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Cooley and Schmaltz, in particular, have been incredible for the Mammoth. While both of the top trios and their ability to find each other have helped the duo become anchors on their respective lines, it’s been Cooley and Schmaltz carrying the offense more than any other player. “Those guys have been unbelievable for us,” Marino said. “They’ve been the backbone as a team. They’ve stepped up when we need them the most, especially in the last couple of minutes of these last games.” Head coach André Tourigny has loved their offense as well. However, like he usually does, Tourigny sees both sides of the puck. He’s happy to see Schmaltz and Cooley continue their offense while playing a solid two-way game as well. “I think they’ve had a really good start,” Tourigny said. “Cools (Cooley) is competing on both sides of the puck. Same thing with Schmaltzy (Schmaltz). They are reloading really well. They play really well on both sides of the park, so they don’t let success change the way they play. They have success that way, and they sustain. I’m happy for them.” Something that is notable about Schmaltz and Cooley is that they are the biggest names on the Mammoth who have expiring contracts. Both as of right now are playing the best hockey out of anyone on the team. It’s pretty common to see players in contract years thrive and have big seasons. It’s no different with Schmaltz and Cooley, who are essentially saying “show me the money” with their play right now. Contract talk set aside, it seems like the Mammoth are having fun playing hockey. It’s something we haven’t seen a lot in the past couple of seasons due to some poor starts. However, that’s not the case right now with six straight wins in the books. “It’s always a lot more fun when you’re scoring,” Cooley said. “We’re on a streak right now, and we’re fortunate to be scoring right now. It’s a lot of fun. We got to keep it rolling.” With tougher opponents on the horizon, we’ll see if the top six can continue their domination. Even if not, it’s been a fantastic start for the Mammoth’s offense, and it’s turned a lot of heads around the league. Karel Vejmelka Continues Being a Wall in Net One of the most underrated parts of the Mammoth’s success so far this season has been Karel Vejmelka and his great performance in net. While his collective save percentage is currently at .905, he’s been outstanding for the Mammoth. After losing his first game of the season against the Colorado Avalanche, Vejmelka has yet to lose another game, winning six straight games in a row. Only in two of those games was his save percentage below .900. The game against the Wild on Saturday was actually the most amount of shots he’s faced in a game this season. They weren’t easy shots either. Yet, Vejmelka found way after way to rob his opponents, including a massive stretch save with his pads near the end of the second period. He nearly robbed the Wild again on a Vinnie Hinostroza pass to Marcus Johansson a couple of minutes later.
