Billings-Duch the ‘right’ chemistry?
Go-to duo seen as ‘complementary guys’ set to pace Vancouver offence
Garrett Billings and Rhys Duch are the Vancouver Stealth’s go-to two.
Over the past couple of National Lacrosse League seasons, virtually every play at crunch time for the Stealth has gone through Duch. He’s either taken the shot or passed to the guy taking the shot.
This year, it’s changing. This offseason Vancouver added fellow right-hander Billings in a trade with the New England Black Wolves, sending Tyler Digby and a 2017 second-round draft pick east in return.
There have been eight players over the past two seasons in the NLL who’ve reached 100 points in a campaign. That list includes new Black Wolves righty Shawn Evans twice, as well as Billings and Duch.
How Billings and Duch mesh will go a long way to how long the Stealth’s season goes on.
The club has missed the playoffs its first two years based out of the Langley Events Centre.
“I’ve been playing against Rhys since I was seven or eight years old, and he’s always been the best kid in the league,” says Billings, 29.
“I think playing alongside him will be something special.
“I’ve never played with anyone with that kind of shooting range. He’s going to draw so much attention.”
Duch is probably more finisher than setup man, but he still had 62 assists for the Stealth last winter, to go with his 41 goals. The next closest scorer in Stealth action was Digby, who was 29 points back, thanks to his 38 goals and 36 assists.
Billings, conversely, is more feeder than sniper, but he still had 32 goals, to go with 69 helpers, when he led Toronto in scoring in 2014.
Next in line with the Rock that year was lefty Stephan Leblanc, with 45 goals and 43 assists.
Three of Toronto’s top five scorers then were southpaws. In 2013, when Billings topped Toronto in scoring after tallying 30 goals and 70 assists, the three next best Rock point producers were lefties.
There’s reason to believe that passhappy Billings and bazooka-shot Duch will blend together, but it’s going to take some doing with both of them on the same side of the floor.
Billings says that he felt comfortable playing with the likes of Blaine Manning and Rob Hellyer in Toronto, but his best chemistry with a fellow righty dates back to his days in junior lacrosse with Burnaby, when he worked alongside Alex Gajic.
Duch got to pair with another elite righty this summer, when he and Dan Dawson were teammates with the Victoria Shamrocks, the winners of the Mann Cup. Dawson has been a mainstay in the NLL with the Rochester Knighthawks.
“We’re both used to being the main ball carrier on our side,” Duch, 29, says of he and Billings, “so it’s about learning to work around another main ball carrier. I played that role a bit this summer, so I think that might make an easier adjustment for me.”
Vancouver captain Curtis Hodgson, a defender, says Billings and Duch are “complementary guys, so that if you focus on one the other one is going to beat you ... With Billings, I think Duch’s numbers go up. I think Garrett’s assist numbers are going to go up and I think the goal numbers are going to go up for all our other offensive players,” said Hodgson.