Kevin Crowley is in the flow four games into the season.
For the New Westminster native, this marks his 12th season in the league, and his first with the Warriors. Through his experience, he’s learned to adapt to different roles on various teams he’s played for which has helped him be successful.
“I think I’m pretty versatile in what I can do offensively,” Crowley said. “When I was in San Diego last year, I had a different role than what I’m playing in Vancouver this year, so trying to figure out what that role is as soon as you can going into the season is obviously important.”
The first game of the season Crowley had an assist and collected four loose balls.
The second game against the Georgia Swarm, the veteran right-hander chipped in a hat trick, and had four assists in a 15-7 win.
He’s seen success on the road this season as well, scoring two goals, chipping in an assist and picking up seven loose balls against the Rochester Knighthawks. He scored five goals and collected five loose balls in their most recent contest against the Colorado Mammoth.
“I think it’s settling into a new offence and learning my teammates a little bit better. You build chemistry throughout the season, I’m fortunate to have some great feeders that I’m playing with and great goal scorers who are drawing a lot of attention which is opening me up,” he said.
Having the opportunity to play in the NLL in his hometown is something he’s thankful for. He’s played Senior A lacrosse for the Salmonbellies with Keegan Bal, Ryan Martel, and Brett Mydske and played against Curt Malawsky throughout his career, but this is the first time he’s played for the legendary coach.
“I grew up playing with Brett Mydske, so it’s really cool to play with him nearing the end of our careers. A lot of the guys [with the Warriors] I’ve played summer ball with too,” he shared, adding, “Seeing fans that I coach, or I know through the community coming out and supporting me with my friends and family it’s really cool. I haven’t had that since I played in Philadelphia, so I really value that and am grateful for that.”
The founder and CEO of Fusion Lacrosse, Crowley is entrenched in the B.C. lacrosse community. He coaches and provides clinics, camps, and travel teams for boys and girls across the province. He started Fusion Lacrosse while he was playing for the Philadelphia Wings to help grow box lacrosse in the United States.
Crowley’s had great personal success this season, but to him the only thing that matters is team success and wins. The Warriors have a 1-3 record, dropping the last couple of games on the road in regulation against Rochester 13-11 and an overtime loss to Colorado 12-11.
“We’re disappointed with the losses right now because those are games we should have won, but we’re going to stay in the fight and look forward to the next couple of games here,” Crowley said.
“I think there’s quiet confidence. Confidence that we’re learning from our mistakes and we’re going to be better each game going forward.”
Against the Mammoth, the Warriors got out to a five-goal scoring run, but Vancouver didn’t score in the second half and Colorado had six unanswered goals that sent the game into overtime.
“To start the game, we were taking high quality shots, shooting the scout as we say, doing the things we knew would be successful. We deviated from the original game plan a little bit and got into some trouble there and it’s a game of momentum too. Colorado had a lot of momentum and that’s something we’ve got to learn from,” Crowley noted.
Lacrosse is a game of runs and maintaining that even keel mentality is an important aspect of the game. The right-shot forward is constantly pushing himself to find an extra gear to better his game to help the team.
“I always think there’s another level that I can be at: better shape, better shooting, all of those little things that have kept me in the game for as long as I have been,” he said, going on to say that his teammates are in the gym getting ready for their next matchup against the Calgary Roughnecks.
“The boys in the bye week are working hard to get their fitness, conditioning, strength, everything up so that we can be better going into the fourth quarters. Better cardio, better conditioning, they’re working hard so it should be a good game on the 13th.”
