Colorado Closes out Homestand Saturday against Black Bears
NLL Colorado Mammoth

Colorado Closes out Homestand Saturday against Black Bears

Published on March 4, 2026 under National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Colorado Mammoth News Release


Sporting a .750 win percentage this late in the season for the first time in a while, the (9-3) Colorado Mammoth remain locked into the league's No. 2 rank fresh off an epic comeback win logged against an old rival in the (6-6) San Diego Seals last weekend. Despite sporting the purple and yellow squad a 6-1 advantage in the opening period, Colorado put its resilience on display in full fashion, battling back to eventually capture a 14-12 final as the Seals fell apart following an early lead once again.

While a majority of the season has featured Colorado being in front more often than trailing, paired with the All-Pro talents of netminder Dillon Ward, the Burgundy Boys took the road less traveled in securing their ninth win of the year Friday night at Ball Arena. Climbing the comeback mountain, the Mammoth had to earn each and every one of the team's 14 tallies, specifically early on as goaltender Chris Origlieri showed up to play in the opening half.

However, once the Mammoth got the rock moving and players started to use their legs a bit more, Colorado's O-zone was looking healthy, notching eight second-half markers to complete the spicy win. Entering the contest a few times in relief of Ward before ultimately manning the nets for the remainder of the evening, second-year goaltender Nathan Whittom recorded the first win of his young career by stopping 25-of-29 shots faced in just over 36 minutes played.

The team's "Big 3" in Andrew Kew (4g, 2a), Jack Hannah (3g, 3a) and Will Malcom (1g, 3a) played their respective roles well, per usual, but this may have been Mr. Hannah's finest game as a scorer. Typically creating space for his teammates as one of the squad's most efficient and effective passers, "The Tiger" was using his wheels a bit more last weekend, earning a hat trick in the process. Seeing how fired up No. 33 was after a few of those conversions insists he's very much enjoying his role and new team. The same can be said for Colorado enjoying Hannah being around, as the team is officially 8-1 since acquiring the talent from the Las Vegas Desert Dogs.

For as high-powered as the offense was in the comeback win, it was a trio of transition goals that made the true difference-making effort. Tim Edwards has been on fire lately when it comes to pushing the pace, up to a career-best 12 points (4g, 8a) through just 12 games played after scoring another goal against San Diego. Yet, it was rookie defenseman Dylan Hess's pair of conversions that were the true epic takeaways in the team effort. The first involved a high-flying, horizontal effort as the back-ender went soaring across the crease to notch the first goal of his NLL career. Following it up in the fourth quarter with a late bid, he stung a far side corner (the way the forwards do) en route to causing the LOUD HOUSE to explode in an uproar for a game-sealing marker. The kid can play, and after spending some time with the community this week celebrating Read Across America Week, he's a confirmed team player, on the turf and in the community.

After witnessing 10 different contests last weekend, the Week 15 slate features just five matchups. Knowing the (6-5) Toronto Rock and (9-3) Vancouver Warriors are duking it out Friday night and each of the (2-9) Calgary Roughnecks, (5-5) Rochester Knighthawks, (2-10) Oshawa FireWolves and (3-9) Philadelphia Wings are set to give it a go Sunday afternoon, the Mammoth and Black Bears join the (4-6) Las Vegas Desert Dogs and (4-7) Halifax Thunderbirds as Saturday's four active franchises.

It's a bit too early to start counting wins, losses and calculating playoff pictures, but with the March to May officially here, we'd be wise to keep an eye on a few teams as the Mammoth look to return to the postseason for the first time in three seasons. Despite the (10-3) Saskatchewan Rush dropping a pair of contests last weekend, the Rush remain the league's top dogs as the only team with 10 wins to date. From there, the Mammoth are sitting in the No. 2 seed, albeit now tied with the Vancouver Warriors via matching 9-3 records. It will be safe to assume these three teams are basically locks to qualify for the postseason in a few weeks, assuming they rack up a couple more victories. For the time being, they are very much still in the mix knowing most teams have six to eight games remaining. And with the (8-4) Georgia Swarm putting together one of their best seasons in recent history, just one game back entering Week 15, home playoff games are far from being determined just yet.

With the Calgary Roughnecks and Oshawa FireWolves still at just two wins a piece, fans will likely begin to see teams eliminated from postseason contention in the coming weeks, as those two squads plus the (3-9) Philadelphia Wings have endured slow starts to the year as the league's three lowest-ranked squads. While both the Desert Dogs and Thunderbirds are just ahead of the basement-dwelling franchises with four wins each, this tier of teams will need to take advantage of any late-season matchups against the Wings, Roughnecks and FireWolves if they hope to make it to the Top 8. Ranked No. 9 overall at 5-5, the Rochester Knighthawks have the best chance of jumping into the playoff picture at this time, but would need to see either the Toronto Rock or Buffalo Bandits drop a few games during the March to May push.

Sitting at 7-5, this weekend's opponent, the Ottawa Black Bears, are ranked No. 5 right now thanks to a high-powered offensive grouping. Ottawa is an odd team to scout when it comes to this season's results, as the squad opened its season by losing to the San Diego Seals, the most recent team Colorado defeated, before going on to defeat the Saskatchewan Rush the next week, which continues to represent the Rush's only loss of the season. The Black Bears also suffered losses to the Halifax Thunderbirds and Las Vegas Desert Dogs and are currently coming off a very tight 14-13 victory over the Oshawa FireWolves, who only have two wins to their name.

