Photo: Jonathan Tenca/NLL
The Ottawa Black Bears will look to push a franchise-best three-game winning streak to four on Saturday night in Denver — though with their opponent being the 9-3 Colorado Mammoth, it will certainly be no easy task.
Wins over the Calgary Roughnecks, Rochester Knighthawks, and Oshawa FireWolves have pushed Ottawa’s record to 7-5 heading into the final third of the season.
“I think we’ve continued to get better each week, and I think that Rochester game was a huge confidence boost for us,” said defenceman Callum Jones earlier this week.
“It was almost like — we’ll see — but maybe the turning point of our season where we have that confidence, we have that swagger. We’re all kind of clicking and we’re all coming together as a group. It’s finally really nice to feel stepping on the floor. There’s confidence in everyone that’s playing out there on our defensive end.
“And then having Danny [MacRae] and [Brian Beisel] coaching and teaching us and making adjustments and getting us prepared, it’s just all coming together. And I think you’ve kind of seen that in the last three games, and hopefully we can keep it rolling.”
The Black Bears are cognizant that Saturday’s game will be one of — if not the — toughest games of the season. It is the first trip to Denver for the team since Feb. 23, 2024, when they were still the Riptide. They’ve never won in Denver, losing two games by a combined 11 goals.
MacRae was still playing for the Riptide during their first visit in 2022 and was also behind the bench during their second trip — behind the Mammoth’s bench, while he was their defensive coordinator.
“They’re playing great, they’re a team I know well,” MacRae told TSN 1200’s The Drive on Thursday. “They’ve proven why they are a championship and playoff caliber team, they’re one of the best in the league. We haven’t had a lot of road games this year, so that’s going to be a good test for us.
“Anytime you hear of any professional sports team having to travel to Denver, Colorado, and the Mile High City, everybody loves talking about the altitude. So, as I mentioned, we like to think of ourselves as one of the better in-shape teams in the league, so we’ll be putting that to the test. We’re going to have to be good defensively, we hopefully won’t have to rely on too much heart-attacks to come back late in the game, we’re just looking to have a good start and an honest 60-minute effort.”
Watch: You can watch every regular season NLL game on NLL+ free of charge (excluding NLL Friday Night on TSN). Tonight’s game will also be available on TSN+, and ESPN+.
The Opponent: The Mammoth, lead by Andrew Kew (31 goals, 59 points), Will Malcolm (22 goals, 60 points), and Jack Hannah (14 goals, 54 points) have one of the most potent offences in the league. They also have Dillon Ward between the pipes, who ranks fourth in the NLL in save percentage (.815) and third in goals-saved-above-average (13.57).
The Stat: Jeff Teat, the NLL’s leader in goals and points heading into Week 15, scored five goals and added four assists in last year’s 14-9 win over Colorado at home.
This year, the Black Bears will play four Friday home games and five Saturday home games from November to April.
Next up at home is a Saturday meeting with Georgia on March 28 at Canadian Tire Centre.
You can view the team’s entire schedule here, purchase Season Seats here, and Single Game tickets here.
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