Wes Berg Brings Seals To Victory In Dramatic Fashion

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Gary Groob

Gary Groob has been involved with Lacrosse for the majority of his life, whether playing, coaching, or covering the sport for the media. An avid fan, with a real drive about helping to "grow the game", Gary became part of podcasts about the game in 2010. Through the podcasts, Mr. Groob was given an opportunity to write about lacrosse, and the rest as they say, is history. Through many miles (flying and driving) Gary has made inroads with the National Lacrosse League, Major Series Lacrosse, Ontario Series Lacrosse, the Ontario Lacrosse Association, CUFLA, as well as the Arena Lacrosse League, covering the leagues, their teams, and players, working for, and in concert with all of them. In the year 2019, Mr. Groob was made the media person for the Arena Lacrosse League, voted onto the board of directors of the Brampton Excelsiors Lacrosse Club, as well as being made administrator of the Lacrosse page "Global Lacrosse" with a membership of 14,000+ members in over 90 Countries. Gary was also made an administrator of Lacrosse History Past Present and Future in 2022 with a membership of 19,000+. Gary also has been the media person for Ontario Series Lacrosse (Senior B) since 2023. Mr. Groob also covers the Green Gaels for their excursions to Prague at the Ales Hrebesky tournament since 2022. In 2024, when Major Series Lacrosse was in need of a media person, Gary stepped in as their interim media person. His tasks were running their social media, as well as their website until a full time person was found to fill the role. In 2025 Gary was voted onto the Board of Directors for Ontario Series Lacrosse. Mr. Groob hosts a weekly lacrosse interview show formerly on Spanglish Sports World, and ZingoTV channel 250, now on StreamPunkEnt.com, Youtube, as well as Spotify. Groob also hosts a lacrosse talk show and podcast for All Lacrosse All The Time seen live Sunday nights at 8pm (ET), and archived on the All Lacrosse All The Time YouTube page, as well as Spotify. Gary also wrote a weekly lacrosse editorial column for La Portada Canada News both in print and online for three years from 2021-2024. In 2025, Mr. Groob joined the ownership ranks, becoming a minority owner of StreamPunk Entertainment, ensuring Lacrosse will always have voice in media. Gary was voted onto the board of directors as the social media director for Ontario Series Lacrosse (OSL) in November of 2025. In 2026 Mr. Groob was nominated for the Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame, made a voting member of the NLL media, was put as a voting member in the Ales Hrebesky Tournament awards, and was nominated for the Tom Borelli Award as media person of the year for the NLL. Mr. Groob's other sports interests include Hockey, Football, Boxing, Wrestling, and Baseball, competing competitively in Boxing and Wrestling for many years.

Photo courtesy of Caroline Sherman NLL

Buffalo  – The Buffalo Bandits (7-1) hosted the San Diego Seals (5-5) in NLL action Saturday night at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, NY in front of 18, 224 fans.

Buffalo was coming off a hard fought 13-12 win against the Toronto Rock the day previous, and were looking to keep the momentum going.  Kyle Buchanan (3g,0a), Dhane Smith (3g,5a), and Chris Cloutier (3g,3a) led the way for the Bandits in a very aggressive game.

San Diego got back in the win column last week also beating the Toronto Rock 11-10 with Wes Berg (4g,0a) being the hero scoring inside the final minute for the winning goal.  Dylan Watson (2g,0a) and Rob Hellyer (2g,3a) also had big games in the victory.  Ryan Benesch was out of the lineup for this game, making the left side much lighter.

The goaltending match-up had Chris Origlieri in net for the Seals facing Matt Vinc in net for the Bandits.

The San Diego Seals took advantage of a tired and sore Bandits team pushing the pace early.  Buffalo got into penalty trouble getting down 4-0 midway through the first quarter.   However, they would start to chip away slowly gaining momentum.   The second quarter saw Josh Byrne get on track helping the Bandits tie the game 6-6.  But not to be denied, San Diego kept pressing scoring two more before halftime for an 8-6 lead.

The second half had the game going back and forth continously, but also getting a lot rougher.  Special teams played a big part in the half.   Down by a goal late in the fourth Wes Berg thought he tied the game.   Upon review it was overturned leaving the Seals with just a bit of time remaining.   However, Zach Currier did tie the game with just 5.3 seconds remaining.

