Fans will get their fill of lacrosse in the next few days, as the Vancouver Warriors (3-1) prepare for a two-game road trip, taking on the Ottawa Black Bears (3-2) on Friday and the Philadelphia Wings (4-1) on Monday.
The Warriors are on a three-game winning streak and are fresh off a 11-9 victory against the San Diego Seals. Though the Warriors trailed almost the entire game, Keegan Bal’s sock trick — all tallied in the last quarter — had 9,551 fans roaring at Rogers Arena. Bal is the fourth player in the league history to claim a sock trick in a single quarter.
Although Bal commanded the spotlight in the final frame, he attributed the win to good offensive chances and bearing down. With 45 saves on 54 shots, Bal commended goaltender Aden Walsh and his ability to make timely saves, bringing a confident energy to the field and always staying in the fight.
As expected, the Warriors’ defencemen supported the road to victory, tallying eight blocked shots against the Seals and collecting 72 loose balls compared to the Seals’ 58. Rookie Alec Stathakis had another impressive game going 18 for 24 off the draw.
The Warriors can expect a tough matchup against the Ottawa Black Bears, who are also riding a high following a 14-10 win against the Georgia Swarm. Larson Sundown put the first point on the board for the Black Bears, then went on to record four more points (3G, 2A). Also contributing was Jeff Teat (3G, 6A), Jacob Dunbar (3G, 2A), Kiel Matisz (1G, 4A), Taggart Clark (2G, 2A) and Connor Kearnan (2G, 2A).
Goaltender Zach Higgins made 41 saves and let in 10 goals. He is now averaging a save percentage of 0.800 through five games played. This places him just one percent below Aden Walsh’s average this season.
There’s only one B.C.-born player on the Black Bears – Surrey’s Jacob Dunbar. The forward has taken a big step forward in the early going tallying 20 points (13G, 7A) in five games this season. The 24-year-old was acquired from the San Diego Seals at the start of the season and was originally drafted 13th overall by the Seals in the 2021 NLL Entry Draft. Dunbar has also played for the Burnaby Lakers of the Western Lacrosse Association since 2023, earning WLA’s Rookie of the Year honours.
In the second game of this road trip, the Warriors will travel to Philadelphia for a matchup with the Philadelphia Wings. The Warriors will have a two-day break between their Friday night game against Ottawa and their Monday night game against Philly. The Warriors and Wings matchup was moved from Sunday to Monday due to a scheduling conflict with the NFL playoffs.
The Wings team, which the Warriors will face on Monday, is vastly different from the one they encountered last season. After finishing the previous season with a 6-12 record, the Wings have undergone a major roster facelift and are just two wins shy of matching last year’s win total.
The Wings traded their long-time goaltender Higgins to the Black Bears and received defencemen Phil Caputo and Liam Patten in exchange. This made room to add up-and-coming goaltender Nick Damude to the roster, who was picked up in the NLL dispersal draft from Panther City. Damude is tied for ninth in the NLL with a .780 save percentage through five games. Tony Malcom, one of the fastest defencemen in the league, was also snagged in the dispersal draft.
The Wings are currently in second place in the league and have several league-leading players on their roster. Joe Resetarits is tied for the top spot in points (41), tied for second in assists (29) and is fourth for shots on goal (67). Also establishing themselves early is former Warriors’ forward Mitch Jones, who is tied third for points (39) and Liam Patten, who is fifth for caused turnovers (11).
The Wings haven’t faced defeat since their opening game against San Diego. Since then, they’ve won four consecutive games, their most recent being a tight 13-11 win against the Calgary Roughnecks. The back-and-forth game was anyone’s match until the last three minutes of the fourth quarter, where the Wings scored four successive goals to secure the victory. Jones and Resetarits notched seven-point nights for the Wings, including a six-point night from Holden Cattoni.
Jones of Delta and Malcom of New Westminster are the only two B.C.-born players on the Wings’ roster. Jones was drafted 21st overall in the 2012 NLL Entry Draft by the Washington Stealth, after playing for the Delta Islanders of the B.C. Junior A Lacrosse league. Malcom previously played for Vancouver from 2018-19, achieving a career high in 2018 with 47 points.
Friday’s contest is scheduled for 4 p.m. PST in Ottawa at the Canadian Tire Centre. Monday’s game will take place at 2 p.m. PST in Philadelphia at Wells Fargo Centre. Both games can be watched live on ESPN+, TSN+, TSN and streamed on NLL+.
