Tim Henderson made his return to the Vancouver Stealth lineup Saturday night, albeit in a limited capacity, after missing all of last season with commitments to the US Military Academy.
Henderson, deployed to Afghanistan last year, didn’t play a whole lot in his season debut, but was noticeable physically and looked fit and ready to test the rigors of the NLL regular season. Henderson graduated from Army, where he played field as a LSM; he was a USILA All-American honorable mention, the only LSM to get that nod.
Listed at 6-3 and 220 lb, the Tully, NY native was a valuable part of the Stealth’s defensive unit when the team was in Washington in the 2013 regular season. Cliff Smith wondered if there was anyone in the league that was “as big and as athletic” as him and Henderson plays exactly how you would expect a player with that type of frame and physicality to play.
It’s clear that the Stealth are willing to be patient with Henderson, and rust does play a little bit of a factor in that. It’s a lot to ask of any player to step into a situation where your team has allowed 14 and 20 goals, respectively. Henderson alleviated some of those concerns of rust by playing positionally sound and not playing out of his comfort zone.
He was described at Army as a key player in transition, but left the transition to other players such as Bradley Kri and Tyler Hass. Henderson found himself matched up on the lefty side, defending players like Jeremy Thompson and Ryan Benesch through the night.
Henderson is a natural fit for the box game, with a large frame that’s able to cover space and the discipline to play smart, tough defense. That is something that has no doubt been passed down through his family and his time in the military – his grandfather, father and older brother were also all in the military.
Having already missed two games due to his five-year commitment to the military, it’s going to be hard to rely on Henderson for the entire season, mainly due to the uncertainty that surrounds his commitments. He reasoned he was deployed to Afghanistan because he was a young, single male with no kids. That makes him a possibility to be called to service at virtually any time.
For now, though, the Stealth would be wise to work him into the back gate rotation a little more to get him reacquainted with the box game and try to hemorrhage some of the bleeding that has been leaking from the Stealth’s defensive unit. That unit now has had 48 goals scored on them in three games, a 16 goal per game clip.
The Stealth are in Colorado on Jan. 24 to face the Mammoth in the first half of a home-and-home series. The return date is Jan. 31 at the LEC.
