It was a tight game in San Diego as the Ottawa Black Bears were unable to solve the San Diego Seals’ defence and fell by a score of 6-5. Goals came from five different players from the Black Bears, and all came within the first half of the game. Goalie Zach Higgins continued his dominant start to the season by making several big saves.
Game breakdown
San Diego opened the scoring with a goal by Ben McIntosh less than two minutes into the game.
Nathan Grenon scored his first of the season in his season debut to tie the game 1-1 on the power play off a smart pass by Jeff Teat. The goal came 5:16 into the opening quarter and was unassisted.
The Seals got one back to regain their lead at 2-1 on the power play 9:21 into the first quarter. It was Rob Hellyer with the goal.
Taggart Clark tied things back up with his third goal of the season. Jake Stevens and Ron John both picked up assists on Clark’s goal, which came at the 10:51 marker in the first quarter.
Following the first 15 minutes, the game sat tied at a score of 2-2.
At 3:28 into the second quarter, the Seals took the lead once more off a goal from Graydon Bradley when he scored his first of the season to put San Diego up 3-2.
Less than a minute later, Matthew Wright scored his first career NLL goal to double the Seals’ lead to 4-2 at 3:55 into the second quarter.
Not wasting any time, Jay Thorimbert buried his first of the year just six seconds following the Seals’ goal, cutting their lead to 4-3. The goal came unassisted after Thorimbert did all the heavy lifting by winning the face off and carrying the ball himself.
Tying the game was Jeff Teat with his eighth goal of the season at 4:48 into the second quarter. Matt Marinier and Callum Jones were both credited with assists on Teat’s goal, which tied the game 4-4.
The Black Bears took the lead for the first time in the game thanks to a goal by Jacob Dunbar with his team-leading 10th goal of the season. The goal came at 7:58 into the second quarter and was assisted by Kiel Matisz and Reed Kurtz.
The remainder of the second quarter saw both teams held scoreless, as the Black Bears headed into halftime up by one at 5-4.
Opening the second half were the Seals, as Wesley Berg scored his ninth goal of the season just 40 seconds into the third quarter to tie the game.
Striking again was Wesley Berg to give San Diego their lead back at 6-5 less than a minute after his first goal at 1:37 into the quarter.
Unable to find the back of the net in the third quarter, the Black Bears headed into the fourth down by one.
The Seals nearly extended their lead to 7-5 after a majority-scoreless fourth quarter with 2:23 remaining when Kyle Jackson buried one, but the Black Bears challenged the goal and it was overturned. With the ruling of no goal, the Black Bears remained down by just one.
Unable to find the back of the net, including a shot off the post in the dying seconds, the Black Bears fell to the Seals by a score of 6-5. Zach Higgins had yet another strong night as he saved 46 of the 52 shots he faced to keep the game close.
The Black Bears will be back at it next week when they head south to take on the Georgia Swarm on Friday, January 10 at 7:30 p.m. ET. Ottawa will return home next on January 17 when they take on the Vancouver Warriors for the first time. Grab your tickets to the game HERE!
