Vancouver B.C. – The hometown Warriors came out of the starting gate with the pedal to the metal. Seven unanswered goals before the first commercial break chased starting Mammoth goalie Dillon Ward, but another tough second quarter brought the team back down to earth quickly.
The Mammoth showed no quit. The Warriors held two separate seven goal leads (7-0 then 9-2), but the potent Colorado offence found a way to not quit and rally back to get themselves to within two as the Warriors led 12-10 going into the break. The second quarter as a whole felt like deja vu from the home opener against Saskatchewan in that the visitors were able to rally off eight quick goals, including seven on the first eight shots of the frame. In back-to-back games Vancouver has been outscored 14-3 in the second quarter.
The second half was all Colorado too as they carried the momentum from their big second quarter through the break. Ultimately, the Warriors would only manage to muster three goals in the third and fourth quarters to the Mammoth’s eight leading to a 18-15 loss on home turf in front of an announced 4,830 fans.
While it is easy to come away from this game feeling down, there were some bright spots worth mentioning.
Mitch Jones netted two and assisted on seven to bring his season point total to 26 in four games while also taking the league lead in goal scoring with his 12th. Kyle Killen had a revenge game against his former squad scoring four and assisting on another three for a seven point effort. Tyrell Hammer-Jackson had an unbelievable night in the faceoff dot going 29/37 (78%), he also chipped in with a goal. Rookie Reid Bowering was his usual self and vacuumed up 15 looseballs to give him the league lead with 50.
Ryan Lee went off for the Mammoth in their comeback, scoring twice and assisting on 10 others for a staggering 12 point night.
Vancouver falls to 2-2 on the season and will have an extra week to prepare for their next game. The Warriors kick off a two game road trip in Calgary on January 22, followed by a return encounter with Colorado, this time in Denver on January 29th. The Warriors return home for a game against expansion Panther City on Saturday, February 5. Game time is at 7 PM at Rogers Arena.
Single game tickets, flex packs, group tickets and VIP suites for the Warriors home games are officially on sale at tickets.vancouverwarriors.com/.
