It’s a very early start to this year’s National Lacrosse League campaign as the Seals will begin their season in November for the first time in franchise history. It will happen this Saturday (Nov. 29) when they open the 2025-26 NLL season against the Ottawa Black Bears at the Canadian Tire Centre. Faceoff is 4 p.m. PT.
Last year when the Seals opened at home on Dec. 1, 2024, that marked the previous earliest start to the season. The Seals and Black Bears met just once last season with the Seals eking out a 6-5 win at Pechanga Arena in the lowest scoring game of the regular season for both teams.
Saturday night’s game will be broadcast locally in San Diego on Spectrum Cable Channel 4 and it will be streamed to a global audience on ESPN+.
The Seals’ 2025-26 roster is a mix of new and old. While the team returns a host of its top players from a year ago, they’ve also added a number of new faces.
Top returnees include forward and team captain Wes Berg, goaltender Chris Origlieri, faceoff specialist Trevor Baptiste, forwards Trent DiCicco, Pat Kavanagh and Ben McIntosh, transition men Zach Currier and Tre Leclaire, and defenders Eli Gobrecht, Danny Logan and Graydon Bradley.
Among the Seals’ returnees, Berg ranked second in the NLL a season ago with 49 goals to go along with 39 assists. His 88 points were second on the team. McIntosh chipped in with 24 goals and 42 assists as his 66 points ranked fourth on the team). And Currier scooped up the League’s third-most loose balls (193), while forcing the third-most turnovers (32). And with the ball on his lacrosse stick, Currier’s 47 points (18G and 29A) ranked fifth on the squad.
The team’s top newcomers include forwards Connor Robinson and Corey Small. Robinson, who came over in a trade from Colorado, was the third-leading scorer for the Mammoth a season ago, tallying 67 points on 23 goals and 44 assists, while Small, who signed with the Seals as a free agent, was the third-leading scorer for the Toronto Rock with 51 points on 25 goals and 26 assists during the 2024-25 season.
The Seals are also excited about their top two picks from this year’s NLL Draft, transition man Ari Steenhuis from St. Catharines and forward Chris Kavanagh (younger brother of Pat) from Notre Dame.
Regular-Season Milestones Heading Into The 2025-26 Season
Wes Berg (281 career goals) needs 19 more to reach 300 for his career.
Berg (398) career assists) needs 2 more to reach 400 for his career.
Berg (679 career points) needs 21 more to reach 700 for his career.
Trevor Baptiste (1,622 career faceoff wins) ranks 9th all-time in NLL history and he needs 29 more to move past Stephen Hoar (1,650) and into 8th on the all-time list.
Baptiste needs to secure 36 more loose balls to reach 1,000 for his career
Recent Roster Moves
On Monday, the Seals submitted their initial 21-man regular season roster to the League and there were a few notes heading into this weekend’s season opener. The Seals will carry eight forwards into Ottawa, seven defenders, four transition men and two goalies. The breakdown is below:
Forwards: Wes Berg, Ben McIntosh, Jake Govett, Dylan Watson, Connor Robinson, Corey Small, Noah Armitrage and Trent DiCicco.
Defensemen: Kellen Leclair, Graydon Bradley, Eli Gobrecht, Matt Wright, Patrick Shoemay, James Barclay and Zack Deaken.
Transition: Tre Leclaire, Zach Currier, faceoff specialist Trevor Baptiste and rookie Ari Steenhuis.
Goaltenders: Chris Origlieri and Cam Dunkerley.
Also, defender Danny Logan, forward Pat Kavanagh and transition man Cam Acchione are going to start the season on Injured-Reserve, while fellow forward Chris Kavanagh will begin the year on the Physically Unable to Perform list. All players are expected to return, though there is no timeline for when that will take place.
Team Captains
Head Coach and General Manager Patrick Merrill announced the team’s 2025-26 Team Captains going into the season as voted on by the players.
Wes Berg will serve as team captain for the third straight season. Danny Logan and Graydon Bradley have been selected as assistant captains for home games, while Zach Currier and Eli Gobrecht have been tabbed as assistant captains for the team’s road contests.
Seals-Black Bears Head-to-Head
The Black Bears are the former New York Riptide. The franchise relocated from Long Island to Ottawa and re-branded prior the 2024-25 season. The Seals hold a 3-1 series edge over the Black Bears/Riptide, including a 6-5 win last season. In the three previous games against the Riptide, all of which were played in New York, the Seals won two of three, including a 15-11 win during the 2019-20 season and a 15-14 victory during the 2022-23 season. New York’s lone victory was a 10-8 win during the 2023-24 season, the Riptide’s last at the Nassau Coliseum.
A Look Back at Last Season’s Contest: In a tight, low-scoring, defensive affair, the Seals picked up a key 6-5 win over the Black Bears at Pechanga Arena and in the process, they became the first team in NLL history to win a game when scoring just six goals. The Seals’ defense and goaltender Chris Origlieri were the story of the night as the team held Ottawa scoreless for the final 37:02 of regulation, while Origlieri made 31 saves. It was a 2-2 game after one quarter with one of the goals scored by a spinning Ben McIntosh at the top of the crease 1:24 into the contest. The Seals added another pair in the second but were outscored by Ottawa 3-2 in the period and trailed 5-4 at the break. Both Seals goals were scored by players who netted their first of the season. Graydon Bradley scored first, 3:28 into the quarter before Matt Wright put one in 24 seconds later. Wright’s was also the first of his career. San Diego came out of the locker room roaring after halftime and the Seals were consistent, scoring another pair in the third. Just 40 seconds into the quarter, Berg scored on a diving shot down the middle to tie the game at 5-5 and just 58 seconds later, he did it again with a shot from the top of the crease to put the Seals up 6-5.
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