Writers say it’s war time for the Vancouver lacrosse team

Reported by Anita Zhu

The Vancouver Warriors are in their second season under a new name, a different arena and the team hopes for a better result than last year as well as attract fans to their games.

The Warriors used to be called the Stealth from 2014 until 2018 when they were sold to Canucks Sports and Entertainment. They used to play at the Langley Events Centre before moving to Rogers Arena. For the past five years, they only made it to the playoffs once. Last year, they finished the season with five wins and 13 losses.

“It is going to be low [to make the playoffs this year], unfortunately for the Warriors,” said Austin Wens, who writes for a website called Lacrosse Flash.

Spicing up the product

“This year is a building year for them, and they build towards something in the future,” said Wens.

For the first game of the season on Nov. 29, the Vancouver Warriors are giving away free beer to fans in attendance.

“The have added a number of things to the building to kind of spice up the product, so I think it is definitely a big team with a lot of potential going forward,” said Rob Williams, the sports editor for Daily Hive.

Players look to keep up good form

Benjamin Steiner, the editor-in-chief of 49-sport.com, said that forward Mitch Jones and goaltender Aaron Bold are two players who played very well last year.

“I can really see them returning to good form,” said Steiner. “Bold,  of course, went through a lot of stuff in the offseason with his wife having cancer. He’s going to be a strong guy that is coming back after his wife has run into remission.”

Steiner said that lacrosse has high scoring games and is exciting to watch.

“It is very physical and there is a lot of goal scoring as well, said Steiner. “If you compare it to hockey in a similar arena, similar space, but it is more physical.”