The San Diego Seals, one of the hottest teams in the National Lacrosse League, will put their 6-4 record to the test this weekend and eye a chance to move up in the League standings when they face 8-3 Colorado in Denver and 7-3 Vancouver in San Diego.
Winners of five of their last six, the Seals will face the Mammoth in Denver’s Ball Arena this Friday night (Feb. 27) at 6 p.m. PT and two days later (Sunday, March 1), they’ll host the Vancouver Warriors in a 3 p.m. PT matinee at Pechanga Arena. Currently, the Mammoth sit at No. 2 in the NLL standings at 8-3, while Vancouver is just a half-game behind at 7-3. At 10-1, Saskatchewan owns the best record in the NLL.
Colorado had a seven-game win streak come to an end thanks to a 13-9 loss in Toronto last Friday night, but prior to, the Mammoth had won seven straight and during the streak, they dominated their opponents, outscoring them by a combined 100-64.
Vancouver meanwhile will be looking for some revenge against the Seals. After starting their season 3-1, the Seals beat the Warriors 11-9 at Rogers Arena back on Jan. 16. Since then, Vancouver’s won four of its last five. The Warriors will also have a busy weekend as they will face the Las Vegas Desert Dogs in Sin City on Friday night before flying to San Diego to take on the Seals.
Sunday afternoon’s game will be Celebrate San Diego Day at Pechanga Arena ____________________________________
The Seals have been an interesting paradox 10 games into the season. They are the NLL’s only undefeated team on the road where they’re a perfect 4-0. On the flip side, the Seals are just 2-4 inside Pechanga Arena (aka “The Electric Factory”), but they’ve won two of their last three and are surging at the right time.
One of the biggest reasons for the team’s recent success has been the play of goaltender Chris Origlieri, who’s stopped 221 of 270 shots (81.9%) and allowed only 50 goals during this recent six-game stretch. Among NLL netminders who’ve played at least 450 minutes this season, Origlieri’s 9.98 goals against average is the League’s fifth-lowest.
The Seals also have two of the League’s top two transition players in faceoff specialist Trevor Baptiste and Zach Currier. Baptiste, who played his 100th career NLL game last Saturday night against Halifax, leads the League in both faceoff wins (190) and faceoff win percentage (76%). Currier meanwhile paces the NLL in loose balls secured (124) and has 11-or-more in each of the team’s last five games. He also leads the squad with 14 forced turnovers, four ahead of Danny Logan, who’s second with 10.
Offensively, fourteen different players have scored goals for the Seals this season, led by forwards Tre Leclaire (23) and Dylan Watson (16), while Connor Robinson and Wes Berg both have 14. Leclaire and Berg both recorded hat tricks in last Saturday night’s win over Halifax, while Watson scored twice and Robinson once.
Berg and Leclaire have both been just as adept at setting up goals for their teammates as they rank 1-2 on the squad in assists with Berg tallying 29 for 43 total points, while Leclaire has dished out 21 helpers this season for a team-leading 44 points.
The Seals have also been bolstered by the return of Ben McIntosh, who scored a season-high five goals two games ago in Oshawa. McIntosh was held without a goal in the Seals’ first two games of the season and he then spent three weeks on Injured-Reserve, but since returning, he’s had a hot stick with 9 goals and 10 assists for 19 points.
Broadcast Information
Both Friday night’s game in Colorado and Sunday’s home tilt against Vancouver will be broadcast locally in San Diego on Spectrum Cable Channel 4 and streamed to a global audience on ESPN+.
Seals Head-to-Head vs. Colorado Mammoth and Vancouver Warriors
The Seals and Mammoth are bitter rivals who have established quite a rivalry the last couple seasons. All-time, the Seals are 11-3 against Colorado in the regular season and a perfect 5-0 at Pechanga Arena.
All-time the Seals and Warriors have faced off 14 times and the Seals hold a 10-4 series edge. The Seals have won six of the last seven in the series, including a 11-9 win over the Warriors at Rogers Arena on Jan. 16. The Seals are 6-2 in games played at Pechanga Arena and 4-2 in games played at Rogers Arena.
A Look Back at Last Season’s Matchup vs. Colorado
Dec. 13, 2024 vs. Colorado: The Seals continued their dominance over Colorado but had to hold on late for a hard-fought 14-11 win at Pechanga Arena. Wes Berg had a stellar night for the Seals with a team-leading seven points on four goals and three assists. After being tied 3-3 at the end of the first quarter, the Seals outscored the Mammoth 7-2 in the second to jump out to a 10-5 lead at halftime. Berg netted three first-half goals, while Zach Currier scored a pair. The most impressive goal of the first half though was scored by Danny Logan at the end of the first quarter. With time winding down in the quarter, the Mammoth pulled goaltender Dillon Ward to gain a man advantage, but Colorado’s shot with seconds remaining in the half missed the net and was rebounded up by Logan, who fired a length of the field shot into an empty Mammoth net sending Pechanga Arena into a frenzy. Logan did it again late in the Seals’ three-goal third period, scoring on the run out, beating Ward one-on-one after taking a long pass from goaltender Chris Origlieri. Down five heading into in the fourth, Colorado closed to within two at 13-11 before Eli Gobrecht’s goal with 25.8 seconds remaining sealed the win for the Seals. Origlieri recorded 32 saves against the Mammoth, passing the 1,000 career save mark in the process.
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