No Small Victory

Playing a short week earlier in Toronto the Stealth dropped a frustrating game to the Rock prior.

One might think that the schedule for players in the NLL is somewhat similar to hockey and/or football players where they all travel together on one flight and return as a team.

Such is not the case with some players due to their work schedule and the manner in which the teams are not financially set-up as in other major pro sports organizations.

In conversation with Stealth player and Delta Islanders Junior “A” co-coach Logan Schuss he revealed his travel itinerary when the club travelled to Toronto.

He worked on the Friday, then caught the “red-eye” out of Vancouver and arrived in Toronto in time for breakfast.

Then managed to get about three (3) hours sleep at the hotel, then rushed to the rink where the team was set up for practice.

He attended it, followed by a “bite” with the team then was set for pre-game mode for the match-up that evening.

Following the game, he rushed back to Pearson International Airport and flew home and went to work in the morning and we think pro teams have it easy.

The Vancouver Stealth (6-8) defeated the Toronto Rock (8-6) on Friday night, 14-11.

The Stealth came out strong but somehow managed to find themselves trailing by a 6-3 margin at the half and from there it was all up hill for the Stealth who are in desperate need of wins and points to move up in the standings.

The second half saw the Stealth managed to go on a seven-goal run overtaking the Rock and their supporters in attendance, which were significant to say the least.

Leading the Stealth was Jordan Durston  who tallied three assists as well as his impressive hat trick, two of which are sure to be included in the highlight reel goals.

Following the game he told the assembled media “Lacrosse is a game of runs, you need to stick with your systems and hopefully everything works out and going into Toronto last week, (I think) we should have gotten the win.”

He continued “But there are four games left in the regular season and we are pushing for a playoff berth, so this win is huge.”

The defense seemed to be the backbone for the Stealth in the win as Delta Islanders Junior A Assistant Coach Pete McFetridge, Curtis Hodgson, and Matt Beers all notched on the scoresheet with at least a single goal.

Joel McCready manage to snag a pair, while Rhys Duch and Logan Schuss managed four points, Cory Conway had a goal and two assists and Corey Small continued to add to his NLL scoring lead with a 7-point game performance.

Small mentioned “I have never really had a year like this, so I am not really used to this kind of attention and those crucial goals in the third and fourth came from the energy of the fans.”

He continued “They have always been great to us, but tonight it was a whole other level. We have two more games at home and this puts us one step closer to the playoffs.”

Rhys Duch playing in his 144 NLL game had a milestone game notching his 800th career point after dishing a pass over to Small for the game winning goal.

Duch mentioned after the game “I wouldn’t even call this a milestone, I think it is a cool feat but I plan on being in this league for a long time, and we should not be talking about my 800th but rather the fact that we won and that keeps us in the driver’s seat for our playoff position.”

The Stealth currently sit in third spot, which ironically is the final playoff spot in the West Division moving forward.

The Stealth are looking at maintaining their lead as they travel two Provinces east to visit the Saskatchewan Rush April 8th in the NLL Twitter Game of the Week.

They return home to play April 15th going head-to-head with Calgary and if you don’t have your ticket as of yet visit the Langley Events Centre Box Office at 604-882-8800, or Ticket Rocket.com.