Photo Credit: Vancouver Warriors Twitter
The Vancouver Warriors defeated the three-time defending NLL champion Buffalo Bandits Friday on Rock and Roll Night at Rogers Arena, 11-9. This was a rematch of last year’s semifinals, in which the Bandits swept the Warriors and clinched the series in Vancouver by a score of 11-9. So it’s safe to say the Warriors made the Bandits face the music this time around.
Keegan Bal and Curtis Dickson led the way for Vancouver offensively, as they each had six points. Dickson had four goals, while Bal had four assists. Bal said that the team still had last year’s playoff series in the back of their minds.
“I don’t think you can forget something like that. They out played us in the playoffs, but we just needed to win tonight. We have a doubleheader next weekend so it would be nice to get on a roll.”
Like Bal, head coach and general manager Curt Malawsky said that the team didn’t forget about last year’s playoff exit to Buffalo.
“It was brought up a couple times, I don’t think it was a huge talking point, but it was definitely mentioned that they knocked us out of my playoffs (but) we’re a different team (now).”
Malawsky added that last week’s overtime loss to the first-place Saskatchewan Rush wasn’t a time for moral victories, and a win in this game was the most important thing.
“We lost last week and the big message for me was because you lost to the first place team doesn’t validate you… we lost at the end of the day (and) that should really sting with you and we really wanted to make sure that we can correct what happened last weekend with a win here.”
Lacrosse is a game of runs, and that was proven to be true once again Friday. The Warriors got out to a 5-1 lead early in the second quarter, and Buffalo made it 7-5, scoring six goals in four minutes and 15 seconds to take the lead. Malawsky pulled star goaltender Christian Del Bianco to give him a quick breather after Del Bianco stood tall in the first quarter, making 12 saves on 13 shots, including a huge save on the penalty kill.
Malawsky joked postgame about how backup goaltender Connor O’Toole has a 100 percent save percentage on the season and said that taking out Del Bianco was just to give him a quick reset.
“Christian wants to win so bad that he adds a lot of pressure on himself which he really doesn’t need to do. He’s still a pretty young guy and he just wants to make a difference so bad. Sometimes less is more and… just play the games that’s in front of you and that’s what he did (and) just reset himself.”
Outside of the stretch in the second quarter, Del Bianco had a great game. He made huge saves at key times, and the Warriors shut out the Bandits in the third quarter, allowing the offense to pot four goals and take over the game. Del Bianco made a couple of other great stops with the Warriors holding on to a one-goal lead in the fourth quarter.
Del Bianco is currently second in the NLL in save percentage and goals-against average. He spoke about his performance against Buffalo.
“Good enough to win. The longer I play in the league, the less that I (am) really concerned about the numbers, the stats, that kind of stuff. We’re here to win games and that’s how we make the playoffs and that’s how you (win) championships.”
The Warriors are third in the NLL with a 7-3 record, the best they’ve had since 2018. The last two years, Vancouver has started out slow and has had to go on winning streaks at the end of the year. Not saying you don’t want to do that now, but you don’t want to force yourself to go on a run to get into the dance. The goal is obviously to get the number one seed by the end of the season.
Forward Jesse King says breaking the season up into six-game segments is super important.
“I like to look at it by breaking it up into three sections, your first six games, your second six games and then your last six games. First six games are important because you want to get a hop on things. We’re in the middle of the season which is that gritty area. We don’t have a lot of breaks for a few more weeks and we have a double header next weekend.”
The Warriors have two games next weekend, facing the Las Vegas Desert Dogs on Friday and the San Diego Seals on Sunday, an important stretch against two playoff teams. They definitely have their work cut out for them heading into the second half of the season.
