The Warriors played a lot of lacrosse in July as the WLA regular season winds down and is gearing up for playoffs, while the BCJALL and OJLL started playoffs for the march to the Minto Cup.
There were player-led skills camps at Langley Events Centre and various community visits from Timbr and Warriors stars.
It was a busy first month of summer and there’s many highlights to share below.
In the Community
Timbr and some of the Warriors stars made appearances at various minor lacrosse tournaments this month.
Jack Crosby Tournament, female minor box B.C. Lacrosse Provincials, 2024 B.C. Summer Games Medal Ceremony and the U17 Minor Box B.C. Lacrosse Provincials.
Timbr's having a blast meeting everyone at minor lacrosse tournaments throughout the Lower Mainland! 🥍😎 pic.twitter.com/DpIEiVu2g9
— Vancouver Warriors (@VanWarriors) July 2, 2024
The first two weeks of July, there was a lot of skill work and drills taught by Warriors’ defencemen Brett Mydske, Matt Beers, Reid Bowering, Ryan Dilks and Owen Grant. The Warriors hosted lacrosse camps at Langley Events Centre.
It was a great turnout, and the kids had fun getting to learn from their NLL favourites.
Another fun and memorable camp in the books! 👏🥍
Our coaches are excited for the next generation of talent – thanks to these future lacrosse stars for this week's Warriors Camp sessions! pic.twitter.com/aC5vJiwSgp
— Vancouver Warriors (@VanWarriors) July 13, 2024
“OOO, let’s see the celly. Oh he’s fishing, he’s going fishing!” 🎣
Must listen ➡️ defenceman Ryan Dilks mic'd up at Warriors Summer Camp! 🎤 pic.twitter.com/CNoVNAflLT
— Vancouver Warriors (@VanWarriors) July 23, 2024
Anthony Kalinich was a guest of honour at the lacrosse medal ceremony for the B.C. Summer Games held in his hometown Maple Ridge.
A hometown honour. 🏅
Anthony Kalinich was back in his hometown of Maple Ridge to award lacrosse athletes at this year's BC Summer Games medal ceremony! pic.twitter.com/LlpCYm9FU8
— Vancouver Warriors (@VanWarriors) July 24, 2024
We’ve been at Stanley Park for the Weeknight Warriors Evo Cinema Series at Stanley Park for some movie watching on some beautiful summer nights.
We will be out there in August as well, check out the dates and come by and say hello!
Nothing like outdoor movies at Stanley Park! 🎥🌲
Join us every Tuesday in July and August for the @EvoCarShare @FreshAirCinema Series!
Learn more at https://t.co/e6C60c25ak! pic.twitter.com/GUUkSQ2YI9
— Vancouver Warriors (@VanWarriors) July 24, 2024
Registration for our Vancouver Warriors Elite Academy opens August 6. It’s our new lacrosse development program with pro-led training, nutrition and strategy that starts this fall.
Introducing Vancouver Warriors Elite Academy: next-level lacrosse development with pro-led training, nutrition, and strategy. 🥍
Mark your calendars: registration opens August 6th. 🗓 pic.twitter.com/a03f6nnf2a
— Vancouver Warriors (@VanWarriors) July 30, 2024
In the Box
There was a signing frenzy at the end of July before what was expected to be free agency of August 1st. Free agency has been delayed to August 29.
🚨BREAKING NEWS🚨 pic.twitter.com/EWaMJtplpe
— NLL (@NLL) July 29, 2024
The Warriors have re-signed 11 players and signed two new players ahead of free agency.
Players that re-signed: Ryan Martel, Connor O’Toole, Tyson Kirkness, Chris Willman, Riley Loewen, Jackson Suboch, Anthony Kalinich, Steph Charbonneau, Brayden Laity, Marcus Klarich and Aden Walsh.
New players signed to the team: 2023 Draft selections Alec Stathakis and Drew Andre.
In the front office, the Warriors announced Tyler Richards’ promotion to Director of Player Development and Goalie Coach, while Grant Coghill received an extension as video coach.
WLA
It was the last few weeks of the regular season in the WLA before playoffs with the last game on the schedule August 1st between the New Westminster Salmonbellies and the Victoria Shamrocks.
All the Warriors have made the WLA playoffs with the Victoria Shamrocks, Maple Ridge Burrards, Langley Thunder and New Westminster Salmonbellies finishing the regular season in the top four spots.
The Maple Ridge Burrards are holding the second spot in the WLA going into playoffs with a 9-9 record behind the commanding Shamrocks who are 17-0.
