Shawn Slaght, All Lacrosse All The Time – A Division of the Edge of Philly Sports Network
Don’t look now, but here come the Vancouver Warriors. They picked up a big 14-5 win over the Las Vegas Desert Dogs on Saturday night at Michelob Ultra Arena.
Picking up Aaron Bold midway through the season is paying dividends for the Warriors as he stopped 38 of 43 shots in the victory. His counterpart, Landon Kells was bombarded with 57 shots.
Vancouver’s special teams were clicking as the powerplay went four-for-seven, while Vegas was limited to only one goal with the man advantage.
Keegan Bal and Ryan Martel had huge nights with eight points each. Martel nearly had the sock trick with five goals and Bal had a pair of goals and six assists.
Meanwhile, the Desert Dogs just couldn’t get any offense going. Rob Hellyer accounted for three of Las Vegas’ five goals alone. The other two goals came from Jon Phillips.
The big win improves Vancouver’s record at 3-9 as they chase Las Vegas at 4-7 to get out of the basement in the West Division.
Low-scoring first quarter
The game started as a defensive battle as both teams combined for four goals. Adam Charalambides opened the scoring on the power play 3:08 into the game.
Martel’s marker 41 seconds later would give Vancouver a quick 2-0 lead.
Hellyer got the Desert Dogs on the board with 9:03 on the clock. He took a feed from Zack Greer and buried the power play marker to make it 2-1.
Martel extended the Warriors’ lead with 2:54 left to play in the first quarter to make it 3-1 for Vancouver at the first intermission.
Warriors go on a six-goal run
Las Vegas battled back early in the second quarter. First, it was Phillips who found the back of the net 2:55 into the second quarter. Hellyer followed that up with 10:52 on the clock to tie the game up 3-3.
Riley Loewen’s power-play goal at 9:14 sparked a six-goal run for the Warriors. Martel extended the lead to 5-3 and Kyle Killen added a goal to give Vancouver a three-goal lead.
Bal scored Vancouver’s seventh and eighth goals with just over two minutes left in the second quarter. Martel rounded out the scoring with 1:13 left to make it 9-3 for the Warriors at the half.
Vancouver keeps their foot on the gas
Phillips opened the scoring 1:47 into the third quarter to get Vegas back within five, but the momentum was shortlived.
Reid Bowering got on the board at 12:02 before the Desert Dogs would get themselves in penalty trouble. Shawn Evans scored on the powerplay at 6:01 and Loewen rounded out the three-goal run with a powerplay marker with 59 seconds left on the clock to make it 12-4 for Vancouver heading into the final frame.
The defenses kept the fourth quarter a low-scoring affair. Hellyer once again got on the board for Vegas at 10:11 to make it 12-5.
Vancouver closed out the game with goals from Martel and Bowering to pick up a big win 14-5.
Top Scorers
Vancouver Warriors
Ryan Martel, 5g 3a
Keegan Bal, 2g 6a
Riley Loewen, 2g 4a
Las Vegas Desert Dogs
Rob Hellyer, 3g
Jon Phillips, 2g
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Shawn Slaght has been a sports reporter across the Canadian prairies for over 10 years and has experience covering everything from junior hockey to World Cup skiing to all levels of lacrosse. He is the Saskatchewan correspondent for All Lacrosse All The Time.
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