shooter.
Team captain Gavin Prout is the Mammoth’s go-to playmaker, however, and he can score. He has a team-leading 21 goals to go with his 48 assists, which rank second in the NLL. With four games left, Prout is on pace to break his Mammoth season assist record (57), set in 2004.
Boosting the Colorado offense is the NLL’s second-ranked power play at 48.65 percent, an improvement over last season’s seventh-ranked 41.59 figure.
“The focus I’ve been working on is not necessarily the X’s and O’s and run this play and run that play, but a little bit of freedom,” Gait said. “I’ll say, ‘Here’s your options, get to know what your options are and feel comfortable making the skip pass or taking the shot.”‘
