Brian Langtry, center, who leads the Mammoth with 28 goals this season, looks to lead the Colorado offense against the San Jose Stealth in Saturday’s NLL West Division finale. (Andy Cross, the Denver Post )
Roll dodges and cradles take center stage this weekend on all levels, from the youngsters in the LaxFest, to the collegians at the University of Denver, to the Colorado Mammoth playing Saturday for the National Lacrosse League West Division title.
Boys and girls teams, grades 2 through 8, are eschewing their usual regular-season game sites across the Denver area to play Saturday on 18 fields at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City. With 325 teams, LaxFest starts at 8 a.m. and is the largest youth lacrosse event west of the Mississippi River.
The University of Denver (9-5, 4-1 in the Great Western Lacrosse League) plays its final GWLL game Saturday at 1 p.m. at Air Force Academy (3-8, 1-3).
The 18th-ranked DU women (10-5, 4-0 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation), fresh off a 13-9 upset of No. 19 Stanford, play a key MPSF contest at California (9-6, 4-0) on Saturday and at St. Mary’s (2-13, 0-4) on Sunday.
The Mammoth (9-6) had its game at San Jose moved to Saturday because of the NHL playoffs. Colorado and the Stealth (8-7) split games this season.
Colorado is riding a two-game win streak after routing cellar-dweller Edmonton by scores of 15-4 and 13-8 last weekend.
Mammoth all-star Dan Carey, still recovering from a concussion, has not played since April 3.
“He’s feeling good, he’s working out and he hasn’t had symptoms in a while,” general manager Steve Govett said. “We’re cautiously optimistic, but we don’t want to put him in harm’s way.”
Jamie Shewchuk has filled Carey’s void with a career-best 24 goals.
Defenseman Jim Moss has recovered from a neck strain and is expected to play, along with defenseman Matt Leveque (back). But speedy transition player Josh Sims (ankle) is doubtful.
Team captain Gavin Prout leads the league with a career-best 65 assists and is ranked second in points with 90. Brian Langtry leads the Mammoth in goals with 28.
The Stealth counter with all-stars Jeff Zywicki and Colin Doyle. Zywicki, the league leader in shooting percentage at .241, ranks third with 45 goals. Doyle has 25 goals and 54 assists.