The pre-season scrimmages continue this week. The Rush and Swarm played a rematch of last year’s finals, the Bandits and Black Wolves faced off, and the Stealth and Roughnecks played again after facing each other last weekend. In Oakville, the TRAC was rockin’ once again, this time featuring the Colorado Mammoth taking on the Rock. The game ended deadlocked at 15 and they decided not to play overtime, so it ended in a rare lacrosse tie.

Most of the Rock players who did not play last week were there this week: Jones, Leblanc, Brodie Merrill, Hostrawser, Chapman, Edwards, and Rose. Still no sign of Challen Rogers or Jeff Gilbert. Nick Rose played the first half in net while Brandon Miller played the second half. They gave up 15 goals so it’s hard to say either one was particularly good but neither was terrible either. Rose and the defense were very good in the first quarter, giving up very few chances. That changed in the second quarter as the Mammoth got back into the game. I didn’t think Brandon Miller was great last week but he was much better this week. The Mammoth outshot the Rock 55 to 50, and that margin got much closer near the end of the game. I think Colorado were outshooting Toronto by as many as 10 or 15 at some points.

We finally got a look at Adam Jones in a Rock uniform, and he didn’t disappoint. He did the standard Adam Jones thing, shooting through traffic at a spot he can’t possibly hit, but he hit it anyway. Tom Schreiber seemed a little more frustrated than last week, but Kieran McArdle scored a couple of nice goals. For the Mammoth, I was surprised that I only heard Ryan Benesch’s name twice – once on an assist near the end of the second, and then he scored a goal a minute later. I don’t think he played in the second half. Considering the Mammoth scored 15 goals, I’m a little surprised I didn’t hear the names Jeremy Noble or Eli McLaughlin much either.

Dillon Ward started for the Mammoth and didn’t seem to be seeing the ball very well. He was replaced partway through the second quarter but oddly, he went straight to the dressing room and we never saw him again. Steve Fryer took over in net, and the team had no goalie on the bench until well into the third quarter. Brandon Humphrey took over in net in the third.

The game started off very physical, but that mostly went away after ten minutes or so. Not entirely, of course, but it wasn’t as chippy as it looked like it was going to be. In the third or early fourth there was one… “incident” is too strong a term, maybe “occurrence”. A couple of players between the benches did the chest bumping thing and some teammates and the refs went over to pull them apart before anything could happen, and that was it. No penalties came from it. Thinking about it now, I think there was a similar “occurrence” near one of the nets later in the game. Again, no penalties.

Top players of the game for the Rock: Adam Jones, Brodie Merrill. Dan Lintner only played the first half (I think) but played hard. I’m liking his game more and more. I also noticed Drew Belgrave getting a lot of playing time, and coming up the floor a lot in transition. Brandon Slade scored a very nice transition goal in the fourth – he received an outlet pass around centre and basically ran straight in on goal on a 2-on-1. While the defender protected against the pass, Slade got to the crease, faked the shot, waited until Humphrey made his move, and then shot far top corner. He showed great patience and it paid off.

For the Mammoth, I saw Nick Ossello a lot and Jordan Gilles had a strong game in transition as well, setting up a couple of goals on really great plays. I thought Stephen Keogh had a good game as well, but I’m a big fan of his so he’d have to play pretty badly for me not to include him.

Goal scorers for the Mammoth: Wardle (3), Keogh (3), Lee (2), and one each for Benesch, Eastwood, Ruest (announced as “Roost”… sigh), Noble, McLaughlin, McKay, and Bal. For the Rock: Jones (4), Leblanc (3), Hickey (2), McArdle (2), and one each for Hellyer, Schreiber, Lintner, and Slade.

