NLL: WEST DIVISION FINAL
The Saskatchewan Rush and Colorado Mammoth are ready to do battle in the National Lacrosse League’s West Division final. The best-of-three series begins Saturday at the Pepsi Centre in Denver. The game will be shown on NLL TV and also SaskTel Max TV. Here
A LITTLE PLAYOFF HISTORY
The Rush (12-6 this season) are two-time defending NLL Champion’s Cup winners, while the Mammoth (9-9) won its one and only league title in 2006.
Colorado returns to the West Division final for the first time in 11 years after losing the West semifinal six straight years and nine of the past 10 years. (In 2010, the Mammoth failed to make the playoffs).
A year ago, the Mammoth lost 11-10 to the Calgary Roughnecks in the single-game elimination West semifinal in overtime but advanced this year with a 13-12 win over the Vancouver Stealth.
Last year, the Rush swept the Calgary Roughnecks 2-0 (16-10 and 12-9 wins) in the West final before knocking off the Buffalo Bandits in two straight, 11-9 and 11-10, in the Champion’s Cup final.
SEASON SERIES WAS PRETTY EVEN
The Mammoth and Rush played each other four times this season with each team scoring a total of 41 goals.
Colorado won 14-11 on Lacrosse-Out-Cancer Night in Denver, while Saskatchewan’s three wins came each by a single goal, including one in overtime.
The combined 15 goals scored by the teams in their first meeting of the year back on Feb. 18 was the lowest in any game in the NLL this season.
Mammoth goaltender Dillon Ward made 190 saves in four games (47.5/game), including a career-high 56 on Feb. 18. Rush counterpart Aaron Bold made 138 saves (34.5/game) during the season series. Ward finished second in the NLL with a 10.89 goals-against-average. Bold was third at 11.22.
LEAGUE’S TOP DEFENCE VERSUS NO. 2 OFFENCE
Colorado boasts the league’s best team defence, allowing 199 goals this season. Saskatchewan was fourth overall, giving up 212.
The Mammoth was the only NLL team to hold its opponents to less than 200 goals this season. The Rush was the only team to do so in 2016.
Saskatchewan ranked No. 2 offensively behind only the highflying Georgia Storm with 231 goals. The Mammoth ranked seventh out of eight NLL teams with 202 goals, but Colorado’s defence led the league in scoring in 2017. Saskatchewan boasted the top scoring defence a year ago.
BREAKING DOWN THE SPECIAL TEAMS
Saskatchewan’s power play unit ranked No. 4 overall in the NLL, operating at a 53.8 per cent proficiency and even better at home at 65.1 per cent.
However, the Rush gave up a league-high 12 short-handed goals against.
Colorado’s power play ranks No. 3 at 55.4 per cent overall, not any better or worse at home at 55.3 per cent.
Penalty-killing wise, neither team shone. Saskatchewan is sixth overall with a 46.3 per cent kill efficiency and Colorado is eighth at 44.4 per cent.
Head-to-head this season, the Rush scored on just six of 17 power-play opportunities (35.3 per cent) against the Mammoth. Against the rest of the league, Saskatchewan converted at 58.1 per cent.
STAR-POWER SWAP A SUB-PLOT
The teams swapped star forward Zack Greer and Adam Jones last fall in a blockbuster trade that proved to be the NLL’s biggest deal during the off-season.
The Rush sent Greer to the Mammoth for Jones, who finished the season with 26 goals and 31 assists for 57 points in 16 games. Jones placed third overall in points and fourth in goals for Saskatchewan.
Greer, who had 22 goals and 27 assists for 49 points in 13 games, finished third on the Mammoth in goals and points, despite missing nearly one-third of the season due to injuries.