Warriors clinch franchise-first home playoff game after historic regular season

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The Vancouver Warriors defeated the Philadelphia Wings 11-5 in their regular season finale. The Warriors clinched a playoff berth last week with a win against the Toronto Rock. But with the Rock defeating the Rochester Knighthawks Saturday, the Warriors finish the season 11-7 as the fourth seed. They host their first home playoff game in franchise history next Saturday against the Knighthawks.

Vancouver was 5-7 heading into the trade deadline. They sent shockwaves across the lacrosse world at the deadline by acquiring superstar goaltender Christian Del Bianco from the Calgary Roughnecks. Since the trade, the Warriors head into the postseason having won six games in a row, the longest win streak in franchise history. As for Del Bianco, he has the best goals against average in the National Lacrosse League with 8.77 and the best save percentage at 82 per cent.

Marcus Klarich was in a three-way tie with Adam Charalambides and Riley Loewen for the Warriors’ leading scorer Saturday night, with all three of them having five points. Klarich mentioned postgame how his team has grown the most throughout the season. “Playing confident and trusting each other, we’re not overthinking things (and) we’re playing quick. We like to play quick now, but we know when to slow it down.”

Klarich added how important the defence and goaltending have been this season. “Our defence (and) goalie have been phenomenal. All year they’ve been phenomenal, but we have so much more confidence now, we’re moving the ball and trusting each other on offence, and defensively we have guys back there that are going to get the job done.”

The Warriors got out to a 10-3 lead at halftime and then shut the door in the second half. The big story out of Saturday night’s game was the fact that the Warriors will host their first-ever playoff game. This has been a historic season for Vancouver – it finished the season with a franchise-best 11 wins and set a franchise record by allowing only four goals in a game, which they did twice this season. Head coach and general manager Curt Malawsky knows the significance of hosting a playoff game.

“It means a lot to me in the respect that it means a lot to the fans from Vancouver. That’s what it’s all about for us. When I came here, I wanted to grow the game and we have a really good team around us, our office staff is phenomenal and we’ve got all the support from the Aquilini group, I’ve said that time and time again, they take away the intangibles that we don’t have to worry about.”

Malawsky always emphasizes growing lacrosse in the Lower Mainland. Saturday was the first time the Warriors opened the upper bowl to fans. Malawsky says that special to him and the organization. “I’m just proud and appreciative of the fans that came, (I’m) excited they were here and got to enjoy the game, and even more excited that they’re going to come next week. I think it’s great for the organization, I know there’s been tough sledding here, and it’s not an easy market to get lacrosse going, especially when we weren’t winning.”

The Warriors are playing the best lacrosse the franchise has ever seen and will be heading into the playoffs with a ton of confidence. Rogers Arena is expected to be rocking next weekend with playoff lacrosse making its debut in Vancouver.