Taylor Stuart has got that winning feeling.
He hopes that will help carry his Colorado Mammoth to their first National Lacrosse League championship since 2006.
The team came close last season, Stuart’s first as a professional after he was selected by the Mammoth in the fourth round of the 2016 NLL entry draft. But they lost the division final to the Saskatchewan Rush.
“Getting so close last year makes us that much more hungry to keep pushing,” Stuart said as he prepared to travel with the Mammoth to Vancouver for their season opener against the Stealth, Friday, 7:30 p.m., at the Langley Events Centre.
Close has been kind of the watchword of Stuart’s lacrosse career since he played on five provincial championship teams as a kid growing up in Port Moody.
He went to three Minto Cups with the Coquitlam Junior Adanacs but never hoisted the trophy. At Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky, where the Heritage Woods secondary school grad played field lacrosse on a scholarship, he was twice named to the All-Southern Conference first all star team, but the Knights were never able to advance past the conference semi-final.
“Having that winning tradition isn’t something that’s new to me,” Stuart said.
But playing lacrosse as a pro in a market that might not be top-of-mind for the sport is.
Stuart said making the transition from playing junior box lacrosse and the field game in college has been, well, mammoth.
“Everyone is bigger, stonger, faster and smarter,” he said. “There are guys in the league that have so much knowledge… they will burn you with smarts. It’s a lot to take in being a young guy.”
Nobody get rich in the NLL. It’s a working class league and most of the players hold down jobs away from the floor. Stuart said he’s lucky to be able to immerse himself in the growing lacrosse culture in Denver by working for the Mammoth’s “Skills and Thrills” youth program that takes the game into schools, teaching its rules and fundamentals to students from grades one to eight.
“Their excitement to learn is contagious and reminds me why I love the sport so much,” Stuart said. “If we do our job correctly, the kids go home happy with a smile on their faces and a ticket in their hands.”
It must be working. The Mammoth is amongst the leaders in attendance in the NLL and in 2008 the team drew more fans per game to the 18,000-seat Pepsi Centre than either the Colorado Avalanche of the NHL or the NBA’s Denvery Nuggets, who also play at the facility.
The team holds an annual open house at the big arena to attract potential season ticket holders and autograph hounds young and old attend an open practice at the Foothills Fieldhouse during training camp.
“It is an awesome environment to play in,” Stuart said of the raucous atmosphere at most Mammoth home games. “We have a lot of die hard fans that show their commitment and support all year long.”
The Mammoth have reciprocated that loyalty. Some of the legends of lacrosse have run the turf on teh Pepsi Centre’s floor, including the NLL Hall of Famer Gary Gait, who was also the team’s coach for two seasons after he retired following the 2005 season, as well as John Grant Jr., a former league most valuable player whose jersey will be retired next March.
Those are big shoes to fill, Stuart said. But he’s working hard to take the team to the next level and back to the Champions Cup final.
“I’ve done my best to be a sponge and absorb as much information form the older guys on what works and what doesn’t,” he said.
