Aden Walsh Is Setting The Tone In Goal For The On The Move Warriors
Vancouver’s fourth-year goalie Aden Walsh currently leads all starting keepers with a 9.00 GAA.
January 30, 2025By: Jon Rapoport
The Vancouver Warriors are a franchise on the rise. Amid only qualifying for the postseason a mere one time since setting up shop in British Columbia back in 2014, the previously downtrodden club has parlayed a strong finish to last season into a 4-3 commencement of the current campaign. Coach Curt Malawsky has his guys looking to leap two games above .500, this weekend, when taking on the Halifax Thunderbirds, as part of NLL Friday Night on TSN.
While names like Keegan Bal and Adam Charalambides often carry the day for the team that calls Rogers Arena home, the 2024-2025 version of the Warriors have hung their hats on the defensive side of the sport. The team has allowed the second fewest goals in the league thus far (64), despite finding themselves 12th in team scoring with only 71 goals.
One of the men most responsible for Vancouver’s stifling back-end play is fourth-year goalie Aden Walsh, who currently leads all starting keepers with a 9.00 GAA. The 24-year-old solidified his starting spot after finishing last season with a stellar stretch of appearances in net, leading the Warriors coaching staff and front office to lock him up to a new contract during the summer, while simultaneously anointing Walsh the squad’s undisputed starting man with the pads.
“It definitely meant a lot knowing that they trusted me with that role. The experience last year was huge. Anytime you get in an NLL game, the experience is definitely very valuable. I grow more comfortable and confident each game that goes on here,” shares Walsh.
“I think he earned it at the end of the year. He was really good down the stretch for us,” explains Coach Malawsky, who also serves as Warriors general manager.
Malawsky’s decision to move forward with Walsh between the pipes has already provided near immediate validation for the championship-winning player turned coach. While the former Calgary Roughnecks sideline boss has been impressed with many facets of Walsh’s performance, there is one all-important trait that stands above all else when assessing his keeper’s many attributes.
“He’s been consistent. Consistency can be challenging at times when you have a young goaltender. He’s been consistently stopping the ones he’s supposed to, while getting in front of some timely saves, during key moments of games, whether it be in transition or on the power play. He’s had a great start to the season.” analyzes the NLL lifer.
Walsh and Malawsky are keenly aware that it takes a village to win games at the NLL level, with both player and coach joyfully sharing credit for the starting goalie’s trajectory with a whole host of benefactors including Warriors’ player development coach Tyler Richards and fellow 24-year-old defensive whiz Owen Grant.
Richards was a member of the Malawsky-led 2019 Roughnecks NLL title team, later becoming an assistant coach under Malawsky in Calgary. Both men hail from the Western Canada lacrosse hotbed of Coquitlam, British Columbia, with Richards accompanying his longtime boss to Vancouver, when the highly admired head coach elected to take his governance talents back to his home area.
Walsh knows how fortunate he is to receive tutelage from the man who Coach Malawsky considers the best goaltending coach in the NLL.
“Tyler and I talk all the time. We’ve become really close,” explains Walsh. “We go over just about everything, just the little things in the net like footwork, along with a lot of mental stuff too. We just cover it all. He’s been there, done that. He’s won a championship and played for a lot of years, so he definitely knows what he’s talking about. And every time I talk to him, I learn something new. It’s been a pleasure working with him.”
Walsh later noted the overall mentality that is continually preached by Malawsky, Richards and the rest of the coaching staff.
“A big message with our group is we take it five minutes at a time. No matter what the score is, we always approach the game as 0-0. When we all have that same sort of mindset, it’s really easy to play together.”
Walsh and the aforementioned Grant have developed a strong relationship on and off the floor, with the pair growing the game of lacrosse at local schools and clinics during their time away from the turf, while electing to work out together under the watchful eye of strength and conditioning coach Matt Holtzmann.
With 12 blocked shots and 11 caused turnovers to his credit this season, the physical side of this dynamic goalie/transition player duo has most certainly caught the attention of his head coach, who is effusive in his praise of the player tasked with keeping a sense of calm in front of Walsh’s goal crease.
“Watch the film. See if we can find tweaks, some little things. But we’re playing good lacrosse right now. We know that if we stick with that, we’re going to get some wins.”
“I think Owen Grant is very similar to a Brodie Merrill type player. He can score in transition. He can take the ball out of the other team’s stick and picks up a lot of loose balls in our end. I like to say he plays for blood. Plays to win. And we like that, a win at all cost attitude within the parameters of the game is something that is really contagious on our team,” boasts the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Famer.
With an expert coaching staff and cohesive group of teammates by his side, Walsh knows he is in a fantastic situation. The Oakville, Ontario product’s lot in life is further enhanced by the love he has not just for his team, but also for the city he currently calls home.
“I absolutely love Vancouver,” glows the Greater Toronto Area native son. “I hate being cold and I hate the snow, so we don’t get a lot of that in British Columbia like we do in Ontario. I like that side of things. I’m definitely a city guy. Vancouver has so much to offer as far as nature and everything downtown. I’m loving it down here”.
If an NLL fan is in search of a growth stock, look no further than the beautiful city that sits on Canada’s Pacific Coast, as every aspect of the Vancouver organization appears to be rowing in the right direction.
Tune into Warriors At Thunderbirds, Friday at 7:30 Atlantic/3:30 Pacific on TSN and ESPN+.
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