WARRIORS VISIT ROUGHNECKS: Already eight weeks into the season and the Vancouver Warriors are in their first rubber match of the season, this one against the Calgary Roughnecks. The Warriors stunned the Riggers at the Scotiabank Saddledome on opening night back on December 15, scoring the final six goals of the game, including the overtime winner by Captain Matt Beers, to beat Calgary 14-13. Just six days later, Calgary returned the favor, spoiling Vancouver’s opening night at Rogers Arena with a decisive 14-8 win.
Dane Dobbie has made hay against the Warriors, scoring 16 of his 37 points on the season against Vancouver, including lighting the lamp nine times. Rhys Duch has added three goals and 11 assists for 14 points in those two games. Logan Schuss has four goals and 12 points in the two-game set, with Mitch Jones kicking in 3 goals and four assists for seven points in the same span to help lead the Warriors offence.
MAKE NO BONES ABOUT JONES: Warriors forward Mitch Jones has surged to the top of the scoring leaderboard for the Warriors and now is T9 in NLL scoring along with teammate Logan Schuss with 32 points. Jones lit up the San Diego Seals with four goals and three assists for a seven-point night in the January 19th, 11-10 setback to the Seals and had nearly had his fifth goal as the ball spun right and past the post in the dying seconds. Jones now leads the Warriors with 13 goals.
SCHUSS WEAPONIZED WARRIOR: Logan Schuss is also currently tied for 9th in NLL scoring with 32 points (10 goals and 22 assists). Schuss has a nine-point night on the road in Calgary during the season opener on December 15 and had a hand in all five goals scored in the 4th quarter comeback against Calgary en route to the Warriors 14-13 overtime win. Logan also tallied a five point game, including the game tying and overtime winning goals, in the Warriors 11-10 comeback over the Colorado Mammoth on January 26th.
PENNEY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS: Vancouver Warriors goalie Eric Penney has put forth some stellar goaltending. The netminder turned aside 36 shots, including many high quality chances, in the Warriors 11-10 win over Colorado on January 26th. Penney also gave his team a chance versus the Saskatchewan Rush, coming in on January 12th down 4-0 after five minutes, Penney shut the door, allowing his mates to climb back into the game and tie the score 8-8 in the third quarter before the rally fell short. Penney is now 1st in the NLL with a 10.39 GAA.
WARRIORS RECORD WHEN:
Leading after 1st.. 0-0 Tied at Halftime 0-1 Trailing after 3rd 2-3
Leading at halftime 0-1 Tied after 3rd 0-0 Outshoot opponent 1-3
Leading after 3rd 0-2 Trailing after 1st 0-5 Outshot by opponent 1-2
Tied after 1st 2-0 Trailing at Halftime 2-3 Shots tied 0-0
IT’S IN THE FAMILY: The Warriors have two sets of family members playing for them. Zack and Colton Porter are lacrosse playing brothers from Chilliwack BC while Dallas and Nate Wade are cousins from Victoria BC.
IN THE WATER: The Vancouver Warriors have all but three players now living in the Province of BC permanently. Five players currently reside in New Westminster, while three are in Victoria.
NEXT UP: The Warriors will wrap up their two-game road trip with their first trip of the season to San Diego to take on the Seals. Action will get underway at 7 PM and can be seen online at B/R Live (https://live.bleacherreport.com/welcome).
