Pollock Anxious for Return to 'The Hive'
by Marisa Pooley
This Saturday, the Mammoth visits the Minnesota Swarm at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn. in the last regular-season game of 2012. The game has extra meaning for Colorado forward Sean Pollock, who called ‘The Hive’ home for seven years before being traded to the Mammoth this past off-season.
Minnesota’s all-time leader in goals, assists and points, the 29-year-old will take on his former team this weekend for the third time this season.
“It’s a little nerve-racking because you want to do well and show them that they made a mistake,” said Pollock. “It is kind of a surreal thing because I played in Minnesota for a long time.”
The Ontario native’s offensive talents are being utilized differently in Colorado than they were in Minnesota a year ago, when Pollock was relied on to free his teammates for scoring opportunities.
“In Colorado I am able to be a part of the offense more, whereas in Minnesota, they wanted me to run into people and create space for a couple of the guys,” Pollock said.
The Ontario native’s 58 points this year more than double his total from 2011 (27), and he’s just two goals shy of setting a new single-season career-high (26 goals scored in both 2007 and 2009).
Pollock still lives in Minnesota. When he’s not playing lacrosse, he keeps himself busy as a salesman at Thomson Reuters, a husband and a father.
“I’m in the office from seven to three-thirty every day,” said Pollock. “Then I go to the gym from four-thirty until six-o’clock, and then I go home and spend a few hours with my boy and my wife before bedtime. That’s what I do five days a week when I am not in Denver.”
His secret to balancing a busy schedule?
“I have a good wife,” Pollock put simply.
Even though his lacrosse commute is a bit longer than it used to be, and he admittedly does not get to see his family as much as he would like, Pollock loves playing for the Mammoth.
“It’s a nice change and things are going well. It’s been a good fit.”
Pollock recorded a season-high eight points against the Swarm on Opening Night.
Following this weekend’s regular-season finale, Colorado will host Minnesota on HealthONE Field at Pepsi Center in the West Division Semifinal the first weekend in May. The date and time of the game will be announced later this week. Tickets are on sale now at the Pepsi Center box office, all Colorado Dick’s Sporting Goods retail kiosks, online at TicketHorse.com, or by phone at 303.53.HORSE.
