Di Miller, NLL Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©
Featured Image Courtesy of San Diego Seals
On Friday December 27, 2019 the San Diego Seals (0-3) hosted the Calgary Roughnecks (2-1) at Pechanga Arena in front of 4,088 fans. Both teams were searching for ways to come off losses from previous games and the Roughnecks found it by putting together three separate runs and came away with the win. Final Score: Roughnecks 16—Seals 11.
In yet another game of milestones, the NLL would see Curtis Dickson of the Roughnecks score his 400th career goal and the 14th player in league history to reach that plateau; Haiden Dickson also from Calgary would score his first NLL career goal and a hat-trick in the contest; and Tyler Burton surpassed 1,000 career face-off wins.
Calgary would get it going in the first with Haiden Dickson (4g) opening it up inside tight with a pump fake twister bounce shot at the 4:37 mark for his first career NLL goal to get them on the board. It took six full minutes before another point would go up and it would be the Seals for the equalizer. Johnny Pearson (2g) would slip along the back side and found a spot between the pipes short side for the short-handed marker at 10:37. The final goal in the frame was a transition goal with Mitch Wilde passing to Jesse King (5g, 4a) off the bench with 40 seconds for the go ahead goal. Calgary would lead in SOG 16-7; and had a slight margin in LB 20-19. They had a commanding leading at the face-off marker 5-0. Score at the end of one: Roughnecks 2—Seals 1.
The teams would be equal in scoring in the second at four apiece. San Diego would get it going at the 3:43 mark with Jeremy Noble (1g, 2a) on the man-up with a twister far side and an over the top shot; followed by Zack Greer (4g, 3a) at the 4:39 when Pearson set the screen and Greer found the alley to make the bouncer shot stick fake far side low for the go ahead goal 3-2. But before the fans could finish their celebration, Curtis Dickson came out of the sin bin and dove across the crease hitting far side top shelf for career goal 399 at the 5:03 mark to tie it at three apiece. It took about three minutes for the Seals to get the go ahead goal and it was one of several rebound goals on the night. Mikie Schlosser playing in only his second game as a Seal, the last was December of 2018 (Schlosser is the only California native to play in the NLL), came off the break in transition made the shot; hit the pipe; and Greer was in the right spot; got the rebound; and made the slam dunk short side at 7:51 to put them back ahead 4-3. The Greer goal would turn out to be the last even strength goal for the Seals until the 10:37 mark in the fourth. San Diego would notch another less than a minute later. Kyle Buchanan would set the screen for Wes Berg (2g, 2a) and he’d bury the shot up top on the far pipe for the power-play goal and a two goal lead 5-3. But that was it for the Seals as Calgary would go on a six-goal run. They’d see goals from (C ) Dickson from the outside hitting far side for his 400th career goal with 1:57 left in the frame; Eli Salama (1g) would score in transition to tie it at six apiece with 57 seconds left; and with the EA, (H) Dickson would score with 3.6 seconds left over the shoulder on Frank Scigliano for the go ahead goal. San Diego would lead in SOG 19-13; Calgary would still lead in LB 14-3; and had a slight lead in the FO category 5-9. Score at the end of two: Roughnecks 6—Seals 5.
Calgary kept the run going into the third with (J) King would score back-to-back with his first on the man-up at the 4:48 mark. The Roughnecks used good ball movement; he got the underhand feed from (C ) Dickson and made the shot from the outside; and the second from deep with the over the top shot far side for the hat-trick at the 9:59 mark. H. Dickson notched his first career hat-trick stepping in and firing a shot far side hitting top corner with 4:43 left in the frame giving them their largest lead on the night 9-5. With 3:16 remaining in the third, Tyson Bell would get hit with two 2-minute non-releasable minor penalties putting San Diego on the double man-up opportunties and they would capitalize on both ending the six-goal run. The Seals would score two power-play markers on the Bell penalties. Greer would notch his hat-trick only 21 seconds into the first the man-up and bury it short side between the elbow and shin pad on Del Bianco; and the next another rebound goal. Noble’s shot would hit the pipes and Berg was on the left side of the crease grabbed the rebound and dunked it in over Del Bianco’s shoulder with 2:52 remaining closing the gap 9-7. But just like that, the gap was erased when (J) King would score his fourth on the night and found an opening shooting over the defending with 1:13 remaining; and with only 30.3 seconds on the ticker Shane Simpson (2g, 1a) would score his first goal of the season from the middle with the bounce shot giving them a four goal lead. San Diego was ahead in SOG 14-11 and LB 19-12; and Calgary still led in FO 5-8. Score at the end of three: Roughnecks 11—Seals 7.
San Diego had 15 minutes left for a comeback and down by four goals is nothing in the NLL. But when you are talking about the powerhouse Roughnecks and Del Bianco in net it’s everything. Calgary would start off the fourth and would again outscore San Diego 5-4. Dan Taylor (1g, 4a) would start the scoring at the 3:50 mark shooting over two Seals defenders with another goal on the outside 12-7 Roughnecks. San Diego would hit back less than a minute later with two of their own. Connor Fields (1g, 3a) on the give-and-go would get the feed from Greer and score on the door step with a bounce shot between the five-hole on Del Bianco at the 4:40 mark; and Greer would score the first full strength goal since the 7:51 mark in the second coming off the bench off the floater pass from Brodie Merrill short side a full six minutes later at the 10:37 mark closing the gap 12-9. But just when the Seals thought they were safe, Zach Currier (1g, 3a) came flying off the bench got the flip toss from Tyler Burton and would jump up tip toeing the crease and dunk it far side only 9 seconds later. The goal was reviewed but called a good goal would would start the Roughnecks final three-goal run and bascially sealing their fate. (J) King would slip past his defender faked right and dunked it far side over the shoulder with 3:45 remaining; and Simpson from the outside would fire an laser oustide low shot with 2:50 on the clock giving Calgary a six goal lead and an impossible feat for the Seals to overcome. San Diego would get another from Pearson with a shot far side low only 20 seconds later; but (H) Dickson would answer back with 1:27 left. With just under a minute remaining, Mikie Schlosser would score unassisted and his first career NLL goal with a nice spin move back-hander on the door step with 46.2 second remaining. Final Score: Roughnecks 16—Seals 11.
TEAM STATS:
San Diego—56 SOG; 28 SOFF; 66 LB; 11-31 FO; 5-8 PP
Calgary—52 SOF; 14 SOFF; 66 LB; 20-31 FO; 2-7 PP
NET-MINDER STATS:
San Diego Frank Scigliano—52 SOG; 36 Saves; 16 GA; .692 Sv%
Calgary Christian Del Bianco—56 SOG; 45 Saves; 11 GA; .803 Sv%
NEXT UP:
Calgary (2-1) is at home tonight and will host the Philadelphia Wings (0-1) at the Scotiabank Saddledome, game time 10:00 p.m. EST.
The San Diego Seals (0-3) head north to face the Vancouver Warriors (1-1) at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, on Sunday December 29, game time 4:00 p.m. EST.
Di Miller, NLL Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©