DIETRICH DOMINATES BUT MAMMOTH RALLIES PAST ROUGHNECKS

For the better part of three quarters on Saturday night the Colorado Mammoth could only watch in frustration as one of the great goaltenders in the game’s history turned away shot after shot. But the Mammoth found its scoring touch late in the game, reeling off six consecutive goals to rally past the Calgary Roughnecks for a 10-9 victory at Pepsi Center.
The come-from-behind win on Opening Night of the National Lacrosse League season was especially gratifying for a Mammoth team that could only muster two first-half goals. Former NLL most valuable player Steve Dietrich was stellar in his first game for the Roughnecks, even though he was knocked out cold by a shot to the head from Mammoth forward Dan Carey late in the third quarter. Ryan Avery came in and allowed one goal, but Dietrich returned, missing less than two minutes.
“Steve was fantastic for them tonight,” said Bob McMahon, who earned the victory in his debut as the Mammoth’s head coach. “We just had to stay patient and keep trying for quality shots.”
Finally, the shots began to fall. As the noise generated by the Opening Night-record crowd of 17,811 fans increased, the Mammoth erased an 8-4 deficit and eventually took the lead when Brian Langtry scored with 6:48 remaining in the game. Jason Wulder, making his Mammoth debut, scored his team-high third goal of the game less than a minute later to give the Mammoth a deciding 10-8 edge. The Roughnecks scored a power-play goal with 3:16 remaining, but Mammoth goaltender Gee Nash shut them out the rest of the way.
Nash finished with 36 saves and allowed just one goal in the fourth quarter. Dietrich allowed nine goals and made 43 saves.
Lewis Ratcliff, Scott Ranger and Curt Malawsky each scored twice for Calgary, while Langtry, Carey and Jamie Shewchuk did the same for Colorado. Mammoth transition man Josh Sims scored a shorthanded goal that tied the score at 8-8.
In addition the high amount of shots and great goaltending at either end of the floor, the game saw plenty of physical play between the West Division rivals. The teams combined for 28 penalties and Roughnecks defenseman Ryan McNish was ejected in the second quarter for using the butt-end of his stick as a weapon.
The Mammoth fell behind 4-0 in the first quarter as Dietrich turned away several shots, including two breakaways. Langtry finally scored on a low shot with 3:29 remaining. It was the only one of the Mammoth’s 16 first-quarter shots to beat Dietrich.