Di Miller, NLL Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©
Featured Image Photo Credit: Candice Ward
The Vancouver Warriors (5-3) started their first game of a three game road trip in Alberta where they faced their Western Division Rivals the Calgary Roughnecks (2-5) in the Scotiabank Saddledome in front of 9,337 Roughnecks fans. The fans were excited to see Curtis “Superman” Dickson back in the line-up after having missed the last two. Vancouver would be without their face-off specialist Tyrell Hamer-Jackson so Owen Barker would be taking the draws. Alex Buque would not be in net for the Warriors as he was out with an injury so Steve “Deep” Fryer would get his first start in a Vancouver sweater and it was spectacular as he would face 51 shots making 41 saves giving his team the “W”. Final Score: Warriors 11—Roughnecks 10.
Calgary would win the opening draw but Vancouver would gain possession and couldn’t capitalize. Quickly into the first, Curtis Dickson (4g, 2a) on the pick and roll, popped off his man and was left wide open for the quick stick short side finish at 1:28 to get the Roughnecks on the board 1-0. The Warriors would notch what they was a good goal, but Kyle Killen had his toe on the crease so it was called “NO GOAL”, the first of two in the game they’d see overturned. It took a few before another ball would find its way to the back of the net. Tyler Pace (1g, 1a) took an outside shot and got Steve Fryer leaning and put one over his glove at 5:36 and the Riggers were up 2-0. This would also put Pace at 100 career points. At the 6:00 minute mark Taylor Stuart would make the extra pass to Logan Schuss (2g, 2a) and he’d go airborne and dropped it over the shoulder far side on Christian Del Bianco 2-1 to start the five-goal run for the Warriors. Keegan Bal (3g, 3a) on a one-on-four used his defender as a screen and ripped an outside shot past CBD to tie it up 2-2 at the 6:39 mark. On the delayed penalty, Vancouver would send Fryer to the bench and upon the change of possession, Reese Callies headed to the sin-bin on an illegal cross check. The Warriors have the fourth best power-play percentage in the league and used that to their advantage in the contest. With 14 seconds left on the man-up, Schuss would score with some high heat and a nice overhand shot putting them up 3-2 at 5:53. On the ensuing draw, Taylor Stuart (1g, 2a) would scoop the loosie, headed down the field and put a nice twister shot past CBD only nine seconds later giving him his first goal in a Warriors jersey. Curt Malawsky, Roughnecks bench boss quickly pulled Del Bianco giving Kells Landon a quick 33 seconds on the floor so he could regroup. The teams exchanged some great shots on the cages with both net-minders making some amazing saves. The Warriors defense were getting in their lanes and Fryer was blocking shots so they had found their groove, while the Roughnecks were having issues getting organized on the transition. With 2:40 left on the clock, Adam Charalambides found the shooting lane and with an overhand twister shot, stings it far side high to cap off the quarter. Shots on goal at the end of one: Warriors 11—Roughnecks 13; Face-offs Warriors 2-7 Roughnecks 5-7; Saves Warriors 9—Roughnecks 6. Score at the end of one: Warriors 5—Roughnecks 2.
Heading into the second, the Roughnecks jumped on the board quickly. Jesse King (1g, 3a) got the nice dish from Dan Taylor, went airborne and dropped it over the shoulder far side on Fryer 30 seconds in 5-3. This started a three-goal run for the home squad. C. Dickson turned the corner and fired it down low five-hole at the 3:24 mark. Zach Herreweyers (2g, 1a) closed out the run with a transition goal coming in off the bench, he fired an outside laser hitting far side pipe to tie it at 5’s at 5:03. The Roughnecks would get hit with slashing penalty at the 6:00 minute mark and who other than the highest scoring player on the Warriors would capitalize, Killen. Calgary left him wide-open in front of the net and Killen went five-hole for the power-play tally 59 seconds into the man-up opportunity for the go ahead marker. It took about three and a half for the Roughnecks to tie it up. Tanner Cook (1g, 2a) faked the crease dive, used a little pump fake and bounced it past Fryer with 4:39 remaining and it was 6-6. Once again, Calgary would go man-down and again Vancouver took advantage. With 2:52 in the frame, Bal picked the top corner and scored with an overhand crank near side high putting the Warriors back up heading into the half. Shots on goal at the end of two: Warriors 14—Calgary 12; Face-offs Warriors 3-8 Roughnecks 5-8; Saves Warriors 10—Roughnecks 13. Score at the end of two: Warriors 7—Roughnecks 6.
