Riley Loewen had no idea how many points he had in the Warriors 21-12 win over the Philadelphia Wings until the game was over.
“It just felt like one of those nights where I was throwing the ball to guys and everyone was scoring, it was paying off, and the offence as a whole was moving the ball well and shooting well,” he said.
Loewen scored a career-high 10 points (3 goals, 7 assists) against the Wings and he’s been living the life of Riley this week because of it. The team told him after the game he can do whatever he wants this week because of his 10-point night.
“Back in the dressing room, some of the older guys who I’ve played with [for years] like Ryan Dilks asked me ‘Riley, did you get 10 points?’ and I said ‘I think so’ and we were all just laughing because I think I’m right around 2-3 points per game average so when guys heard I got 10 they were pretty excited for me,” Loewen said.
He eclipsed his previous career-high from last season with the Warriors when he recorded one goal and six helpers for seven points against the Colorado Mammoth.
Points are great, but Loewen doesn’t worry about individual accomplishments, he just wants to win. Being selfless is something the coaching staff impresses upon the team and Loewen learned it at an early age.
“I think I learned that from coaching I’ve had growing up and teams I’ve played on. I’ve played on some really great teams, Junior A Adanacs in 2010 when we won the Minto Cup, we had a lot of NLL caliber players on that team. Everyone’s chipping in that way and I think that’s when teams are the best. I’ve also had Curt coach me a few times over the years, he’s a big advocate of that, that’s kind of my style of play and how I play best,” he said.
General Manager and Head Coach Curt Malawsky says the left-winger is someone he can rely on every night. Loewen had some timely goals in the 2019 NLL Cup championship series when they were both with the Calgary Roughnecks. It was tough to lose Loewen as a player after the championship, Malawsky is thrilled to be reunited with him.
“He’s had a great, great year, he really has. We like to be proud of doing the little things right because it just makes the difference and Riley is so good at it,” Malawsky said. “He’s so smart, his floor awareness of where to be, where to go, when to make a hit away when there’s a two-man game, when to be involved in a two-man game, when to get off the floor, when to shoot it. All the little things we preach as a coach that are so important and don’t get quantified on a scoresheet — that’s Riley Loewen in a nutshell.”
The 10-year NLL veteran says the maturation of his game comes with experience and opportunity to be able to contribute more. He has 41 points (13-28-41) this season, good for fifth in scoring for the Warriors. He says the chemistry with lefties, Adam Charalambides and Ryan Martel, after three seasons and a full season respectively, is showing up in their play.
“On my previous teams I played with some pretty high profile superstars like Dane Dobbie and Mark Matthews so I was always working to get them open and help the team win, whereas now there’s a little bit of opportunity, especially when we traded Jones last year I feel like our left side – myself, Martel, Bides and McCulley are all working hard getting points and just offence by committee,” he said.
The 34-year-old didn’t play summer ball last year to make sure he was fresh and prepared for this NLL season. Loewen takes care of his body, came into this training camp in good shape and has his gameday routines down pat to get his body ready to go. He’s made some adjustments as he’s gotten older, allotting more time to warm up, but he knows what works for him to be able to play at the same level all the time.
“Riley models consistency. You don’t need to worry about Riley Loewen. If he’s going to have a bad game, good game, he’s going to be consistent and most nights he might exceed the expectation. You know for sure what you’re going to get from Riley, and that as a coach is huge,” Malawsky said.
As Loewen thinks about the final four games of the regular season he’s going to continue to keep his process the same. Work on getting good looks for his teammates, get to the middle of the floor and do whatever he can to help the team win.
