Photo courtesy of Christian Bender NLL
The San Diego Seals (6-8) visited the Toronto Rock (10-6) in NLL action Saturday night at the TD Coliseum in Hamilton, Ontario, in front of 7,897 fans.
This is the second meeting of the season between the teams and the Seals were looking to get a measure of revenge after falling to the Rock by a 12-7 score on Jan. 9 at Pechanga Arena in San Diego.
The Seals have two of the League’s top transition players in faceoff specialist Trevor Baptiste and Zach Currier. Baptiste leads the League in faceoff win percentage (75%) while ranking second in faceoff wins (258), just two behind League-leader Jake Withers of Halifax (160).
The Rock turned in one of their best all round performances of the season back on January 9th against the Seals. Though a but inconsistent at times, the Rock have made great strides as ths season has moved forward. With a win over the Seals AND a Rochester loss to Halifax, the Rock would clinch a playoff spot.
The goaltending match-up had Chris Origlieri in net for San Diego facing Nick Rose in net for the Rock.
The Toronto Rock delivered a strong, composed performance, defeating the San Diego Seals 7–5 behind a balanced offensive attack and timely scoring throughout the game. Toronto came out firing in the opening quarter, with goals from CJ Kirst, Challen Rogers, and Chris Boushy building an early 3–0 lead. They carried that momentum into the second quarter, highlighted by a pair from Owen Hiltz, who played a key role in extending the Rock’s advantage to 5–1. Despite San Diego finding some life midway through the half with goals from Connor Robinson and Wes Berg, Toronto maintained control and entered halftime firmly ahead.
San Diego showed resilience in the second half, clawing back with goals from Zach Deaken and a continued push from Berg and Ben McIntosh, narrowing the gap to 6–4 and later 7–5. However, Toronto’s defense held strong down the stretch, and a late goal from Kirst—his second of the night—helped seal the victory.
To The Game:
The Rock opened the scoring on a great individual effort from CJ Kirst fighting his way to the crease unassisted at 3:29, followed by Challen Rogers crashing the crease off a Josh Dawick pass at 6:18. Chris Boushy then finished a tic-tac-toe play off a Mark Matthews pass at 7:12.
After one quarter, Toronto 3 San Diego 0.
Second Quarter:
After over five minutes of end to end action the Rock increased their lead with a low to low shot from Owen Hiltz off a Brad Kri pass in transition at 5:40.
San Diego finally got on the board with a high to low outside shot from Connor Robinson off a Wes Berg feed at 7:47, but the Rock answered back immediately with Owen Hiltz firing a shot that Origlieri originally stopped, but trickled in at 8:30.
Wes Berg brought the Seals a little closer with a bounced shot from in close off a Zach Currier pass at 11:39.
At the half, Toronto 5 San Diego 2.
Third Quarter:
San Diego opened the third quarter with Zach Deacan scoring his first NLL goal. Going coast to coast on a turnover, Deacan beat Nick Rose over his shoulder at 5:48.
The Rock regained their three goal lead on the power-play with Josh Dawick scoring with a dive from behind the net off a Challen Rogers pass at 13:52.
After three quarters, Toronto 6 San Diego 3.
Fourth Quarter:
After almost ten minutes of scoreless action the Seals beat Nick Rose from in close when Ben McIntosh finished a Connor Robinson pass at 9:40, but a late goal from CJ Kirst from the outside off an Owen Hiltz pass at 12:29 kept Toronto firmly in control.
Wes Berg added a late goal on a screen shot at 13:53, but ot was too little too late.
Final score, Toronto 7 San Diego 5.
The Three Stars:
1. Nick Rose
2. Sam English
3. CJ Kirst
Game Stats:
- Shots on goal favored San Diego 43-28.
- The faceoff battle went to the Seals 12-4.
- The loose ball battle was won by the Rock 68-64.
- San Diego went 0 for 3 on the power-play, while Toronto went 1 for 3.
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