“NLL Rule 67.3 governs crease violations by attacking players, stating that a player who enters the crease and subsequently leaves it cannot be the first player to touch the ball or interfere with a defender upon exiting. A violation results in a turnover and disallowed goal.”
“NLL Rule 17.81 covers the Criteria of Challenge for coaches, allowing reviews on specific, high-stakes game situations, including goals, crease violations, and shot clock resets. Challenges typically focus on whether the ball fully crossed the goal line or if a player violated crease rules before a goal.”
In a statement from the NLL directly, those two rules were violated by San Diego’s Tre Leclaire in the single elimination game between the Seals and the Colorado Mammoth. Problem being that the violation came on an overtime winner by Leclaire, which sent Colorado home. The Seals won the game 13-12. It goes without saying that there were some unhappy campers across the league, specifically at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado. The game itself up until the OT winner was an absolute banger. Let’s get to it.
The two teams came out firing right from the opening draw, as there were six total goals scored in the first, three aside. Dylan McIntosh opened the scoring, but San Diego answered right back with two, one from Zach Currier and the other from Ben McIntosh. Will Malcom and Andrew Kew had the other two for Colorado, while Dylan Watson buried his first for the Seals. Deadlocked after one.
Currier buried his second to open the second quarter, but this time Colorado had the counterpunch in the form of a three-goal run. Those goals were scored by Jordan Gilles and Kew twice, giving him the hat trick. Eli Gobrecht notched his first in the waning seconds to narrow the Mammoth lead to one. 6-5 Colorado at the break. Kew’s second goal and Gobrecht’s were scored at :09 and :03 of the quarter. Not overly important, but it emphasizes that both clubs were playing until the play was over, or in this case, the final buzzer.
“I think we just need to swing the ball a little more”, said Malcom at halftime. “We’re keeping it on one side. Sharing it a little more, get shots off swings and more shots will start to drop.”
We were treated to quite the goaltender matchup in this game as well. While Dillon Ward faced significantly more shots, both he and Christopher Origlieri were outstanding. Ward stopped 28 of 33, while Origlieri stopped 12 of 18.
The game really opened up in the third quarter compared to the previous two. Colorado continued to match everything that San Diego was doing (or vice versa). Nevertheless, the Mammoth held on to their narrow lead. Braedon Saris got the scoring started, and Jack Hannah followed it right up with his first. Wesley Berg stopped the run with his first, but Colorado came right back with two more, one from McIntosh and the other from Kew. Malcom notched his second for the final Colorado goal of the frame, while Currier, Watson, and Berg all netted one for the Seals. 11-9 Mammoth after three.
San Diego’s resiliency really shined through in the fourth quarter. Knowing their season was on the line, they completely clamped down for a vast majority of the fourth quarter. The Seals scored the frame’s first three goals, which tells us that would have given them the lead. Those three were scored by Leclaire, Watson, and Berg. On the ensuing faceoff won by Trevor Baptiste, the Seals drove down and set up shop. Berg found himself with the ball again, and after a solid shimmy, he was right on the doorstep. Ward slammed the door for the most mammoth save of his night yet (sorry, cheesy). Colorado took possession and went the other way. McIntosh found himself with the ball, shook his defender, drove in, and scored the tying goal with 3:55 to go. The rest of the fourth was rudimentary and we were headed to overtime. Yes please.
The Seals won the opening faceoff of overtime and possessed the ball until Leclaire ended it at the 14:01 mark. After multiple outrageous saves by Ward, Leclaire found himself on the doorstep and buried the quick-stick winner. The officials reviewed it for quite a while but deemed it good. A few days following the game, the statement from the league was issued, and when you look back at it, Leclaire’s foot was awfully close to the crease, and he was the first player to touch the ball afterwards. Either way, Seals to the semis.
Players of the game for San Diego were Berg (3+4), Currier (3+4), and Watson (3+1). Baptiste deserves his flowers too, as he went 26/29 from the dot. Origlieri was outstanding down the stretch, stopping 33 of 45 in total. For Colorado, Kew (4+3), McIntosh (3+1), and Malcom (2+7) led the way. Ward has nothing to be ashamed of, as he stopped a staggering 55 of 68.
“We’re just worried about ourselves right now”, said Leclaire about the next matchup against Toronto. “We’re going to heal up, get back to the drawing board, just try to grind another one out.”
The other semifinal is set. Game one is San Diego at Toronto on Friday May 1st at 7:30pm.
Game two is at San Diego on Sunday May 3rd at 6pm. Talk about a lot of travel and a quick turnaround.
Game three, if necessary, is in Toronto on Saturday May 9th at 7pm.
