Much has changed for the Colorado Mammoth in the three weeks since they opened the 2010 National Lacrosse League season with a 17-8 loss to the Washington Stealth.
An 0-2 start led to a coaching change. Colorado fired Bob McMahon on Jan. 18 and named team president and general manager Steve Govett interim head coach.
Since the move, the Mammoth (2-2) have won two overtime contests, including a 12-11 victory last Saturday at Philadelphia, and its young roster is starting to show better cohesion.
“I think we broke it down to some pretty simple stuff,” Govett said of getting Colorado on track. “(We) got the players to buy into some pretty simple systemic issues.
“Any guy that’s played in this league understands what momentum is … there’s a bit of a different swagger (with the team).”
Washington (4-0) knows all about momentum.
The West Division-leading Stealth, owners of the league’s best record, have been riding a wave of momentum and are looking to add to their string of strong performances when they face Colorado at 6 p.m. today at the Pepsi Center in Denver.
Back-to-back wins last weekend — at home over Buffalo and on the road against Calgary, the reigning NLL champion — finished off a strong opening quarter of the season for the Stealth.
As a testament to the team’s roster depth, Washington has used all 23 active players on its roster — with 18 registering at least one point, But the squad faces a major obstacle tonight, with defender Eric Martin and NLL Transition Player of the Week Paul Rabil out of the lineup to focus on national team duties.
A rejuvenated Colorado team and a large Pepsi Center crowd (the Mammoth drew 15,000 fans for their home opener two weeks ago) should present even more challenges for the Stealth.
“Certainly they’re performing a little better,” Stealth head coach Chris Hall said of Colorado. “They have a lot of young kids in the lineups … It’s going to be a very different Colorado team. They’ve managed to find a comfort level with themselves.”
Colorado, on the other hand, must contend with the NLL’s top scoring offense. Washington averages 15.3 goals per game.
Forward Jeff Zywicki leads the league in scoring with 26 points (10 goals, 16 assists) and the reigning NLL Offensive Player of the Week, Lewis Ratcliff, is on Zywicki’s heels with 23 points (12 goals, 11 assists).
Ratcliff scored six goals (and added three assists) in the Stealth’s 16-15 win over Calgary and his 12 goals top the league.
Defensively, the Stealth’s penalty-killing unit ranks first in the NLL. The Stealth have allowed just three power-play goals in 19 chances and have scored a league-high six short-handed goals.
Second-year goaltender Tyler Richards and veteran Matt Roik each rank in the top five in the NLL in goals against average and save percentage (Roik is third in save percentage at .785 and Richards is tied for fourth at .784).
Colorado’s top offensive threats are forward Jamie Shewchuck, who ranks fourth in the NLL with 23 points (11 goals, 12 assists), and rookies Ilija Gajic and Cory Conway (18 points apiece).
“I expect a much different game and team than we faced earlier in the season,” Hall said.
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