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Steve Ewen: Canucks roll out the Warriors, their NLL entity with a Vegas-like look

The Warrior name works neatly with the sport’s First Nations history, and the Canucks consulted with various local Indigenous representatives before finalizing it.

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The Vancouver Canucks’ reboot of the Vancouver Stealth scores well on the hashtag scale.

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The Canucks purchased the Stealth in June and promised a new name and look for the National Lacrosse League entity. On Friday, they made it official, unveiling the Vancouver Warriors at Rogers Arena.

They could have gone with the Canucks’ colour scheme, but instead the look is similar to that of the Vegas Golden Knights, with white, gold and black. The logo is a V and W neatly intertwined.

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The Warrior name works neatly with the sport’s First Nations history, and the Canucks consulted with various local Indigenous representatives before finalizing it.

It also works with social media, giving them a chance to brand themselves on Twitter with #WeekendWarriors.

League commissioner Nick Sakiewicz has done his best to hype the NLL as a full professional circuit — during a visit to Vancouver he talked about it as the “next big major league … we are now major league, but we’re not big” — but the truth remains the games are usually played on Saturdays because most players need to have regular jobs during the week to pay their bills.

Oddly enough, the Vancouver Ravens, who played out of Rogers Arena from 2002-04 before folding because of financial problems, went with a similar theme as part of their promotions.

The Stealth moved to the Langley Events Centre for the 2014 season from Everett, Wash. NLL clubs have a 20-man active roster and their team salary caps are $400,000.

“We’ve got four or five firemen. We’ve got a policeman. We’ve got a construction worker,” said Warriors’ general manager Dan Richardson. “On the weekend, they get paid to play the sport they love in a venue like this.

“I think the #WeekendWarriors is going to be a big hit with our fans.”

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The best part about Friday is that it gives a chance to push the story forward. Richardson and coach Chris Gill both said they have been asked repeatedly about the name and look after signing on to lead the squad right after it was purchased from longtime Stealth owner Denise Watkins of California.

Richardson is best known for his work in the summer Western Lacrosse Association with the New Westminster Salmonbellies, while Gill had been a star player in the WLA and NLL, including a stint with the Ravens. He had coached previously in the league with the Colorado Mammoth.

“For me, it’s a relief,” Richardson said of Friday’s unveiling. “Everybody knows now. Everything gets launched today. Our social media platforms are going out as we speak. It’s an exciting day.”

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Gill added: “This is a nice day. We’ve been leading up to this. It’s nice to actually have a name and everyone knows.”

Richardson said the Warriors will begin training camp Nov. 2. Their first regular-season game is Dec. 8, when the Toronto Rock visit Rogers Arena.

Vancouver finished 2-16 last year, missing the playoffs for the fourth time in their first years at the LEC. The team doesn’t have picks in the first two rounds of the Sept. 25 entry draft in Philadelphia because of past trades, so Richardson will have to get creative to rebuild the team.

He is looking to build a hard-nosed, feisty team. Warriors would seem to be a fit.

“We want to make this a mean piece of business,” said Richardson. “We want this to be an intimidating place to play in. That includes our fans. We have to get them engaged and involved.”

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Richardson admits he didn’t fully “understand the scope,” of creating a new brand.

“I came sort of in the middle of it there and got onto the colour scheme and the look of the uniform,” said Richardson. “It’s a very long process. But obviously it was the right thing to do. We’re very happy.

“My two cents in the whole process was ‘let’s keep it simple.’ I kept on saying Original Six. When you think of Original Six, you don’t have all this vertical and horizontal and hidden stuff. It’s just simplistic.

“I think we accomplished that. There’s a little bit of striping, but it really pushes you to the logo.”

Sewen@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/SteveEwen

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