Resilience Key in Warriors 8-6 Win over Oshawa
Published on December 20, 2025 under National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Vancouver Warriors News Release
Oshawa, ON - After withstanding a first quarter flurry of FireWolves goals, the Vancouver Warriors dug deep, stayed calm, and executed an 8-6 comeback win over the hosts from Oshawa before a crowd of 4,852 on Teddy Bear Toss night at Tribute Communities Centre.
Christian Del Bianco overcame the first quarter barrage and, behind a stellar defensive effort, turned aside 48 shots in the victory. To put the defensive effort into perspective, after the 4-1 Oshawa goal, it took the FireWolves over 20 minutes to dent the twine behind the Coquitlam keeper again and then another 28 minutes before Oshawa would strike one last time, with the game already decided in Vancouver's favour.
"It's a bend don't break mentality, the guys stayed in the fight," remarked General Manager and Head Coach Curt Malawsky. "It wasn't easy, we dug our heels in, and by the end of the half we started getting loose balls, and loose balls win games, we turned that into more possessions and grinded them down and then Christian (Del Bianco) stepped up."
Stepped up was an understatement.
"He (Del Bianco) ends up with an 89% save percentage, that wins a lot of lacrosse games," continued Malawsky. "In our minds, he's the best goalie in the NLL, and in key moments made the saves and gave our offence confidence. We knew that if we didn't get one on the front end that our guys on the back had that bend don't break mentality."
Another positive sign for the Warriors was another night of goals by committee. While Keegan Bal led all Warriors with two goals and three assists for five points, Jesse King scored another one to give the Warriors their first lead of the night. Jackson Suboch, known for his stay-at-home, no nonsense, team-first play, galloped up the floor and scored the first goal of the night for Vancouver, and then Curtis Dickson took the game on his back and delivered two key moments that led to the Warriors win.
First, late in the third quarter with his team down 5-3 and killing off a penalty, Dickson took on the entire FireWolves team, split the defence like a hot knife through butter, and connected past 'Wolves keeper Doug Jamieson to pull the Warriors within one at 5-4.
Then, in the fourth quarter, after Jesse King had just put Vancouver ahead for the first time in the game 6-5, Dickson put the cape on and went full "Superman", crease-diving past a stunned Jamieson for what would turn out to be the game winning goal.
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Malawsky on Dickson: "Big time players make big time plays. That shorthanded goal where they pressed him and he just powered through and scored...then he scored on a nice bump and dump late in the fourth quarter. That is why we brought him in and what a great teammate."
Plays like that were littered throughout the game. Each goal scored for Vancouver was the result of hard work from the group that was on the floor. It's the group mentality that the coach always alludes to.
"No one cares who scores, no one looks at the scoresheet and says I' got two and you got none,'" praised Malawsky. "As long as we get one more goal than the other team, that's all that anyone cares about."
That resilient effort now moves Vancouver to 2-1 on the season and a two-week Christmas break awaits. The Warriors will head to Calgary to face the Roughnecks to kick of their 2026 calendar year. The team put a nice present under the tree for the fans to wrap up the 2025 portion of their schedule, now the rubber will hit the road when the games become more frequent in the New Year.
National Lacrosse League Stories from December 20, 2025
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- Mammoth Fans, Personnel Ring in Holiday Season Via Mingle with the Mammoth - Colorado Mammoth
- Black Bears Hit the Road for Date with Desert Dogs - Ottawa Black Bears
- Resilience Key in Warriors 8-6 Win over Oshawa - Vancouver Warriors
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