Photo Credit: Vancouver Warriors twitter
The Vancouver Warriors fell 9–8 to the Colorado Mammoth in their final preseason game. This was a preview for the Warriors’ home opener, as they will take on the Mammoth in Vancouver on Saturday night. If their preseason meeting was any indication of what’s to come when these teams face off for real, we are in store for a tightly contested contest. Christian Del Bianco looked sharp right from the start, along with the rest of the Warriors’ defense, making multiple athletic and timely saves. The Warriors’ offense got off to a bit of a slow start, but head coach and General Manager Curt Malawsky said that is to be expected with Vancouver adding a few pieces. “ It’s going to take time. I said last week that the last thing to come together is the offense, but I think we got better this week. I didn’t like our game as much last week but our offensive guys got to the net more… we just got to hit our shots a little bit better (and) we got to get the goaltenders moving.”
The Warriors trailed 9–6 in the final minutes of the game but cut the lead to within one with 6.3 seconds left but were unable to get the equalizer.
Vancouver improved their offensive firepower with signings like Jesse King and Curtis Dickson. But the Warriors’ biggest strength is their defense and goaltending, and that showed against the Mammoth. The Warriors allowed the fewest goals in the NLL last season and are looking to keep it that way. Their back end is headlined by former NLL Defensive Player of the Year Ryan Dilks, Matt Beers, captain Brett Mydske, and newly acquired free-agent signing Reece Callies. They are all big and physical defenders who aren’t afraid to engage in the rough stuff, as Matt Beers dropped the gloves with a Mammoth player in Saturday’s game. Mydske was happy with the way the defense played against Colorado. “ I thought we were big, physical, we like to channel down the lane and let ( Del Bianco) see the shot (and) I thought we did it much better this week.”
Callies is 6’7″, Mydske is 6’4″, and Beers is 6’3″. Mydske touched on the importance of having size on the defensive side. “ We play a system where you protect the middle and live and die by the outside shot with bodies in the lane, so having big bodies makes it a lot easier.”
The Warriors took massive steps as a franchise last year, making the playoffs for the second time in franchise history and winning their first-ever playoff game. They added even more talent to their roster and are looking to achieve more great things this season. That all starts Saturday, November 29th at Rogers Arena, when the Warriors face off against the Colorado Mammoth.
