If you didn’t know anything about the NLL and I told you before this game that one of the teams was 7-2 and tied for first overall and the other was 2-7 and in dead last, I doubt you could have told me during this game which was which. Both teams had offense that just wasn’t quite clicking, very strong defense, and great goaltending.

There were only four goals in the first half and while the Rock grabbed a two-goal lead in the third, it was erased in the first minute of the fourth. But the Rock grabbed the lead right back and kept the Warriors off the board for the final 14 minutes to give them the victory.

Aden Walsh was awesome in his first start of the season. He started and finished six games last year, and had a GAA of at least 13 in all but one of them. The other one he lost, despite only giving up nine goals, which is exactly what happened here. I had planned on explicitly watching the Vancouver defense, particularly rookies Grant and Laity, but instead of focusing on individual players, I ended up watching them as a unit, other than noticing Brett Mydske all over the floor. Despite missing Reid Bowering, the Warriors defense was very good at limiting Toronto’s shots, and Walsh was very good at stopping those that made it through.

Brett Mydske

That said however, the Rock offense was quite sloppy in this one. This is a team that started the season 5-0 and had an offense that looked unstoppable – they looked in mid-season form then, but now that we’re at mid-season, they don’t look as polished. I’m sure part of it was the Vancouver defense but there were some passes that missed their target by several feet, and a few cases where it looked like a couple of players were doing a set play while the rest were either doing a different set play or just forgot what the play was. There were a couple of goals (both of the Schreiber ones, I think) where I thought “OK, they’ve got it together now”, but it was temporary. Obviously missing Dan Craig hurt and Challen Rogers makes enough contributions all over the floor that his absence affects every part of the Rock’s game.

Rose was also excellent in the Toronto goal, but even his offensive contributions were sub-par (for him). He’s one of the better goalies in the league when it comes to outlet passes (nobody can touch Del Bianco but Rose is usually very good), but he was missing targets all night as well.

Kudos to the Warriors for playing an excellent game. They are still in last place and are still losing games, but they are improving all the time. Their 2024 chances are dwindling but with a few tweaks here and there, another year of experience for the young guys, and another year of playing together for everyone, this could be a very good team in 2025.

Indigenous Heritage night

It was the Rock’s annual Indigenous Heritage night on Saturday. They had men’s and women’s Indigenous singing groups perform as well as a traditional lacrosse game at halftime, where the two teams played a lacrosse-like game, trying to hit a wooden pole with the ball (rather than putting it into a net). One team had wooden lacrosse sticks similar to those used in the NLL, while the other team used more traditional sticks with a circular net on the end rather than the oblong shape we’re used to. (If you look at my Twitter profile, an example of each of the types of sticks is at the top of the page.) That team ran and cradled with just one hand on the stick (cradling the entire stick, not just the head), and it looked much harder to pick up and catch the ball with those sticks but then that team won the game so maybe not.

The women’s singing group performed between the third and fourth quarter, and I guess they went just a bit longer than expected because the house lights came on and a loud buzzer sounded to indicate the intermission was over while they were still singing. They stopped singing just a few seconds later but I’m not sure if the song was actually over or if they just figured “I guess we’re done”. I’m surprised the people who set that timer didn’t pause it or do something to allow the group to finish their song without the lights or buzzer. I found that disrespectful.

A couple of other game notes:

• Chris Boushy has a bit of a temper, doesn’t he? Not to the point of taking stupid penalties, but he was chirping a couple of Vancouver players pretty good.
• My wife comes to a couple of games a year and Saturday night was her first. In the second quarter or so, she asked “Where’s my Dan Dawson?” I didn’t even know she was such a fan of his. I told her that he had retired in the off-season. The conversation continued: “What about Challen Rogers?” “Injured, out for a few weeks.” “And Latrell Harris?” “Injured, out for the season.” She let out a big sigh, and I couldn’t disagree.