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Paul Gait scores two in debut as Mammoth beat Swarm

April 1, 2005 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Colorado Mammoth News Release


ST. PAUL, Minn. - It didn't take long for Paul Gait to get reacquainted with his legendary scoring touch. The superstar forward, who came out of retirement last week to join the Colorado Mammoth and twin brother Gary, scored his new team's first goal against the Minnesota Swarm on Friday night.

Paul Gait, the National Lacrosse League's third all-time leading goal scorer, added career goals 405 and 406 to his total Friday as the Mammoth beat the Swarm 15-9 before 10,054 fans at the Xcel Energy Center. The Gait brothers, who turn 38 on Tuesday, hadn't played together since 2002 when they were with the Washington Power, the franchise that moved to Denver and became the Mammoth. Paul Gait retired after leading the NLL in scoring in 2002 and winning the league's most valuable player award.

The Mammoth (8-5) moved into a tie with Calgary for first place in the NLL's West Division after the Roughnecks lost at Toronto. Calgary holds the tiebreaker over Colorado and would be awarded home-field advantage should the teams finish the season tied. Minnesota (3-11) is last in the East Division.

Forward Josh Sims led the Mammoth with seven points on three goals and four assists. He has scored a career-high 14 goals this season.

Forward Del Halladay also scored three goals for the Mammoth and team captain Gary Gait picked up a goal and two assists. Brian Langtry, Nick Carlson, Gavin Prout, John Gallant, Brad Self and Dan Stroup each added one goal and Jay Jalbert pitched in with four assists. Jalbert leads NLL defenseman in scoring with 34 points.

Mammoth goaltender Gee Nash earned the victory with 35 saves, while the Swarm's Matt Disher took the loss with 32 saves. Minnesota's Kelly Hall led his team with three goals and four assists. Ryan Ward also tallied seven points for the Swarm, with one goal and six assists.

The Mammoth fell behind 4-1 in the first quarter before Self's goal cut the lead to two. Halladay scored with just two seconds remaining and then tied the score at 4-4 with another goal early in the second quarter. Carlson scored 13 seconds later to put the Mammoth ahead for the first time in the game and it would never trail again.

After building an 8-6 halftime lead, the Mammoth dominated the second half. Sims put Colorado up 10-6 with a breakaway goal, taking a long pass from defenseman Pat Coyle and scoring after his shot hit the post and bounced off Disher into the net. Sims then followed Paul Gait's second tally with a goal to put the Mammoth up 12-7.

The Mammoth returns to Denver on Saturday for its regular-season home finale at 7 p.m. against the Anaheim Storm at Pepsi Center.

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