Justin Ivey, Co-Editor
Lacrosse is Awesome©
The Ottawa Black Bears (0-1) hosted the San Diego Seals (1-0) Saturday night as part of the NLL’s Opening Weekend. Last season, the Seals grabbed the final playoff spot, while the Black Bears found themselves as the first team outside the eight-team playoff field. Neither team was happy with the result, and both hoped to start on the right foot this season. Ottawa took a bit of time to shake off the off-season rust and did not score a goal until halfway through the second quarter. The Seals took advantage and scored six unanswered, three of those coming in the first quarter. Ottawa, carried offensively by Jeff Teat (2G, 2A) and Rob Hellyer (3G, 5A) could not dig themselves out of the early deficit. The Seals kept the Black Bears at arm’s length with big nights from Tre Leclaire (5G, 3A) and Corey Small (3G, 1A). Final Score: San Diego Seals-16, Ottawa Black Bears-13.
The first quarter was not exciting for the home crowd. San Diego held Ottawa scoreless and found the back of the net three times. Small, a new face on the team this year, tallied the first two within a minute of each other, and then with 9:50 remaining, Connor Robinson (1G, 3A) scored the final goal of the quarter. At the end of the first quarter, San Diego led Ottawa 3-0.
Trevor Baptiste (1G), fresh off his PLL Championship with the New York Atlas, took the second quarter opening faceoff all the way to the net. Just seven seconds in, and the Black Bears were now behind 4-0. Almost four minutes later, Zach Currier (2A) found Leclaire coming off the bench with a crisp pass. Leclaire followed his momentum all the way to the net and scored from the crease. The goal forced Zach Higgins (14GA, 40SV) out of the net in favor of Tyler Carlson (1GA, 1SV), but the switch didn’t last long. Carlson stopped one long range shot before Noah Armitage (2G, 2A) extended the San Diego lead to six. Higgins returned to the net and finally, Ottawa found a spark. With 7:35 remining in the first half, veteran Reilly O’Connor (2G, 4A) scored the first goal of the season for the Black Bears. 11 seconds later, Reed Kurtz (1G) made it two in a row, and just over a minute after that, Larson Sundown (1G, 2A) scored for the three-goal run. Leclaire snuck in another goal with 5:32 remaining, but O’Connor answered with 4:50 left, leaving Ottawa with a three-goal deficit heading into halftime. At the half, San Diego led Ottawa 7-4.
After a chaotic second quarter, both teams locked in for the third quarter. Connor Kearnan (2G) opened the scoring in the first minute, decreasing the Ottawa deficit to just two goals. But, San Diego would answer as they protected the early lead they fought hard for. Dylan Watson (2G, 3A) brought it back to a three-goal lead 2:01 into the third quarter and scoring halted until Small notched his hat trick goal on a power play opportunity with 4:58 remaining. San Diego looked like they would end the quarter up four scores but Hellyer found the net with 1:10 remaining, scoring his first goal against his former team. At the end of the third quarter, San Diego led Ottawa 9-6.
San Diego and Ottawa combined for FOURTEEN GOALS in the fourth quarter, nearly doubling the first three quarters. That’s nearly one goal a minute. The longest time between goals was 2:29 seconds, and despite the chaos, Ottawa would never take the lead. Wes Berg (1G, 4A) and Teat traded goals in the first minute, followed by a call and response from Leclaire and Hellyer. Watson scored his second of the game with 10:55 remaining, and Armitage followed up 45 seconds later with his second of the game. Suddenly the Seals had their largest lead of the night at 13-8. The very long scoring drought of 2:29 followed that goal and was broken by a Teat score while Ottawa was man-up. Leclaire scored his fourth with 7:15 remaining, but Ottawa stormed back with four straight scores. Hellyer started the barrage that was followed with goals from Kearnan, Kevin Brownell (1G, 1A), and Jake Stevens (1G). With 3:15 left in the game, Ottawa was now losing by just one, 14-13. Leclaire notched his fifth to end the Ottawa run and James Barclay (1G, 1A) scored an empty netter with 23 seconds left to secure the victory for the visitors. Final Score: San Diego Seals-16, Ottawa Black Bears – 13.
Up Next:
The Ottawa Black Bears (0-1) host the Saskatchewan Rush on Friday, December 12 at 7:30 PM EST.
The San Diego Seals (1-0) host the Rochester Knighthawks on Sunday, December 14 at 5:00 PM EST.