The Vancouver Warriors play their first game at home Friday at Rogers Arena with a win already to their new nickname.
The National Lacrosse League franchise formerly known as the Stealth when it was based in Langley defeated the Calgary Roughnecks 14-13 in overtime at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary last Saturday.
After the team’s dismal two wins all of last season, the victory couldn’t have been a better way to start its new era under the ownership of Canucks Sports and Entertainment and helmed by Port Coquitlam’s Dan Richardson.
Given Richardson’s summer gig as the general manager of the Western Lacrosse Association’s New Westminster Salmonbellies, it stands to reason much of the preparatory work that went into the Warriors’ relaunch involved mining his own league and backyard for talent.
The roster includes former Coquitlam Jr. Adanac Matt Beers, who’s the Warriors’ captain and scored the winning goal against the Roughnecks, as well as Port Coquitlam’s Tyler Codron. The team is coached by Chris Gill, who grew up in Coquitlam and is a member of the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame.
Along with established WLA standouts like Logan Schuss, of the Salmonbellies, and Mitch Jones, along with netminder Aaron Bold, who backstopped the Saskatchewan Rush to a pair of NLL championships.
“These guys are real, solid lacrosse players,” Richardson said. “We’ve built around the model of hard work, respect and quickness.”
The Warriors showed those qualities in spades in Calgary. They were dow 9-6 at halftime, then behind by five goals early in the fourth quarter, but still managed to rally despite riding out eight straight minor penalties that generated four goals for the Roughnecks.
“We weathered a storm and after all the [penalties subsided] we knew what we had to do,” Richardson said. “This group believes in itself, and most importantly they believe in what [coach Gill] has laid out, the whole process.”
The Roughnecks opened their season without their biggest star, Port Coquitlam’s Curtis Dickson, who’s holding out for a new contract, even after the league’s schedule was delayed by a labour dispute. It’s uncertain whether he’ll be in the lineup for Friday’s game.
But what the Roughnecks lack offensively because of Dickson’s absence is countered by the stellar goaltending of ex-Junior Adanac Christian Del Bianco.
“We don’t expect it to be easy,” Richardson said of the challenges ahead for the Warriors. “We won’t win every game, but we’re going to make it entertaining, that’s for sure.”
