A Win over the Rock Saturday Night in Toronto Is All That Stands Between the Seals and Their First-Ever Trip to the NLL Finals
NLL San Diego Seals

A Win over the Rock Saturday Night in Toronto Is All That Stands Between the Seals and Their First-Ever Trip to the NLL Finals

Published on May 6, 2026 under National Lacrosse League (NLL)
San Diego Seals News Release


The San Diego Seals are just one win away from their first-ever trip to the National Lacrosse League finals and all that stands between them and that opportunity is a win over the Toronto Rock in Game Three of their semifinal playoff series, set for this Saturday night, May 9, at the TD Coliseum in Hamilton. Faceoff is slated for 4 p.m. PT.

In Game Two on Sunday afternoon, a pair of Toronto natives stole the headlines with backup goaltender Cam Dunkerley holding Toronto to just six goals, while forward Dylan Watson scored a season-high four to power the Seals to a 11-6 win that extended the series and kept the Seals championship aspirations alive.

Recap of Sunday afternoon's Game Two at Pechanga Arena in San Diego

The Seals defense, which played a large role in the team's success for much of the season, came up big once again when the team needed it most, holding the Rock to just six goals in a 11-6 win at Pechanga Arena in Game Two of their best-of-three National Lacrosse League semifinal playoff series.

Filling in for an injured Chris Origlieri, Cam Dunkerley played the game of his life in his first career postseason start between the pipes, holding the Rock to just six goals, while stopping 36 of 42 shots, an astounding 85.7 percent save percentage. Dunkerley received a standing ovation from the raucous Pechanga Arena crowd when Head Coach Patrick Merrill subbed him out with 50 seconds left in the contest.

Meanwhile on the other side of the turf, it was forward Dylan Watson, who continued his hot streak in the playoffs, scoring a game and season-high four goals to power the San Diego offense. Watson has now scored a team-high nine goals in the postseason.

Early on there were no signs of what was to come from Dunkerley as the Rock scored the game's first goal just 1:17 into the contest. But that goal would be the only goal the Rock would score for the next 37-plus minutes while the Seals surged out to a 7-1 lead.

Watson scored twice in the first quarter. The first came on a wraparound shot from behind the net off a beautiful pass from Currier just seconds after the Seals killed a Toronto power play. The second came 3:31 later as he bobbed and weaved his way to the top of the crease before beating the Rock's Nick Rose to the stick side.

The second quarter was all Seals as they scored twice with Robinson scoring his first of the night on a power play and Leclaire scoring the other. Robinson's goal came just 16 seconds after the Rock were penalized for an illegal cross check on Currier. Leclaire's goal came with 1:45 remaining after the Seals killed off yet another Toronto power play as he blasted one from just inside the restraining line to cap off a long offensive possession to give the Seals a 4-1 lead at the half.

The Seals put their foot on the gas pedal in the third as they extended their lead to 7-1 with Wes Berg, Currier and James Barclay all finding the back of the net. Berg and Currier's goals came 1:54 apart with Berg from mid-range at an angle, while Currier's shot came from point-blank range. Barclay's goal at the 6:29 mark was a thing of beauty as it came off a perfectly thrown length-of-field pass from Trent DiCicco with Barclay beating Rose on the breakaway to put the Seals on top by six.

The Rock finally solved the riddle that was Dunkerley, but it took them until 6:05 remained in the third, capping a 37:38 scoreless stretch for the visitors. Toronto's joy would be short lived however as just 31 seconds later on the very next possession, Watson scored his third of the night and the quarter would end with the Seals ahead by a score of 8-2.

It was a physical game that featured a total of 80 penalty minutes and four ejections with the Seals going 2-for-7 on the power play while the San Diego defense held the Rock 0-for-5 with the man advantage. Things got especially chippy in the fourth quarter.

The quarter began with the teams trading two goals over the opening 7:22 before two brouhahas ensued 30 seconds apart. The body count from them featured two slashing penalties, four misconduct penalties, an illegal body check and three unsportsmanlike conduct fouls and when the dust settled, Seals Team Captain Wes Berg was sent to the locker room along with three members of the Rock. Toronto managed to score a shorthanded goal at the 5:31 mark but Eli Gobrecht returned the favor exactly one minute later, scoring an empty net goal off another DiCicco assist as the Seals all but put the game away. Toronto would score once more with 50 seconds left but that would be all she wrote as the Seals closed out the 11-6 win.

