Black Wolves match Stealth’s two-righty formula

The Vancouver Stealth aren’t alone in the National Lacrosse League in featuring an offence led by two righthanders.

The New England Black Wolves could be another with such a system, one could argue. They will have righties Shawn Evans and Kevin Crowley front and centre when they provide the opposition in Vancouver’s regular-season opener at the Langley Events Centre on Saturday (7 p.m.).

They also feature lefty Pat Saunders, 26, who was their leading scorer last season.

Peterborough native Evans, 29, is the league’s reigning most valuable player, after leading the NLL in scoring in 2015 with 130 points, including 47 goals, for the Calgary Roughnecks. Crowley, 27, a New Westminster native, had 64 points, including 25 goals, in his time with both the Black Wolves and the Toronto Rock in 2015.

New England landed Evans in an Oct. 26 trade with the Roughnecks, in exchange for Tyler Digby and firstround draft picks in 2018 and 2019.

The Black Wolves had picked up Digby two days earlier from the Stealth, along with a 2017 secondrounder, in exchange for Garrett Billings.

The Black Wolves had added Billings from the Toronto Rock for Crowley last March, then reacquired Crowley on Oct. 10, this time sending Dan Linter and a 2016 secondround pick to Toronto.

New England (4-14) and Vancouver (5-13) were the bottom two teams in the nine-team NLL last season.