Stealth and speed go hand-in-hand
Vancouver putting large emphasis on the transition game heading into new NLL season
The Vancouver Stealth open training camp Saturday morning, and it would be fitting for coach Jamie Batley to begin proceedings by firing off a starter’s pistol.
The Stealth were quicker and more athletic in their first full season under Batley last year, and they made the National Lacrosse League playoffs for the first time in four years based out of the Langley Events Centre, thanks to a 9-9 record.
If the off-season is any indication, Batley wants to put his foot on the gas pedal even more. They drafted Ryan Fournier. They traded for Tony Malcom. They brought Tyler Garrison back into the fold. Those guys are speedy, and in a brazen way.
“We’re going to try to out-athlete people,” Stealth general manager Doug Locker said.
Lacrosse is cyclical. Everything is. There used to be a time where everyone played both ends of the floor in the box game. The field version of the sport then started to have influence, and specialists crept in. Your defensive guys would get possession in your zone, they’d bring the ball to centre and there would be a wholesale line change with your offensive guys taking over. It’s morphed again since then. These days, NLL rosters usually list three positions for non-goalies: forward, transition and defence. Transition is shorthand for guys who come out the defence gate but have the green light to jump into the offence.
Teams can dress 17 runners a night in the NLL. It’s often six guys coming out the offence door and 11 out the defence one. Batley, it would seem, will have more and more transition specialists in that second grouping.
The issue, of course, is that transition guys by pure definition are trying to push forward and get into the offence, and that could leave you susceptible in your zone.
Locker said that will not be an issue.
“You’re not a tranny guy for Batley unless you’re a good checker,” insisted Locker, who brought in the Peterborough, Ont., product to replace Dan Perreault at the helm midway through the 2016 campaign.
“You’re not going to be able to be in that end of the floor for him unless you can check. It’s that simple.”
The Stealth did lose two stay-athome defender types when team captain Curtis Hodgson, 35, retired and John Lintz, 31, announced he had to take the year off due to injury. He missed the final six games of 2017 on the disabled list.
Both will be assistants under Batley, with Lintz handling the defensive coordinator role after Clay Richardson resigned due to work commitments.
Fournier, 23, is expected to get one roster spot and play in a transitional role. Vancouver landed him with the 12th overall selection in the entry draft, a pick they received as part of a deal that saw them also get righty forward Malcom, 24, from the Buffalo Bandits in exchange for lefty forward Jordan Durston, 23.
Garrison, 25, another transition specialist, should be in the mix for the Lintz-led group. He tallied nine goals for Vancouver in 2014, but has battled injuries the past three campaigns, including missing all of last year.
Another notable name for the start of camp is goaltender Brodie MacDonald, 28. The Stealth acquired him Thursday from the Georgia Swarm in exchange for a conditional fifth-round pick in the 2020 entry draft. MacDonald, who is listed at 6-foot-7 and 260 pounds, is familiar to the LEC, since he’s a former standout with the Langley Thunder of the Western Lacrosse Association. He led the Thunder to WLA titles in 2011 and 2012.
The Stealth open the regular season on Dec. 8 when the Colorado Mammoth visit the LEC.
For more on the Stealth training camp at the LEC, check out stealthlax.com.