Seals off to Las Vegas to tangle with the Desert Dogs.
The San Diego Seals (3-3) are off to Sin City this weekend to tangle with the Las Vegas Desert Dogs (1-5) on Saturday night (Jan. 18) at the Lee’s Family Forum Arena in Henderson, Nevada. Faceoff is 7 p.m. PT and Saturday’s game marks the Seals’ first visit to the Lee’s Family Forum, the Desert Dogs’ new home arena.
While the Seals have alternated wins and losses this season to get to 3-3, the Desert Dogs have struggled, dropping their first four before picking up a 12-11 overtime win against Albany to begin the New Year on Jan. 4. They lost at Saskatchewan (15-9) in their most recent outing last Saturday night. The Seals too are looking to get back into the win column after a tough 11-9 loss in Vancouver last Friday night in which they were outscored by the Warriors 8-3 in the final period.
To be successful, the Seals will need to contain the Desert Dogs’ top scoring duo of forwards Jack Hannah and Casey Jackson, who’ve combined for 24 goals and 23 assists on the season. Fellow forward Jonathan Donville leads Las Vegas with 21 assists.
Broadcast Information: Saturday night’s game in Las Vegas will be televised locally in San Diego on KUSI-TV and streamed to a global audience on ESPN+.
Trading Places: The Seals and Desert Dogs made a trade this week with the latter sending forward Dylan Watson to San Diego in exchange for defenseman Drew Belgrave and a 2027 second-round pick. A second-year NLL pro, Watson was the Desert Dogs’ fifth-leading scorer as a rookie during the 2023-24 season having tallied 19 goals and 16 assists (35 total points) while appearing in all 18 games. He also showed tenacity, securing 42 loose balls. This season, Watson played in three of the Desert Dogs’ first six games, tallying a pair of goals, five assists (seven total points) while securing 11 loose balls. A native of Guelph, Ontario, Canada, Watson spent the 2023 season as a graduate student-athlete at Jacksonville University and spending his first four collegiate seasons at Georgetown where he helped lead the Hoyas to three Big East titles and as a junior in 2022, he was named the Big East Attack Player of the Year.
Seals-Desert Dogs Head-to-Head: The Seals hold a 4-1 all-time series edge over the Desert Dogs, including a 10-9 victory in their last meeting (March 23, 2024) at Pechanga Arena. The Seals’ only loss to the Desert Dogs (10-8) was last season on Jan. 12 at the Michelob Ultra Arena. The Seals’ previous three wins all came during the Desert Dogs’ inaugural 2022-23 campaign, a 15-12 win in an outdoor game played at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego, a 14-10 win at the Michelob Ultra Arena and 14-4 win at Pechanga Arena.
A Look Back at Last Season’s Meetings: Game 4 at Las Vegas: Despite a furious comeback in the season’s first meeting on Jan. 12, the Seals fell to the Desert Dogs, 10-8, at the Michelob Ultra Arena. The Seals trailed 6-3 heading into the fourth quarter and rallied with five goals in the final period, but it wasn’t enough as Las Vegas scored twice in the final 3:45 to put the game away. Wes Berg scored his 200th career goal as part of a team leading four goal night that included three goals in the fourth period. Kyle Jackson added three goals for San Diego.
And in the second meeting on March 23, the Seals qualified for the 2024 NLL playoffs in dramatic fashion, rallying from a 5-1 first quarter deficit to defeat the Desert Dogs, 10-9, in overtime at Pechanga Arena. Tre Leclaire put the Seals into the postseason after taking a length of field pass from goaltender Chris Origlieri and scoring just 54 seconds into sudden death. It was Leclaire’s team-leading third goal of the night. Wes Berg had two goals and six assists for a game-high eight points. The Seals chipped away at the early deficit, outscoring Las Vegas 3-1 in the second period and 3-2 in the third period before finally tying the game 2:04 into the fourth period on Berg’s second goal of the night. The Seals took their first lead, 9-8, on a power play goal with 7:49 remaining in the fourth, but Las Vegas scored 1:20 later to tie the game and send it to overtime, setting up Origlieri and Leclaire’s heroics.
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