On August 1st, the Colorado Mammoth acquired a former first overall pick and dynamite scorer in Ryan Benesch from Buffalo and he’s been exactly what the Mammoth have expected him to be. Dynamite.
The 5’8″, 180 pound forward nicknamed “The Bullet,” comes into the Mammoth match up against the Saskatchewan Rush Saturday leading all Mammoth players in goals (10), points (22), and is tied for the team lead in assists with 12, right next to former DU Pioneer, Jeremy Noble.
Benesch was traded to the Colorado Mammoth, paired with a conditional third round draft pick on August 1st last year and has immediately made an impact on the team — most recently — a five goal, three assist night against the Calgary Roughnecks from Benesch on December 29th. That big night propelled the Mammoth to another 3-0 start to the season, something the team has accomplished in three out of the last four years.
Ahead of Saturday night’s match up against the Saskatchewan Rush, Mammoth head coach Pat Coyle spoke exclusively with Mile High Sports about his leading scorer Benesch and what the Mammoth expected from him, when they traded for the 10 year veteran.
“We knew what we were getting,” Coyle said, who discussed Benesch’s success in just about every stop he’s been at.
“If you look at his stats everywhere he’s played, he just scores…we really like how the balls not in his stick a long time. It doesn’t feel like it gets stuck there. That’s sort of what our offense is about, is that the ball is not going to get stuck in one guys stick.”
Benesch spoke about his fit with the Mammoth offense last week, saying Colorado is “the most unselfish offense I’ve ever been apart of.”