(Vancouver Warriors’ goaltender Christian Del Bianco takes to the floor for the first time in 328 days. His performance helped the Warriors defeat the Toronto Rock. PHOTO: NLL/Jacklyn McKee)
Christian Del Bianco is back in the National Lacrosse League. And if his 51 save performance against the Toronto Rock on Friday night is any indication of how he’ll play in a Vancouver Warriors’ uniform, the rest of the league should look out. Del Bianco combined with a lethal shooting performance from the Warriors’ offense to defeat the Rock 13-8, the first win over Toronto in franchise history.
Del Bianco may be “So tired of talking about myself” as he said postgame, but the 2023 NLL Goaltender of the Year and MVP was exceptional despite his last NLL game 328 days prior. Of Toronto’s eight goals, four came in the fourth quarter when the game was decided, two others were on the power play (three for five overall), and one was a beautiful no-look, over-the-shoulder, behind-the-back shot from Josh Dawick in the second quarter which made the score 6-2 Vancouver.
In the first half alone, Del Bianco made 28 saves (93.3%), added an assist and two loose balls. Still, the 27-year-old downplayed the pressure with monikers like ‘the Christian Del Bianco era’. “I feel like I’ve worked hard enough to not let that get to me,” he said. “However I can contribute to this organization and help, and be a good teammate, that’s my goal.”
Not only is the loss Toronto’s first ever against the Warriors, it’s just the third loss ever in Vancouver (13-12 to the Ravens, Dec 1, 2001 and 14-11 to the Stealth, Mar 13, 2017). Rock head coach Matt Sawyer acknowledged his team chased the game most of the night (trailing 3-1 after the first and 8-2 at halftime) saying, “Any time we generated some good looks on offense we just couldn’t get it to fall.” Tom Schreiber led Toronto with five points (2,3) while Dawick (2,1), Corey Small (2,1) and Dan Craig (3 assists) each had three. Only five Rock players scored goals along with Chris Boushy and Zack Kearney.
Contrarily, seven Warriors found the back of Toronto’s net. Keegan Bal led all runners with nine points (4,5) including his third hat-trick of the season. Adam Charalambides also netted a hat-trick (3,3), also his third. “They had some guys who are threats,” credited Sawyer, “we wanted to be on their hands and not let them shoot balls, we were kind of retreating and putting Troy [Holowchuk] in tough spots.” After his first career win a week prior, Troy Holowchuk allowed 12 goals off 38 shots and was briefly relieved by Gowah Abrams to end the third quarter.
The loss ends the Rock’s streak of three straight road victories. Toronto returns home Saturday, March 22 to host the Philadelphia Wings whilst Vancouver hosts Georgia later that evening.
