Toronto Rock Host San Diego After 16-13 Upset Win
toronto rock will host San Diego in the NLL semifinals after last weekend’s 16-13 playoff win, and the club gets a second straight home playoff game. It is Toronto’s first trip to the semifinals since the 2024 NLL Playoffs, when it fell in two games to the Buffalo Bandits.
Toronto Rock and San Diego
Toronto’s path back to the round of four came through a 16-13 win that featured two hat tricks, one from CJ Kirst and another from Josh Dawick. Chris Boushy came close to joining them with a near sock trick, giving Toronto enough scoring depth to push past the quarterfinal round.
That result sends the Rock into a Friday matchup with San Diego, a team that reached this stage after upsetting the Colorado Mammoth. Toronto’s playoff run now has a clear next step: another home game, this time against an opponent that arrives with its own controversy from the previous round.
Brett Frood and Colorado
Earlier this week, NLL Commissioner Brett Frood said Tre Leclaire’s overtime winner against Colorado should not have counted. After league review, he said Leclaire violated rules 67.3 and 17.81 by being the first player to receive a pass after exiting the crease, adding that the goal should have been disallowed and possession awarded to Colorado.
Frood also said the on-floor officials from that game will not be assigned further games during these playoffs. San Diego still advanced, but the ruling leaves its semifinal entry tied to one of the clearest officiating decisions of the postseason.
San Diego's road numbers
The Seals did enough in regulation to survive Colorado despite being outshot 68 to 45. Trevor Baptiste won 26 of 29 faceoffs for San Diego, a heavy edge in possession that helped the Seals stay alive long enough for Leclaire’s overtime finish.
There is another layer to the matchup: since the league moved to unified standings during the 2023-2024 season, this is only San Diego’s second appearance in the NLL round of four. The Seals have made five postseason appearances since their inaugural 2017 season, but they have not yet advanced past the Western Conference Finals or the unified semifinal round.
For Toronto, the assignment is straightforward. The Rock already handled one playoff test at home, and the next one comes with the same advantage, the same urgency, and a chance to turn a 16-13 upset into a run that finally gets them past the point where they stopped in 2024.
