Their boss quit, the new guy traded away their leading scorer, and injuries stripped two of their key defensemen from the lineup. And yet, the Colorado Mammoth are 3-0 in the new season.
Impressive.
Asked what he likes most about what he has seen on the floor so far, Dan Carey, who took over as general manager in July after Steve Govett left to run the new San Diego franchise, replied, “Balance and consistency.”
Colorado opened with a 15-8 win at Vancouver on Dec. 8 and a 14-11 home win over reigning champion Georgia on Dec. 23, and remained undefeated with the 11-7 win in Calgary last Friday. It has a bye this weekend.
“It’s an 18-game season, so we’re not getting too excited,” Carey said. “We have a few rookies and some guys who haven’t played together a ton, so there is work to do. The coaches and the players are putting the work in.
“There was a lot of talk about the two guys (captain Dan Coates and Cam Holding) who got injured before the season started but other guys have stepped up. We know we have to earn everything we get. Every time we get together, we know we have to be better.”
Last season, the Mammoth went 9-9, won the West semifinal 13-12 at Vancouver and lost the two-game division finals to Saskatchewan 18-9 at home and 11-10 in Saskatoon. Not bad, not bad at all, but Carey wasn’t about to stand pat. Just four days after becoming GM, he pulled off one of the most significant NLL trades of 2017, shipping top scorer Callum Crawford and backup goalie Alex Buque to Buffalo for Ryan Benesch and a third-round draft pick.
“I wanted to be better,” Carey said. “We made it to the division finals last season, but Saskatchewan is a tough hurdle to get over. Changes were needed to make our team better.”
It took a lot of nerve. Crawford, 33, was coming off a 98-point season that included a career-best 36 goals. His 62 assists ranked fifth among all NLL players. But Benesch, 32, is among the league’s elite goal scorers. He has scored at least 30 goals in seven of his seven of his 12 seasons in the league.
The trade is paying off. Benesch scored five goals and assisted on three in the 11-7 win in Calgary. In the three Mammoth wins, Benesch has 10 goals and 12 assists for a league-best 22 points.
“He’s all we expected him to be,” Carey said. “He’s a really good team guy. Guys really enjoy playing with him. He’s a smart veteran. Look at the goals he’s scored and the loose balls he’s pulled in. He has helped us succeed by doing what he’s expected to do, but also by doing a lot of little things I don’t think a lot of people know he’s capable of doing.”
Jeremy Noble got a larger role with the departure of Crawford and he has excelled.
“Jeremy is a winner,” Carey said. “He was captain of a Minto Cup championship [Junior A] team in Orangeville and was on Team Canada in 2014 [when it won the world field lacrosse championship in Denver]. His floor presence and his IQ on the floor is coming out. There’s still a lot he has to give that people haven’t seen yet.”
Colorado is No. 1 defensively despite the absence of Coates and Holding. Some critics predicted the back end would be suspect.
“I kind of liked the fact a lot of people were saying that,” Carey said. “It gives us motivation. There wasn’t any doubt in my mind that with what we have in our locker room, we would be OK. We’re confident in our group. Would we love to have those guys? Absolutely. We’ve got guys who don’t receive a lot of attention, and we’re OK with that. It’s just a matter of time before they start getting the recognition they deserve.”
Robert Hope is wearing the C until Coates returns. Hope was captain of his home city’s Peterborough Lakers when they won the Canadian amateur championship for the Mann Cup last summer.
“He’s a natural leader, which he showed last summer with the Lakers,” Carey said. “In my opinion, he’s got to be considered as one of the best defensemen in the league. He’s one of the smartest guys on the floor.”
Most importantly, the Mammoth have goaltender Dillon Ward, who held Calgary scoreless for more than 34 minutes Friday. The Roughnecks were unable to put a ball behind Ward from the 8:52 mark of the second quarter to the 4:47 mark of the fourth, while the Mammoth poured in six goals.
“He’s continued to get better every year,” Carey said of Ward, the 2017 NLL Goalie of the Year. “Dillon is a good team guy, and we have a really good defense in front of him. The confidence the defense has knowing Dillon is back there really helps us.”
Colorado plays its next three games at home — Jan. 13 against Saskatchewan, Jan. 26 against Vancouver and Feb. 2 against Saskatchewan. It does not play its next road game until Feb. 10, when it returns to Calgary.
“I like the fact it’s a very unselfish group,” Benesch said. “We’re moving the ball well, moving our feet well. Everyone has bought into the game plan the coaching staff has put forward. Everybody is contributing.
“On any given night, somebody is going to go off, or we’ll all contribute in our own ways. It might not be with goals and assists, but by setting picks for other guys. Having everybody buy in helps. It’s fun.”
Coaches Pat Coyle, Dan Stroup and Chris Gill have every player’s respect.
“They’re a great bunch of guys,” Benesch said. “They don’t need to yell at you, but they will hold you accountable if you do something wrong.”
The odd thing about watching the Mammoth play is seeing 7 on Benesch’s back. He wore 17 in the past, but Chris Wardle already had it when Benesch arrived in Denver.
“I just figured 7 was the closest thing to 17,” Benesch said. “Plus, one of my best friends, John Mitchell, wore 7 when he played for the [NHL’s] Avalanche.”
Carey was a rookie when Colorado won its lone NLL title in 2006. Now with the passion to win he emits as a GM, the smooth flow of the Benesch-led offense, the commitment of the defense to offset the lineup holes and Ward in the nets, a second championship 2018 seems entirely possible.
“Having all those things really makes you want to do well,” Benesch said.