When asked to name an athlete from another sport who made a difference in the latter years of his career, John Grant Jr. of the Colorado Mammoth aimed high.
He compared his joining the Mammoth for the upcoming National Lacrosse League season to Ray Bourque joining the Avalanche of the NHL at the turn of the century.
Bourque came west from the Boston Bruins and joined the Avalanche in 1999-2000. A season later, the Avalanche won the Stanley Cup with Bourque playing a key role in the Finals against the New Jersey Devils.
Grant came west from the Rochester Knighthawks to join the Mammoth in what is hoped to be a “go-to” role in the team’s plans to return to prominence in the NLL.
Colorado opens its season tonight against the Washington Stealth at the Pepsi Center.
“John has been a winner at every level, and we’re looking for his leadership and winning attitude,” Mammoth coach Bob Hamley said. “We know what he can do on the floor. He is very skilled and has an incredible stick. Offensively, he’s going to be our go-to guy.”
At Friday’s practice, Grant bristled a bit when asked if he has a season left to meet his new team’s expectations. He missed the entire 2009 season with a knee injury and came back and played for the Knighthawks last season. He became expendable when the Rochester ownership steered toward a youth movement.
“I hopefully have three or four, maybe five, high-performance seasons left in me,” the 36-year-old Grant said. “I never was that fast anyway, and hopefully getting older I’ve become wiser and that will show on the floor.”
Grant is ready to fill whatever his new team’s needs are.
“I’ll play whatever role they want,” Grant said. “If they want me to be the go-to guy, that’s kind of been my role.”
Grant’s credentials show that he has shaken an early tag of not being able to lead teams to championships. Since 2004, he has nine championship rings from various leagues, including one with Rochester in the NLL.
“I’d say that’s a pretty good turnaround,” Grant said. “I was lucky enough to be on some great teams. Once you learn how to win, it makes it a lot easier to win.”
Irv Moss: 303-954-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com
