Seals head to Vancouver looking to make it two straight.
The 3-2 San Diego Seals, fresh off a hard-fought 6-5 win over the Ottawa Black Bears, will look to make it two straight when they head north of the border on a short week to face the 2-1 Vancouver Warriors this Friday night (Jan. 10) at 7 p.m. at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, Canada.
The Seals’ win over Ottawa was highlighted by a defensive effort that saw the Seals hold the Black Bears scoreless for the final 37:02, while goalkeeper Chris Origlieri was a force in net, making 31 saves on the night. Having alternated wins and losses to start the season, the Seals are looking to buck the trend and make it two straight when the play in Vancouver on Friday night.
And on the other side of the turf, after dropping their season opener at Colorado, the Warriors come in having won their last two games, including a 10-7 home win over Rochester and most recently, a 14-10 win at Calgary on Dec. 28.
Broadcast Information: Friday night’s game in Vancouver will be televised locally in San Diego on KUSI-TV and streamed to a global audience on ESPN+.
Seals-Warriors Head-to-Head: All-time the Seals and Warriors have met 11 times and the Seals hold a 8-3 series edge. The Seals have won four-straight in the series and they’re 3-1 as the road team at Rogers Arena. And in the last four games between the teams, the Seals have outscored Vancouver 58-38.
A Look Back at Last Season’s Contest: In a game the Warriors needed to win to have a shot at qualifying for the NLL playoffs, the Seals dashed their hopes with a 16-9 win at Pechanga Arena in the final week of the 2023-24 regular season. Seven different players for San Diego. The Seals came roaring out of the gate and outscored Vancouver 4-1 in the opening quarter, including goals from Wes Berg and Kyle Jackson. Vancouver would return the favor in the second quarter, going on a 4–1 run to open the period and tie the game 5-5. The Seals stopped the run however with three goals in the final 1:23, including one from Tre Leclaire and another 11 seconds later from Danny Logan, who came up with a steal and scored on a breakaway to put the seals up 7–5. San Diego carried the momentum into the third quarter with two quick goals to surge ahead 9-5 before Logan’s second goal from the top of the circle to put the seals up 10-5. A pair of Vancouver goals trimmed the seals lead to 10–7, but Leclaire’s goal with 2:38 left gave the Seals an 11-7 lead after three quarters. Jackson and Berg would both score again for the Seals in the fourth quarter as they pulled away for the 16-9 win.
Milestones on the Horizon – (Playoffs and Regular Season Included)
• Ryan Benesch (278 career games played) needs three more to pass Brodie Merrill (280) for 4th all-time.
• Benesch (756 career assists) needs 23 more to pass John Grant Jr. (778) for 7th all-time.
• Benesch (1,367 career loose ball recoveries) needs 33 more to reach 1,400 for his career.
• Wes Berg has 242 career goals and needs just 8 more to reach 250 for his career.
• Berg (371 career assists) needs 29 more to reach 400 for his career.
• Jesse Gamble (97 career points) needs 3 more to reach 100 for his career.
• Rob Hellyer (283 career goals) needs 17 more to reach 300 for his career
• Hellyer (797 career points) needs just 3 more to reach 800 for his career.
• Cam Holding (1,147 career loose ball recoveries) needs 53 to reach 1,200 for his career.
• Kyle Jackson (98 career games played) is 2 games shy of reaching 100 for his career.
• Jackson (177 career assists) needs 23 more to reach 200 for his career.
• Ben McIntosh (284 career assists) needs 16 to reach 300 for his career.
• Kyle Rubisch (97 career points) needs 3 to reach 100 for his NLL career.
• Trevor Baptiste (1,545 career faceoff wins) needs 32 more to pass Bob Snider (1,576) for 9th all-time.
Stat Leaders
• Zach Currier ranks fourth in the League with 49 loose balls secured.
• Currier and Eli Gobrecht are tied for second in the NLL with 11 forced turnovers while Kyle Rubisch is fifth with 10.
• Chris Origlieri is eighth in the League with 160 saves on the season. “Rigsy” also owns the NLL’s sixth-lowest goals against average (10.78) among starting goaltenders.
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