Sports stats



NLL Vancouver Warriors

Warriors' Rookie Johnathan Peshko Nets First NLL Goals in Front of Family

December 19, 2024 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Vancouver Warriors News Release


It was a memorable weekend for Vancouver Warriors' rookie forward Johnathan Peshko, who scored his first - and second - NLL goals in a 10-7 win over the Rochester Knighthawks at Rogers Arena.

The milestone was punctuated for the Etobicoke, Ontario native as his family and girlfriend made trip to Vancouver to watch the home opener.

He said it was special to have them witness such a big moment in his career.

"It means so much because they're the ones who've been with me the whole way through my lacrosse career and have watched me play at all different levels," Peshko said. "To see me play well the first game that they're there is really exciting."

Scoring his first goal was a blur filled with different emotions and ultimately very reassuring to know that he can score in the best league in the world. He scored his first goal going five-hole on the power play and followed that up with another goal at five-on-five which turned out to be the game winner.

After the game, he was greeted on the turf with hugs and high-fives from his cheering section.

"It was so great to see them. They were so happy, so excited to be there and to watch," he said. "It was a real happy moment to see them so excited and for me - they were so pumped up."

The Peshko gang and his girlfriend made a weekend out of it, grabbing dinner after the game Friday and checking out the city together on Saturday.

"We went to the Christmas Market, and we had sushi which was awesome - we all agreed it was the best that we've had," he shared.

The weather cleared up Sunday morning, so they were able to take in the beautiful quintessential Vancouver skyline before heading to the airport.

Peshko will have his supporters at nearly half of his games this year, so it will be a 'Where's Waldo' of sorts, but keep your eyes peeled for the Peshko jerseys. His family is hoping to attend a couple more home games and drive to his games in the northeast including Toronto, Ottawa, Philadelphia, and Buffalo.

In Peshko's last year at Johns Hopkins University, his family came to nearly every home game, roughly an eight-hour drive from their home in Ontario.

"There's something extremely reassuring about having your family and people who care so much about you make that sacrifice and come down to games just to see and support you," Peshko said. "It gives you a huge boost mentally, for your confidence, and added excitement before games."

Doing the Work

Leading up to the game against Rochester, Peshko had film sessions with General Manager and Head Coach Curt Malawsky and Warriors' veteran forward Keegan Bal. Malawsky compiled a montage of all Peshko's clips from his first NLL game against the Colorado Mammoth and they went through them together.

"It was great, I was able to learn so much about my play and pick up on the small things," Peshko said. "Curt gave me confidence that he wants me to shoot the ball, which I think is such a big thing and we went through how I can improve my game and help us score goals."

Malawsky said Peshko played well and was able to take in the pre-scout and execute it.

"He got that one [the first goal] late in the clock and broke the ice and then his second goal was a big-league goal - he pumped the goalie short side, ran by him and threw it in the empty net which is something we talked about in the pre-scout," Malawsky said.

"To be able to go to the middle of the floor like that and have the wherewithal to not have to worry about sliding that was big."

Peshko was happy to see the hard work pay off and is feeling more comfortable every time he steps on the floor. He talks about his teammates bringing himself and the rest of the rookies in and getting those weekly touchpoints between games has been incredibly helpful.

"Keegan has been amazing with me, and we went through a couple clips of the Colorado game where we can improve and where we can find opportunities to score," Peshko said.

Bal sees Peshko's lacrosse IQ and his willingness to learn and he was excited for his teammate to score his first goals.

"Really cool," Bal said. "You know what, he's a sponge. He's just one of those guys you can tell him what to do and conceptually, he'll grasp it and then go do it. That's a special quality."

Peshko feels he really developed his lacrosse IQ early in high school watching a lot of lacrosse, re-watching himself on film, and breaking plays down to their simplest form.

"The plays are the 'how' you score, and the 'why' is why you're doing the plays and the overall goal. I think once you can understand the why, it opens up a whole new world of possibilities for what you can do and how you can change different things based on a match-up."

To continue to build on a great performance in his rookie campaign, Peshko is going to stick to what he and the team have been doing, keep his nose to the grindstone and continue to put in the work.

Check out the Vancouver Warriors Statistics

• Discuss this story on the National Lacrosse League message board...

National Lacrosse League Stories from December 19, 2024


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central