SAN DIEGO (CNS) - The San Diego Seals will make their labor-delayed debut Saturday evening, facing the Colorado Mammoth in Denver.
The Seals had been scheduled to begin play Dec. 8 but the National Lacrosse League canceled the first two weekends of play on Nov. 15 after it was unable to reach agreement with its players union on a new collective bargaining agreement. The new agreement was announced Nov. 24 and the Seals began training camp Nov. 30.
"The players did a great job of getting to know each other in camp," Seals coach-general manager Patrick Merrill said. "They were gelling both on and off the floor and getting prepared for the first game. We have a lot of athleticism. I think we're big, strong and fast. (The Mammoth) is too, so we're looking to match that and win the battle."
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The Seals have a league-high eight rookies on their roster, including forward Austin Staats, the first choice in the NLL entry draft. Staats was selected to the All-World Team at the 2018 Federation of International Lacrosse World Lacrosse Championship, helping lead the Iroquois Confederacy to the bronze medal.
A watch party for the livestream of the game will begin at 5 p.m. at the Bayside Kitchen & Bar with the game beginning at 6 p.m. The team's mascot Salty will be at the party, along with members of the Sirens dance team.
Bayside Kitchen will be offering happy hour pricing for the entire event, featuring the "Salty Seal" signature cocktail. A raffle for an autographed Seals jersey and other prizes will be held.
The first game day shoot-around pic.twitter.com/QbZyNLFwlU
— San Diego Seals (@SealsLax) December 22, 2018
Valet parking is free with a $20 food or beverage purchase.
The game will be live streamed on B/R Live, Turner Sports live sports streaming service. A season pass for the NLL package is $39.99, a monthly pass $7.99 and a single-game pass $2.99.
The Seals will play twice more on the road -- Friday at Calgary and Jan. 5 at Saskatchewan -- before their first game at Pechanga Arena San Diego on Jan. 12 against the Rochester Knighthawks.
Indoor lacrosse is played on hockey rinks covered by a green dieter turf carpet that is laid down over the hockey ice.
Each team has five runners -- forwards, transition players and defensemen and a goaltender -- on the floor during the game, with players rotating on and off the floor in shifts, similar to hockey. The game consists of four 15-minute quarters. A game tied at the end of regulation is decided in a sudden-death overtime.
An average of 25 goals are scored in an NLL game.