How they got here

The Seals and Rock both had to win single-elimination quarterfinal playoff games on the road to reach the semifinals.

For the Seals, it was a road win over the No. 2 seed Colorado Mammoth in Denver. Down 11-7 late in the third, Seals team captain Wes Berg led a furious comeback to send the game into overtime and 59 seconds into the extra session, Berg found Seals leading scorer Tre Leclaire alone in front of the net where he drove home the game-winner to send the Seals on.

Meanwhile for Toronto, the Rock rolled into the Sasktel Centre, home of the No. 3 seed Saskatchewan Rush and outscored the hosts 8-4 over the final 25:00 to turn a one-goal deficit into a 16-13 victory. The Rock were led by Chris Boushy, who scored five times, while CJ Kirst and Josh Dawick both recorded hat tricks.

Toronto went 11-7 during the regular season to earn the No. 6 seed entering the playoffs and they finished the regular season strong, winning six of their last nine and four of their last six.

Broadcast Information

Saturday night's Game Three will air on local cable television in San Diego on YurView (Cox Communications Channel 4) and it will be streamed to a global audience on ESPN+.

Scoring goals in droves

After struggling to find the back of the net for much of the regular season, the Seals moved into the semifinals as one of the hottest scoring teams on turf. They opened the series against the Rock having scored 13 or more goals in their last three games, something they did just three times total during the regular season. They scored 12 in Game One against the Rock and 11 in Game Two and have now scored 75 total goals in their last six outings, including a season-high tying 16 in their regular season finale at Las Vegas.

And it's been the Seals veterans who've been responsible for picking up the scoring pace.

Dylan Watson has caught fire during the playoffs scoring a team-high nine goals, including a season-best four in the Seals' Game Two win over the Rock.

Team captain Wes Berg scored three goals during the Seals' overtime quarterfinal win over Colorado and he's scored two or more goals in nine of the Seals' last 13 games.

Zach Currier is often regarded as the NLL's top transition player but he has looked more the part of one of the League's top offensive players as he's been on an absolute tear of late. Currier's scored 12 goals and recorded 16 assists in the Seals' last five. And in his more traditional role, Currier led the Seals this season with 200 loose balls secured and 23 caused turnovers. He showed that same acumen in Game One against Toronto, scooping up a game-high 17 loose balls while forcing a pair of Toronto turnovers, and he backed it up with a dozen loose balls secure in Game Two.

Meanwhile "Big" Ben McIntosh, who battled injuries early in the year, has found a rhythm of late as he's scored three or more goals in six of the Seals' last nine contests, including a hat trick in Game One against the Rock.

And it's not just the veterans as rookie Noah Armitage has caught fire of late as well. Inserted into the lineup ahead of the Seals' 16 th game of the season against fellow NLL semifinalist, Georgia, Armitage scored a pair of goals in the Seals 9-7 win over the Swarm that put the purple and gold in control of their playoff destiny. And just five nights later, Armitage recorded his first-career hat trick in a 14-12 win over Las Vegas that all but put the Seals into the NLL Playoffs. And speaking of the playoffs, Armitage came up big yet again in the Seals win over the Mammoth, racking up three assists, which were third-most on the team.

Getting Physical on D

While much of the recent attention has been focused on the Seals offense, the Seals defense shouldn't be overlooked as it carried the team through the stretches when goals were tough to come by. Throughout most of the regular season, the Seals ranked in the top three in the League in fewest goals allowed. In fact, nine times during the regular season, that's half the team's games, the Seals held their opponents to nine goals-or-less.

The combination of goaltender Chris Origlieri and defensemen Danny Logan, Trent DiCicco, Eli Gobrecht and Graydon Bradley deserve a ton of credit for the Seals' play on the back end.

Origlieri spent just shy of 949 minutes in between the pipes during the regular season and allowed just 10.18 goals per game. He stopped 576 of 737 shots (78.2 percent) on the season and his solid play carried over into postseason when the Seals needed it most as he allowed just one goal over the final 18:39 of regulation and overtime while the Seals erased a four-goal deficit in Colorado to win in sudden death in the quarterfinals.

