“Muffler” Mike Kostiuk – Senior Correspondent, All Lacrosse All The Time
The Halifax Thunderbirds travelled to Ball Arena in Denver to face the Colorado Mammoth Saturday night in a Week 4 matchup. Halifax was looking to get into the win column after squandering late leads to Calgary and Saskatchewan in their first two games. Colorado dropped their only regular-season meeting with San Diego the week prior for their first loss of the year. It would be yet another shootout for Halifax, but they would again come out on the wrong end, losing 19-14 to drop to 0-3 on the season. The Mammoth improve to 3-1 with the win.
Hill, Hutchison struggle in net for Halifax in first half
Will Malcom put Colorado on the board just 36 seconds into the game. Halifax responded with goals from Cole Kirst (2:26) and Dawson Theede (3:20) for a 2-1 lead. Malcom then went back-to-back (3:49; 4:52) to put the Mammoth back in front. Thunderbirds goaltender Warren Hill was pulled in favor of Drew Hutchison, who promptly gave up a goal to Connor Robinson (5:05), making it 4-2. Hill returned to the game, and Clarke Petterson (8:37 power play) pulled Halifax within one. But Malcom’s fourth goal of the game (9:24) and a transition marker form Warren Jeffrey (10:40) extended Colorado’s lead to 6-3, and Hutchison played the remainder of the game in net for Halifax.
The Thunderbirds closed the gap to 6-5 when Wake:Riat BowHunter put back a rebound past Colorado netminder Dillon Ward (0:52), and Jason Knox quick-sticked one home on a power play (2:35). The Mammoth then put together a five-goal run to take a commanding lead. Goals came from Connor Kelly (3:28), Ryan Lee (4:08), Malcom’s fifth goal (9:10), Zed Williams (9:52), and Kelly again (13:43 power play). Mike Robinson (14:23) ended the run, but Halifax trailed 11-6 going into halftime.
https://twitter.com/NLL/status/1870663959285526531
Colorado keeps Halifax winless on the season
Theede started the second half with a pair of goals (6:16; 7:09 power play) to put the Thunderbirds in striking distance, 11-8. However, Kelly (12:45 power play; 14:30 power play) and Malcom (13:30; sock trick goal) pushed the lead back to six entering the fourth quarter. Williams made it a seven goal game just 31 seconds into the final frame, and Theede didn’t help Halifax’s cause by picking up a 10-minute unsportsmanlike conduct penalty just 27 seconds later.
Thomas Hoggarth (2:14) broke the four-goal Mammoth run, but Malcom (5:25) scored his seventh goal of the night to make it 16-9 Colorado. Trevor Smyth (6:55) and Hoggarth (8:37) cut the deficit to five, but Eli McLaughlin scored back-to-back (9:24; 10:13) for an 18-11 lead. BowHunter (11:25) scored his second before McLaughlin (11:43) made it a hat trick and a 19-12 lead. Two more from Knox (12:15; 12:26) closed the scoring, with Halifax unable to make up ground.
https://twitter.com/MammothLax/status/1870701393880973392
Other Stats of Note
Halifax: Theede (3g, 4a); Knox (3g, 1a); BowHunter (2g); Hoggarth (2g); Petterson (1g, 5a); Randy Staats (9a)
Colorado: Malcom (7g, 3a); Kelly (4g, 3a); McLaughlin (3g, 2a), Williams (2g, 2a); Robinson (1g, 7a); Lee (1g, 4a)
Mammoth goaltender Dillon Ward surpassed 6,000 career saves and 9,000 career minutes played in the game; both marks place him in the top 10 all-time among NLL goaltenders.
Caused Turnovers: HFX 6; COL 12