Three seasons after the Edmonton Rush left town, this guy is ready to be a fan of the National Lacrosse League again. Some technical difficulties with B/R Live delayed the ability to start watching the game until Monday evening and unfortunately with spoilers. It is strange watching a game without a favourite team or even a favourite player. Here we go.
1st Half
On repeat. Keegan Bal and the Warriors first ever goal. pic.twitter.com/27iHPgO4hG
— Vancouver Warriors (@nllwarriors) December 16, 2020
The Greg Harnett hit aka the first Roughnecks penalty of the season would be a two game suspension in the NHL.
Necks score their first goal, my wife asks from across the room, “was it through Boldy’s legs?” (It was). The more things change the more things stay the same. We both miss the Edmonton Rush.
Coming out of the “TV timeout” they show key departures for the Warriors and they misspell Corey Small. Tisk tisk tisk.
This is my first time seeing Christian Del Bianco in net. After 10 minutes, I’m not impressed. Later on Tyler Pace with the huge hit but the ball goes down the floor and the Warriors score their 6th goal on their 13th shot of the game. All the questions about Vancouver’s offence stand as I’m sure Del Bianco is having an off night.
.@NLLRoughnecks’ @DaneDobbie44 nets a #hattrick in the first quarter 😎
👀 https://t.co/zFCRjHiwuh#NLL #VANvsCGY #LaxOn pic.twitter.com/AywD1FxPkc— NLL (@NLL) December 16, 2020
Dear NLL, please consider changing the rule of choosing the player who takes the penalty shot instead of awarding it to the player who got mugged. Speaking of rule tweaks, on a challenge flag how in the heck are you not allowed to check if the shot clock had time remaining on it? So many different angles to see if a shoelace touched the paint of the crease on the goal but you cannot see if the goal was scored within the 30 second shot clock, that is insane.
I’m thinking for the rematch the Warriors will focus on taking less first half penalties. The final three of the opening quarter and the first five of the second. Three of Dane Dobbie’s eight first half points came on the man advantage. Remember, he also scored on the penalty shot mentioned above.
2nd Half
First shot of the 2nd half for the Warriors is a goal. Warriors go 2 for 2 in “he shoots, he scores” category. After a lengthy review James Rahe’s goal taken off the board. I say this for every sport, if the replay review takes more than 3 or 4 looks, let the call on the floor stand.
Calgary scores on the powerplay. They had nothing going on for the opening near 10 minutes. Dobbie got an assist but until then every other time we saw Dobbie we saw him getting punished. He’s not one to shy away from the rough stuff but its already obvious he needs “Superman” Curtis Dickson back for protection.
Keegan Bal being greeted at center by Tyson Bell and forced into an over-and-back is why I love this game. Big hits don’t mean everyone goes after the hitter. Big hits truly are a part of lacrosse. Speaking of Bell, later on with the Warriors pressing hard, Bell goes through four Vancouver forwards including a spin move for the ages to bring it down the floor.
Roughnecks score 28 seconds into the 4th quarter on their 46th shot of the game. 13-8 lead. Knowing how this game ends let’s see how the Necks unravel.
Warriors score on the powerplay. Within 4 now. Of the nine points that Logan Schuss’ finished the night with, the assist on this powerplay was his only powerplay point. I would give first star in this game to Schuss over Dobbie.
Schuss sees the 5-hole from “the slot” and makes no mistake. Whenever there’s a double team, there’s an open spot on the floor. Owen Barker goes to that open spot and convert Schuss’ pass, deficit down to 2.
With two minutes to go Warriors goaltender Bold starts running to and from the bench in transition. Another unique aspect of the game of lacrosse. Timeout with one minute to go. 11 seconds later Warriors within one.
The goal sending us to OT!
Which #Warriors player wins this one? pic.twitter.com/kQGeYaseBB
— Vancouver Warriors (@nllwarriors) December 16, 2020
Overtime
Character, Integrity, Respect, Hard Work, Community.
Your #Warriors are 1-0 Vancouver. pic.twitter.com/AlfNwRi2QC
— Vancouver Warriors (@nllwarriors) December 16, 2020
For all the poo thrown at Del Bianco throughout the game, he was really good in overtime. I look forward to his bounce-back game on Friday in the rematch between these two teams.
*cover photo is a screenshot from the Warriors game winning goal tweet which is included in this article*
