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WEEKEND RECAP, NEWS & QUOTES

Bandits, Riggers keep rolling; fans pack arenas despite poor weather

03/10/2008

Mother Nature may have washed away Saturday's Toronto at Philadelphia game, but three games were played in front of near-capacity crowds on Saturday evening. Despite a blizzard, Buffalo won their fourth straight at home in front of 12,313 brave fans, topping Minnesota. The Swarm and the Mammoth continue to free fall after starting 6-0 and 5-0, respectively, while San Jose's recent surge has pulled them to a tie of first place in the West Division.

San Jose at Colorado (Saturday):

With first place on the line, the San Jose Stealth (5-3) came into a packed Pepsi Center (18,201) and shut down a struggling Colorado Mammoth (5-3) offense, 12-8, to move into a tie atop the West Division.

Stealth goalie Anthony Cosmo, who is a reserve in this weekend's All-Star game in Edmonton, was the game's MVP as he made 40 saves on 48 shots to pick up his fourth win of the season. Rookie Frank Resetarits and Luke Wiles, who each had three goals on Saturday night, backed up Cosmo's performance.

Colorado, who has averaged just 10 goals per game over their three-game losing streak, was given a less than stellar performance from Gee Nash. Nash, who will join Cosmo in Edmonton this Sunday as the West Division's starting goalie, was pulled from the game in the third quarter after giving up 10 goals on 29 shots. Jason Wulder's three-point effort (two goals, one assist) led the Mammoth's offensive attack, which scored a season-low eight goals on Saturday night.

"We were not as sharp as we needed to be tonight," Mammoth head coach Bob McMahon told coloradomammoth.com after the defeat. "They took us out of our rhythm a bit and we didn't match their run in the third quarter."


Minnesota at Buffalo (Saturday):

In a rematch with the team that ended their unbeaten season on Feb. 16, the Minnesota Swarm (6-3) weren't able to extract their revenge from the Buffalo Bandits (7-4) as they fell, 11-7, on Saturday in front of 12,313 at HSBC Arena. Buffalo was able to hold the powerful Minnesota scoring attack to only seven goals, their lowest offensive output of the season.

"This is the pinnacle this season of how well we've played team defense," said Bandits head coach Darris Kilgour to Tom Borrelli of the Buffalo News after the game. "Kenny Montour stepped up and played great but the defense has been working all year at getting better each game and it really showed."

The aforementioned Montour faced 56 shots on goal, but only allowed seven to get by him. Delby Powless picked up game MVP as he scored a hat trick to go along with three assists in the win.

Minnesota, who has now dropped three straight games after starting the season 6-0, was led in scoring by Chad Culp's thee goal, one assist effort. Goalie Nick Patterson, who is headed to the All-Star game this weekend, allowed 10 goals on 48 shots to drop his record to 6-3 on the season.


Portland at Calgary (Saturday):

Finally, in a game between two 3-6 West Division teams, the Calgary Roughnecks (4-6), who have lost four of their last five games, edged the Portland LumberJax (3-7), 15-12, to take over third place. The game was seen by 18,737 at the Pengrowth Saddledome.

Calgary's 15 goals was their biggest offensive showing since scoring 16 against San Jose on Jan. 25. Lewis Ratcliff and Kaleb Toth each had three goals to back up Pat Campbell's (36 saves on 48 shots) second win of the season. Captain Tracey Kelusky, the game's MVP, scored two goals and four assists in his return to the field since being sidelined with a concussion suffered during the first game of the season.

"It was huge having him back," said Roughnecks forward Lewis Ratcliff to the Canadian Press. "He completes the offense but it's not just on the floor, it's off the floor too - getting ready for the game, during warm-up, everything, he's definitely our leader."

Portland now sits in fourth place in the West after dropping back-to-back games to Edmonton and Calgary. All-Star forward Dan Dawson, who has been Portland's offensive stud all season, scored three goals and two assists, while Dallas Eliuk suffered the loss by giving up four goals on 16 shots in just a little over 18 minutes of work.

"This is a tough place to play," said Dawson to the Canadian Press after the loss. "We haven't had much luck here this year or in years past. We had some spurts of great lacrosse but against a team that good, if you don't put together four quarters, you're not going to win."

--Darek Truesdale/NLL.com