Del Bianco’s Return – Warriors Dominate TO

Some might say it took far too long to get a deal done but as they say “good things come to those who wait” and in this case the wait and see clearly paid dividends for the Vancouver Warriors.

Rumor was that he wanted  to suit up and play for his home town club but it wasn’t that easy given that his rights were held by Calgary.

The long wait was over and for Del Bianco (27) it must have been a dream come true who was eager to suit up for the Warriors that saw him finish with an impressive 49 save display for everyone expecting performance – which is what they got.

His first game as a Warrior saw the organization pull out all stops giving the opening pre-game ceremony that saw them face-off against the Toronto Rock.

Not only did Del Bianco put on a show, the Warriors saw an exceptional performance from the entire line-up at both ends of the floor.

The half-way point in the game saw the Warriors with 8-2 finishing with an impressive 13-8 win as they look to move into a playoff position in the last stretch of the season. 

After the game Del Bianco told the media “It was easy to communicate with the Warriors’ defensive group as it felt good to get into NLL game action” noting that he’s excited and looking forward to the rest of the season. 

He continued “It’s a pretty special thing and seeing the stands pretty filled up is obviously an awesome thing in your home city. Coming to Warriors games this year and getting to play in one finally, it feels pretty good.”

“It’s hard not to say that there was some pressure there. I was joking around with my fiancée and a couple of people close to me and they said ‘It’s ok if you don’t have your best night’ but you obviously want to deliver. A lot of people took a risk to get me here and I understand that the organization had to give up a great person in Brayden Laity to get me here so I owe it to everyone to go out there and do everything I can to perform.” 

The team built on the momentum from their game in San Diego, starting the game on time with a solid first quarter and then outscoring the Rock 5-2 in the third. 

Scoring in the third quarters to date have been their lowest-scoring quarters this season as they came into the game against the Rock with only 21 goals in the third over 12 games.  

Following the game Malawsky told the media “When the game was still tight and was on the line, I thought we got the middle of the floor. I thought Keegan Bal was outstanding, [he] shot the ball really well. I thought a big turning point in the game was when they were pushing and Bides [Adam Charalambides] got that shorthanded goal. The individual effort around the net and he came in and scored that – that just shows a lot of leadership and passion.”

Keegan Bal had a game-high nine points (4G, 5A), finding the back of the night four times on 11 shot attempts. 

Ball mentioned “As an offence, we were moving the ball really well, changing planes from high to low and low to high and everyone was contributing, and that’s what you want.”