There is 970 kilometres that separates the cities of Vancouver and Calgary.
It is a half-day drive or a one-hour flight, but in the National Lacrosse League standings, it is a lot closer than that.
Heading into the game Saturday Night, the Stealth (now 3-5) were right behind the Roughnecks (now 3-4) in the West Division.
If anyone blinked in the first quarter, they probably missed a Vancouver Stealth goal.
Logan Schuss opened the scoring just over a minute into game, Matt Beers added his first of the season thirty seconds later and the Stealth were out to a quick two-nothing lead. Then, Vancouver added four more goals to take a 6-1 lead after the first quarter.
The offensive assault carried on in the second. NLL leading scorer Corey Small continued his “hot hand” adding three points in the second and guided Vancouver to a 10-4 lead at the half, explained Jamie Batley, the assistant general manager and head coach for the Langley-based team.
After playing the best 30 minutes of the season, the goals began to dry up for Vancouver.
The Roughnecks went on a four-goal run in the second half of the game and tightened up the score, but it was not enough as the Stealth went on to take the 13-10 victory.
“We are excited, I thought we played really well in all facets of the game, faceoffs we did what we need to, in the first half, defensively we shut them down and offensively we scored 10,” Batley said.
“When we needed a goal in the fourth, we got it, so all around we worked hard and deserved the win.”
The “usual suspects” were at it again for the road team, he said.
Small entered the game one point back of the number one spot on the league leaders board. He would regain it after scoring four goals and four assists.
Schuss had four goals, a pair of assists and scored a late goal in the fourth that halted the Rougnecks’ momentum.
“I feel like I have been shooting in the same spot a lot and I have had success with it. But my mom recently told me to change up my shot so I did and it worked,” said Schuss, who is the team’s assistant captain. “It feels great to bounce back and the guys could not be happier right now.”
The Stealth return home for back-to-back weekends inside the Langley Events Centre.
They host the Rochester Knighthawks on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2 and the Saskatchewan Rush on March 4. Tickets are available at the Langley Events Centre box office at 604-882-8800 or Ticket Rocket.co.
CAPTION: Jamie Batley is head coach of the Langley-based Vancouver Stealth.