Logan meanwhile paced the Seals defense with 108 loose balls secured on the season, while DiCicco racked up 89, Gobrecht 77 and Bradley 70. That feistiness also came with a price (for the opposition) as Bradley and Gobrecht led the team in minutes spent in the penalty box with 26 and 23, respectively.

And Logan wasn't just a pest for the opposition with loose balls as he also paced the D with 22 forced turnovers, while Gobrecht was second with 14. Fellow defenseman James Barclay also deserves a nod for leading the team with 16 blocked shots, while Bradley was second with 13.

Badest man on the faceoff dot

The Seals get a major boost from faceoff specialist Trevor Baptiste, regarded by many as the top faceoff man in all of lacrosse. Baptiste's dominance on the dot was on full display during the Seals' playoff opening win in Colorado when he came away with 26 of the game's 29 faceoffs, an incredible 89.7% success rate.

And during the regular season, Baptiste led the NLL in both faceoff wins (327) and faceoff win percentage (75%), four percentage points clear of Halifax's Jake Withers, who was second at 71%.

Oh Canada

While the Seals will officially be the road team on Friday night when the Seals and Rock kick off the semifinals in Toronto, it may feel more like a home game for the Seals as a good chunk of the roster and coaching staff has ties to the Greater Toronto region.

Seals Head Coach Patrick Merrill, assistant coach Brodie Merrill and Defensive Coach Cam Woods all call Toronto home, as do Seals players Cam Acchione, James Barclay, Chris Origlieri, Dylan Watson, Matt Wright, Ari Steenhuis, Cam Dunkerley and Corey Small. And even though he now resides in San Diego, Zack Deaken too is a native of Toronto.

And prior to joining the Seals before the start of the 2025-26 season, Small spent the previous three seasons playing for the Rock.

Seals-Rock Head-to-Head

Following Sunday afternoon's Game Two win in San Diego, the Seals are now 2-7 all-time against Toronto. They are 1-4 in games played in Toronto and 1-3 in games played in San Diego.

Roster Breakdown

The Seals' roster sees the team carrying nine forwards, eight defenders, five transition men and three goalies. The breakdown is below:

Forwards: Wes Berg, Ben McIntosh, Tre Leclaire, Chris Kavanagh, Pat Kavanagh, Dylan Watson, Connor Robinson, Corey Small, and Noah Armitage.

Defensemen: Danny Logan, Graydon Bradley, Eli Gobrecht, Patrick Shoemay, James Barclay, Zack Deaken, Marquez White and Matt Wright.

Transition: Zach Currier, Trent DiCicco, Cam Acchione, faceoff specialist Trevor Baptiste and rookie Ari Steenhuis.

Goaltenders: Chris Origlieri, Tyden Redlick and Cam Dunkerley

Pat Kavanagh, Chris Kavanagh, Corey Small, and Chris Origlieri are currently on Injured-Reserve. Kellen LeClair is on the League's holdout list while he completes his probationary period as a firefighter. Jake Govett is on the practice squad.

Seals Head Coach and General Manager Patrick Merrill

Seals Head Coach and General Manager Patrick Merrill owns a career regular-season won-loss ledger of 70-50 (.583) since joining the Seals in 2018. He has guided the Seals to the playoffs in each of the six full seasons he's been at the helm.

Team Captains

Wes Berg is a team captain for the third straight season. Danny Logan and Graydon Bradley are the assistant captains for home games, while Zach Currier and Eli Gobrecht are the assistant captains for the team's road contests.

Follow the Seals on Social Media

For the latest info on the Seals, visit https://www.sealslax.com/ and follow the team on social media at @SealsLax on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.

Berg and Leclaire win the Farmers Insurance Open Pro-am

Seals forwards Wes Berg and Tre Leclaire had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity on Jan. 28th when they were invited to compete in the Pro-Am ahead of the PGA Tour's Farmers Insurance Open at the world-famous Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego. Paired with PGA pros Jhonattan Vegas and Erik van Rooyen, the Seals duo was part of this year's winning team with a score of 16 under par.

Check out the San Diego Seals Statistics

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National Lacrosse League Stories from May 6, 2026


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