Other game notes:

• Keegan Bal was not listed on the Mammoth roster. After he scored a goal in the first quarter, the PA announcement was simply: “Colorado goal scored by number 91.”
• Both teams had their names on the jerseys except Mark Farthing for the Mammoth and Phil Caputo for the Rock. Caputo’s name wasn’t on his jersey last week either, but all of the rookies’ jerseys had names on them, so I’m not sure why Caputo got hosed.
• Play was still pretty sloppy but not as bad as last week.
• Weird play of the night: I’m not sure of the details but it looked something like this: A Rock player deflected the ball towards his own net, and Rose made a casual stick save, launching the ball into the air. When it came back down, another Rock player somehow hit it back towards the net, and again Rose made a stick save, knocking the ball behind him over the net. It hit the boards or took a weird bounce or something and ended up in front of the net again, just rolling slowly towards centre but out of Rose’s reach. No Rock player did anything but a Mammoth player grabbed it and took a quick shot. Rose stopped that one as well. Three saves but only one actual shot.
• The music was very loud. Like, very loud. In the first half, some fans tried a “Go Rock Go!” cheer but it was completely drowned out by the music and didn’t last long. The team actually had former Rock player Nick Diachenko as the DJ for the night (I believe that’s his non-lacrosse job), and sorry Nick, but I wasn’t impressed. There were a ton of remixes; it seemed that 80% of the songs were either originals or covers (of various genres) sped up with drum machines backing them up. It sounded like we were at a dance club, and I haven’t been to a dance club for 25 years. Then again, a 48-year-old man who doesn’t dance is not likely his target demographic so I imagine he couldn’t care less whether I was impressed or not. The younger woman sitting next to me and the teenage girl a couple of rows ahead of me were dancing in their seats all night.

Let’s see… entertaining game? Check. Home team played pretty well but lost? Check. In front of not very many fans? Check. Did I move to Vancouver without knowing it?

Awesome

• I liked the Rock’s green St. Paddy’s Day jerseys. Not sure about the gold helmets.
• The Mammoth offense in general was great and scored a bunch of beautiful goals. Callum Crawford in particular scored a couple of nice ones. He tried at least two “face the other way, jump, spin, and shoot while still in the air” shots, and one of them worked.
• Early in the game, Eli McLaughlin found himself with the ball right on the edge of the crease. He faked low, waited for Rose to drop, and tossed it over him. Smart play. Then late in the second quarter, Stephen Keogh did almost the same thing, but from a little further out. He faked the underhand shot (pictured below but from a different game), causing Rose to drop again, then scored over Rose’s shoulder.
• Later on, Keogh picked up the ball in the Rock zone and was immediately triple-teamed by Rock defenders. A few seconds later, a fourth Rock defender joined the fray, but Keogh kept the ball for at least ten seconds. He even managed to get a half-decent shot off but missed the net. It looked like he was killing a penalty but he wasn’t. Given the amount of work he put in, I almost wanted him to score. I heard other Rock fans applauding him too as he returned to the bench.

Not awesome

• Kieran McArdle scratched again. I thought he’s played well enough recently to stay in the lineup, so perhaps he had work commitments or something.
• Only 8597 at this game. Only ten Rock home games ever have had lower attendance, and three of those have been this season.
• The Mammoth defense did a great job containing Tom Schreiber. He had nothing to shoot at all night. I put this under “not awesome” because I’m a Rock fan, but if I were a Mammoth fan, I’d have put it under “awesome”.

Other game notes

• The Rock brought out a pipe band to help celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, a day where we celebrate Ireland. What song do they play as the enter the arena? Scotland the Brave.
• There’s a big gap between the Watson and Doyle banners at the ACC. Just enough room for a third that says Veltman.
• In the fourth quarter, I tweeted the Mammoth, asking if they wouldn’t mind not scoring because the Rock were trying to tie the game. They responded by hitting the post twice on empty nets. Thanks for trying!
• Callum Crawford is becoming one of my favourite players because he’s so dynamic. He’s a great passer but can also shoot from anywhere – inside, outside, in close, from distance, even from above the goalie when he does his signature “leap in the air and then bounce it five hole from twelve feet up” move. I’m also a big Stephen Keogh fan. And Joey Cupido. And Ilija Gajic. And Dillon Ward. And Alex Buque. And… Hold on… am I becoming a Mammoth fan?

The NLL is back! Actually, I’m a week late with that since almost every team played at least one pre-season game last weekend, but this is the first one I was able to see. Saturday night’s tilt at the TRAC involved the Mammoth taking on the Rock, and it was interesting to see a couple of different coaching decisions on who plays.

