Calgary Mauls Mammoth

The Calgary Roughnecks made a huge statement on Friday night in Denver with a 21-10 win over the previously-unbeaten Colorado Mammoth.

“We had a game plan offensively, defensively and on transition and I thought we executed extremely well,” said Calgary coach Dave Pym. “We showed tonight that we have the ability to play against the top teams in the league and compete hard. It was a great night for us and an off night for them. I think we deserve a lot of credit for putting them in that situation.”

Travis Cornwall scored four times for the Roughnecks (5-2), who avenged a 13-12 overtime loss to the Mammoth (6-1) on Jan. 21 at the Scotiabank Saddledome. Cornwall now has six goals in the past two games for the Riggers.

“I never expected to score that many goals, especially this early on,” said Cornwall, who was congratulated by Mammoth veteran John Grant Jr. after his breakout performance. “I’ve watched him play a bunch when he was in Coquitlam playing for the Adanacs. He just walked up to me. I heard he was a pretty nice guy so it was cool.”

Daryl Veltman scored three times and set up six others for the ’Necks. Veltman’s nine-point performance tied his career high that he set in his very first National Lacrosse League game on Jan. 10, 2009 with the Boston Blazers when he had a goal and eight assists against the New York Titans.

“I had no idea,” Veltman said. “I was having too much fun out there. Today things were just working for us. We were running our systems properly and we were finding the open guy in the middle, which is what we’ve been practicing all season. It was good to see it working out there.”

Shawn Evans also had a hat trick to go with three assists, while Curtis Dickson scored three times to go with two helpers. Jeff Shattler had two goals and six assists, while Scott Ranger (1g, 6a), Kaleb Toth (2g, 2a), Geoff Snider (2g, 1a), Cory Conway (6a) and Dan MacRae (2a) also had multiple-point performances. Nolan Heavenor scored once for Calgary during the onslaught.

Calgary goalie Mike Poulin stopped 27 of 37 shots he faced to record his second straight win and fourth of the season.

Grant Jr. led the Mammoth with four goals and three assists, all in the second half, while Gavin Prout scored twice and set up three others. Jamie Lincoln had two goals for Colorado, while Mat MacLeod also scored.

Former Roughneck goalie Chris Levis took the loss in net for the Mammoth. Levis finished with 26 saves, while rookie Dan Lewis made a relief appearance for his first-ever NLL action and stopped five of nine shots he faced.

The Roughnecks led 5-0 after the first quarter and 11-1 heading into the halftime intermission.

“We still had a sour taste in our mouths from when they came into our arena and stole that one from us,” Veltman said. “We just made sure we wanted to come out full throttle. We got to a good lead and we were able to keep it.”

Colorado outscored Calgary 3-2 in the third quarter before the Riggers put the game away with eight goals in the final frame compared to six for the Mammoth.

The Roughnecks return to the Scotiabank Saddledome on Saturday, March 3 when they welcome the Minnesota Swarm. Game time is 7:00 p.m.