Both the New England Black Wolves and Vancouver Stealth will open their seasons tonight. They are the only National Lacrosse League teams this weekend to face each other where one has not played a game yet. Both these clubs also are two of the most improved teams in the league.
New England traded Garrett Billings to Vancouver this off season, acquiring Tyler Digby in the process, of whom they traded to Calgary for Shawn Evans. Evans, last year’s league MVP, produced 130 points and is a welcome addition to a team that struggled to find the back of the net last season.
The Black Wolves will also see the return of Quinn Powless tonight, who missed most of last season with a torn ACL, and defenseman Mike McNamara should also be active. Defensemen Derek Suddons and Dan Ball will be making their Wolves’ debuts as well after signing as free agents this off season, while Shane MacDonald at forward will play his first game after being traded from Georgia.
Vancouver will start Eric Penney in net, who is taking over as the starting goaltender after Tyler Richards retired. The defense in front of him is improved from 2015, with Jeff Moleski making his return to the Stealth and Ian Hawksbee signing this off season.
On offense, Vancouver looks a lot different than it did a season ago. In 2015, the Stealth started the season with Lewis Ratcliff and Johnny Powless as major offensive players. This season, it will be Billings and Logan Schuss who will play alongside Rhys Duch to lead the scoring attack.
Last season the Black Wolves did not play in Vancouver, so this will be the team’s first ever game at the Langley Events Centre. The Stealth played at New England last season where they won, 11-9, on April 2nd. In that contest, Mitch McMichael dominated Ryan Hotaling in the faceoff circle, 18-6. Duch scored six points in the game while Joel McCready had three goals. For New England, it was Mark Cockerton, no longer with the team, who had five points. Evan Kirk picked up the loss in net and Penney picked up the win.
The Stealth gave up the most goals in the NLL in 2015, and the Black Wolves had the second least goals scored in the league. New England is a much better offense this time around and its likely Vancouver will be better on the defensive end. One of these teams will start its season with a loss, and its important for for both of them to get off to a good start.
