“If he’s not back for the season opener he’ll be close to that.” – Cordingley on Evans
Shawn Evans (Photo: Rochester Knighthawks)
Over the weekend, new Vancouver Warriors Head Coach Troy Cordingley confirmed with The Province that Shawn Evans, who the club signed via free agency this past offseason, may not be quite ready to start the season.
“If he’s not back for the season opener he’ll be close to that,” Cordingley told The Province during the team’s opening weekend of training camp at the Langley Events Centre Fieldhouse.
The Warriors moved Evans to their physically unable to perform list earlier this month.
Evans, who signed with the Warriors just a handful of days after he won his record-tying eighth Mann Cup with the Peterborough Lakers, missed the final game of the Canadian Senior A series with a suspected ankle injury. The future NLL Hall of Famer led the Mann Cup in assists even though he was sidelined for Game 7, plus set a new all-time career points record too.
The 2022/23 NLL season will be Evans seventeenth in the league.
Last year, Evans split his season between the Rochester Knighthawks & Halifax Thunderbirds, the two teams swapping the former NLL MVP leading up to the league’s trade deadline.
The Warriors, who were without star forward Mitch Jones for most of the last year due to a season-ending foot injury, parted ways with Head Coach Chris Gill after the team again failed to make the playoffs. Assistant Kaleb Toth, who handled the club’s offense, was also not brought back either.
“Troy coming into this team … something had to change,” Vancouver forward Keegan Bal said in the same article. “We hadn’t made the playoffs. We were under .500 the past three years. He brings a brand-new energy and, to be honest, it’s an energy that’s much needed for this group. He pushes us and he expects a lot and especially from the core group.”
The Warriors start their season away to the Toronto Rock, who’ve upped the ante of their home opener by making it a guarantee-win night at the FirstOntario Centre. Vancouver’s first home date will take place a few weeks later on December 16 at Rogers Arena against the Calgary Roughnecks.
The last time the Warriors franchise made the playoffs was in 2017, then known as the Stealth and playing at the Langley Events Centre. That season also marked the only time the team has finished with a .500 record (9-9) since the Stealth moved from Everett, Washington to British Columbia.
Although he was scratched for Halifax’s single post-season game last year, Evans has rarely played for a team that has missed the playoffs during his career. Ditto for Cordingley, as a player or coach.