Author Archives: Jaden Teja

Ryan Martel’s breakout year in Vancouver

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The Vancouver Warriors are only a game back of a playoff spot heading into the final game of the regular season. After starting the season 2-8 and now winning six of their last seven, they showed how resilient they are as a team. The word ‘resilient’ is also a great way to describe Ryan Martel. The Aldergrove, B.C. native had a rocky start to his National Lacrosse League career after being drafted 11th overall in 2017 by the Calgary Roughnecks. Despite being coached by current Warriors head coach and general manager Curt Malawsky while he was with the Roughnecks, Martel didn’t get much playing time and left Calgary in 2020.

In 2022, Martel signed with his hometown team but still wasn’t contributing the way he hoped, playing in only nine games while posting six goals and nine assists. Martel is in his sixth NLL season and finally putting his game together. Following a 9-point outing against the New York Riptide on April 13, Martel talked about how Malawsky has been a key part of his success this year.

“Curt’s had a lot to do with it. He’s had a lot of confidence in me this year, giving me the ball and different plays and situations which I really appreciate. (Also) I think just getting older, getting in my man body a bit and I’m excited to come to the rink every day. I think about (playing in games) all week and it’s been a fun year.”

Martel is smashing career highs in every major offensive category. He’s third in goals, assists, and points on the Warriors, and is fourth in shots on goal. It’s Martel’s first season getting top-end playing time and he says it’s different now as opposed to early on in his career. “I think when you’re in and out of the lineup, it’s tough to kind of get up when you don’t know if you’re in the lineup or not. Knowing I’m in every week just sort of gives me that confidence and (I’m) just rolling with it”.

Martel’s 69 points this season are five more than he’s had in his entire NLL career. He’s become one of the star players on the Warriors along with Adam Charalambides and Keegan Bal. He’s also a top-tier scoring threat, giving Vancouver another weapon when he’s on the floor. Malawsky noted Martel’s growth and how he’s matured as a player since coming to Vancouver.

“When Ryan was a young guy, I wasn’t sure he liked lacrosse and (I) think now he’s gotten older, he’s got a (girl), and he’s working full-time – he’s playing in his province, his parents get to come watch the games, and I think it’s become more important to him. I think as you get older, you realize that you’re not going to play this game forever and to cherish the time that he has. In your life when things are really important, you prioritize them and I think he’s done that.”

Malawsky feels that Martel’s ability to get to the middle of the floor has helped him elevate his game this season. “Marty doesn’t have any fear now. When he doesn’t get to the middle of the floor, he’s like, ‘Coach, I should have gone to the middle’ so he’s understanding his type of game. He’s a good athlete and he’s got great feet and he’s got great anticipation, he can score in tight, so he’s had a great season for us.”

Martel’s breakout season is a key part of the Warriors’ playoff push and success in the second half of this season. Regardless of how the Warriors’ season ends, they have a great sniper in Martel who’s just going to get better and better moving forward and help his team win more games.

Vancouver Warriors: Building for big things

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The Vancouver Warriors have won their fourth straight game and climbed their way back into the playoff picture. They sit just one game back of a playoff spot. You can give credit to a lot of people for the surge. Whether it’s Keegan Bal, who has 20 goals in his last four games, Adam Charalambides, who continues to prove he’s one of the top players in the National Lacrosse League, or general manager and head coach Curt Malawlsky. The important thing is that the Warriors are playing their best lacrosse when it matters most.

The star players are performing well, but enough can’t be said about the Warriors’ young studs. For example, Brayden Laity and Owen Grant won NLL Rookie of the Week in back-to-back weeks. Goaltender Aden Walsh has shut the door during the winning streak and has taken over the starting role for Vancouver between the pipes.

Following their win against the Halifax Thunderbirds, Charalambides spoke highly of his young netminder. “I thought Walsh was great, he made some huge saves down the stretch there. Halifax has a very potent offense, very skilled guys into their third and fourth lefty and right (forwards) and I thought Walsh had a great game.” Walsh has started every game for the Warriors since week 11 and hasn’t looked back, posting a 5-2 record.

Not many teams would have as much faith as the Warriors do in their young players, especially in critical games down the stretch. Malawsky notes how important it is for the young players to get experience playing meaningful games at the end of the season.

“You can’t buy experience, you have to go through it, you have to play in games like this. You have to go to Philadelphia where it’s tough, and win on the road with bad travel and bad sleep. All that stuff for those young guys, you put that experience together and they’re better and better. You fight challenge after challenge, so having young guys that can play through this and understand what it takes to be in a grind it out is important for the organization.”, said Malawsky.

The playoffs aren’t a guarantee for the Warriors this season, but they are just getting started for years to come. This late-season push is a testament to the culture Malawlsky is building in Vancouver and how the young guns have risen to the occasion.

