The National Lacrosse League has released playoff scenarios for Week 17 of the 2016 NLL regular season. With two playoff spots left and two weeks remaining on the schedule, this weekend’s slate features four games on Saturday night with the Buffalo Bandits visiting the Rochester Knighthawks, New England Black Wolves hosting the Georgia Swarm, Colorado Mammoth taking on the Toronto Rock and Saskatchewan Rush at the Vancouver Stealth.
East Division
– Buffalo Bandits (11-5) have clinched playoff spot and a home playoff game and can clinch East Division title with win at Rochester AND New England loss vs. Georgia.
– New England Black Wolves (9-6) have clinched playoff spot and can clinch home playoff game with win vs. Georgia.
– Georgia Swarm (7-9) can clinch playoff spot with win at New England AND Rochester loss vs. Buffalo.
West Division
– Saskatchewan Rush (12-4) have clinched top seed in West Division and an clinch league’s top overall seed with win at Vancouver AND Buffalo loss at Rochester.
– Colorado Mammoth (10-6) have clinched playoff spot and home playoff game.
– Calgary Roughnecks (7-10) can clinch playoff spot with Vancouver loss vs. Saskatchewan.
The 2016 NLL regular season concludes in Week 18 with every team in action before the 2016 NLL Playoffs start the weekend of May 6-8.
A total of six NLL teams, the top three clubs in each division’s standings, will qualify for the playoffs. The two regular season division champions will earn a first-round bye as top seeds. The second seed will host the third seed in their respective division for the single-game elimination Division Semifinal in the first round. The first two rounds of the playoffs shall remain under the same format as last year with single elimination for both first-round Division Semifinal games along with a two-game series for the Division Finals.
The top seed from each division plays the winner of the Division Semifinal game between the second and third seeds, with the lower-seeded team hosting the first game and the higher seed hosting the second game of the series. As adopted for 2014, a 10-minute tiebreaker game will be played immediately following Game 2 of the Division Finals should the series be tied, 1-1.
For the second-straight year, the Champion’s Cup Finals expand to a full best-of-three series with the higher-seeded team hosting Game 1 and Game 3 (if necessary).
