After an unprecedented Quarterfinals weekend in the National Lacrosse League, four teams remain to compete for the NLL Cup. In a stunning twist from the lacrosse gods, the top three seeds were all eliminated from the competition. Halifax started the ball rolling with an epic comeback against Vancouver. Georgia then knocked out the Bandits, who were the fifth seed but the defending champs. The weekend finished with Toronto taking down Saskatchewan and San Diego beating Colorado in overtime.
In most sports, an eighth seed versus the first seed would seem a foregone conclusion. Not in lacrosse, where momentum is potentially the biggest factor on the floor. Friday night, the Quarterfinals kicked off at Rogers Arena with the Thunderbirds staging one of the most incredible playoff comebacks in League history, winning 10-7 over Vancouver after trailing 7-1.
It almost seemed like two separate games. The first quarter ended with Vancouver up 2-1. The Warriors played a perfect second quarter, outscoring Halifax 5-0. Keegan Bal had six points in the first half – three goals and three assists. The third quarter went back and forth until Halifax captain Cody Jamieson opened the floodgates at 8:14. That kicked off a run of six straight goals, including back-to-back power-play markers, that saw the game tied 7-7 with 15 minutes left to play. Defender Jake Withers caused a turnover 3:53 into the fourth and scored the game-winner in transition. It was a stunning turn of events, followed by insurance markers from the T-Birds.
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The Thunderbirds’ pressure and ability to dictate the pace of the game in the second half put Vancouver back on its heels. Christian Del Bianco was peppered with shots, stopping 61 of 71, including 20 in the third quarter alone, while the Warriors could only manage 43 shots. Warren Hill stopped all 20 he faced in the second half.
“We came out in the third and fourth quarter and we showed that we deserve to be here,” head coach Mike Accursi told TSN’s Shantelle Chand. “It comes from a belief in our team and each other. Nobody believed in us. All the experts said we were going to get washed here. But there was a deep belief in our locker room, and we know what we have. You want to go to war, you build an army. We’ve built an army in our locker room, and we just stick together, and we never doubt each other.”
Jason Knox led Halifax with four goals and two assists on 13 shots. Clarke Petterson, who led the field with 10 loose-ball pickups, had two goals and three assists on 17 shots, and Mike Robinson (12 shots) had a pair of goals. Brendan Bomberry, Ryan Terefenko and Casey Wilson each contributed two assists.
If you went to bed at halftime, expecting a Vancouver rout, you might want to catch the replay on NLL+. It’s worth it.
For the first time in five seasons, the NLL Finals will not feature the Buffalo Bandits. The up-and-down season of the back-to-back-to-back defending champions continued in the Quarterfinals, where they fell to the Swarm 17-10 at GAS South Arena.
From the opening minute, the Swarm controlled the ball while the Bandits looked unsettled. Lyle Thompson scored 40 seconds into the game, going over Matt Vinc’s shoulder. Georgia led 3-1 after the opening 15 and 9-5 at halftime. The Bandits, missing captain Steve Priolo to injury, were unable to contain the Swarm’s offence and couldn’t muster more than a two-goal run for themselves. Ben Trumble’s transition goal with four minutes left in the third was the game-winner, widening the Swarm’s lead to five goals.
The Swarm exceeded expectations all season long, led by Brett Dobson on the defensive end. He made a solid 36 saves against Buffalo, while the defence in front of him blocked seven shots and caused eight turnovers. It was the offence that really shone in this game – Lyle Thompson had a 10-point night with four goals and six assists. Nolan Byrne, Shayne Jackson and Richie Connell each had a hat trick and combined for seven assists. Kaleb Benedict scored twice with four assists and Kean Moon assisted on six goals.
Ian MacKay led the Bandits with three goals and two assists. Josh Byrne had a goal and five assists, Joe Resetarits had a goal and two assists and Dhane Smith just two assists. It was an uncharacteristic outing for Vinc, who stopped 34 shots on 51 attempts.
There will be a new team crowned champion in a few weeks.
