Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Without a doubt, the big news heading into this game was John Grant Junior returning to Rochester for the first time since being traded to the Mammoth. Considering he played for the Knighthawks for ten years, it was to be expected. In interviews, even JGJ said it was strange to be back and difficult to not fall back into usual pregame routines. While a lot may have changed for him over the past year, him winning in Rochester has not. Colorado Mammoth fans will be happy to know that the win over Rochester gives the Mammoth home field during at least the first round of the playoffs.
1st Quarter
Sean Pollock scores at the crease for the Colorado Mammoth a minute and a half in as he’s pushed from behind by Kyle Laverty. Mat MacLeod quickly follows up utilizing a screen to send a wind up shot over his defenders shoulder to give the Mammoth a two goal lead. Knighthawks’ Cody Jamieson puts Rochester on the score board with a stick twisting shot over his defender. Jamieson gets a short hander quickly after spinning around his defender to get a wide open opportunity. Gavin Prout left undefended at the crease catches a pass from JGJ before shooting between defender Mike Kirk’s legs and hitting Matt Vinc five hole for the goal. Cory Vitarelli scoops up the rebound at the crease from Stephen Keogh’s blocked shot to score. Prout left undefended once again finds a shooting lane to capitalize on the power play. With just seconds remaining in the quarter, an undefended Keogh winds up a hard shot to net his own goal to end things. Although both goalies were definitely standing tall, I think the pipes blocked more shots in the first quarter than the goalies did.
Colorado Mammoth 4, Rochester Knighthawks 4
2nd Quarter
Jamie Lincoln starts off the scoring notching a power play goal for the Mammoth with a quick stick on a cross crease pass from Prout. Left undefended at the crease, Lincoln scores a second goal a few minutes later. Dan Coates scores an unassisted goal on a breakaway to give the Mammoth a three goal lead. An undefended Vitarelli at the crease goes low to close out the half. While the first quarter felt unfocused, the second was filled with solid defense from both sides that did a really good job of shutting down the opposing offense and kept them from getting very many solid shots. At least a few times, Jamieson would spin around a Mammoth defender only to run into another Mammoth defender. Shame they weren’t able to keep that up the entire game.
Colorado Mammoth 7, Rochester Knighthawks 5
3rd Quarter
Adam Jones gets his first goal of the night to kick off the third quarter, scoring on pass from Prout, he scores at the crease from the side of the net. On the next play, Kedoh Hill gets a breakaway shot after catching a long down field pass from Vinc after the Mammoth are called for a moving pick. After Joel White fumbles the loose ball twice trying to recover the Mammoth’s rebound off Vinc, Pollock scoops it up near the crease, shoots and scores. JGJ scores a left-handed shot on the power play to take the Mammoth lead to four. It’s quickly followed up by a Knighthawks power play goal from Keogh on a cross floor pass that got Levis out of position. Prout scores a diving goal at the crease for the Mammoth, but the goal is challenged. Upon review, it appears evident that Prout’s left toes dragged into the crease and the goal is called back. In a repeat of his earlier goal, Jamieson gets another twister shot from the outside on a possible screen. The next play, Jones is able to get around his defender to get another goal at the crease. Vitarelli scores while falling to cut the Mammoth lead to two. To close out the quarter, JGJ breaks away from his defender to give him a one on one with Vinc. He fakes once before shooting and scoring.
Colorado Mammoth 12, Rochester Knighthawks 9
4th Quarter
Mimicking his play in the first quarter, Cody Jamieson scores a pair of back to back goals for the Knighthawks. For the first one, Jamieson is able to break away from Scott Stewart for a clean shot on Levis. The second goal however was questionable as he scored on an uncalled moving pick. Ian Hawksbee is standing near the crease where he is plowed into and out of the way by Cory Vitarelli giving Jamieson a wide open shot on net. Johnny Powless scores on an off the glass rebound shot to tie the game at 12. After the Powless goal, Tye Belanger is briefly brought in to replace Mammoth goalie Chris Levis. Derek Hopcroft scores the winning goal with a hard bounce shot and Levis comes back into the game. JGJ gets his hat trick goal after Vinc nicks his shot on goal and it trickles in. With just under five minutes left, Jon Sullivan scores for the Mammoth on a two on one assisted by Ilija Gajic. In a beautiful play , Prout has the ball, looks to pass, changes his mind and direction, runs around the back of the net trying to get away from Pat McCready. He comes around the other side of the net where he draws a second defender. He does a no look over the shoulder drop pass to Jamie Lincoln who was left unattended by the second defender at the crease. Lincoln catches the pass, turns and scores giving the Mammoth a four goal lead with two and a half minutes remaining. The goal is challenged, but is ruled good. Lincoln scores again on a pass from Adam Jones as he snags the loose ball after Brad Self overruns the rolled pass. Since the game has less than two minutes remaining, the goal is reviewed and ruled a crease violation.
Final Score
Colorado Mammoth 16, Rochester Knighthawks 12
Attendance: 5,611
1st Star – John Grant Junior. I feel like a broken record, but he had three goals and eight assists for eleven points. Need I say more?
2nd Star – Gavin Prout. With two goals and seven assists, Prout was right on JGJ’s tail for MVP for this game.
3rd Star – Cody Jamieson. With five goals and two assists, Jamieson kept the Knighthawks in the game.
Around the League:
Friday
Calgary Roughnecks 15, Minnesota Swarm 10
Saturday
Toronto Rock 15, Buffalo Bandits 9
Minnesota Swarm 8, Edmonton Rush 9 OT
Washington Stealth 11, Calgary Roughnecks 13
Clik here to view.