Marcus Klarich had a big Week 7, earning second star honours with two goals and four assists against the Salmonbellies, and a first star selection with a whopping eight points (4-4-8) to lead the Burrards over the Lakers 13-9.
In the same game against the Lakers, Dylan McIntosh was the second star, scoring one goal and adding six apples – Mcintosh and Klarich had a hand in 10 of the Burrards’ points – and Drew Andre also scored a goal in the win.
In Week 10, McIntosh was the first star of the game, netting four goals to help lift the Burrards over the Lakers 8-6. McIntosh scored three of Maple Ridge’s last five goals, including the tying goal and the last goal of the game. Klarich scored a goal and chipped in an assist in that game as well.
Between the pipes, Langley Thunder’s Aden Walsh was a brick wall, stopping balls all over the crease. In Week 7, he earned first star of the game, stopping 51 shots he faced in a 12-8 win against the Nanaimo Timbermen. The next week he had another 51-save performance in a 15-11 win over New West, followed by 47 saves in an 8-7 overtime loss against the Coquitlam Adanacs.
In Week 9 he was the third star of the game against the Timbermen, helping his team to an 11-7 win, making 47 saves.
Adam Charalambides made his debut with the New Westminster Salmonbellies, and he hit the ground running. His second game with the team was a four-point outing (1-3-4) in a battle against the undefeated Victoria Shamrocks who bested the Bellies 15-13. Through eight games, Bides has amassed 26 points (10-16-26) and he’s got one more game of the regular season to add to that.
His Bellies teammates Kevin Crowley and Tyson Kirkness both got in some WLA action in Week 9, Crowley scoring a goal and notching an assist in a 13-7 win against the Adanacs while Kirkness had an assist in a 9-6 win over the Lakers.
BCJALL
The BCJALL semifinals started mid-July in a best-of-seven series between Brayden Laity’s Port Coquitlam Saints (12-5-1) who took on the Nanaimo Timbermen (11-7) and Coquitlam Adanacs up against the Burnaby Lakers.
Laity helped Port Coquitlam punch their ticket to their first-ever Minto Cup berth sweeping the Timbermen 4-0, the Saints’ captain chipping in two assists in game three.
Advancing to the best-of-five BCJALL final against the Coquitlam Adanacs, the Saints lost their first game 9-7. General Manager and Head Coach of the Warriors Curt Malawsky’s son Cody netted two goals for the Adanacs.
The rest of the tournament will be played through the first week of August, and both teams are already headed to the Minto Cup hosted by Coquitlam August 17-24.
OJLL
On the road to the Minto Cup, goaltender Connor O’Toole and the Northmen are sweeping their way through to the finish.
The Northmen swept Toronto Beaches in the quarterfinals of the OJLL. The 21-year-old had 140 stops, 6.33 goals against average, 0.881 save percentage and all three wins in the first round, aptly calling it “Toole Time”.
In the semifinals, O’Toole and the Northmen bested St. Catherine’s Athletics 3-0, O’Toole collecting three more wins in the march to the Minto.
The Northmen won their first game of the OJLL finals against the Mimico Mountaineers 12-9, O’Toole stopping 35 of the 44 shots he faced. He and his squad are now two wins away from securing their spot in the Minto Cup.
O’Toole was named a 2024 OJLL second team All-Star this season and a finalist for the Sanderson Memorial Award, presented to the most outstanding goaltender in the OJLL.
The finalists, as voted on by OJLL team representatives, for the Sanderson Memorial Award, presented annually to the Most Outstanding Goaltender 🏆 #OJLLAwards pic.twitter.com/fipkFEsJsj
— The OJLL (@TheOJLL) July 21, 2024
Things you need to see: Orangeville Northmen goaltender O’Toole’s hip check on Six Nations Arrows’ transition player Blayze Becker. The defensive play by O’Toole gave his team the advantage on the floor and resulted in a goal.
O’Toole came out of his crease to play the ball, passing it up the floor and out of harm’s way. O’Toole said he expected contact as Becker sped up to him after Orangeville’s starting goaltender Lindyn Hill was forced to leave the game after Arrows’ Louis Alfred ran through him in a hard drive to the net.
“I use the plastic stick, so it’s not like I could just put my stick up and protect myself because they’d probably run right through it, so I had to get out of the way and my immediate reaction of out of the way was down,” O’Toole said.
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It hits different in slow motion:
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On the Field
Alec Stathakis has been leading in the faceoff circle for the Philadelphia Waterdogs of the PLL.
Here are his stats through the month of July:
Charalambides was with the Boston Cannons but made his way from the PLL to the WLA to join the Salmonbellies.
