Big weekend on tap for Sting

March 29, 2007 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Arizona Sting News Release


Entering Week #14 of the NLL Season, the Arizona Sting (7-4) find themselves in second place in the West Division, currently two-and-a-half games behind top-ranked Colorado (10-2) and one game up on both Calgary (6-5) and San Jose (6-5). After dropping a 14-12 decision to the Roughnecks last Saturday, the Sting will be looking to get back on the winning track this weekend as they face off with two of their biggest rivals in what well no doubt prove to be a pivotal pair of games in determining their seeding for the upcoming NLL post-season.

"It's impossible to overstate just how important this weekend is to our team," says defenseman Peter Lough, who is currently ranked seventh in the NLL with 110 face-off wins.

On Friday night the Sting will travel to the unfriendly confines of the Pepsi Center for an extremely important match against their divisional rivals the Colorado Mammoth. The Mammoth have a perfect 6-0 record at home so far this season, and have defeated the Sting in five straight contests dating back to last February. Last weekend the Mammoth suffered just their second defeat of the season, falling to the Buffalo Bandits 19-15 at HSBC Arena.

"We're looking forward to getting back on track against the Sting this weekend," said Mammoth Head Coach Gary Gait. "We were disappointed in the effort we put forth in Buffalo, and this game gives us the chance to regroup and focus on playing our game."

Sting Head Coach/GM Bob Hamley is looking forward to the challenge of facing the NLL's top-ranked team on their home floor this weekend. Arizona has not beaten the Mammoth in Denver since January 8, 2005, when they pulled out a dramatic 16-15 victory in a game in which forward Dan Dawson tallied five goals.

"Colorado is having a great year and the Pepsi Center is a tough building to play in for a visiting team," said Hamley. "This game is definitely important for us and our guys are really looking forward to the challenge."

On Saturday, the Sting return home to face the surging San Jose Stealth at Jobing.com Arena. The Stealth have won five straight games to move from sixth to third place in the West Division after starting the season with a record of 1-5. San Jose has won four of their six road contests thus far in 2007.

"The Stealth are on a roll right now," said Coach Hamley. "Their new players and rookies are really gelling together nicely and we know we'll be in for a battle in our building on Saturday night."

Stealth Head Coach Walt Christianson gave credit to his starting goaltender Anthony Cosmo for his team's recent progress in the standings during Wednesday's pre-game press conference.

"Anthony has really picked up his game for us lately," said Christianson. "He's been absolutely stellar for us in net the last three or four games and a lot of our recent success is a direct result of that."

The Sting have beaten the Stealth in five straight contests, the most recent of which came on January 13 of this year when Arizona pulled out a 14-11 win at HP Pavilion in San Jose on the strength of a 44 save performance from Rob Blasdell. The Stealth have not beaten the Sting since January 21, 2005.

Game time on Friday night is set for 6:30pm Arizona time. Fans can catch the action live by logging onto B2 Networks (www.b2now.com).

Saturday night's contest will be broadcast live on B2, Cox 7 TV, and The Fan AM1060. Fans can call 623-842-GOAL to purchase tickets to the game, which gets underway at 7:30pm. The first 5,000 fans in attendance will receive a complimentary Sting water bottle.

NOTE:

The Sting can clinch their third consecutive playoff berth with a pair of wins this weekend and some help from their divisional opponents. If the Sting win twice and Calgary (home-and-home with Portland) or Edmonton (on the road in New York and Chicago) loses twice loses twice, or each Albertan squad loses one game each in conjunction with Arizona's two wins, then the Sting are officially in the 2007 Champion's Cup Playoffs.

THE MATCHUPS:

(#1)

Arizona Sting @ Colorado Mammoth - Friday, March 30, 2007: Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado

ARIZONA STING ALL-TIME VERSUS COLORADO MAMMOTH:

Record: 3-7

Goals For: 126

Goals Against: 138

Top Scorers:

COL: Gavin Prout (12GP-19G-46A-65P); Dan Carey (12GP-31G-33A-64P); Brian Langtry (12GP-27G-34A-61P); Jamie Shewchuk (11GP-19G-22A-41P); Josh Sims (11GP-16G-16A-32P)

ARZ: Dan Dawson (11GP-36G-40A-76P); Craig Conn (11GP-14G-42A-56P); Lindsay Plunkett (11GP-26G-21A-47P); Derek Malawsky (11GP-14G-26A-40P); Curt Malawsky (11GP-15G-15A-30P)

Goaltenders:

COL: Gee Nash (8-0 record, 11.01 G.A.A., .786 save %); Chris Levis (2-2 record, 10.33 G.A.A.,

ARZ: Rob Blasdell (7-2 record, 10.47 G.A.A., .775 save %); Mike Attwood (0-2 record, 13.36 G.A.A., .710 save %)

STING FORWARDS - CAREER SCORING VS. COL:

PLAYER GP G A P GPG APG PPG

Craig Conn 10 26 29 55 2.6 2.9 5.5

Dan Dawson 7 21 13 34 3.0 1.86 4.86

Derek Malawsky 14 22 38 60 1.57 2.71 4.29

Lindsay Plunkett 7 10 11 21 1.43 1.57 3.0

Curt Malawsky 20 31 28 59 1.55 1.4 2.95

Matt Brown 4 2 4 6 0.5 1.0 1.5

Andy Secore 1 1 0 1 1.0 0.0 1.0

(#2)

San Jose Stealth @ Arizona Sting - Saturday, March 31, 2007: Jobing.com Arena in Glendale, Arizona

ARIZONA STING ALL-TIME VERSUS SAN JOSE STEALTH:

Record: 6-3

Goals For: 121

Goals Against: 113

TOP SCORERS (as of 3/29/07):

SJS: Jeff Zwicki (11GP-32G-27A-59P); Gary Rosyski (11GP-25G-31A-56P); Colin Doyle (11GP-15G-38A-53P); Luke Wiles (11GP-18G-33A-51P); Cam Sedgwick (11GP-7G-20A-27P)

ARZ: Dan Dawson (11GP-36G-40A-76P); Craig Conn (11GP-14G-42A-56P); Lindsay Plunkett (11GP-26G-21A-47P); Derek Malawsky (11GP-14G-26A-40P); Curt Malawsky (11GP-15G-15A-30P)

GOALTENDERS (as of 3/29/07):

SJS: Anthony Cosmo (5-4 record, 10.70 G.A.A., .780 save %); Aaron Bold (1-1 record, 11.75 G.A.A., .759 save %)

ARZ: Rob Blasdell (7-2 record, 10.47 G.A.A., .775 save %); Mike Attwood (0-2 record, 13.36 G.A.A., .710 save %)

STING FORWARDS - CAREER SCORING VS. SJS/ALB

NAME GP G A P GPG APG PPG

Dan Dawson 11 25 40 65 2.27 3.54 5.91

Derek Malawsky 9 17 33 50 1.89 3.67 5.56

Curt Malawsky 10 29 22 51 2.9 2.2 5.10

Craig Conn 4 7 11 18 1.75 2.75 4.5

Lindsay Plunkett 6 8 16 24 1.33 2.67 4.0

Matt Brown 3 4 6 10 1.33 2.00 3.33

Andrew Lazore 1 1 1 2 1.0 1.0 2.0

Andy Secore 2 1 2 3 0.5 1.0 1.5



National Lacrosse League Stories from March 29, 2007


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