Warriors Dominate Buffalo Bandits

Photo Credit Sportswave.ca

With the Warriors returning home after a hard fought game against the Toronto Rock coming up short in the losing end of a 9-5 game has them return home to take on last season’s champion Buffalo Bandits.

The championship win was the first in the 15 year history for the Bandits so as you can imagine visiting the Warriors it was almost that the Bandits were almost guaranteed a win, but that dream would be short lived.

Playing on a Friday night can be a “hard sell” but for the NLL Vancouver Warriors it was a time to not only pull out their third win of the season but also showcase First Nations Night at Rogers Arena.

If you ask anyone, sometimes change can be good for not only the team but also motivation for any player but mostly goaltenders.

On this night the Warriors started Aden Walsh who not only managed his first win of the season while stopping 39 of the 51 shots he faced many of which were labeled for a goal but not on this night.

Regardless of the win one has to be happy for GM and  Head Coach Curt Malawsky and his coaching staff who at times had to be somewhat perplexed as to what they had to do to get out of the cellar.

It’s not necessarily small steps but in this case it was a giant step that not only builds motivation for the team but also their fan base who at times were wondering if this season would be any different than previous ones?

The Hype of the night was the special tribute the Warriors paid to the third annual First Nations Celebration Night that focused on the Indigenous communities on the undecided territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations. 

To say the least the ceremony was “jaw dropping” with the crowd awestruck watching an event that many have never seen and might not again, but we hope that’s not the case.

Trading goals seem to be the norm with the Warriors managing four in the first allowing the BAndits to only three while peppering them with five in the second allowing only a pair and leading 9-5 at the half.

The first half saw the officiating crew assess six minors to the Warriors and four to the Bandits in a contest that saw some impressive massive hits from both teams.

The third saw somewhat of a reverse with the Bandits outsourcing the Warriors 4-2 getting their first at 11:17 with the Warriors.

The final quarter saw the Warriors play exceptional in the “D” zone keeping the shots to the outside that saw Kevin Crowley open the scoring at10:32 followed by Keegan Ball getting his third of the game at 9:30 and ending also with three assists.

The Warriors hit the road for a game against the Albany Firewolves on Friday March 8th with the faceoff set for 4 pm Vancouver time.

Upcoming Theme Nights include St. Paddy’s Day as they host the Las Vegas Desert Dogs, April 5th as they host the Halifax Thunderbirds on Country Night and the final April 13th in Fan Appreciation Night as they host the New York Riptide.

Make plans and catch the action of any or all of the above games and you won’t be disappointed.