Stealth sniper pulls back to to prop up soft defence
Joel McCready might have solidified a third straight finalist spot for the National Lacrosse League’s teammate of the year award last week alone.
The Vancouver Stealth’s feisty workhorse, who won the league honour in 2015 and was a runnerup last season, was shifted from an offensive role to a defensive one last week for Vancouver’s 13-10 road win over the Calgary Roughnecks.
The plan is for him to continue going out of the back gate on the bench for Vancouver’s game Saturday night against the Rochester Knighthawks at the Langley Events Centre.
McCready scored 29 and 30 goals the past two seasons respectively with Vancouver, but the Stealth loaded up on righty forwards this off-season by drafting James Rahe and signing free agent Cory Conway. They had tried a four-man righty rotation, rather than the usual three, for a couple of games, but the offence seemed out of sync.
McCready, 28, had been used in a defensive role in the NLL with Rochester before being traded to the Stealth, and knew the change was a possibility this season.
To hear his teammates tell it, he never wavered when told about the shift. The teammate-of-the-year stuff could have been considered foreshadowing for that, though.
“I can’t think of 10 guys in the league with his talent who would be OK with that move happening to them,” Stealth veteran defender Cliff Smith said.
The problem with taking McCready off the attack is that he was the one guy who repeatedly drove the ball to the net, and that helped open up outside shots for the likes of sniper Rhys Duch, who has a howitzer. Minus McCready, the Stealth will have to find ways to keep their attack from being largely launched from the perimeter.
McCready said head coach Jamie Batley wants him to join the rush when appropriate — to be part of “responsible transition,” in McCready’s words. But there wasn’t much of that in the Calgary game, McCready admitted.
McCready, a Burnaby firefighter, was held off the scoresheet for the first time this season, leaving him at six goals and 12 assists after eight games in the 18-game campaign.
McCready, a powerfully built five-foot-ten 215-pounder, said “offence is more pressure, defence is more responsibility.”
The Knighthawks won three straight league titles from 2012 to 2014, but you could argue Rochester (2-6) is in a rebuilding mode now. That makes Saturday’s game one that Vancouver (3-5) needs to win if they’re going to make the playoffs for the first time in four years based out of the LEC.
“I told the coaches that if they need me in goal, I’ll go in goal,” McCready said. “It doesn’t matter to me where I play. I just want to win. Winning is fun.”