Photo Credit: Vancouver Warriors twitter
While it wasn’t pretty, a win is a win. The Vancouver Warriors found themselves in another dogfight, another gritty game—which shouldn’t be a surprise at this point in the season. The resilience of this group was tested once again, and they found a way to battle and overcome a 6-4 fourth-quarter deficit over the Halifax Thunderbirds in a huge comeback win, good for a franchise-best 12th win of the season.
After last week’s loss to Buffalo in a game where the offence wasn’t able to get in any sort of rhythm, they needed a game where things went right for them. For three quarters in this game, that did not happen. Credit to Thunderbirds goaltender Warren Hill, who played exceptionally well. The Warriors were generating a ton of chances but just couldn’t find the back of the net. They peppered Hill in the first half with 22 shots, including 18 in the second quarter alone, and hit multiple posts.
Warriors forward Curtis Dickson, who had two goals on the night, said it’s not hard not to get frustrated when the ball isn’t going in the net, but they have to stick with the process.
“ As an offensive player you want to put the ball in the net and score 15 plus every night, in this league it’s tough to score, especially when you’re playing against hot goalies and good (defences). We got to stick with the process and stick with the game plan. Curt and the staff put us in the best position to win possible, and that comes down to us executing.”
Dickson’s second goal of the game was his 40th of the season; he became the second player in NLL history to have 10-plus 40-goal seasons.
Neither team was able to find the back of the net in the third quarter. A large part of that was because of the Warriors defence and Christian Del Bianco. The Warriors only allowed one goal in the second half. The Thunderbirds scored six times in the first half; they looked to be running a ton of offensive pick plays, but the Warriors adjusted. The Warriors started the second half having to kill a five-on-three, and Del Bianco made some huge stops to keep his squad in the game and set up the comeback in the fourth quarter.
Dickson spoke on Del Bianco’s performance and how much confidence he brings to the group.
“ He makes the big saves, he makes the saves that he shouldn’t make, he gives you all the confidence in the world. We’re not gripping our sticks too tight at the front end, knowing we’re going to have to score 10 plus when we have games like that. We can squeeze out an eight goal win, it’s massive for the confidence (in) our offence.”
Even though shots weren’t falling for the Warriors, they kept shooting, as they finished with 59 shots on goal. Three players had 10 or more shots (Curtis Dickson 14, Keegan Bal 16, Jesse King 10).
Keegan Bal and Jesse King led the fourth-quarter comeback, as King had the game-winner and a fourth-quarter hat trick, finishing with a team-high six points on the night. Bal had four, but he easily could have had a lot more. He broke his previous franchise record of 112 points in a season, which he set last year, and currently sits atop the NLL scoring race with 113 points with a game remaining. The Thunderbirds looked to have tied the game with 1:59 left in the fourth quarter, but the goal was disallowed due to the Halifax player having his foot in the crease.
Bal was pleased with how his team fought until the final whistle to get the win.
“ That was a grind it out type of win for us, and I think winning those types of games are super important especially as we go into the playoffs because (we) know they’re all going to be tight games and you’re going to play great goalies and great defences.”
Head coach and general manager Curt Malawsky loved the effort from Jesse King and his ability to stay patient when shots weren’t falling for him.
“ We talk about resilience, you watch that game in the first half he hit about three or four bars and he stuck with it and got rewarded when it mattered.”
Someone who was all over the floor Friday was Warriors forward Marcus Klarich. Even though he didn’t score, he added four assists and drove hard to the net all night, taking a few hard hits from the Thunderbirds and drawing a penalty. Malawsky said postgame that Klarich played through tonsillitis. Curtis Dickson said postgame that’s just who he is as a player, and that Klarich’s effort gives the group confidence.
“ He’s done that all year, he’s a grinder, he puts his head down (and) he plays fearless out there. He gets to the front of the net, he gets to those dirty areas… He’s a big part of our offense, he gets us going and when you see him making plays like that it gives everybody confidence.”
With the win, Vancouver is now tied for first in the NLL with the Colorado Mammoth. Both teams are 12-5, but Colorado has the head-to-head tiebreaker. If the Mammoth lose to the Calgary Roughnecks and the Warriors beat the Philadelphia Wings, the Warriors will finish as the NLL’s top seed.
