Crawford Making Immediate Impact With Mammoth

Since 2006, Callum Crawford has made a name for himself in the NLL. He’s worn a handful of jerseys and different numbers in that time, but what remained consistent was being a nuisance to the opposition.

The Colorado Mammoth were no exception, who for six seasons penned Crawford as a common ‘X’ factor when matched with the Swarm franchise, and where Callum would commonly find the net. 

That was before this past offseason, when the Swarm’s all-time franchise leader in goals, assists and points inked a three-year deal with the Mammoth. 

“The motivation for me was to show why I came here,” Crawford said following the team’s 16-15 win on New Year’s Day. “I came here to win a championship and that’s the first step towards it is that first win.

The 34-year-old Ottawa, Ontario native hasn’t missed a step in his transition to Denver. After posting six points (2+4) in his Colorado debut against his former team, Crawford followed up against Rochester, scoring eight points (2+4) in that contest.  He currently sits second on the team with 14 points (5+9), behind only Adam Jones.

Combined offensively, the Mammoth have netted 32 goals in their first two games this season. They also are averaging three power play goals per game thus far, but the squad’s next test will be the Buffalo Bandits, and more specifically, Anthony Cosmo, who is coming off a 41 save performance against Calgary.  Colorado has not played against Cosmo since 2014, but were kept to just nine goals in both matchups, on top of a combined 97 saves for Cosmo.

In 2015, Colorado traveled to Buffalo, but faced Davide DiRuscio between the pipes, in a 14-11 loss at First Niagara Center. Jones, John Grant Jr., Drew Westervelt and Eli McLaughlin were the only shooters to net a score in that contest.  So far this season Colorado has had nine different players register goals in both games heading into Week 3.

By Nick Salen (@MammothBeat) for NLL.com. Photo by Jack Dempsey.