Game Preview - Halifax @ San Diego
Mar 7, 2024
The Halifax Thunderbirds head out West for a road matchup with the San Diego Seals at Pechanga Arena on Saturday night. Opening face-off is set for 11:00 p.m. AT.
Head to Head
The Thunderbirds and Seals have met just once all time, with Halifax taking an 8-5 game at Scotiabank Centre during the pandemic-shortened 2019-20 season.
Both teams sit in the top half of the league heading down the stretch. The Seals are in third place with an 8-4 record while the Thunderbirds sit just behind in fourth at 7-5. This is a massive road contest for Halifax, who are looking to lock up both home floor to open the playoffs down the back half of the year.
Scouting the Thunderbirds
After a 19-goal explosion two weeks ago, Halifax had a stop-start outing against Georgia, scoring five goals in the final five minutes of play but coming up just short of a victory.
But the Thunderbirds still have the top-scoring offence in the NLL, and that comes with a full-offensive effort, with the production being well spread out amongst everyone.
Clarke Petterson (28G, 41A) continues to have a breakout campaign. He’s currently in seventh in league scoring and is on pace for his first career 100-point season. Ryan Benesch (34G, 22A) is also finding the back of the net at one of the best rates of his career. Austin Shanks (14G, 42A) and Cody Jamieson (12G, 32A) are also key feeders on either side of the Thunderbirds’ offence while also chipping in timely goals when called upon.
Dawson Theede (22G, 19A) is third on the team in scoring while Aaron Woods (9G, 11A) will be able to help pitch in with some production in this contest.
Expect a big game from Randy Staats (16G, 21A). While he’s missed some time this season due to injury, the veteran will have some extra motivation going up against his brother in a big-time game.
The Halifax defence is rounding into form this year, being led by the trio of Graeme Hossack, Jake Withers, and Ryan Terefenko. All three defenders have held things down in their own end and sit as the scoring leaders out of the back gate for their team this year.
Warren Hill made 42 saves last time out, and he’ll be in search of his seventh win of the season. The Halifax starter holds an 11.17 goals-against average and a .760 save percentage for the year.
Scouting the Seals
The Seals have one of the better offensive units in the NLL, with a couple of stars being acquired over the last few seasons.
Lefty Austin Staats (36G, 37A) and Seals Captain Wes Berg (29G, 42A) lead the team in scoring. But San Diego has depth to boot, with the likes of Curtis Dickson (24G, 30A) and Dane Dobbie (17G, 34A) being two big names that can chip in big performances.
Tre Leclaire (12G, 24A) has also made the switch back to forward and is having a career-best year while lefties Kyle Jackson (11G, 15A) and Jake Govett (3G, 8A) have also provided solid minutes for the Seals.
Dickson played in the first half of the Seals’ doubleheader last weekend but was a scratch in the second half. Keep an eye on his status going into this game.
The Seals’ defensive unit is also stout, with the addition of Kyle Rubisch via free agency being a standout transaction from this past off-season. He, along with Patrick Shoemay, Cam Holding, Jesse Gamble, and Eli Gobrecht have helped to turn this defence into a strong overall unit.
But it’s the play of starting goaltender Chris Origlieri that has been the biggest eye-opener on the back end for this team. The third-year goaltender is standing out in his first year as the man between the pipes in San Diego, as he holds a 10.03 GAA and .790 SV% along with an 8-4 record on the season.
Chasing Greatness
This matchup holds two significant matchups; One up front and another at the stripe.
Each team has an all-time great offensive talent. Ryan Benesch is in the midst of one of his best offensive seasons at 38 years old, and Dane Dobbie is hot on his tail when it comes to all-time scoring.
Benesch continues to break records at a crazy pace this season. He’s quickly climbing the top 10 all-time in several categories, and last game in Halifax, he surpassed Colin Doyle and Mark Steenhuis for eighth all-time in career games played (267). Next up is fourth all-time in career goals. He sits seven goals off Dan Dawson for that mark, and with the way Benesch has found the back of the net this year, that’s very much in the cards.
But just behind Benesch on that list is Dobbie. The 37-year-old currently sits at 531 career goals, having recently jumped Doyle with his 528th career tuck. Both individuals can fill the net, and despite them getting towards 40, they’re continuing to be among the most effective forwards league-wide.
In terms of face-offs, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a better matchup than this one. Jake Withers and Trevor Baptiste are set to go to battle again. We saw this matchup twice last year when Baptiste was with Philadelphia, but this will be the lone time we get to see the two specialists go head-to-head this regular season.
Withers has a slight edge on Baptiste over the years, but this matchup means a little more to The Wiz. Currently, Withers sits at 253 face-off wins and 208 loose balls for the year. That’s an average of 21 draw wins and 17 loose balls per game. He’s on pace to set the NLL single-season records in both face-off wins (362) and loose balls (246).
The 208 loose balls is just 39 shy of breaking the record, and with six games to play, he’s very much in play to set it over the next month and change. It starts this weekend with a heavyweight tilt at the stripe.
Milestone Tracker
- Ryan Benesch needs seven goals to surpass Dan Dawson for fourth all-time in NLL History (552)
- Graeme Hossack needs two loose balls to reach 1,000 for his career
- Colton Armstrong needs one loose ball to reach 200 for his career
- Ryan Terefenko needs six loose balls to reach 400 for his career
- Clarke Petterson needs 10 loose balls to reach 300 for his career
Broadcast Info
Thunderbirds fans can tune into Saturday's action on TSN+ in Canada and ESPN+ in the United States.