The Vancouver Warriors dropped their preseason opener 17–11 against the San Diego Seals on Saturday, November 15th. Although it was only a preseason game, it had the physicality of a playoff matchup, with scrums ensuing multiple times throughout the contest, including a hit on newly acquired forward Curtis Dickson that led to Warriors defenseman Jackson Suboch dropping the gloves with one of the Seals players.

Warriors forward Keegan Bal shared his thoughts on Suboch sticking up for his teammates. “I think he did the right thing, you can’t have guys taking liberty on one of our best players.”

Vancouver fell behind 8–2 midway through the second quarter, which was uncharted territory for them; they did a good job last season of not letting teams get out to big leads. Head coach and general manager Curt Malawsky said his team needs to be more level-headed moving forward. “I thought the highs were too high and the lows were too low, and I didn’t like that we didn’t have that even keel (mentality), and we didn’t play a consistent quarter. I thought they hit some shots that (Del Bianco) wanted back early, and our power play didn’t cash in when we had a chance to cash in, and they just out competed us.”

It was the Warriors debut for Vancouver’s big-name free-agent signings—defenseman Reece Callies, transition Shane Simpson, and forwards Curt Dickson and Jesse King. All four players were signed from the Calgary Roughnecks in the offseason and won a championship under Malawsky in 2019. Malawsky says that there’s still a learning process for the new players gelling into the system. “It’s not a magic potion – just because they played for me in Calgary, that all of a sudden they’re going to jump right in and (pick up) where they left off a few years ago, we have to get some chemistry… (and) I think the chemistry will come.”

Related: https://area51sportsnet.com/eyes-on-the-prize-familiar-faces-fuel-warriors-growth/

The Warriors have one more tune-up game next Saturday at the Langley Events Centre Fieldhouse at 7 p.m. against the Colorado Mammoth. Vancouver will kick off the regular season at home at Rogers Arena against Colorado on November 29th. There are still players competing for roster spots, so next preseason game will be huge. Regular-season lacrosse is right around the corner, and you can already feel the excitement across the Lower Mainland.