We are finally at the finish line. After a grueling campaign, Week 21 wraps up the 2018 National Lacrosse League regular season.
The West tries to stay healthy as their playoff seeding has been decided for some time. However, in the East every one of the five teams could make or miss the post-season and as we know, there are only three spots available.
NLL staff members Andy McNamara, Tyson Geick, and Brian Shanahan deliver their game predictions every week.
Send us your picks @NLL on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook using the specific game hashtags for each match-up below.
Vancouver Stealth (2-15) at Georgia Swarm (9-7) – Saturday, 7:05pm ET
Andy
The Stealth have to travel with only pride to play for while Georgia tries to lock down a playoff spot. The Swarm are winners of four straight and the defending champs are coming together at the right time. I’ll take the home team in a blow out.
Pick: Swarm
Shanny
Pick: Swarm
Tyson
Pick: Swarm
Tweet at @NLL using #VANvsGA
Rochester Knighthawks (9-8) at Buffalo Bandits (8-9) – Saturday, 7:30pm ET
Andy
Wow, the upstate New York rivals battle it out for playoff positioning and even to get into the tournament. This will be entertaining regardless of the outcome.
The Bandits have lost their last two, while Rochester’s split the last pair….and to make things even closer, the season series is tied at one. The Knighthawks are displaying more consistency and are really coming together as a gelled unit as a whole on offense, defense, goaltending and transition.
Pick: Knighthawks
Shanny
Pick: Knighthawks
Tyson
Pick: Knighthawks
Tweet at @NLL using #ROCvsBUF
Toronto Rock (8-9) at Colorado Mammoth (10-7) – Saturday, 9pm ET
Andy
The Rock find themselves once again in a must win situation as they head out west to Colorado. The Mammoth are skidding into the playoffs and will be motivated to pull off a victory to enter the Champion’s Cup tournament on a positive note.
Toronto actually owns a better road record (5-3) and Colorado is .500 at Pepsi Center. Tom Schreiber continues to find his flow after a lengthy injury absence and the necessary focus on him naturally frees up other weapons like Adam Jones and Rob Hellyer. With the season on the line I’ll pick the Rock.
Pick: Rock
Shanny
Pick: Mammoth
Tyson
Pick: Rock
Tweet at @NLL using #TORvsCOL
Calgary Roughnecks (8-9) at Saskatchewan Rush (13-4) – Saturday, 9:30pm ET
Andy
There may be nothing to play for standings wise, but both of these clubs want to send a message to the other in what could turn out to be the West Division Final matchup. Calgary’s scoring has been red hot over the past month, combined with excellent goaltending. The Rush are no slouches themselves, however, the Roughnecks feel more amped at this point.
This is going to be a pick’em and mighty close. Calgary make a statement heading into the post-season.
Pick: Roughnecks
Shanny
Pick: Rush
Tyson
Pick: Rush
Tweet at @NLL using #CGYvsSAS
Georgia Swarm (?-?) at New England Black Wolves (9-8) – Sunday, 5pm ET
Andy
The parity of the East all year leads me to believe that we’ll be getting out the calculator to decide tiebreakers Sunday. In the regular season finale Georgia flies into face New England in the second of a back to back where they played less than 24-hours earlier. The Black Wolves roller coaster 2017/18 makes them nearly unpredictable. Winners of three straight i’ll give the nod to New England in a low scoring slug fest.
Pick: Black Wolves
Shanny
Pick: Swarm
Tyson
Pick: Swarm
Tweet at @NLL using #GAvsNE
Check out my “Road to the Champion’s Cup – The West” article here – https://bit.ly/2HqcWd3
Andy McNamara has been a play-by-play commentator for the NLL on TSN, NLLTV.com, and world lacrosse tournaments since 2011. He’s also a sport talk host and anchor on TSN 1050 sports radio. Follow Andy on twitter @AndyMc81.
