Awesome, incredible, exceptional — the adjectives keep coming when Dillon Ward’s Colorado coaches and teammates are asked to describe his goaltending exploits.

“Awesome, awesome,” Mammoth head coach Pat Coyle said. “We always have a chance to win with him in the net. He’s super solid. He doesn’t seem to get too high or too low. It really changes things to have a guy like that back there.”

The Mammoth, in second place in the NLL West, went into Toronto to play the East’s second-place team last Friday. Ward made 44 saves, Nick Rose made 31 for the Rock, and the Mammoth won 14-11 as Ward raised his league-best save percentage to 80.4.

“It was a great lacrosse game for the fans, up and down the whole time, and it was great for us to be able to come out on top,” Ward said, crediting his teammates. “Our defense is playing fantastic, which makes my job a lot easier. I feel comfortable behind them. So a lot of credit has to go to the defense.”

Ward turns 26 on March 28, and yet he already has accomplished so much.

He starred in Ontario with the Orangeville Northmen, earning MVP honors when they won the Canadian junior indoor title in 2012. In the 2013 NLL entry draft, Minnesota had the first two picks and selected Logan Schuss and Jason Noble. The Mammoth were next and took Ward, who was so good in NCAA field play at Bellarmine that he was the first All-American in school history.

He was named to the NLL all-rookie team in 2014. On Sept. 19, 2014, shortly after his goaltending helped Canada win the world field championship in Denver and earned Ward the tournament MVP award, Mammoth GM Steve Govett signed him to a five-year contract extension. Govett knew what he had and, as far as Govett is concerned, Ward will play his entire career with the Mammoth.

“He’ll never go away,” Govett said.

Ward starred for the Six Nations Chiefs when they won the Canadian senior indoor championship last September. The 6-foot-5 Canadian seems to get better each year.

“Dillon is incredible,” Mammoth forward Callum Crawford said. “He prepares all week long. He pays a lot of attention to film. I’ve played with a lot of goalies who beat themselves. He doesn’t do that. I can’t score on him when I shoot on him [in practice]. He’s so young and he keeps getting better. There are a lot of goalies in the league who peak when they are older. It’s going to be scary when he peaks when he’s older because he’s so young and he’s already so great.”

“We’ve got, I think, the best goalie in the league,” rookie forward Jacob Ruest said. “Wardo has been playing exceptional and it’s giving us so much confidence having him behind us.”

“Every time we make a mistake, he bails us out,” transition player Ilija Gajic said. “That’s a huge thing, to have a goaltender like that. The saves you’re not supposed to make? He makes them.”

“He’s got a good head on his shoulders,” forward Stephen Keogh said. “He doesn’t get rattled.”

“Wardo has been an absolute wall, which makes everybody else look better,” defenseman Creighton Reid said.

“He’s big every single night we play,” defenseman Cam Holding said. “He’s a brick wall. He’s playing out of his mind this year.”

Ward isn’t doing it alone, of course. Colorado (7-6) is led up front by Crawford, who is first in the league in assists (47) and second in points (72). He is MVP material.

“He’s a big, strong, athletic guy,” Coyle said of the 6-foot-2 right-handed attacker. “He’s a tough matchup for guys. If you double him, he’s going to pass the ball. If you don’t double him, he’s going to the net. He’s a good player.”

When Colorado loses possession, Crawford often is the first man off the floor to allow a defender to jump into the play. There is a good reason for that.

“I’m old and have played so many years and have had so many coaches yelling at me that it’s finally sunk in,” said Coyle, 32.

The Mammoth rarely play in Toronto. The visit last Friday was their first in four years and their win was their first in Air Canada Centre since 2007. Many in the crowd of 8,596 cheered on the 13 players from Ontario in Colorado’s lineup, hoping the team could atone for two losses the previous weekend.

“This was a character win, a team win,” Crawford said. “We needed to come back and make a statement. We did that. Any chance to play in Toronto in front of family and friends is a plus. It’s a bit of a home game. But it didn’t matter who we were playing. We had to win. We couldn’t go three losses in a row.”

Crawford and Keogh each scored three goals and Ruest two in Toronto. That added up to eight goals from right-handed shooters. Crawford is the QB over there and makes the attack sing. Keogh has been an important addition. He was acquired from Rochester on Feb. 16 for a 2018 first-rounder and a 2019 second-rounder.

“I just wanted to come in and help the team win whether it be by scoring or setting picks,” Keogh said. “We’ve got some great scorers on our offense and I just want to contribute. Hopefully, we can keep the chemistry going.”

“It’s been fun,” Ruest said. “And it’s going to continue to be fun.”   

“We’ve had some injuries so we’re still trying to build chemistry,” lefty Zack Greer said. “We’ve got a pretty solid lineup now and our goalie and defense are doing a great job. We have a lot of guys getting points and that’s when you’re dangerous.”

Govett is pleased, and he’s eager to see how his team fares against first-place Saskatchewan at home Saturday night. The Mammoth lost their two games in Saskatoon this season by just one goal each time.

“I like where we’re at,” Govett said. “We’ve got a good group. We feel we match up pretty well with Saskatchewan. We haven’t got the breaks playing in their barn a couple of times, but now we get to play them in our barn twice down the stretch.”

“I think we have a great team,” Gajic said. “We’re still working out the bugs. There’s a couple of new guys and we switched up our defense a little bit. We had a couple of rough games (the previous weekend) so this was a good rebound game. We needed that. We’ve still got lots of work to do. We just want to make sure we’re ready come playoff time, that we’re firing on all cylinders come playoff time. We’re here to win the championship not to come first in the regular season.”