The San Diego Seals (8-7) will embark on their longest road trip of the season when they travel 3,649 miles to Halifax, Nova Scotia to face the Halifax Thunderbirds (9-6) this Saturday night (April 5) in a crucial late-season contest that will have playoff implications for both teams. It’s the third of four straight games away from Pechanga Arena for the Seals and it will also be the 100th regular-season game behind the bench for Seals Head Coach and General Manager Patrick Merrill. Halifax currently sits in third place in the National Lacrosse League standings with just three games remaining, but they’re just a game ahead of the Seals who currently sit in the eighth spot. And in the tightly contested NLL, only the top eight teams make the playoffs.
Faceoff from the Scotiabank Centre (11,093) is 3 p.m. PT and the game will be broadcast in San Diego on KUSI-TV and streamed to a global audience on ESPN+.
The Seals are looking to get back into the win column after a heartbreaking 14-13 loss last Saturday night in Rochester. The Seals clawed their way back from a 12-6 deficit to tie the game at 13-13, only to have Rochester find the back of the net with just 11 seconds left in the fourth quarter to claim the victory. Still, despite the setback, the Seals come into this Saturday night’s game having won five of their last seven and the team is playing some of its best lacrosse as the playoff run heats up.
Just like the Seals, Halifax comes into this weekend’s game off a heartbreaking loss of its own. Last Sunday at the Gas South Arena in Duluth, Georgia, the Thunderbirds scored two goals in the final 19 seconds to erase a 12-10 deficit and send the game to overtime, but the Swarm’s Andrew Kew scored 3:16 into the extra session to give the Swarm a 13-12 win. Despite that loss, Halifax comes in having won seven of its last nine, but the Thunderbirds are just 5-3 this season at the Scotiabank Centre.
During this most recent seven-game stretch in which the Seals are 5-2, they’re averaging a healthy 14.1 goals per game. In the five games prior in which they went just 1-4, the team averaged just 8.2 goals in those five contests.
The Seals are doing it behind the hot shooting of forward and team captain Wes Berg, whose 42 goals are third in the NLL this season. He also has 35 assists for 77 total points on the season and Berg’s been hot of late, scoring 13 goals in the Seals’ last three games. Berg has a tremendous supporting cast that includes fellow forwards Rob Hellyer (27 goals and 55 assists for a team-leading 82 points), Ryan Benesch (22G and 35A for 57 points, third on the team) and Ben McIntosh (19G and 35A), alongside transition man Zach Currier, whose 159 loose balls secured are second-most in the League. Ironically, the only man Currier trails is Halifax’s Jake Withers, but Withers is the Thunderbirds’ faceoff specialist. And the Seals, who’ve been beset by injuries this season, recently welcome back their own faceoff specialist, Trevor Baptiste, who missed 12 games this season with a lower leg injury.
A high-scoring game on Saturday night shouldn’t surprise anyone as Halifax comes in with 198 goals scored this season, third-most in the NLL, while the Seals’ 184 rank fifth. The Thunderbirds feature a pair of 70-point men of their own in forwards Randy Staats (22 goals, 57 assists, 79 points) and Clarke Petterson (26 goals, 52 assists, 78 points).
Seals-Thunderbirds Head-to-Head: This is just the third all-time meeting between the Seals and Thunderbirds. Halifax won the first meeting, 8-5, in Nova Scotia during the 2019-20 season and the Seals won the most recent meeting, 12-8, last season at Pechanga Arena.
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