Adam Charalambides Scores a Hat Trick in 11-9 Loss to San Diego Seals
The Vancouver Warriors battled back from a slower start than they would have liked against the San Diego Seals at Rogers Arena on Country Night, finding their stride in the second quarter.
The Seals held the advantage in shots on goal at the end of the first quarter 17-10, but the Warriors finished the game with 50 shots on goal. Both teams were even on the power play (one for four) and goaltending at 82 percent with Christian Del Bianco stopping 46 shots he faced. Warriors’ Head Coach and GM Curt Malawsky liked how the team dug deep, and looks to build on the positives from the game.
“I like the fact that we stayed in the fight. We were kind of chasing the whole game, but we never gave up,” Malawsky said.
“It was one of our better games with balls on net shooting percentage. We shot pretty good...We generated, we hit some bars, we had some bad luck, but San Diego played well.”
The Warriors continued to show they're a resilient group against a desperate San Diego team, scoring five goals in six minutes in the second to tie the game before the Seals took a 7-6 lead at the half. Forward Adam Charalambides kicked off that flurry of goals with a pump fake, coming to the middle of the floor and finding a slice of daylight for the ball to hit the twine.
He followed that up with a dunk 13 seconds into the power play to send the Warriors on a four-goal run. The 29-year-old credited his hat trick to his teammates for getting him the ball at the right time to make plays to help get the group back in the game.
“Our whole group is moving the ball really well and moving our feet. We wanted to play a little bit faster this week because we’re a little bit methodical at times,” Bides said. “I liked the way we all moved and I was just playing off my teammates.”
The Warriors scored two goals in transition – one from defenceman Reid Bowering and one from forward Keegan Bal – followed by Curtis Dickson showing a quick flick of the wrist to tie the game with 4:39 left in the second quarter.
Charalambides liked the hustle his group showed and the team’s refusal to give up.
“I liked our resiliency,” Charalambides said. “I think as a group we’ve got to grow and not put ourselves in those types of positions. Obviously our first quarter, a slow start, led us to what was that one-goal battle down the stretch there.”
Malawsky said the team did a good job to get themselves back in the game in the second and shared what was working for them through that stretch.
“We were just flowing. We were getting stops in the one end and they [the shots] went in. We ran in transition a couple times. Sometimes, if you're not scoring five-on-five, you’ve got to stretch the floor a little bit and get up and down the floor,” Malawsky said. “We run really well in the second and fourth quarters, we usually do here. We’ve got our righties [Curtis] Dickson and [Keegan] Baller coming off the front door, so that makes a big difference, too.”
As they look ahead to Ottawa next week, Malawsky and his staff are going to make some adjustments to their system.
“All the pieces are here, all the heart is here, all the compete is here, all the hard work is here, and guys who really care,” he said, “Just have to work a little bit on the X's and O’s, and that falls on my shoulders.”
Why Dickson’s Game-Tying Goal Was No-Goal
Bal and forward Marcus Klarich scored goals in the last 1:04 of play, and the Warriors could have had a third goal to tie the game with 17 seconds left. Dickson dove across the crease, putting the ball past Chris Origlieri, but the question was: If Dickson’s foot dragged through the crease or not.
When the referees looked at the replay, the camera angle they needed showed the top of someone’s head blocking Dickson’s legs in the shot. Therefore, there wasn’t enough evidence from the cameras to determine if Dickson’s foot dragged through the crease.