Putting their unbeaten streak on the line against a winless Vancouver Warriors, the San Diego Seals owned them in a 16-11 home victory to start the 2023 calendar year.

“Give the fans what they wanted,” forward Austin Staats said after the game. “We had to put on a show for them.”

A game after putting up a franchise-record 11 goals in the opening half, three Seals scored hat tricks and an eight-point performance in a very powerful offensive effort.

Dane Dobbie was the first to record the hat trick, scoring three goals in the game’s first 29 minutes. Dobbie put up six goals in the first two quarters alone in San Diego’s previous game, a 17-14 win over the Roughnecks in Calgary on Dec. 30. The 15th-year veteran has 11 goals in the first four games of the season.

Austin Staats made a go-ahead score in the second quarter, and with back-to-back goals, nearly five minutes apart in the third quarter, recorded his first hat trick of the season. The former first-overall pick and Rookie of the Year scored his fourth goal of the night to give the Seals a four-goal lead with just under three minutes to go. Staats had missed most of the 2021-22 season due to injury and the first two games of 2022-23 due to a suspension, but has 12 points in two games so far in the 2022-23 season.

Curtis Dickson got the San Diego scoring started to cut a two-goal deficit in half, and completed the hat trick in the third quarter that gave the Seals a pair of four-goal leads.

Forward Wesley Berg assisted two of four goals in the second quarter and five of six goals scored in the third. His seven assists tied a single-game career high and eight points was one shy of his career-high in 2017.

“Those guys have been doing that their whole careers,” head coach Patrick Merrill said. “It takes so much pressure off of us.”

A week after the Seals let a 10-goal lead fall to just three goals by the end of the game, the defense stayed strong throughout the entire 60 minutes of the game.

“Tonight’s game was probably our most solid 60-minute effort so far,” Merrill said.

Chris Origlieri got the start behind the net, and made 37 saves while giving up 11 goals in his first winning performance of the season.

The Seals will head back to Calgary for their next game on Saturday, Jan. 14, looking to get a 5-0 start for the first time in franchise history.