It’s been seven months since the Seals lost a heartbreaker in the Western Division Semifinal. And finally, the San Diego Seals are back in action for the 2019-20 season and en route to Buffalo for the season opener against the Bandits on Saturday, Dec. 7 at 4:00 PM PST.

“Buffalo is a tough team,” said general manager and head coach Patrick Merrill. “They represented the Eastern Division in the NLL Final and had a lot of success last season. They’re a big, strong, physical team and they play really well at home.”

This will be the first game of the 2019-20 season for both San Diego and Buffalo, and the only meeting between the two throughout the regular season. The Seals will start the year without the team’s two leading scorers, Casey Jackson and Austin Staats, but general manager and head coach Patrick Merrill is confident is his squad.

“We have two strong players in Connor Fields and Zack Greer on the left side,” continued Merrill. “Connor is playing in his hometown and excited to start the year with the team [after missing the majority of the 2019 season with an injury]. Zack is very excited to be back in the NLL and suit up with our team. We’re confident that both of these guys, and the whole team, are ready to come out strong.”

Seals fans will also see several new faces in the lineup on Saturday, with the offseason additions of forwards Wesley Berg and Jeremy Noble suiting up in the purple and gold for the first time. The two righty’s have a combined 483 points in 119 NLL games played.

“It’s exciting that the season is finally here,” said Berg. “We got off to a good start at traning camp, but it’s always a little more special once the season opener comes around. Buffalo is a fun place to play, it’s loud and exciting there. We’re looking forward to going into a tough environment and pulling out a big win to start the season.”

The Seals enter Saturday night’s contest with 12 returners from the inaugural team including captain Brodie Merrill and starting goaltender Frank Scigliano, while four rookies earned their spot on the final roster. San Diego hopes to start their sophomore season the same way they started the inaugural season, with a big win on the road.

“We’re going to carry over our energy from last season and training camp and look for a big win in a hostile environment,” said Merrill.

For fans unable to attend the game, B/R Live – Turner’s live sports streaming service – will stream all San Diego Seals games throughout the 2019-20 season. B/R Live is available by downloading the B/R Live app through iTunes or Google Play; through Apple TV, the Roku platform and Amazon Fire TV.