In the weekend’s highest-scoring game, sixth-place Toronto defeated third-place Saskatchewan 16-13 at SaskTel Centre. Last season, the Rush were finalists, falling to the Bandits in three games, while the Rock missed the playoffs entirely.
The teams split their season series, with each team winning on its home floor. The Rush beat the Rock just a week prior after a dramatic comeback late in the game. They looked poised to do the same in the Quarterfinal; Toronto led 6-2 at the end of the first, but by halftime their lead was down to 8-7. Brock Haley tied the game early in the third and Robert Church even put the Rush ahead before the Rock scored three to end the frame with an 11-9 lead. The Rock then outscored Saskatchewan 5-4 in the final 15 minutes, despite the Rush pressuring with their goal empty for the final four minutes.
“We really just stuck to the game plan,” Josh Dawick told TSN’s Heather Morrison. “We knew in this League and in the playoffs, it’s never going to be easy… the result that we showed was awesome. When you have Rosey in the net and our defence back there, they’re always going to hold it down, so that was just a real, real big team win.”
Chris Boushy led Toronto with five goals and one assist. Jamie Dawick broke out with a hat trick and three assists, CK Kirst buried a hat trick, and Owen Hiltz had four assists. Mark Matthews returned to the lineup and scored once with four assists. The Rock also enjoyed several key contributions from their transition: Latrell Harris gave them the 8-7 halftime lead, Hugh Kelleher and Elijah Gash sandwiched a Zach Manns’ goal early in the fourth to kill any Rush momentum, and Brad Kri scored an insurance marker late – his first ever playoff goal. Nick Rose stopped 49 of 62 shots.
Said Dawick: “It feels great (to be able to bring a game back to TD Coliseum). We really believe in this group.”
Austin Shanks and Robert Church each scored hat tricks for the Rush, with four and three assists, respectively. Ryan Keenan had two goals, and Manns a goal and three assists. Frank Scigliano made 31 saves.
In the weekend’s only overtime game, seventh-seed San Diego prevailed over the number two Colorado Mammoth. Tre Leclaire’s quick stick goal 59 seconds into the extra frame finished off a furious second-half comeback by the Seals.
It wasn’t as big a comeback as Halifax had, but it was impressive nonetheless. For the first quarter, the teams kept pace, tying 3-3, but Colorado pulled ahead by a single goal at halftime. Over the first 12 minutes of the third frame, the Mammoth outscored the Seals 5-2 to build up a not-quite-comfortable lead. Dylan Watson and Wes Berg got San Diego within a pair with the final 15 at hand. Like any good underdog, the team kept chipping away at the lead, with Leclaire, Watson and Berg capitalizing on some sloppy defence by the Mammoth to take their first lead since early in the second. Colorado’s Dylan McIntosh got a step on a defender in front of the net to tie the game back up with four minutes left.
McIntosh had a hat trick for the Mammoth and one assist; Andrew Kew was activated from the IR and scored four goals and three assists, while Will Malcom led with a pair of goals and seven assists. Jack Hannah and Braedon Saris each scored once and contributed three assists. Dillon Ward made 55 saves on 68 shots.
The Seals were the speedier, hungrier team, picking up 85 loose balls to Colorado’s 44 and winning the faceoff battle 26-3 (Colorado was missing primary draw man Matthew Paolotto). Berg and Zach Currier led the points race with three goals and four assists each. Watson also had a hat trick and dished out one assist. Chris Origlieri stood tall, making 33 saves, including 14 in a frenzied third quarter.
UPDATE: Sunday evening, the League released a statement from Commissioner Brett Frood.
“The National Lacrosse League has determined that the San Diego Seals’ overtime goal by Tre Leclaire against the Colorado Mammoth should have been disallowed.
After League review, the League has concluded that Leclaire violated rules 67.3 and 17.81 by being the first player to receive a pass after exiting the crease; as such, the goal should have been disallowed and possession awarded to Colorado.
As part of the League’s standard accountability process, the on-floor officials from this game will not be assigned further games during these playoffs.”