In overtime Wes Berg ended the game and the Bandits undefeated streak with a beautiful goal at 5:02.  The San Diego Seals win 14-13 in overtime.

To The Game:

Ben McIntosh opened the scoring for San Diego with a quick sidearm shot to the corner off a Tre LeClaire pass at 1:44, followed by Wes Berg converting a LeClaire rebound from in front at 3:34. 

Zach Currier then fired a high to high shot off a Rob Hellyer pass at 4:18, followed by a Wes Berg with his second of the quarter on the power-play off a Dylan Watson pass at 7:09.

Buffalo finally got on the board on a two man advantage.  Dhane Smith blasted a bounced shot past Chris Origlieri off an Ian MacKay feed at 14:53.

After one quarter, San Diego 4 Buffalo 1.

Second Quarter:

The Seals got rolling quickly with a shorthanded goal from Zach Currier who blasted a shot just 0:07 seconds into the quarter. 

Josh Byrne then took over with two goals.  The first was on a pick and roll with Chris Cloutier finding himself wide open in front at 2:40, followed by a high to low laser off a Dhane Smith pass at 3:06. 

Kyle Buchanan then converted a Dhane Smith pass at the side of the net at 3:55 to bring the Bandits within one, but San Diego gave themselves a little breathing room when Ben McIntosh fired a high to low shortside bouncer off a Rob Hellyer feed at 5:44. 

Ian MacKay answered right back finishing a Dhane Smith pass with a twister at 6:19, followed by Connor Farrell tying the game scoring his first career NLL goal at 6:34.

The Seals kept fighting with a sidearm snipe from Rob Hellyer off a Ben McIntosh pass at 7:41 of this see-saw battle, followed by Hellyer scoring in transition finishing a Matt Wright pass at 10:46.

At the half, San Diego 8 Buffalo 6.

Roughnecks

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Third Quarter:

Josh Byrne got the Bandits moving to start the third quarter.   Chris Cloutier found Byrne who faked then shot at 1:27 for his third of the game, but Dylan Watson scored on a two man advantage for the Seals converting a Zach Currier pass at 3:29 to restore the two goal lead. 

Chris Cloutier scored a pretty goal taking the rink wide pass from Dhane Smith going low to low at 8:08, but Wes Berg gathered his own rebound and flew across the crease scoring at 9:01.

On a two man advantage Buffalo got one on a give and go between Dhane Smith and Ian MacKay, with MacKay finishing the play at 10:38, followed by Kyle Buchanan on a breakaway finding the top corner still on the power-play at 11:15 to tie the game.

Dylan Watson converted a Kyle Jackson pass that dribbled past Matt Vinc at 12:17 to put the Seals back in the lead.

After three quarters, San Diego 11 Buffalo 10.

Fourth Quarter:

Buffalo’s Ian MacKay tied the game on the power-play finishing a behind the back pass from Chris Cloutier at 1:10, followed by Dhane Smith with a beautiful individual effort falling to the turf giving the Bandits their first lead of the night at 4:43. 

Nick Weiss increased the lead in transition with a low to low shot through the five-hole at 8:07, but Wes Berg in transition brought the game again within one at 10:10.

The Seals thought they had tied the game in the final minute.  Wes Berg scored, but upon review the goal was overturned leaving the Bandits ahead 13-12.  However, in dramatic fashion, San Diego did score the tying goal with Zach Currier blasting a shot off a Wes Berg pass with just 0:05.3 seconds left in the game to send it to overtime.

After regulation, Buffalo 13 San Diego 13.

Overtime:

Back and forth action saw Wes Berg scoring his fifth goal of the night flying through the air putting it over Matt Vinc’s shoulder for the victory.

Final score, San Diego 14 Buffalo 13

The Three Stars:


1. Wes Berg
2. Chris Origlieri
3. Dhane Smith

Game Stats:

  • The shots on goal favored San Diego 56-52.
  • The faceoff battle went to Buffalo 19-12.
  • The loose ball battle was won by the Seals 80-74.
  • The Seals went 2 for 6 on the power-play, also scoring a shorthanded goal.
  • The Bandits went 4 for 7 on the power-play.

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