Warriors Score Early And Often En Route To Big Victory.

Picture of Gary Groob

Gary Groob

Gary Groob has been involved with Lacrosse for the majority of his life, whether playing, coaching, or covering the sport for the media. An avid fan, with a real drive about helping to "grow the game", Gary became part of podcasts about the game in 2010. Through the podcasts, Mr. Groob was given an opportunity to write about lacrosse, and the rest as they say, is history. Through many miles (flying and driving) Gary has made inroads with the National Lacrosse League, Major Series Lacrosse, Ontario Series Lacrosse, the Ontario Lacrosse Association, CUFLA, as well as the Arena Lacrosse League, covering the leagues, their teams, and players, working for, and in concert with all of them. In the year 2019, Mr. Groob was made the media person for the Arena Lacrosse League, voted onto the board of directors of the Brampton Excelsiors Lacrosse Club, as well as being made administrator of the Lacrosse page "Global Lacrosse" with a membership of 14,000+ members in over 90 Countries. Gary was also made an administrator of Lacrosse History Past Present and Future in 2022 with a membership of 19,000+. Gary also has been the media person for Ontario Series Lacrosse (Senior B) since 2023. Mr. Groob also covers the Green Gaels for their excursions to Prague at the Ales Hrebesky tournament since 2022. In 2024, when Major Series Lacrosse was in need of a media person, Gary stepped in as their interim media person. His tasks were running their social media, as well as their website until a full time person was found to fill the role. In 2025 Gary was voted onto the Board of Directors for Ontario Series Lacrosse. Mr. Groob hosts a weekly lacrosse interview show formerly on Spanglish Sports World, and ZingoTV channel 250, now on StreamPunkEnt.com, Youtube, as well as Spotify. Groob also hosts a lacrosse talk show and podcast for All Lacrosse All The Time seen live Sunday nights at 8pm (ET), and archived on the All Lacrosse All The Time YouTube page, as well as Spotify. Gary also wrote a weekly lacrosse editorial column for La Portada Canada News both in print and online for three years from 2021-2024. In 2025, Mr. Groob joined the ownership ranks, becoming a minority owner of StreamPunk Entertainment, ensuring Lacrosse will always have voice in media. Gary was voted onto the board of directors as the social media director for Ontario Series Lacrosse (OSL) in November of 2025. In 2026 Mr. Groob was nominated for the Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame, made a voting member of the NLL media, was put as a voting member in the Ales Hrebesky Tournament awards, and was nominated for the Tom Borelli Award as media person of the year for the NLL. Mr. Groob's other sports interests include Hockey, Football, Boxing, Wrestling, and Baseball, competing competitively in Boxing and Wrestling for many years.

(Photo courtesy of Victoria Adkins NLL)

The Vancouver Warriors (10-4) visited the Georgia Swarm (8-5) in NLL action Saturday night at the Gas South Arena in Duluth, Georgia.

Vancouver was coming off a 13-10 loss to the Toronto Rock last week, and were eager to get back on track.  Led by Jesse King, Curtis Dickson, Adam Charalambides, Keegan Bal, and Marcus Klarich, the Warriors can put up points in a hurry.

Georgia’s back end has been off the hook this year.  With a goals against average of near 7.00, they have been close to unbeatable all season.  Lyle Thompson has had a resurgence lately, with Shane Jackson, Bryan Cole, Kaleb Benedict, Mike Trilo, Nolan Byrne, and Toron Ecclestone, the Swarm can also put up big numbers.

The goaltending match-up had Christian Del Bianco in net for Vancouver facing Brett Dobson in net for Georgia.

Although Georgia scored first, the majority of the first quarter was Vancouver.  Led by Curtis Dickson, the Warriors rhymed off four in a row, including a shorty, to take a 4-1 lead. 

Vancouver kept the pressure through the second quarter.  Brett Dobson was pulled from the Swarm net briefly, but returned later in the frame.   The Warriors added another five goals to take a 9-3 lead to the half.

The second half opened up with a continued Vancouver attack.  Keegan Bal had a pair, followed by Reece Callies, and Curtis Dickson.  Brett Dobson was replaced by Devlin Shanahan once again in the Georgia goal.

While the Swarm scored a pair late in the third, they still had a huge hill to climb.

The fourth quarter saw Jesse King stop the Swarm’s mini run with a power-play goal just 0:24 seconds into the frame, but the story was more the Warriors suffocating defense.  The Swarm really never got any momentum in the game.  Vancouver wins handily 14-7.

To The Game:

The Georgia Swarm got on the board first when Mike Triolo fired a high to low laser off a Nolan Byrne pass at 5:17.

Jesse King answered from in close for the Warriors off a Curtis Dickson pass at 7:20. Marcus Klarich dove from behind the net on a delayed penalty off a Curtis Dickson feed at 8:51.  Dickson then added one himself with a beauty from in close off a Keegan Bal pass at 10:10.

To add insult to injury, the Warriors then scored a shorthanded goal in transition when Ryan Dilks went coast to coast to beat Brett Dobson at 14:07.

After one quarter, Vancouver 4 Georgia 1.

Second Quarter:

The Warriors continued where they left in the first with Keegan Bal converting an Adam Charalambides pass at 1:05. Curtis Dickson scored from the top of the crease off a Keegan Bal pass at 1:57.  Then, Ryan Sheridan scored jumping across the crease off a Keegan Bal pass at 2:22.

Devlin Shanahan replaced Brett Dobson in the Georgia goal.

The Swarm finally stopped the Vancouver run when Jordan MacIntosh scored in transition off an Adam Wiedemann pass at 2:50.

Brett Dobson went back in the Swarm net.

Marcus Klarich added to the Warriors lead with a great individual effort at 6:42, but Lyle Thompson kept the Swarm in the game on the power-play with a bounced shot off a Jordan MacIntosh feed at 9:57. 

Keegan Bal added yet another Warriors maker, scoring from in close off a Ryan Sheridan feed at 10:26.

At the half, Vancouver 9 Georgia 3.

Warriors

Third Quarter:

The Warriors came out in the third on fire.  Keegan Bal opened the half with a pair of goals just 0:24 seconds apart, both off Adam Charalambides feeds.  Reece Callies then added an unassisted tally from in close to make the score 12-3.

Devlin Shanahan again replaced Brett Dobson in the Georgia goal.

Curtis Dickson welcomed Shanahan to the game with an outside shot that found the back of the net unassisted at 7:42.

The Swarm got on the board with Nolan Byrne converting a Kaleb Benedict feed at 9:24, followed by Ben Trumble with a blast off a Jacob Hickey pass at 13:36.

After three quarters, Vancouver 13 Georgia 5.

Fourth Quarter:

Jesse King opened up the fourth quarter with a power-play goal just 0:24 seconds into the frame.

Michael Grace answered for Georgia off a Jordan MacIntosh rebound at 8:50. Lyle Thompson then added a tally from in close off a Ben Trumble pass at 12:21.

Final score, Vancouver 14 Georgia 7.

The Three Stars:

1. Keegan Bal
2. Curtis Dickson
3. Christian Del Bianco

Game Stats:

  • Shots on goal favored the Swarm 54-45.
  • The faceoff battle went to Vancouver 19-6.
  • The loose ball battle was won by Georgia  75-66.
  • Vancouver went 1 for 2, with a shorthanded goal.
  • The Swarm went 1 for 6 on the power-play.

Don’t forget to check us out every Sunday night at 8pm (ET) on StreamPunkEnt.com

Popular Posts