The third got off to a very slow start with neither team able to break the barrier each net-minder had put up in front of their respective cages. It would take 6:40 before the ball would hit twine and the Warriors would strike first. Owen Barker (1g, 2a) in transition, got the nice dish from Brett Mydske, and he’d fake and fire on the net and the first goal in almost 10 minutes 8-6 Warriors. Only 20 seconds later C. Dickson would notch his hat-trick as he shot around his defender and somehow found a way to sneak it through far side pipe 8-7. Another four ticked off the timer as the fans watched the teams run up and down the floor shooting on the net with no success. With 2:55 in the frame, Bal was left all alone behind the net, got the feed, dove and reached all the way around and chucked it cleanly around the far corner 9-7 Warriors. Calgary would close out the quarter and tie it up before the buzzer. Herreweyers from way out stepped into his shot and pulled the trigger to put one in under the armpit of Fryer 46 seconds later 9-8. The Warriors would have their second goal called back with 1:17 remaining, a drive and dive by Bal but his toe was on the crease so another “NO GOAL” for Vancouver. As the clock was winding down and only 35 seconds on the clock Zach Currier (1g) scooped the loosie on the turnover, and on the fast break tucked it past Fryer glove side to tie it up once again. Shots on goal at the end of three: Warriors 13—Roughnecks 12; Face-offs Warriors 1-6 Roughnecks 5-6; Saves Warriors 9—Roughnecks 9. Score at the end of three: Warriors 9—Roughnecks 9.
The fourth saw lots of shots on goals and lots of saves, which meant very little scoring. It also meant that since the game was tied, whoever scored last would win and this was the case in this contest. Killen got the inside feed on the pick and with the quick catch and release, tucked it short side hip high to put Vancouver up 10-9 at the 5:04 mark. The Roughnecks would tie it up when C. Dickson drove to the goal, pushing past three defenders, he twisted his body and fired it back over the left to dunk it far side at the 6:27 mark and we were tied at 10’s. For the next five and a half, the ball would go end to end with each team firing bullets at the cages. The saves were stellar as both Del Bianco and Fryer wouldn’t budge as each had the word “Denied” on the front of their jerseys. With 2:12 on the timer, Loewen would break the tie off the nice feed and finish with nine seconds on the shot clock, he’d roll away from his man and sting the far corner for the go ahead tally. Each team would call time-outs in the last minute of the game to set up their final plays. The Roughnecks pulled Del Bianco in favor of the extra attacker and couldn’t score, in fact the Warriors couldn’t score on their empty net either. It was a frantic finish with the Warriors coming out on top and Steve Fryer getting his first win as a Warrior. Final Score: Warriors 11—Roughnecks 10.
STATS:
Vancouver Warriors—SOG 48; Saves 41; Assists 19; LB 69; PP 3-5; FO 9-25
Calgary Roughnecks—SOG 51; Saves 37; Assists 15; LB 70; PP 0-5; FO 16-25
NEXT UP:
The Vancouver Warriors (5-3) have a bye-week and will head down to Texas to play the Panther City Lacrosse Club (1-7) at Dickies Arena in Ft. Worth on Saturday February 26, 2022, game time 6:30 p.m. EST. Fans in the USA can watch the game on ESPN+. Fans in Canada can see the game on TSN.ca or the TSN app.
The Calgary Roughnecks (2-5) will head down to Texas to play the Panther City Lacrosse Club (1-7) at Dickies Arena in Ft. Worth tomorrow Sunday February 20, 2022 at 5:00 p.m. EST. Fans in the USA can watch the game on ESPN+. Fans in Canada can see the game on TSN.ca or the TSN app.
Di Miller, NLL Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©