Given the size of the goal (4 feet, 9 inches by 4 feet), plus the talent and super-size padding of the goalies, shooting percentages do not soar in the National Lacrosse League.
Team shooting percentages hover around 20 percent. Sharpshooting individuals make 25 percent of their shots.
Consequently, the 31.1 percentage of Colorado Mammoth second-year forward Dan Carey is an anomaly.
Or in the words of teammate Jamie Hanford, “When he shoots it, it just goes in.”
The next-best percentage among the NLL’s top 25 scorers is 25.6, by Arizona’s Dan Dawson.
Carey, 24, has 14 goals this season, including two game-winners. Through five games, he ranks second in the NLL in scoring with 28 points, including 14 assists.
Building on a superb rookie season, Carey needs only three goals to equal his 2006 total. While scoring 17 goals in 16 regular-season games as a rookie, his shooting percentage was 12.2.
He improved to 16.7 percent in the playoffs, scoring four goals, including a game-winner, plus four assists in three postseason games, including the NLL championship.
The seventh pick in the 2005 draft, Carey left Canisius College in Buffalo, N.Y., to turn pro.
A gifted passer, Carey (45 assists last season) credits his scoring increase and unparalleled accuracy to several factors.
“I try to get in better shape and stay in shape all the time,” he said. “That really helps.
“And they’re giving me the green light a little more. And with our offense, everyone’s moving. We all get chances to shoot the ball.”
Carey also increased his goal scoring last summer while earning MVP honors as the Peterborough Lakers upset Brampton for the Ontario Lacrosse Association championship.
In Colorado’s most recent home game, an 11-10 overtime victory against Buffalo, Carey was the only Mammoth player to put a perimeter shot past goalkeeper Mike Thompson.
Of his game-winner in overtime, Carey said: “I just tried to get a screen, so he couldn’t see it. I didn’t know where it went, but it just trickled in. It was in slow motion. I kept taking a step back until I saw it in the net.”
Footnotes
Colorado’s 17-13 loss at Calgary on Saturday ended a nine- game winning streak dating to last season. … The Mammoth (4-1) continues to get production from rookies, with Jamie Shewchuk scoring three goals and making two assists Friday in a 16-9 win at Edmonton and Nenad Gajic tied for fourth with Josh Sims in team scoring with 14 points (three goals, 11 assists). … Mammoth captain Gavin Prout is tied for the NLL lead with 21 assists and ranks third with 27 points. Gee Nash ranks third in goals-against average at 11.09. … Colorado plays its first Thursday game in franchise history this week, at 7 p.m. at the Pepsi Center against Portland (2-2). The Lumberjax have four players in double-figure points, including former Mammoth player Del Halladay with four goals and six assists. Scott Stapleford, a former Colorado defender, has three goals and one assist.
