Warriors Flash Power Play Strength in Hard-Fought 10-7 Home-Opening Loss
NLL Vancouver Warriors

Warriors Flash Power Play Strength in Hard-Fought 10-7 Home-Opening Loss

Published on November 30, 2025 under National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Vancouver Warriors News Release


The final result didn't tilt their way, but the Vancouver Warriors showed grit, strong goaltending, and a dangerous power play in a 10-7 loss to the Colorado Mammoth at Rogers Arena.

Keegan Bal led the way with seven points (1G, 6A), Jesse King had four points (1G, 3A), Adam Charalambides and Curtis Dickson notched two goals and an assist each, and Ryan Sheridan had one goal and one assist.

Goaltender Christian Del Bianco stood tall in net, turning aside 36 shots on the evening.

It was a close game the whole way; Colorado went on a five-goal run in the third quarter, but the Warriors responded and brought the game within one in the fourth. Warriors' Head Coach and GM Curt Malawsky said there were positive takeaways from Week one that they'll continue to build on.

"I liked Christian [Del Bianco], I thought he played really, really well and kept us in the game," Malawsky said. "We struggled in the third quarter last year, but we came out and scored two early in the third quarter, so we started on time in the first five minutes which was good. We battled back to 8-7, I liked that and then they got a couple more and that was the difference."

The first four goals the Warriors scored were on the power play, and Vancouver went four-for-eight on the man advantage throughout the contest. Malawsky wants to see his group play a more disciplined game, especially on the power play, as they took three penalties of their own while they were on the man advantage.

"We took ourselves off the power play, which is a killer, especially if our power play was doing so well," Malawsky said. "Then we took another undisciplined penalty in the crease which we shouldn't have taken."

Forward Curtis Dickson had two goals and one assist in his debut for the Warriors. Despite the result, he said the atmosphere at Rogers Arena with fans cheering from opening faceoff until the final horn.

"It was obviously really exciting for me getting to play at home in front of family and friends. Not the way we wanted it to come out, so that's something we've got to figure out, but it's one game into an 18-game season. We've got a week off here to think about it and let that stew, we've obviously got to be a lot better in a couple of weeks," Dickson said.

The Warriors had 44 shots on net, but Dickson felt at some points throughout the game they were a little tentative to shoot against a Colorado defence that plugs up the lanes.

"They're really good positionally," Dickson said. "They pack it in and make it hard for you to get to the inside. We tried to get a little bit too cute sometimes and get the perfect shot where we've just got to trust our shots and get upwards of 50, 60 shots per game, especially to score 10-plus goals against a goalie like [Dillon] Ward."

Malawsky gave credit to the Mammoth's 6-foot-5 goaltender and Colorado's defence and said the Warriors needed to find ways to extend the defence and find more opportunities to get to the middle of the floor.

"We moved the ball, we wanted to play a little faster, but they're jammed inside there - that old school dotted line - we have to find ways to get the ball moving and you have to open up an inside game by establishing an outside game," Malawsky said. "Ward was really good, I tip my hat to him, and it [the loss] wasn't from a lack of effort. That's on me, the game plan needs to be better, and I'll clean that up."

Without a designated faceoff specialist until February, the Warriors shared responsibilities in the faceoff circle, winning just four of 20 draws. In tight games like the one against Colorado, gaining possession down the stretch is crucial.

"I'm not panicking after game one, but if you don't get possession of the ball, you're down 10-7, even if we scored, I don't know if we're going to get the ball back again. I sat with my timeout in my pocket in case we could make it a scrum," Malawsky said.

The Warriors have a bye week next week and are back at home Saturday, December 13th to take on the Las Vegas Desert Dogs at 7:00 p.m.

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