Wilde fits in after shuffling out of Buffalo
Roughnecks rugged defenceman was ‘nervous, excited’ following trade
As a 15th overall pick by the Buffalo Bandits in 2013, Mitch Wilde envisioned his National Lacrosse League career with that franchise.
So when the Calgary Roughnecks snatched him from that organization midway through the 2017 season, he was initially at sixes and sevens.
“For me, definitely, I thought I played a pretty good role in Buffalo and enjoyed the coaching staff and the players,” explained Wilde, now a mainstay on the Roughnecks defence. “I felt comfortable. To be let go, it caught me off-guard. When it happened, you have to be reactive instead of proactive and make the best of it. I looked at it as glass half-full and realized it’s a new opportunity for me.
“For me, I come from Eastern Canada, so to head out west, not knowing many guys, I was both nervous and excited. To play with new teammates in a new environment, it was a breath of fresh air.
“To come mid-season is always difficult. It speaks to the character in our locker-room. They made it an easy transition for me.”
Transition is one of the roles Wilde has taken on, along with a physical and tenacious presence on defence. He’s a guy Curt Malawsky will count on heavily Friday night as the always-dangerous Colorado Mammoth (2-0) visit the Scotiabank Saddledome (7 p.m.) for the Roughnecks’ third game of the season and first in two weeks.
“You would like to have momentum going,” said Malawsky, whose charges won a 15-12 decision over the Vancouver Stealth on Dec. 15 to even their record at 1-1. “You probably didn’t need a bye week this early in the season. You play the hand you’re dealt. I’m a real big family guy, so it was nice for the guys to go home and really focus on their families, the guys with kids, parents, wives. It was important for them to spend that time.
“Now will be the challenge. Colorado comes off a big win — they have their game legs under them. We have to manufacture something at practice to get prepared for a big divisional game. it’s important to manage the start of the game and to bump off a bit of that rust, that holiday break.”
With the realization that the team needed a better transition effort, the acquisition of the 26-yearold Wilde, originally from Brooklin, Ont., made tons of sense.
“He’s a big, strong, athletic defender that moves really well,” Malawsky said. “I kind of see the league moving that way, with the athletic transition-type defenders, and that was something that we thought we needed last year. You could put a transition system in place, but if you don’t have the players to run it, it’s really redundant. We targeted Mitch last year, and Buffalo did not want to give him up. He’s a perfect fit in Calgary. He’s all about the logo on the front. He’s exceeded our expectations.”
In the first two games of the 2018 campaign, the 6-foot-3, 210-pound Wilde has a goal and a pair of assists. He’s touted for his lacrosse I.Q., something you just can’t teach.
“We have an expectation of what kind of team we want to be this year,” Wilde said. “Coach Malawsky reiterated that. We want to be more athletic in the back-end, and that’s something I like to bring to the table. We have so many athletic guys on our team, you really want to be a transition team, and last year, it seemed something just wasn’t there. Then we pick up (rookie) Zach Currier, Tyson Bell had a breakout year ... it pushes the other teammates to improve that aspect of their game.”
With talented offensive players like Ryan Benesch and one of the best goalies in the NLL in Dillon Ward, the Mammoth offer a perennial challenge for Calgary. This year is no exception.
“Those are, in a way, must-wins,” Wilde said. “Early in the season, those wins are great for confidence.”
“It’s a four-point game for us,” Malawsky added.
“It is early in the season, but we look at it as a big matchup. When you add up the three games against them, someone’s going to have an advantage (in a tiebreaker). Is it important? No question. Is it more important than any other game in the schedule? I think divisional games are.”