Photo: Christian Bender/NLL
Back at .500 on the season for the fourth time, the Ottawa Black Bears will look to get back over that proverbial hump on Saturday night in Hamilton as they meet their provincial rivals, the Toronto Rock, for the first time this season.
While the Rock had a headstart of more than two decades on the Black Bears in the Battle of Ontario, that edge didn’t show last season when the Black Bears defeated the Rock twice.
Overall this season, the Black Bears have been road warriors. After dropping their first road game to Las Vegas in December, they’ve rallied off two straight wins in Oshawa and in Buffalo.
The Rock, meanwhile, are 3-3 on the season but have won just once in the newly renovated TD Coliseum. Four of their six games thus far have been one-goal games, wins over Rochester and Calgary and losses to Oshawa and Georgia, the latter of which came in overtime a week ago.
THE GOODS
Watch: You can watch every regular season NLL game on NLL+ free of charge (excluding NLL Friday Night on TSN). Tonight’s game will also be available on TSN+, and ESPN+.
The Opponent: Ottawa has yet to lose to a provincial rival. Last season, the Black Bears won both meetings with the Rock, 11-5 at home and 12-11 on the road. They also defeated Oshawa this season, 16-14.
The Stat: Jeff Teat leads the league in points (57) entering play in Week 9. He also leads all forwards in loose balls (57, which is also tied for 10th among all positions).
This year, the Black Bears will play four Friday home games and five Saturday home games from November to April.
Next up at home is a Saturday meeting with Calgary on Feb. 7 at Canadian Tire Centre.
You can view the team’s entire schedule here, purchase Season Seats here, and Single Game tickets here.
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