We love when we can smell a good rivalry brewing like a fresh cup of coffee or a nice bouquet of flowers. There’s just something about two teams who truly don’t like each other and always play great games against one another. That seems to be what’s happening between the San Diego Seals and the Colorado Mammoth.
Friday night at Pechanga Arena was the rivalry renewed between these two teams. San Diego can score in bunches, and it’s been proven that their new additions have played a pivotal role thus far. On the other side, Colorado’s offense is healthy and full bore, and it certainly helps to have Dillon Ward between the pipes. Which one gets the upper hand? In this contest it was the San Diego offense that was the story as a five-goal run at the end of the first and majority of the second quarters propelled them to a 14-11 victory over the Mammoth. It’s another late one on the East Coast, grab your coffee and your popcorn (not a good combo) and let’s get to it.
The first quarter was a complete deadlock. Kyle Jackson opened the scoring for the Seals, but was quickly answered by two-straight from Colorado, one from Connor Robinson and the other from Ryan Lee. Wesley Berg tied it back up, but 46 seconds later, Robinson buried his second. Danny Logan scored in the waning seconds of the quarter to tie it back up, putting us at 3-3 after one. Logan’s goal was courtesy of a shot that went the length of the floor into an empty Colorado net.
Logan’s goal at the end of the first was what started the San Diego run going into the start of the second. Four more for the Seals boosted their lead and more importantly, the momentum. Those four goals were scored by Rob Hellyer, Jackson twice, giving him the hat trick, and Berg, his second. Connor Kelly finally stopped the bleeding with his first on the power play, but here came San Diego once again. Two more courtesy of Berg and Zach Currier added to the lead. Kelly and Currier each notched their second to keep the lead at five. 10-5 Seals at the break.
“I mean, just moving the ball and capitalizing on my opportunities when I get them,” said Currier about his first half success. “Luckily I’ve been able to do that tonight and so have my teammates. We have to keep doing our thing.”
We had quite the juicer in this game when it came to the men between the pipes. On one side, Ward faced a flurry of shots and had his sparkling moments, stopping 22 of 32. On the other, was Christopher Origlieri, who we can say the same for. He made 10 saves on 15 shots.
The five-goal lead held by San Diego remained the same after the third quarter. Each side scored three goals. The first was absolute bully ball from Zed Williams as he pushed his way in and fired a bouncer. Berg and Eli McLaughlin traded goals to follow. Once again, San Diego had the answer with two-straight, one from Hellyer on the power play and the other from Logan. Robinson got his hat trick with one second on the clock to make it 13-8 Seals after three. Robinson’s goal was the first in a four-goal run for Colorado.
Williams opened the fourth, the same way he opened the third. Well, kind of. Zed scored, only his goal in the fourth was disgusting. He corralled a rebound from behind the net, paused a moment, jumped, and dunked from behind the net. Gross. Will Malcom buried two-straight to finish off the four-goal run for the Mammoth and all of a sudden it was a two-goal game. Origlieri and the Seals defense shut down Colorado the rest of the way, and with an empty-netter from Eli Gobrecht, that’d be all she wrote. Your final, 14-11 Seals.
Players of the game for Colorado were Robinson (3+3), Kelly (2+2), and Williams (2+2). Ward had his shining moments, but ultimately came up short. He made 37 saves on 49 shots. For San Diego, Berg (4+3), Jackson (3+1), and Hellyer (2+3) led the way. Origlieri was very stingy in the second half and specifically down the stretch. He stopped 32 of 43 in total.
“Our defense is amazing”, said Origlieri after the game. “I think it’s big, obviously we don’t like each other. They’ve beaten us in the playoffs a couple years in a row, so it feels good everytime we beat those guys.”
San Diego (2-1) looks to continue their winning ways. Their next crack at it is this Saturday at home against Georgia (2-0). Faceoff in that one is at 10pm. Colorado (2-1) looks to have a short memory and get back in the win column. Their next contest is also at home this Saturday against Halifax (0-2). Faceoff in that clash is at 9pm.
