The Vancouver Warriors overtook the Georgia Swarm 14-7 at Gas South Arena, in a game filled with milestones and personal bests from the Warriors.
The Warriors controlled the tempo against the Swarm, focusing on five minutes at a time and playing hard every shift. With the win, Head Coach and GM Curt Malawsky moved into fifth all-time coaching wins, posting 119 career wins.
Malawsky was pleased with the way the team competed and executed the game plan.
“As far as a complete game goes, that was our most complete game of the season. So, super proud of our guys, they had great effort all the way around,” Malawsky said.
“It started in the circle with Max [Adler], he was 76% on the draw. We got a lot of good possessions, we had a good scheme getting the balls off the back line – Owen Grant and Reid Bowering played amazing out there, and then the rest of the faceoff team clamped down on their guys. The big thing for us was taking care of possession, taking care of the ball early. That's how you can build momentum, and they did that.”
Adler went 19-for-25, his best work in the dot since joining the team on December 31st, 2025.
Keegan Bal led the way for Vancouver with nine points (4G, 5A) and moved up the ladder as second all-time in franchise goals with 254 goals, passing Gary Rosyski (250). The 34-year-old forward’s five assists on the night pushed him over the 400-mark for helpers, now at 401.
Vancouver had a bounce-back shooting performance this week, posting a scorching 83% on-goal shooting percentage. Swarm starting goaltender Brett Dobson subbed out in the third quarter while Devlin Shanahan took over for the rest of the game.
“The offence did a really good job putting the ball behind him [Brett Dobson] because he’s an excellent goaltender,” Malawsky said.
Curtis Dickson tallied seven points (3G, 4A), Jesse King recorded four points (2G, 2A), and Ryan Sheridan put up one goal and two assists, while Adam Charalambides chipped in three assists. Marcus Klarich scored a pair, and defencemen Ryan Dilks scored a goal, and Reece Callies scored his first goal in a Warriors uniform.
Coming down the stretch, the games get tougher, and Dickson said it was encouraging to control a game from start to finish.
“It's big. A lot of the teams at the top of the standings, we've lost the season series with already with Colorado and Sask, and we knew we needed this one. We're going to be battling with these guys for playoff positioning, and this is the only time we see them this year. So, this was definitely one we had circled,” Dickson said.
The Warriors’ defence was stingy and physical, only allowing seven goals throughout the game. Often given the toughest matchups, Dilks squared up against former NLL MVP Lyle Thompson, who led his team with just two goals in the contest.
“Dilksy had an amazing game, he did a great job with Lyle. Lyle just never quits, from the start of the game until the end of the game, he's battling out there, and I thought Dilksy matched him stride for stride,” Malawsky said.
Vancouver came out on top in the special teams battle, going five-for-six on the penalty kill. It was a full defensive effort to stop the Swarm power play as Vancouver got in lanes, blocked 10 shots on the night, and Goaltender Christian Del Bianco shut the door on 47 of 54 shots he faced.
“It starts with Christian. Obviously, he's lights out and a big bounce back from last week, and same with the defence,” Dickson said. “They were pressuring all over the floor, soaking shots, and anytime you see guys block shots as an offensive guy, that just gets the blood flowing and gets us amped up. And just seeing them play like that is so encouraging and takes a lot of the stress off us at the front end, lets us play a little bit looser, and obviously gives us a better chance to get a good flow going in the game.”
With the win, the Warriors improve to 10-4 on the season. They are back at Rogers Arena for St. Paddy’s Night, Friday, March 20th, to take on the Ottawa Black Bears at 7:00 p.m. PT.
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