Week 7 kicked off with three games on Friday night. While Buffalo and Vancouver were victorious in their own barns, the Georgia Swarm were snowed out by Ottawa. Read on to see how it all unfolded!
Toronto Rock 13 @ Buffalo Bandits 15
There hasn’t been a more emotionally charged game this season than Friday night’s Rock at Bandits matchup. Tied 10 times, Nick Weiss scored the game-winner with 43 seconds left, finishing off a transition attempt started by captain Steve Priolo.
As he scored, play-by-play man Teddy Jenner remarked, “I can’t even hear myself!” thanks to the 17, 240 fans in attendance at KeyBank Center.
You want a last-minute game-winning goal, Banditland?
The Bandits move to 4-0 and remain the league’s last undefeated team, while the Rock are still winless at 0-5.
Ian MacKay led the charge for the Bandits with 5 goals and 3 assists. His mom Patty was in the crowd, mourning the loss of MacKay’s stepfather Steve. MacKay played like a man possessed and Steve is surely looking down proudly at him this weekend.
Tehoka Nanticoke had the goal of the game and was a top contender for goal of the year, catching a pass behind the net, ricocheting off a defender out front, and scoring on the unintentional spin move as he fell to the floor.
Josh Byrne contributed a hat trick and five assists, while Dhane Smith found the back of the net twice, including an empty-net insurance marker, but added eight assists for a whopping 10-point game. Connor Farrell dominated at the dot with 22 wins on 31 faceoff attempts, and Matt Vinc made 24 saves in goal.
Chris Boushy led Toronto with three goals and three assists. Corey Small, who recorded his 900th career point, Brian Cameron and Josh Dawick all scored twice. Captain Challen Rogers returned from the IR and picked up his first goal of the season along with five helpers. Nick Rose made 31 saves in 47 minutes, but Troy Holowchuk finished the game, making 11 saves in 13 minutes.
It was a chippy affair with scrums between Nick Weiss and Billy Hostrawser, and then later, Zack Belter and Elijah Gash, as both teams looked to defend star players.
Ottawa Black Bears 14 @ Georgia Swarm 10
The winter storm blasting the southeastern United States made for a different type of NLL game on Friday night, as the Ottawa Black Bears made their first visit to GAS South Arena versus the Georgia Swarm.
Each team had a full complement of players, but arena and broadcast staff were limited by the weather. The game featured no soundtrack, the broadcast was down a camera, and attendance was limited as the Georgians battled with the snowy elements, an anomaly in their region.
Georgia built up a 3-0 lead with three goals in the first 2:03. Lyle Thompson, who finished with five goals and three assists, had the first two, including a highlight-reel contender just 1:17 into the game. Thompson came out of the corner with the ball and scored on the behind-the-net dunk attempt, slickly tucking the ball past Zach Higgins. His third goal was also a thing of beauty, going for a crease dive after a spin move.
Lyle Thompson gets it started in Georgia with an ELECTRIC behind-the-net diving dunk.
Ottawa easily caught up, and five minutes into the third quarter, the game was tied 8-8. Ottawa then outscored Georgia 6-2 to take the game.
Bryan Cole had a hat trick for the Swarm, with Joey Cupido and Shayne Jackson recording singles. Brett Dobson made 33 saves.
Jeff Teat led the Black Bears with his best game of the season, scoring three times and adding five helpers for eight points. Larson Sundown and Jacob Dunbar each scored a hat trick and added three and two assists, respectively. Higgins made 41 saves and stopped Lyle Thompson and Seth Oakes a combined 18 times.
Led by a 3-Goal, 5-Assist night from Jeff Teat, the Black Bears take down the Swarm 14-10
Ottawa moves to 3-2 on the season, while Georgia falls to 4-2 with their second consecutive loss.
San Diego Seals 9 @ Vancouver Warriors 11
A week after they made League history with the lowest-scoring game of all time, the San Diego Seals looked poised to do the same against the Vancouver Warriors. But Keegan Bal had something to say about that.
With the Seals leading 6-3 at halftime, the Warriors mounted a monumental comeback, led by Bal’s fourth-quarter sock trick. This is only the third time in League history that a player has had six goals in one quarter (although the record for that stat is held by Dane Dobbie, who scored seven earlier this season).
🚨A 4TH QUARTER SOCK TRICK FOR KEEGAN BAL!🚨
Bal scores on the empty net, his SIXTH of the Quarter, to make it 11-9 Warriors. pic.twitter.com/Qtytpw04PN
Bal tied the game 7-7, then Reid Bowering and another goal from Bal gave the Warriors a 9-7 lead. Cam Holding and Rob Hellyer tied it 9-9 before Bal broke the tie again with the game-winner. He added an insurance marker with 14 seconds left.
Wesley Berg led the Seals with four goals and one assist. Kyle Jackson had a pair of goals including a nice diving marker in the third quarter. Christopher Origlieri made 46 saves in goal.
Until his six-goal outburst, Bal had only recorded one assist. Adam Charalambides had a good night on the stat sheet with a pair of goals and a pair of assists, while defender Owen Grant had two goals and one assist. Aden Walsh made 44 saves, and Alec Stathakis had a big night on faceoffs with 18 wins on 24 attempts.
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