What a weekend for the road teams! In all four matchups during Week 11, the visitors were victorious. The slate included two Friday night tilts and two Saturday contests and each one was thrilling to the end.
Week 11 of the fast-moving NLL season kicked off in suburban Atlanta where the Colorado Mammoth and Georgia Swarm competed in a very well-played contest that was decided late in the action. This matchup featured a series of multi-goal swings, with Colorado scoring three straight in the first, followed by Georgia finding the net on four consecutive occasions in the second stanza. This rollercoaster ride of a game continued late in the second and during the third when the Mammoth and then the Swarm connected on three blasts in a row.
With the festivities tied 12-12 in the fourth, the union of evenly matched clubs finally came to a dramatic conclusion when Colorado’s Ryan Lee lit the lamp with a mere 38 seconds remaining, securing the 13-12 win.
Ryan. Lee.
Leezer makes it 13-12 with 37 seconds left in the 4th. pic.twitter.com/9VsIj7Kotx
— NLL (@NLL) February 8, 2025
Lee was one of five mile-high players who notched two goals on the night, with Lee accompanying his two lamplighters with six assists. Zed Williams contributed a hat trick, to go along with his two helpers. Connor Robinson, Will Malcom, Connor Kelly and Eli McLaughlin all scored twice. Dillon Ward stopped 45 shots.
On the disappointing side of the ledger, Toron Eccleston delivered yet another fantastic performance, scoring four and helping on an additional three. Bryan Cole etched a hat trick, while Miles Thompson finished with two scores and three helpers. Miles’ brother Lyle was held scoreless but completed five pivotal passes to his teammates. Brett Dobson made 32 saves in goal.
Friday was a great night to be a Dickson. Thanks to a combined six goals and five assists from the unrelated tandem of Curtis and Haiden Dickson, the Roughnecks came out on the winning side of a 15-12 slugfest at Rogers Arena. It snapped a seven-game home winning streak for the Warriors dating back to last season.
Curtis Dickson’s prolific effort moved him past Dan Dawson for sixth place on the all-time goals list. The 36-year-old’s night was made that much sweeter due to his wife Theresa and baby boy Hayes cheering him on from the stands.
Haiden and Curtis Dickson both record hattys as the Roughnecks take down the Warriors 15-12.
👀 HIGHLIGHTS pic.twitter.com/uWOswPxjkX
— NLL (@NLL) February 8, 2025
“He’s going to be nine months in a couple of days. We’re 3-0 when he’s in attendance, so he’s our good luck charm,” Dickson remarked to Shantelle Chand after the game. On the milestone, he quipped, “At the end of the day I’m still chasing Dane (not very far ahead in 5th place) so I have to catch up to him before I can celebrate. It’s a cool accomplishment.”
The Warriors jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead, only to witness the Roughnecks reel off nine of the next 10 goals, flipping the score to a 9-3 advantage. The local guys responded with a seven out of eight-goal burst of their own, leveling the battle 10-10 in the third. The chaos would soon come to a halt as the visitors attached the final three goals to the scoresheet. After a frenetic first three quarters, only one solitary score found its way into the net during the final 15 minutes.
Dane Dobbie scored twice and added four assists while Tanner Cook scored a pair and assisted on three. Cam MacLeod got the win in goal with 40 saves. Justin Inacio and Alec Stathakis each won 15 faceoffs.
Riley Loewen led the way for Vancouver with three goals and two helpers, Keegan Bal scored twice with six assists, Adam Charalambides scored two goals and four assists and Kevin Crowley scored twice with three assists. Youngster Marcus Klarich also contributed two goals. Aden Walsh made 34 saves.
More than 9,000 fans were in attendance for this wild Friday night affair on Canada’s West Coast.
Saturday afternoon was Marvel SuperHero Day at Wells Fargo Center, and both teams wore Marvel-inspired specialty jerseys, with the Thunderbirds representing Deadpool and the Wings donning Indigenous-inspired Captain America jerseys, based on the art of the late Jeffrey Veregge.
Halifax (4-4) jumped on Philadelphia (5-4) early and often, leading 5-2 after the first quarter and 7-4 at halftime. Though the Wings tied the game 8-8 in the third, the Thunderbirds scored five in a row between the third and fourth to pull away again. Halifax’s transition game was the difference, with the Thunderbirds tallying on at least five different opportunities. Ten different scorers found the back of the net in the game.
Mike Robinson and Ryan Terefenko each had a hat trick, with Terefenko also contributing three assists. Jake Withers scored once and added three assists in addition to dominating at the faceoff dot with 25/28 wins. Warren Hill made 37 saves in goal.
The Thunderbirds spoiled the highly-anticipated hometown debut of Michael Sowers. The Princeton grad assisted on the Wings’ opening goal, passing the ball to Joe Resetarits, before adding two goals of his own. Resetarits finished with a hat trick and three assists. Mitch Jones scored once but helped on eight different markers. Nick Damude took the loss in goal, making 48 saves.
Brennan O’Neill scored a goal-of-the-year candidate in the third quarter, scoring one-handed while fighting off a defender on a crease dive, nearly landing on his head.
🚨 GOAL OF THE YEAR CANDIDATE 🚨
BRENNAN O’NEILL JUST DID THAT.#SCtop10 @NLLwings pic.twitter.com/oiXgPEjQFr
— NLL (@NLL) February 8, 2025
Wes Berg’s fourth goal of the game broke a late 10-10 tie to lift the San Diego Seals over the Toronto Rock. It snapped a three-game losing skid for the Seals while also snapping a three-game win streak for the Rock, who hosted their annual Indigenous Heritage game at Paramount Fine Foods Centre.
The Seals led 2-1 after the first quarter, with Dylan Watson, son of legendary Rock goaltender Bob Watson, potting the first goal for the Seals. Elijah Gash then scored his first NLL goal for Toronto.
San Diego led 6-3 at halftime and 9-5 after 45 minutes of play. An inspired fourth quarter saw the Rock claw their way back into the game with a five-goal run. Mitch de Snoo’s second transition marker of the game even gave the home team a brief 10-9 lead before Hellyer tied the game, 10-10. Berg’s winner came with 49 seconds left.
Hellyer, a former member of the Rock, had around 50 friends and family in the crowd. He said to Ashley Docking after the game that “those are the fun [games] you want to be a part of.”
“You want to be contributing to that. Wes, he’s a big-game player so he’s going to do that no matter what, that’s why he’s the captain. Our whole offense, our defense, our whole team in the last 45 there was just incredible. It was a whole-team effort.”
Sealed the win! 🥍🦭
The San Diego Seals edge out a thriller, taking down the Toronto Rock 11-10! Full game highlights 👇 pic.twitter.com/EzyxNb1Weq
— NLL (@NLL) February 9, 2025
Corey Small led Toronto with three goals including the 400th of his career. De Snoo added a pair of assists to go with his goals. Nick Rose made 48 saves and TD Ierlan won 16 of 25 faceoffs.
Berg’s four goals led all scorers on the night, with Rob Hellyer contributing a pair of goals and three assists and Watson two goals for San Diego. Christoper Origlieri made 39 saves.
