Black Bears Fall to Warriors After Slow Start
Published on January 24, 2026 under National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Ottawa Black Bears News Release
All season long, the Black Bears have been a second-half team. A good trend, indeed, but on the flip side of that coin, slow starts have also been present through the first eight games of their season.
The Black Bears were trailing Vancouver 5-2 at half, and then the Warriors scored four straight goals to open the second half, a deficit far too large to overcome. Ottawa rallied with six out of the next eight goals but ultimately fell 12-8.
"Yeah, we had a slow start. We've been great down the stretch in fourth quarters and second halves, but at some point it's going to bite us," Jeff Teat said after the game. Teat scored three goals in the second half and finished with six points on the night. He leads the NLL with 57 points before play resumes on Saturday.
"I think we all know we can grind it out and we trust each other, but we put ourselves in a hole. Too big and too much, and then at some point it's not going to work out."
The Warriors, with help from goaltender Christian Del Bianco, were scoring in transition. They were also scoring on the power play, finishing three-of-four with the man advantage.
"They're big, pretty physical, they've got great coaching, right, they're prepared," said defender Callum Jones after the game.
"We just overthought a little bit at the beginning. We saw in the second half, we kind of settled in a little bit on the back end, allowed [Zach Higgins] to see the shots that we wanted him to see, but we started flat, not the start we wanted.
At 5-on-5 and then in transition as the game progressed, the Black Bears were actually fairly successful defending the Warriors.
"I think on the D-side, when we see [them getting out in transition], we've just got to get out there as fast as possible, our first steps from the bench need to be hard, I think we focused on that the second half and we were able to stop some of their transition in the second half," said Jones.
A positive to take from the game was Connor Kearnan's performance during his 100th career NLL game. Kearnan nearly had his first hat trick since last November with a late goal, which was later disallowed due to a teammate's foot being determined to be in the crease upon review.
"He's been great, probably one of the best sticks in the league, he has those TSN Top 10 goals once every other game," said Jones.
"He's a huge piece for us on the floor, but he's also a huge piece for us in this room as well, he's the glue of this team. He's just unbelievable on the floor, he's been a multi-faceted player on this team that we highly need, and he continues to show up for us."
Kearnan finished with two goals and two assists on the night. Rob Hellyer contributed four assists, Reilly O'Connor two assists, Larson Sundown a goal and an assist, and Jacob Dunbar and Sam Firth a goal apiece. Jones had an assist in transition, along with seven loose balls and a caused turnover. Jay Thorimbert won 13 of 24 faceoffs.
This year, the Black Bears will play four Friday home games and five Saturday home games from November to April.
Next up on the road is a trip to Toronto next Saturday for the first meeting of the season with the Rock.
Next up at home is a Saturday meeting with Calgary on Feb. 7 at Canadian Tire Centre.
National Lacrosse League Stories from January 24, 2026
- Black Bears Fall to Warriors After Slow Start - Ottawa Black Bears
- FireWolves Head West to Face Colorado Mammoth - Oshawa FireWolves
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
