A team-first approach is how the Vancouver Warriors roll, and Riley Loewen is a team-first guy.
He’s always doing the little things, making unselfish plays on offence to get his teammates open and is always in the right place. He’s a favourite in the locker room, winning the Warriors’ Unsung Hero award last season, and he’ll be back next year as he agreed to terms with the Warriors on a one-year contract.
There was no question that he wanted to be back in Vancouver. Loewen and General Manager and Head Coach Curt Malawsky are close and have a mutual understanding of each other’s expectations.
It’s a low maintenance relationship, they don’t need to talk much on game days, and getting a deal done was just as easy, but with more paperwork.
“I didn’t want to go anywhere. I have a great relationship with Curt, and it was a quick and painless negotiation with him. I’m super happy to be back playing at home.”
“There’s a buzz from people I talked to near the end of the season that were loving coming to games. It was great getting 11,000 fans out to games, we were winning, and we were having fun,” Loewen said. “It was fun to be at the rink with the guys, so I just want to build off that which is kind of the original reason I first came to Vancouver back in 2019 was to help get lacrosse back on the map here and hopefully bring a championship to Vancouver.”
It’s the dream for the Burnaby native who gets to chase a championship with the hometown team, and logistically, it just makes sense.
Loewen’s life, including his wife and his daughter, are in the Lower Mainland and re-signing in Vancouver means he can spend more time with his family. Getting to play in front of family and friends is always a bonus too.
“Now that I’m a little bit older in the league, I have a career and family, a wife and my daughter, who’s just turned two in May, those obviously play big factors,” he said.
He says he’s at his best on the floor when he’s playing selflessly, but he’s proven he can put up numbers when called upon. The lefty forward had the confidence of the coaching staff to go out and play his game every night and that freedom to attack helped him put up career numbers.
The 34-year-old had a career-best 52 points last season, and he was fifth among Warriors’ forwards with 15 goals and a career-high 37 assists.
Loewen had a career-high 10 points (3 goals, 7 assists) in a 21-12 win over the Philadelphia Wings and tallied a hat trick in a win over the Buffalo Bandits – all in the month of March.
“It was good and that is also a testament to our offence. It really started to click, and I felt like myself, Ryan [Martel], Adam [Charalambides], and Brad [McCulley] we got some good chemistry going there near the end of the year. Those guys all got me open and vice versa,” Loewen said.
He hopes their lefty core can continue to contribute the way they did last season, which also included Martel and Charalambides having career years.
“We want to build off of what we created last year and even over the last few years,” shared Loewen “I’ve been playing with Adam since he was a rookie, and just to see his development to becoming a top player in the league and Ryan as well having a breakout year. I’m excited to get going with those guys again and keep building.”
With the veteran Loewen returning next season, he will get a front row seat to see where his team will go next.
