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Stealth takes it on the shins again
By Ralph A Gora Febraury 12, 2006 |
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The San Jose Stealth dropped two games below .500 in the NLL Western Division with an 8-7 loss to the second place Colorado Mammoth in NLL action, on Saturday night at the Pepsi Center in Denver. The Stealth who is now has a record of 2-4, and occupy 5th place over last place Edmonton who has a 0-6 record in the NLL Western Division. San Jose’s loss to Colorado drops their road record to 1-2, and their road exploits continue next Saturday night with a visit to Rochester, who are 5-2 and in first place in the Eastern Division, and a half game on top of second place Philadelphia Wings. It was a tight game in the first quarter the Mammoth dominated with two goals at 3:33 and 8:52. Ben Prepchuck, who was later contained by San Jose’s defense, scored both goals and Prepchuck never scored for the rest of the game. The Stealth would have like to held the Mammoth in check like they did Prepchuck for the rest of the game. The Mammoth's Nick Carlson scored an unassisted goal at 9:12 only to be answered by the Stealth's Derek Malawsky at 12:22. After the first quarter, the Mammoth were on top 3-1. The Stealth and the Mammoth defenses bulked up in the second quarter as the Stealth were the lone rangers in the scoring the department for the quarter as Jeff Zywicki scored the only goal of the quarter at 13:21 a short handed job to make it 3-2 Colorado holding the lead. Then the Mammoth and Stealth made things entertaining in the third quarter with a lot back and forth scoring which makes NLL Lacrosse interesting, Gavin Prout increased the Mammoth lead with an unassisted goal at 4:52 to make it 4-2 Mammoth. The Stealth's Cam Sedgwick came right back at 8:46 to cut the lead again to one goal at 8:46 with an unassisted netter to make it 4-3 Mammoth holding the lead. Kevin Fines finds the back of the net for San Jose at 9:23 to tie it up 4-4 and the Stealth feel the momentum. The Mammoth's Chris Gill fires in a power play goal as the Mammoth recapture the lead by one once more 5-4 at 12:47. Then the Stealth got angry and Jeff Zywicki scores his second goal of the night saying no more Mr. Nice Guy at 14:59 to make it another tie at the end of the third quarter a 5-5 tie. The Stealth and Mammoth at this point knew they we're in for an arm wrestling match at this point, as they opened the fourth quarter when Gewas Schindler broke the tie with the first of three Mammoth unanswered goals. Schindler scored the first of the three at 1:11 put the Mammoth up 6-5 and the Mammoth never looked back as Schindler's goal proved to be the gamer. Another 48 seconds later at 1:59 the Mammoth's Jay Jalbert fired in a shot that got by the loosing goal tender for the night the Stealth's Anthony Cosmo who allowed eight goals on the night facing 48 shots with 40 saves. With the score 7-5 Mammoth Carlson scored his second goal of the night at 2:06 to make it 8-5. The Stealth's Cam Woods and Kevin Fines made a valiant effort but came up short in shooting for another tie as Woods scored at 3:39 and Fines finished off the game's scoring at 6:13 as the Stealth dropped their 4th loss of the year loosing by just one goal on this road trip 8-7. Ralpharoo's Stealth footnotes: San Jose’s goalie, Anthony Cosmo had 40 saves in the game, and his record dropped to 2-3 for the season. Gee Nash, for Colorado, improved his record to 2-1 for the season, and had 33 saves. San Jose was only 1-6 in power play conversions, and Colorado was 1-8 in power play conversions. Colorado had their season high in attendance at the Pepsi Center with 18,027 in the house to watch the Mammoth and Stealth last night. The Stealth gets ready to continue this road trip for a February 18th match up against the Rochester Knighthawks at 4:35PM PST. The Knighthawks are the NLL's toughest team, with a 5-2 first place record and they host the shaky Stealth who need another road win. The Stealth only has one win on the road this season. The Stealth will have to face the Knighthawks top scorers in the NLL with offensive help like forward John Grant 27 Gs and 17 As, Shawn Williams 11 Gs 26 As, Mike Accursi 15 goals 16 assists, and Scott Evans 8 goals and 22 amazing assists. Rochester is a strong offensive team and the K-Hawks are a tough bunch to beat at home so far the Knighthawks are one of the only two teams in the NLL with a perfect record at home at 3-0 and Buffalo at 2-0. With the Stealth carrying a three game loosing streak into Rochester, it’s going to be a challenge for San Jose to win there. The top three scorers for the Stealth are Derek Malawsky 12 goals six assists, Jeff Zywicki 13 goals seven assists, and Ryan Boyle at five goals and 11 assists. Those numbers differ in comparison to the Stealth's next opponent the Rochester Knighthawks. Ralph A Gora reports on the San Jose Stealth when they are on the road and also will report on the NLL 2006 All-Star Game coverage in Toronto on Feb 25th. |
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