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The Vancouver Canucks<\/a>\u2019 National Lacrosse League club clinched the regular season crown in the 14-team loop and home-floor advantage throughout their stay in the post-season that goes with it thanks to their 17-10 romp over the visiting Philadelphia Wings Saturday, coupled with the Colorado Mammoth\u2019s 9-8 loss to the Calgary Roughnecks.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n First-place Vancouver (13-5) hosts the eighth-place Halifax Thunderbirds (8-10) in a single-game quarterfinal Friday at Rogers Arena<\/a>. The semifinals and finals are best-of-three series.<\/p>\n Prior to the regular season finale versus Philadelphia, the Warriors had already clinched a playoff spot and home floor in the opening round. A win by Colorado (12-6) over Calgary (6-12) would have bumped Vancouver to second place.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Warriors have been under the Canucks\u2019 umbrella since the hockey club bought the Vancouver Stealth in June 2018, moved them from the Langley Events Centre to downtown and gave them a new moniker and look.\u00a0<\/p>\n They recruited away longtime Calgary Roughnecks coach Curt Malawsky in July 2023 to take over lacrosse operations and they\u2019ve been surging since. Vancouver\u2019s been major players in NLL free agency the past three seasons, and they\u2019ve been built to take a run at the championship this year.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re just excited to get the real season going,\u201d Warriors right-hander Keegan Bal said after Saturday\u2019s game. \u201cThis is where it starts.<\/p>\n \u201cFor us, this what you play for.\u201d<\/p>\n Bal, 34, had six goals and 11 points versus the last-place Wings (5-13) before the announced crowd of 9,630. That helped him secure the\u00a0NLL scoring title with 124 points, including 45 goals. Connor Fields of the Rochester Knighthawks was the runner-up with 119 points, including 41 goals.<\/p>\n Vancouver is 6-3 at Rogers Arena<\/a> on the season, which includes victories in five of their past six games on home turf. Most notably, they scored an 8-7 come-from-behind win over Halifax at Rogers Arena on April 10, spearheaded by a fourth-quarter hat trick from Jesse King, who was one of the key free-agent additions this off-season.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d like it more if it was a 4-out-of-7 (series),\u201d Malawsky said of moving onto the playoffs. \u201cI think everybody would. Then you have some time to readjust if you don\u2019t have a great night. But it\u2019s the way the National Lacrosse League is.<\/p>\n \u201cWe brought guys here who have a championship pedigree. It\u2019s one thing to get there and not quite get it done. Having those guys who have climbed the mountain and won multiple championships is really big for us. They\u2019re passing on all that knowledge and then you bring in good, young guys who want to follow that lead.\u201d<\/p>\n Vancouver finished 11-7 last year, which was good enough for fourth spot in the regular season standings. They were swept in the semifinals by the three-time reigning champion Buffalo Bandits.<\/p>\n x.com\/SteveEwen<\/a><\/p>\n SEwen@postmedia.com<\/a><\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n
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