The Albany FireWolves were atop the NLL mountain for a multitude of reasons. There’s a new feel in the air and the team was reaping the rewards of such good play, as they came into Saturday night’s contest against the San Diego Seals as arguably the hottest team in the league and riding a 6-0 start to the year. Hate to break it to ya, but an off night for the offense and a Seals team that was hip to the task had other things to say about it.
A resilient FireWolves team saw themselves trailing at halftime, got within one in the third, and completely fell apart in the fourth. The Seals handed Albany their first loss of the year, in convincing fashion, 14-7. Let’s do it.
The first quarter was the Curtis Dickson show as far as scoring is concerned. Superman tallied two in the frame to Albany’s zero, so the tone was already being set. Dickson scored at the 14:11 mark, a short handed goal, and the 12:17 mark, and the rest of the way was phenomenal defense and goaltending from San Diego. 2-0 Seals after one.
The second saw an uptick in the scoring. The only issue for Albany was the scoring was predominantly by the opposition. Just like Dickson in the first, Austin Staats rattled off two in a row to begin the quarter, the first being on the power play. Jackson Nishimura finally broke the scoreless streak for Albany with his first, but here came San Diego once again. Three in a row for the West Coast kids scored by Mac O’Keefe, Wesley Berg, and Kyle Jackson, on the power play. The young phenom Alex Simmons got his first on the power play in the final seconds to close out the first half. 7-2 Seals at halftime. It was Margaritaville Night in Albany, but it didn’t feel much like a party.
Christopher Origlieri was fantastic in net for the Seals in the first half. His presence and ability to stay cool at only 21 years old is a sight to see. He made 27 saves on 29 shots. Doug Jamieson on the other hand, struggled a bit. Dougie made 17 saves on 24 shots in the first half, which turned out to be it for him for the game. Justin Geddie made his relief to begin the second half.
While the final score wasn’t indicative of it, the third quarter proved that Albany are contenders in this league and should not be taken lightly. The FireWolves completely turned the game around with four-straight goals in the third quarter, all the while shutting down San Diego’s high-powered offense. Scorers in that run were Ethan Walker, Patrick Kaschalk, Travis Longboat, and Nick Chaykowsky. Those goals were scored in a span of 12:32. Dickson did get his hat trick to end the quarter, but all of a sudden we sat at 8-6 Seals after three.
San Diego must have taken exception to the way the third quarter went, because they took their turn in shutting the game down, just in the fourth and when it mattered most. Any comeback by Albany was nullified. Dane Dobbie started the scoring with his first on the power play, but was answered 16 seconds later by Tye Kurtz’s first. Unfortunately for Kurtz and the FireWolves, that’d be it for their scoring the rest of the way. Dickson got his fourth at the 5:24 mark, and the Seals followed that up with four more, breaking down to almost a goal a minute. O’Keefe and Berg each got their second and Staats tallied two more, to give him four and that gave us our final, 14-7 Seals. San Diego was masterclass in the fourth quarter between shutting down Albany and scoring at an unreal clip.
Players of the game for San Diego were Dickson (four goals), Staats (4+3), and Berg (2+5). Origlieri faltered a bit in the third, but turned it back on in the fourth, making 44 saves on 51 shots in total. For Albany, Walker (1+3), Nishimura (1+2), and Kurtz (1+2) led the way. You obviously saw Jamieson’s stats in his 30 minutes of game time, but in his relief, Geddie stopped 28 of 34 the rest of the way.
“We knew it was going to be a grind,” said Dickson after the game. “This is a scrappy young team, they obviously have been playing well to start the season. It’s been kind of on and off for us here, it was important for us to come out here tonight and play well.”
Albany (6-1) presumably will look to get back on a winning streak. They still sit towards the top of the standings and have a week off to regroup. They take their home floor against Las Vegas (2-3)* next Saturday February 3rd at 7pm. San Diego (4-2) looks to continue climbing the standings. They stay on the road, AGAIN, this time heading to Philadelphia (2-3) this Saturday at 7:30pm.
