A Washington Stealth Fan Blog
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It’s taken a while to recover from the whirlwind trip to Denver for the NLL Western Division Semi Finals match up. Flights both mornings that required getting up way way early, but the effort was rewarded by my awesome Stealth players. And there was so much to write about, it’s taken forever. Add in getting work done so I can run to Phoenix and it’s a posting nightmare.
After arriving at 2:30 my cousin picked us up and went headed in to town. First stop was the Bronco’s Team Store at Invesco Field. My wife was in Bronco heaven and picked up some great gems. Al Wilson jersey’s are already on clearance for just $20 and he was only let go last week. That was a good deal to come across.
Then we had dinner at Brooklyn’s across the street from The Can. There were Mammoth fans all over the place, tail gaiting outside the stadium, smashing a car and getting ready for the game in their own ways.
Finally it was game time. We entered the stadium and it was jam packed full of people. This was a totally different environment than being in San Jose. The corridors of the arena were packed. We were two Stealth fans in a huge sea of maroon. We got a couple of looks, but no one actually said anything. We got there just after the doors opened so we could find our seats early and watch the warm ups. The Stealth must have done their light warm up early because only the Mammoth were out there. They looked loose and relaxed, ready to play. We were in the last row of the lower level, in front of a suite and the dad in the suite noticed my jersey and asked if we had actually traveled out for the game. He was impressed and said he was looking forward to a very close game. He knew that Cosmo hadn’t played the previous game and that he was on fire the last two months of the season. He didn’t expect the Mammoth to roll over the Stealth – smart man.
After the final warm-ups the teams went to the locker rooms to get ready for introductions. The Mammoth put on the biggest show I’ve ever seen to get their players out on the floor. Special fans get to come of mid field, Choppers are cruising around to bring in the dancing girls, and huge fire blowing pillars and fireworks are necessary to get the Mammoth on the field. It was quite a spectacle. I think it took 10-15 minutes to do. Seems like a bit over the top. We dim the lights and introduce everyone, they just do it on steroids. Wow.
But something is amiss, they introduced the Mammoth players in order by number and there’s not number 10 or 55! Did I see that right? Sure enough I did. No All Star John Gallant of traded for Jim Moss. Gallant still wasn’t health with a torn muscle in his leg. Jim Moss was a healthy scratch. I guess he didn’t fit in to the game plan that Gait worked up.
Everything got cleared off the field and we were able to have the face-off and start the action. Callum Crawford was able to get the first goal of the game just 66 seconds in to the game, but that was the only time we enjoyed a lead until the 3rd quarter. So it was nice to get that first goal, but the Mammoth came out and started really fast. In both of the previous match-ups the Mammoth jumped out to an early lead so this was not surprising to me. But I was surprised at the number of goals they actually put up (7).
This lead to the rotating goalie syndrome we played in the first half. Cosmo ended up playing 14 minutes and Aaron Bold jumped in when his team needed him and played 16 minutes. It was kinda nerve racking to watch because when Cosmo came back in he still wasn’t in top form. When he was starting after the half I didn’t know which Coz we’d get, but he quickly showed that it was the league leading Coz, not the slow starting Coz. Thank goodness.
At the half the nice guy in the suite directly behind us gave us a print out of the half time stats. I think the Pepsi Center runs those around to all the suites because they didn’t have a computer in the suite but had the stats from Pointstreak. Well, he gave us his copy which was really nice.
The second half was the polar opposite of the first time in momentum and team control. Cosmo shut the door on the Mammoth and Zywicki came alive. We scored three unanswered goals in the third to tie the score 11-11. Unfortunately for the Mammoth, Gee Nash’s back tightened up and he couldn’t continue in the second half. Chris Levi’s came in, and that was good news for the Stealth since we beat him last Friday.
The opening goal of the fourth quarter could potentially be the game winner. Either re-establishing control for the Mammoth or a leading score for the Stealth. And the Stealth scored it to take their first lead since it was 1-0. Now it was a race to the finish, we’d trade goals and the lead a couple of times each. Winding our way to a 14-14 tie at the end of the regulation. Brian Langtry was the single reason the Mammoth were still in the game. He was able to score the final tying goal by going one on one and twisting and turning past Eric Martin and scoring on Cosmo. It was an entirely individual effort, but it felt like he could have done that more than a couple of times in my opinion.
The final couple minutes of the game were exasperating as each team tried to get that final score. We had to battle through a penalty with 2:30 left and stopped the Mammoth’s weak Power Play which wasn’t saying much – they only went 3-8. Then we had a couple of shots on goal as time was expiring that Levis saved while sliding across the crease and it was so tense.
So after a quick reset, the battle in OT started with a couple of possessions for each team. I thought the game would be over for sure when Shaydon Santos got a Checking from Behind penalty and the Mammoth went Man Up one more time. At that point the Mammoth were just 3 for 7 and two minutes later they were 3 for 8. Perfect.
Then it was finally Zywicki time. He got the ball on the left side and our other four runners all cleared out as much as possible. Z battle around his defender and got off a shot that didn’t really get past Levis, but started bouncing at his foot. There’s a ton on controversy from the Mammoth fans as after the shoot Zywicki went though the crease and may have been in the back of the crease by the time the ball finally was knocked back across the line. I personally don’t think by that time the ball crossed the line it was still a shot, but a loose ball knocked across the goal line. Either way, it was a tough call that went the way of the Stealth and I’ll leave it at that.
I love watching Zywicki the Hero. The Mammoth hadn’t seen him and I think they game planned for him, they just didn’t plan enough. The Mammoth defense adjusted enough to shutdown Luke Wiles this time around, but they put too much effort in to that if Zywicki nailed them for 7 goals. Good job Z.
After the game we went to the bar in the stadium and had a couple of drinks and I got to see and congratulate the team. They were obviously in high spirits and it was smiles all around. I did get stone walled by Gary Gait, he was there talking with some of his friends. I went over to shake his hand and say it was a pleasure to watch him play all those years. He acknowledged me, but didn’t say anything. Since I figured he knew better than anyone else why Gallant and Moss didn’t play I asked that as well. I asked if Gallant didn’t play because of his leg injury and I got a very slight nod affirmative but not a single word. Sure he was probably upset about losing the game, but he sure wasn’t welcoming to my brief encounter compared to his friends he was chatting it up with. So take note, if Gait lost the game and you’re wearing a jersey for the team that just beat him, go meet him at a later date. No need to capitalize on the chance encounter with the greatest lacrosse player ever, just wait until you see him again some other time.
We also found out that Arizona beat Calgary 13-9 and the next game was thankfully in Phoenix and not Calgary. Woo hoo, that trip is doable. I’ve been looking forward to it all week. Just about time to head out.