Walsh has been a big part of the current win streak, Laity leads the team in blocked shots and is fifth in caused turnovers, and Grant is second in caused turnovers. All of these players are under 24. This team is still headlined by Charalambides, Bal, and Ryan Martel, but the young guns are pulling their weight and will be ready to take over the reins when the time comes. The franchise is turning things around and building for big things in the future.

Adam Charalambides’ flawless jump from college to the pros

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Georgetown, Ontario native Adam Charalambides is a major bright spot for the Vancouver Warriors this season. As of March 6, Charalambides leads the Warriors in goals, assists, and points. Charalambides, who’s in his second year in Vancouver, has already surpassed his career high in all major offensive categories.

After defeating the defending NLL champion Buffalo Bandits, where he recorded eight points and his 100th career NLL assist, Charalambides credits Warriors training staff members Karen Nichol and Matt Holtzmann as well as the coaching staff and his teammates as key contributors to his success this season.

“We have a really great team here in Vancouver. I get to work with Matt and Karen, (who are) phenomenal minds in the sports and athletic world, and they really get me right physically. Our coaches do a great job preparing us tactically with all the film and everything we are watching during the week. Then, our offensive group is just doing a better job playing grittier and getting into the middle of the floor and just sharing the ball overall, so all the credit goes to the teammates.”

The Warriors’ goals come from a variety of areas on the floor. Coach Curt Malawsky always puts an emphasis on getting to the middle and getting good shots off but that’s not easy to do in the NLL consistently. Charalambides mentions that they have to take outside looks even when they want to work for a high danger scoring chance.

“There’s been times where — especially myself — have taken some of those outside looks just to try and get a little bit better on them. Sometimes you just have to realize that we won’t get to an A grade look every single time and you have to take those B’s and B minuses when sometimes you want to work for an A minus.”

The success Charalambides is having this year shouldn’t come as a surprise. At Rutgers University, he led the team in the team in goals and points twice and was named First Team All-Big Ten and All-ECAC in 2019. He finished his career at Rutgers second all-time in goals with 149 and fifth all-time in points with 201. Charalambides’ success in college has transitioned perfectly to the NLL.

Other than playing for the Warriors, Charalambides is also an Account Executive at Canucks Sports and Entertainment. He went to Rutgers University for a Bachelor of Science in Supply Chain Management and Marketing Science in 2018 and earned a Master’s in Labour Studies and Employment Relations.

Warriors PK shines in loss to Saskatchewan

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The Warriors faced the Rush for the second time in three weeks on Saturday, Feb. 10. However, this game didn’t go the Warriors’ way. Vancouver started Marvel night on a rough note as defender Matt Beers took a roughing penalty 14:32 into the first quarter and Saskatchewan scored 12:36 into the opening frame. The goal didn’t seem to rattle the Warriors as they scored the next two goals to lead 2-1 at the end of a chippy first quarter.

The second was a different story as The Rush came out swinging and scored two quick goals to regain the lead. Warriors forward Dylan McIntosh got the equalizer to tie the game up at three. Vancouver then scored three more in the second quarter, including a beautiful one-handed goal from behind the net by Ryan Martel. The other two markers came from Keegan Bal.

The game was tied at six going into the second half, with both teams playing each other pretty evenly. After Vancouver had a goaltender interference penalty disallowed, the Rush kept the pedal to the metal, scoring 11:48 into the third quarter. Adam Charalambides tied the game up at seven at 9:11, but the Rush still had a lot of momentum. Saskatchewan scored the next two goals, including capitalizing while Bal was in the penalty box for holding. Martel scored his second goal of the evening to bring the Warriors back to within one.

Saskatchewan notched a shorthanded goal 11:54 into to fourth quarter and then another just over four minutes later. The Rush added another powerplay goal with two minutes left before Adam Charalambides got his third goal of the game for Vancouver with 1:28 left. Saskatchewan added to its lead with one last tally on a penalty shot with nine seconds left. The win sees the Rush improve to 3-4 on the season while the Warriors fall to 2-7.

Despite the loss, there were some bright spots for the Warriors. Charalambides played like Superman on Marvel night, recording a hat trick and six points to move to 44 on the season. The penalty kill also clicked for Vancouver as it was super aggressive and created a few scoring chances while being undermanned. In the end, the Warriors’ penalty kill went 4/6 on the evening. Vancouver general manager and head coach Curt Malawsky singled out the efforts of the penalty killers post-game and mentioned how they switched from a box formation to a diamond and how they tried to be unpredictable.

“I thought we tricked them a little bit with a diamond. If you can rotate a box to a diamond, it’s tough for a coach to scheme a play on a diamond and (then) they switch to a box (and) vice versa. So the key is to let (them) into the lanes and (you) obviously need some good goaltending. I thought Aaron Bold was pretty good on our PK, so we just try and be unpredictable there.” Defender Brayden Laity also noted post-game how they’ve worked on coming together on the defensive end and talking through everything regarding their penalty killing prowess.