NLL Colorado Mammoth

Mammoth win NLL championship

Published on May 13, 2006 under National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Colorado Mammoth News Release


BUFFALO, N.Y. - After talking about facing "the best goaltender in the league" all week, the Colorado Mammoth made mincemeat of the man who was supposed to frustrate and deny its many gifted shooters.

Brian Langtry and Gavin Prout each scored four goals and a host of other players joined in the offensive fun as the Mammoth twice chased Buffalo Bandits goaltender Steve Dietrich from the net while capturing the Champion's Cup with a 16-9 victory on Saturday.

It was the first National Lacrosse League championship for the 4-year-old Mammoth, which began play in Denver in 2003.

"This was a true team victory," Mammoth general manager Steve Govett said. "Every player, coach and staff member committed themselves to this team and worked so hard all season long. I can think of no better reward."

Dietrich, winner of the 2005 and 2006 NLL goaltender of the year awards and named the league's most valuable player for this season on Thursday, was pulled from the game with 12 minutes, 55 seconds left in the third quarter. The Mammoth got to Dietrich often and prompted his removal after scoring two goals early in the second half to take a 9-2 lead.

The switch to backup Ken Montour helped to swing momentum in Buffalo's favor, as the Bandits scored five of the next six goals to cut the Mammoth's advantage to 10-7. But Langtry, the feisty Mammoth forward, stretched his team's lead to 11-7 with a hard-working goal late in the third quarter that came after he ducked under two Bandits defenders and leaped across the goal mouth before shooting. Dietrich was reinserted to begin the fourth quarter, but Langtry scored again to make it 12-7.

Mark Steenhuis scored for Buffalo to make it 12-8 and the Bandits killed a 5-on-3 Mammoth power play, but could not build more momentum. Instead, the Mammoth reeled off four straight goals to salt away the victory and prompt another removal of Dietrich from the Buffalo goal.

"I'm so proud of how hard these guys worked," said Mammoth coach Gary Gait, who served as the team's captain for three years before retiring as a player and taking over the coaching duties. "We stressed to the players that this was just another game and they went out there and executed. It was fun to watch."

Prout, the player who succeeded Gait as the Mammoth captain, earned the championship game's most valuable player award. Both he and Langtry added three assists to their four goals to tally a game-high seven points.

The Mammoth dominated the first half, sucking the life out of what had been a raucous crowd of 16,104 at the HSBC Arena. Adding to the fans' frustration was the strong goaltending at the other end of the floor.

The Mammoth's Gee Nash, the last person other than Dietrich to win the league's goaltender of the year award, made several big saves and allowed his team to build its convincing first-half lead. Nash finished with 41 saves and backstopped his team's playoff record-setting defensive performance of just eight goals allowed.

Dietrich allowed 12 goals and made 32 saves while Montour made 12 saves on 14 shots in his two relief efforts. Troy Bonterre led the Bandits with two goals.

Jay Jalbert, Josh Sims and Dan Stroup each scored twice for the Mammoth while rookie Dan Carey and defenseman Tom Ethington added one goal apiece.

The Mammoth took advantage of an extended power play after Buffalo's Billy Dee Smith was sent to the penalty box with a 5-minute major for cross checking in the second quarter. First, Carey rifled a long shot past Dietrich to make it 3-1 then Prout added a goal on another outside shot. Sims scored his second goal of the game soon after the penalty expired to push the Mammoth's lead to 5-1.

After more than 9 scoreless minutes to start the game, Sims finally broke through, scoring on a breakaway after a Buffalo turnover to give the Mammoth a 1-0 lead. Jalbert made it 2-0 with less than a minute remaining in the first quarter.

Mammoth fans pack Brooklyn's Back in Denver, hundreds of Mammoth fans packed both levels of Brooklyn's, which hosted a viewing party for the championship game. Across the street, the Mammoth flag was raised outside of Pepsi Center's main entrance.

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National Lacrosse League Stories from May 13, 2006


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