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NLL Colorado Mammoth

Mammoth-Rock Showdown Draws National Television Audience

April 13, 2012 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Colorado Mammoth News Release


DENVER - Some say that to be the best, you have to beat the best. That's the challenge that lies ahead of the Colorado Mammoth (10-3) on Saturday night at 7pm on HealthONE Field at Pepsi Center as the defending NLL champion Toronto Rock (7-6) pays a rare visit to the Mile High City. The game will be broadcast live nationally on CBS Sports Network. Despite the Mammoth having a superior record to the Rock this season, the visitors still have the hardware from 2011.

"They're the champs and we're really looking forward to playing the Rock on Saturday," said Mammoth head coach Bob Hamley.

Both teams have already clinched postseason berths for this year's Champion's Cup playoffs. Now, it's all about lobbying for playoff positioning. Colorado, which trails the Calgary Roughnecks (11-3) by a half-game in the West Division, has secured a home playoff game and no worse than the division's number two seed. Toronto, meanwhile, punched its ticket to the postseason this past weekend and can clinch a home playoff game with a win and a Buffalo Bandits (5-8) loss.

Colorado and Toronto are hot at the right time of the year. The Mammoth has won two straight, the Rock three.

"Defensively, we have been playing better," said Rock general manager & assistant coach Terry Sanderson. "Most of the credit's got to go to our offense with what they've been doing as well the last couple games. They seem to be finding that chemistry that we've been searching for."

But statistically it's been Toronto's defense, and goaltender Nick Rose, that have stepped up as of late. During the team's three-game winning streak, opponents have failed to reach double-digits and have averaged just eight goals per game.

Rose was a March acquisition from the Roughnecks, and has won all three of his starts. Since he's taken over between the pipes, the once 4-6 Rock now finds itself atop the East Division standings.

"It wasn't very long ago [that] everybody was writing Toronto off, but a lot of us knew that when it came to April and May they would be around," explained Hamley.

On Saturday night, Rose and his defense face the National Lacrosse League's second-best offense (13.38 goals per game). They also have the tough task of trying to slow Mammoth forward John Grant Jr., who leads the NLL in goals (43) and points (98), and is on pace to shatter the league's single-season points record.

"With the way [Colorado's] been putting the ball in the net, I think it's going to be a real challenge for us on the defensive side of things," said Sanderson.

The game is littered with some of the league's all-time offensive greats. Five of the top-ten scorers in the 26-year history of the NLL will take the turf on Saturday night: (3) Colin Doyle, TOR - 1161; (4) Grant, COL - 1075; (5) Josh Sanderson, TOR - 1068; (7) Gavin Prout, COL - 873; and (10) Blaine Manning, TOR - 800.

As the Mammoth winds down its tenth-anniversary season in Colorado, history comes full circle. On Jan. 3, 2003, the Rock was the Mammoth's first-ever regular-season opponent. Toronto hasn't been back at Pepsi Center for a regular-season game since. Tomorrow night, with the national spotlight on two of the league's elite, the teams will battle for supremacy.

Saturday's contest is Colorado's annual "˜Lacrosse Out Cancer' Night game presented by HealthONE, as the Mammoth raises funds and awareness for local, non-profit cancer-related organizations. Mammoth players will unveil "˜I'm Playing For' helmets that bear the names of fans' loved ones who have defeated cancer, are currently battling the disease, or succumbed to it.

Tickets are on sale now at the Pepsi Center box office, all Colorado Dick's Sporting Goods retail kiosks, online at TicketHorse.com, or by calling 303.53.HORSE.

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