With the best crowd at the Langley Events Centre in three years, the Vancouver Stealth sent home 4,066 fans with the best result possible: a 15-7 win to pull the Stealth within a game and a half of Saskatchewan in the West Division.
It was a dominating performance right from the first face-off, with Ryan Wagner scoring his first professional lacrosse goal on a breakaway. Colorado was reportedly ravaged by a flu bug, but Vancouver took full advantage of the circumstances. They pushed the pace of play, they peppered Alexis Buque and Dillon Ward with 55 shots (and only 15 shots missing the net.
Buque kept the Mammoth in the game for most of the first half, making some excellent stops before the floodgates started to open. Buque made a great glove save off his WLA teammate Logan Schuss from the outside, then came across to rob Corey Small after Rhys Duch found him through traffic. Buque allowed the only two goals in the frame, but it allowed the Stealth to push their halftime lead to 6-3.
Coming out of the break, it was all Stealth. After Ilija Gajic scored on his old team at 3:46 of the third quarter, the Stealth scored six unanswered goal in almost eight minutes to break the game wide open to 12-4.
Logan Schuss continued his breakout season, putting up another nine points behind three goals and six assists. Schuss leads all Vancouver scorers and has pulled into the top ten scorers in the league, tied for tenth alongside Curtis Dickson and Jeff Shattler. Keep in mind that Schuss has also played a game less than everyone ahead of him on that list besides Shawn Evans and Dhane Smith, who is scoring more than seven points a game.
Goaltending is going to be the story that shapes most of Vancouver’s results this season, for better or for worse. On Saturday night, it was for the better as Penney outdueled the two Mammoth tendys. He made 40 saves on 47 shots, controlled his rebounds and contributed to the quick pace of the game the Stealth wanted to set.
Vancouver’s defense was instrumental in the win as well, holding Colorado’s top-ranked offense to 47 shots and the high-scoring trio of John Grant Jr, Adam Jones and Callum Crawford to a combined 10 points behind three goals and seven assists.
Vancouver has another tough test on the road, visiting the Rochester Knighthawks next Saturday night, while Colorado will look to get back on track and into the top spot in the West when they host Saskatchewan on Friday night before traveling to Calgary.
