The Rock played their first home playoff game in just over two years on Friday night, and what a game it was. It started off looking like it would be very physical, but that sort of calmed down a bit. But the end-to-end action never did, and literally right to the end of regulation time, it was anybody’s game.

As I texted to a friend of mine during the game, the Seals just won’t go away.

The Rock took a three-goal lead in the first, but the Seals tied it by halftime. Then Toronto scored three straight in the third to take another three-goal lead, but the Seals tied it by the end of the quarter. In the fourth, we had another Rock lead, followed by another Seals tying goal. Then the Seals grabbed their only lead of the game, which lasted for a minute before the Rock tied it up. It wasn’t until Ben McIntosh’s dunk attempt with 17.2 seconds left in the fourth quarter was declared no goal that Rock fans were able to breathe a little. Personally, I didn’t breathe out again until the final buzzer sounded; a “two goals in the final 17 seconds” comeback might not even make the top three in the 2026 list of “craziest things we’ve seen in the playoffs”.

Rebounds were one of the big stories of this game. Rose is usually pretty good with rebound control, but both he and Dunkerley seemed to give up a ton of them, which led to a lot of extra offensive chances. Both teams also seemed… I don’t know if “overly excited” is the right phrase, but there were a number of times where shots were taken before the offense was fully set up, and there was a quick turnover. I kept thinking “the coach needs to convince them to slow things down a little” but it didn’t always happen. Even as the Rock were killing off a five-minute penalty, a Rock defender ran up the floor in transition and took a shot almost right away. If you have a great shooting opportunity then that’s fine, but that wasn’t always the case.

Challen Rogers

Both captains led the way for their teams – Wes Berg with 7 assists and Challen Rogers with a hat-trick and a pair of assists. Zach Currier was his normal self: a goal, three assists, and seventeen loose balls, more than both face-off guys combined. Tre Leclaire was all over the place as well, and Mark Matthews had, believe it or not, only his second hat-trick of the season.

The Rock transition was on fire. Sam English had three goals – two unassisted and one with an assist from Rose. Jubenville had four assists, Rose had three, Kelleher had two, and Latrell Harris had one. Dan Craig’s goal in the third was, as Teddy Jenner called it on the broadcast, “textbook transition”. Jubenville passed it up to Kelleher, who saw Craig on the other side, but Craig pointed back to Jubenville, so that’s where Kelleher sent it. The defenders looked back, and Jubenville passed it across to an open Craig who buried it. Such a beautiful setup.

The play now shifts to SoCal, where the Seals were only 3–6 this season, two of their three wins coming against non-playoff teams. The Rock won there in January 12–7, though Chris Origlieri didn’t play in that game. If O-rig is able to play in Game two, expect another hard-fought, close battle. But we saw Cam Dunkerley play a solid game on Friday so Origlieri is not able to play, expect another hard-fought, close battle.

Other game notes

• If you watch the replay on NLL+, go to time index 47:56, and check out the incredible pass from Josh Jubenville to Chris Boushy. It travels about half the length of the floor, right into Boushy’s stick a couple of inches off the ground. Boushy grabs it and puts it behind Dunkerley in a single movement. The goal was very nice but the pass was another thing of beauty.
• Josh Jackson was given a major penalty at the end of the second quarter. A guy sitting behind me was adamant that Jackson was trying to play the ball and the contact with Currier must have been unintentional. But you can see on the replay that the ball rolled right in front of Jackson, who never even looked at it. He was too busy looking straight at Currier right before his shoulder made contact with Currier’s head. In my mind, a major was the right call.
• Chris Origlieri is one of the top goalies in the league and when he’s on his game, he can hold his own with anyone. Early in the second quarter, he was pulled and I saw him walking through the Seals bench before heading down the tunnel. He was taking very deep breaths (“in through the nose, out through the mouth”) and not talking to anyone. I later found out through X that he was removed under concussion protocols after being hit in the head with a couple of shots. We’ve seen enough lacrosse players (and athletes in general) whose careers are affected and sometimes ended by concussions to know that they are no joke. I really hope he’s OK.
• Cam Dunkerley had a very good game in relief of Origlieri. There were probably a few goals that he’d want back but he also made some excellent saves. The life of a backup goalie: this was the second game he’s seen action in since January 9. Then he sits on the bench and barely moves (other than opening and closing the bench door) for 20 minutes before being forced to get on the floor in his team’s most important game of the season.
• It was the smallest crowd of the season in Toronto but that’s typical for playoff games in the NLL. The team had all of a week to sell tickets. But they were loud.
• I paid close attention to Baptiste and Rowlett at the face-off dot. If you’re unsure whether face-off guys are real athletes, try this: do a plank, then flex every muscle in your body as hard as you can, and hold it for 30–45 seconds. Do that a couple of dozen times over two hours. Sure, some of the face-offs only took a few seconds but many were quite prolonged. Oh, and you have to go play some defense in between the planks.
• CJ Kirst had his first NLL game with zero points, but he still played well off-ball, fighting for loose balls and rebounds, and basically forcing defenders to pay attention to him while opening up space for his teammates to score.
• Awesome: I saw three guys with jerseys that were split down the middle – Seals colours with #45 on the left, Rock colours with #29 on the right, and the name “Watson” across the top. I was behind them so I didn’t see the front. In case you are unaware, Dylan Watson (#45 on San Diego) is the son of Bob Watson, the Hall of Fame goaltender who wore #29 in thirteen seasons with the Rock.
• I saw someone wearing a Sabres jersey, which is a bit odd at a lacrosse game. But the Sabres are further into the playoffs than they’ve been in a very long time, so I totally get it. But the kid wearing the Bandits jersey? That’s weird.