3-2 on the road overall, the team has held its own during away contests this season, but Ottawa's win over the mid-pack Rochester Knighthawks serves as the squad's highest-quality road win so far, meaning Colorado should be able to take advantage of home turf come Saturday. Of the four squads who roster at least three players who have accumulated 50+ points so far this season, three of them are set to compete this weekend. Specifically, two of them are set to duke it out Saturday night at Ball Arena, as both the Mammoth and Black Bears have three different players with 50+ points through 12 games. The craziest part about that statistic is that zero of the three Mammoth forwards in said grouping have appeared in each of Colorado's 12 games played, with Will Malcom (22g, 38a: 60 points) drawing into 11 contests, Andrew Kew (31g, 28a: 59 points) playing in just eight games and Jack Hannah (14g, 40a: 54 points) participating in nine matchups to date.

Across the turf, Ottawa's Jeff Teat (31g, 52a: 83 points), Robb Hellyer (25, 45a: 70 points) and Reilly O'Connor (18g, 40a: 58 points) each also qualify for the 50+ point club, meaning Ottawa and Colorado join the Saskatchewan Rush and Vancouver Warriors as the four teams with top-tier trios firing on all cylinders. So, it shouldn't surprise fans that each of the four teams mentioned also double as the league's only four teams with 135+ goals for at this time. The main difference between Colorado's Top 3 and Ottawa's Top 3 is that each of the Black Bears' forwards have played in all 12 contests, whereas none of Colorado's three forwards have.

Ahead of Saturday's showcase, Colorado has recorded 143 goals for, which ranks second in the NLL, while Ottawa has managed 139 tallies, which is the third-most entering the weekend. Both of these teams understand how to put the ball in the back of the net and have the personnel to continue doing so. Knowing Ottawa's General Manager and Head Coach is former Mammoth Defensive Coordinator Dan MacRae suggests the Black Bears may have a solid understanding of how to best approach Dillon Ward and Colorado's defensive unit. That said, Ward and company have allowed just 116 goals against, thus averaging less than 10 goals against (9.67) per contest. Meanwhile, the Black Bears have relinquished 141 goals against, two more than the team's goals for count, thus giving up 11.75 tallies per 60. Two goals isn't the hugest of margins in a sport which can feature furious runs at any given moment. That said, the Mammoth have been the sounder team on average and should have an opportunity to improve to 6-1 at the LOUD HOUSE Saturday night if the team brings its A game.

Saturday's showcase also represents the first time Colorado hosts Ottawa at the LOUD HOUSE and just the second time the Mammoth and Black Bears will square off overall, with Ottawa owning a 14-9 victory last season when the teams met for the first time at Canadian Tire Centre. During the Mammoth's two previous showdowns with the New York Riptide, the franchise's identity before relocating to Ottawa, Colorado was a perfect 2-0, recording 18-10 and 10-7 wins over the Riptide.

Ottawa's Jeff Teat may be sitting atop the league's overall scoring charts with 83 points logged in 12 games. Within that total includes his 31 goals, which is the same amount of tallies Andrew Kew has logged despite playing in four less contests this season. Both sit tied with the second-most goals scored to date. Teat remains an MVP frontrunner, but Kew should surely be considered a contender in his own right given he's been essentially outproducing one of the league's biggest talents. Kew is officially averaging 7.375 points per-game, where Teat is at 6.916 points per-session, meaning the veteran scorer technically would've been on pace to lead the league in scoring had he not missed a few early-season showdowns due to injury.

Colorado Mammoth League Leaders

Goals: 31 - Andrew Kew (T2nd)

Assists: 40 - Jack Hannah (T10th)

Points: 60 - Will Malcom (T12th)

Loose Balls: 103 - Matthew Paolatto (T5th)

Blocked Shots: 20 - Robert Hope (2nd)

Penalty Minutes: 24 - Warren Jeffrey (T12th)

Faceoff Wins: 178 - Matthew Paolatto (4th)

Faceoff Win Percentage: 59 - Matthew Paolatto (5th)

Saves: 463 - Dillon Ward (5th)

Save Percentage: .815 - Dillon Ward (4th)

Goals-Against Average: 9.76 - Dillon Ward (4th)

Goaltender Wins: 8 - Dillon Ward (T3rd)

After recording a whopping four blocked shots last weekend against San Diego, Mammoth captain Robert Hope remains ranked No. 2 in the league with 20 blocked shots to date while remaining ranked No. 7 overall in loose balls, up to 102 on the year. And with rookie faceoff specialist Matthew Paolatto continuing to make some noise both at the dot and within some defensive shifts, it's the first-year who leads the team in scoops once again entering Week 15, as Paolatto brings 103 loose balls into Saturday's showdown, officially the fifth-most in the NLL.

Regardless of seeing Seals' faceoff master Trevor Baptiste having a great game last time out, Paolatto is still locked into Top 5 draw statistics across the board, now 178-for-301 (59%) on the season. Just the same for goaltending figures, netminder Dillon Ward remains ranked amongst the Top 5 of netminding chart-toppers in saves (463: 5th), goals-against average (9.76: 4th) and save percentage (.815: 4th). Fans should expect Ward to bounce back Saturday night against the Black Bears after being chased from the pipes last weekend. Whittom will be ready if needed, but No. 45 will likely be back in action, needing a hotter start from the defensive group in front of him this time around.

Get in the Game

Mammoth games can be viewed on Altitude Sports and streamed live via ESPN+ and NLL+. Saturday's March 7 showdown against the Ottawa Black Bears can be viewed locally on Altitude TV and streamed live on ESPN+ and NLL+.

Mammoth fans can keep an eye on coloradomammoth.com and Colorado Mammoth social media channels for the latest news, transactions and organizational updates throughout the 2025-26 NLL season.

Limited tickets remain for Colorado's Marvel Super Hero™ Night showdown against the Ottawa Black Bears remain, so be sure to lock yours in and get ready to TUSK UP at the LOUD HOUSE!

Check out the Colorado Mammoth Statistics

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National Lacrosse League Stories from March 4, 2026


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