For the Rock, pretty much everyone in the lineup played the whole game. There were a couple of people who I think only played the second half, like Kyle Aquin and Brodie Tutton, and one or two who I didn’t see at all, like Reid Reinholdt and Damon Edwards (who I was looking forward to seeing again), but I think most who played at all played the whole thing. Starting goaltender Nick Rose played the first three quarters while Steve Fryer played the fourth. Brandon Miller wasn’t even listed on the roster. There were a couple of major Rock retirement announcements this summer, but I don’t think I missed any…

The Mammoth had a slightly different approach, as Zack Greer, Ilija Gajic, and Callum Crawford didn’t play at all (though I saw Crawford at the rink), and John Grant only played the first half. Starting goaltender Dillon Ward was also in the building but didn’t play at all; Zak Boychuk and Alexis Buque split the goaltending duties.

It was an entertaining game – back and forth in the first half and then the Rock pulled away and the Mammoth never really got back into it. But as we all know, it’s the preseason so coaches care less about whether they win or lose the game and more about what they see from their players. The game was intense enough to look like a regular season game. There were no fights and few penalties, but the players were playing hard.

Sorry Mammoth fans, but I did pay a little more attention to the Rock, as I tend to do. Toronto’s offense looked good, even without Josh, Colin, and Rob Hellyer. It was great to Brett Hickey back in form, and Kasey Beirnes continues to be one of the hardest-working forwards in the game. Stephen Leblanc played, but I didn’t really notice him all that much. That may be unfair though, since I was mainly concentrating on the new guys, Mikey MacDonald, Tom Schreiber and Kieran McArdle. MacDonald had a cup of coffee with the Black Wolves last year, only picking up one assist in two games, but has had a great preseason with the Rock. Not sure he’ll be another Brett Hickey, scoring 50 goals out of nowhere, but should be a welcome addition to the front end.

Schreiber looked good, a big bull-in-a-china-shop kind of guy. He wasn’t worried about going around defenders or finding an open lane, he’d just push through and make an open lane for himself. He was working hard but that said, he couldn’t hit the net. He must have had 10-12 shots but most missed the net entirely and I don’t think he scored any.

I was really impressed with McArdle. He scored a couple, at least two on passes from Schreiber, but had a mittful of assists as well. He really looked comfortable in the offensive end and made some really dynamic plays, impressive for someone so new to the box game. (Not that field lacrosse players don’t make dynamic plays, but they’re different.) At one point in the second, he took a shot which missed the net, grabbed the rebound and shot again, and then grabbed that rebound and shot again. Three shots in about five seconds.

Another new face I was watching was draft pick Challen Rogers. Rogers is a big, solid defender but also has some speed up the floor on transition. I liked what I saw from Rogers, which was a lot since he was everywhere and seemed to get a lot of floor time. With Rogers, Gamble, Edwards, and Brodie Merrill (who, at 35, still has some serious speed), Toronto’s transition could match up against anybody’s.

For the Mammoth, I did notice Greg Downing a lot, and Jeremy Noble played a lot as well. Noble made an outstanding interception of a Nick Rose outlet pass, jumping and stretching his 5’9″ frame as far as it would go. Don’t remember if it led to a goal, but was a great play nonetheless. John Grant only played the first half, but scored three including a patented over-the shoulder shot. There are times every now and again when Grant seems to be able to simply score at will, or almost force plays to happen the way he wants them to. There was a 3-4 minute span in the second quarter where he seemed in total control. He’s the oldest player in the league, three years older than the next oldest and ten years older than his next oldest teammate, but after all this time, he’s still John Grant.

Other notes:

• At one point Challen Rogers was defending John Grant, and Grant spun away from him and scored. Rogers looked frustrated for losing him but as I tweeted to him at the time, don’t worry about it. He beats everybody.
• Jordan Magnusson seemed to get a lot of floor time, and I thought he played hard and looked pretty good. Latrell Harris made some good plays but at other times looked lost, as if he wasn’t sure who to defend or what to do.
• Dan Lintner’s second goal was a beautiful reverse backhand sort of thing. Lintner also looked good though now that I think about it, I don’t remember seeing him in the second half.
• Nick Rose must have been working on outlet passes in the offseason. He’s really becoming a master. He’s no Bob Watson yet, but was pretty accurate on passes to teammates up near centre.
• You know how you see players chewing on their mouth guards while on the bench or between plays? Rogers was chewing on his during play. Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of the thing in the first place?
• Alexis Buque played really well in the second half, making a few outstanding saves. He didn’t look like someone trying to make the team as a backup goalie, he looked like he wanted that starter’s job.