HAMILTON, CANADA – APRIL 4: 2025 NLL regular season game action between the San Diego Seals Roughnecks and Toronto Rock at TD Coliseum on April 4, 2026 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Christian Bender/NLL)
If you thought last weekend was exciting, the semifinals are just getting started! After a first weekend of back-and-forth competition, the Toronto Rock and San Diego Seals are set to head off this Saturday in a deciding Game 3!
Toronto took the early lead in the series, claiming the first game against San Diego at home. In their 14-12 win, the Rock notched multiple 3+ point games against the Seals, with captain Challen Rogers and recent Transition Player of the Year nominee Sam English both tallying three goals and five points in Game 1, with “The Mailman” Mark Matthews right behind them with four playoff points of his own (3G, 1A).
While the rest of the Rock were busy expanding their lead, Rookie of the Year frontrunner CJ Kirst was kept uncharacteristically quiet against the Seals, recording a season-low four shots on goal and zero goals in Game 1. However, San Diego’s over-awareness of Kirst continued to open the door for the rest of the Rock to find the net, and allowed for several transition opportunities for the Toronto backend. In addition to his nine loose ball pickups and two blocks, Rock defender Josh Jubenville also assisted four goals against San Diego, three of which came in transition.
But despite an initial setback in Game 1 of their series, the Seals were decidedly in control of their playoff destiny in Game 2. With both Kavanaghs still missing from the roster and starting goaltender Chris Origlieri out following an injury sustained during Game 1, San Diego not only came to play, but to win. With their starting keeper out, backup keeper Cam Dunkerley stepped up in a big way to keep his Seals on the path to a League title, stopping 36 shots against Toronto and allowing only six goals against in his second career playoff appearance and first career playoff start.
The Seals were certainly meshing as a team in their second meeting against the Rock, but their individual efforts were major contributors to the team’s continued success. On the backend and in transition, the Seals kept Dunkerley out of trouble and the ball up the floor. Recent Transition Player of the Year nominee Zach Currier was responsible for 12 loose-ball pickups in Game 2 for his 37th of the playoffs, currently leading all players in playoff loose balls, and tallied three points of his own (1G, 2A). While Currier and the San Diego defense stayed busy, the Seals’ offensive line was busy racking up major numbers, with captain Wes Berg notching six points in Game 2 (1G, 5A) and second-year Seal Dylan Watson leading the scoring with his four goals on the evening.
Game 3 of the semifinal series will be decided back at TD Coliseum, and with Origlieri potentially still sitting this one out, goalie play and defensive strength will likely be the biggest contributors to each team’s success. While Dunkerley stepped up last weekend, Toronto netminder Nick Rose has been consistent throughout the series, stopping 44 shots in Game 1 and 34 in Game 2 before being swapped out for Troy Holowchuk in the fourth quarter. Defensively, both Toronto and San Diego need to capitalize on lessons learned in Game 2, react quickly to the ground game and find every opportunity to score without letting individual plays or efforts detract from team performance.
Game 3 of the Toronto-San Diego semifinal series kicks off at TD Coliseum this Saturday, May 9th, 7:00PM ET on ESPN+, NLL+ and TSN+
With the first win of the series under their belts, the Halifax Thunderbirds are headed home for Game 2 against the Georgia Swarm. In their 12-7 victory, the Thunderbirds took full advantage of offensive rebounds and shot clock resets, and controlled the ground game in the loose ball battle.
Alongside his nine points in Georgia (2G, 7A), which bumped him to 2nd in the League for playoff assists, Halifax forward Clarke Petterson was responsible for 12 loose balls, with Ryan Terefenko and Jake Withers right behind him with 11 pickups each.
Additionally, the Thunderbirds shook off any shyness to shoot or throw that check before stepping onto the turf last weekend. Regardless of shot selection, Halifax outshot Georgia by over 20 (Halifax 65 SOG, Georgia 42 SOG), and were also quick to capitalize on the Swarm’s quick offensive possessions and unforced turnovers. Of the Swarm’s 15 tallied turnovers in Game 1, the Thunderbirds had a hand in 11 of them, tallying two caused turnovers and nine blocks on top of goaltender Warren Hill’s 35 saves, several of which resulted in transition goals.
With their only home semifinal game in the books, the Swarm are faced with an uphill road battle after dropping Game 1 of their three-game series. Despite another highlight-worthy performance from 2026 MVP and Goaltender of the Year nominee Brett Dobson, whose 53 saves against Halifax bumped him to 2nd in the League for playoff saves, the Swarm spent a majority of the second half on defense. The Georgia backend was able to force multiple turnovers, with captain Jordan MacIntosh leading the charge with 2 CTO’s and 12 loose balls, but the Swarm were quick to take shots without their offense fully subbed on, frequently trapping their forwards on defense. While the Swarm front-end was no slouch on defense, accounting for several of the team’s blocks and caused turnovers this weekend, their unsettled shot attempts more often than not trapped their forwards on defense, or kept their already ragged defenders on the floor after multiple shot clock resets from Halifax.
With that said, in a non-traditional turn of events, the Thunderbirds are set to host not only Game 2, but also Game 3 if necessary, at Scotiabank Centre for a chance to sweep the series on home turf. But if the other side of the bracket has shown fans anything, it’s that there’s nothing guaranteed in the playoffs. The Swarm front-end will be looking for more ways to catch goaltender Warren Hill off his angle, with a likely emphasis on calmer settled possessions.
While it appeared to make no difference in Game 1, early injury reports still show Halifax missing several key components, including Randy Staats and Thomas Hoggarth, while Georgia is headed into the weekend mostly healthy, with Rookie of the Year nominee Michael Grace still out and Torron Eccleston likely not dressing. With a key defensive component still missing next game, the Swarm needs to emphasize topside defense and quicker slides to the middle, crashing to find Halifax cutting to the cage and keeping an eye on the skip passes to opposite corners. Georgia isn’t dead in the water just yet, but they’ll need to look back on their regular season success against Halifax to keep their title dreams alive.
Game 2 of the Georgia-Halifax semifinal series at Scotiabank Centre is set for this Saturday, May 9th at 6:00PM ET on ESPN+, NLL+ and TSN+.
Game 3 (if necessary) will be slated for Sunday, May 10th at 6:00PM ET on ESPN+, NLL+ and TSN+.
