Amid jammed parking lots and long checkout lines, Steve Govett traveled from store to store on Christmas Eve in pursuit of an elusive gift. It proved not to be a quick left-handed power-play finisher nor a speedy transition player, much less a muscular defender.
Indeed, Govett, the Colorado Mammoth general manager, appears to have gift-wrapped a National Lacrosse League contender, which is why he was trying to find a present for his wife and not Bob McMahon, his new head coach.
In fact, McMahon is so pleased with the roster Govett has assembled, he has not given himself wiggle room if the Mammoth doesn’t stand atop the NLL Western Division standings.
“This is probably the most talented team I’ve seen in the league in the last six or seven years,” said the 2002 NLL coach of the year, an Arizona Sting assistant the past four seasons.
Thanks to a dispersal draft of the Sting, every NLL team is expected to improve.
“You’re going to see awesome lacrosse,” predicted Calgary general manager Kurt Silcott. “Every team is stronger. All the teams feel good about themselves.”
Along with gaining 24-goal scorer Curt Malawasky in the Arizona dispersal draft, Silcott traded for Buffalo all-pro goalkeeper Steve Dietrich and defender Kyle Couling.
“(Dietrich) is a great team leader, a great team guy,” Silcott said. “It’s great to have him back there.”
First-year Roughnecks coach Troy Cordingley installed an aggressive, trapping defense in front of Dietrich.
For Saturday night’s season opener, Colorado will have to pass quickly and accurately to beat Cordingley’s high-risk, high-reward style.
On the other end, the Roughnecks return their top six scorers, including Lewis Ratcliff and Tracey Kelusky.
In the Eastern Division, defending NLL champion Rochester returns 20 players, most notably league MVP John Grant Jr., coming off a 54-goal season.
“They are a great team,” Govett said. “They are well-coached. They’re the team to beat.”
