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Playoff History of Four Remaining Teams

April 30, 2025 By: Anna Taylor

Playoffs are for the elite. Those teams that proved during the regular season to be a hair above the rest, capable of beating anyone on any given night, and more importantly, capable of battling through whatever adversity is thrown their way.

The four teams remaining in the 2025 NLL Playoffs – the Buffalo Bandits, Saskatchewan Rush, Halifax Thunderbirds and Vancouver Warriors – made it through a gruelling 18-game regular season and one-game do-or-die Quarterfinal matchups. Now, these four teams, which finished one through four in the regular season and have truly proven they are the best the League has to offer, are facing their biggest test of the season – a best-of-three Semifinal series. For two teams, elation at moving on to play for a title. For the other two, heartbreak and much soul searching about what went wrong.

This year’s Semifinals will be epic. Buffalo meets a Vancouver team that hasn’t lost since acquiring Christian Del Bianco in March. Saskatchewan meets a Halifax team galvanized by grief and hungry for their first crack at a title. It’s the first All-Canadian semifinal since 2018 when Saskatchewan defeated Calgary on their way to a third championship in four years.

The playoff format has seen its share of changes throughout the League’s history, and today we’re focusing on how our four remaining teams have fared in their playoff histories.

Let’s take a look at some lacrosse history.

Buffalo

Buffalo Bandits’ Dhane Smith on April 25, 2025 at KeyBank Center in Buffalo, NY. San Diego Seals @ Buffalo Bandits. (Caroline Sherman/NLL)

The Bandits are the longest continuously operating franchise in the NLL, having started play in 1992. They have never moved nor ceased operations and therefore have a long history of playoff success.
They have been in the League for 33 years and made the playoffs 25 times out of 31 (*COVID took two years of playoffs). They have won six championships: 1992, 1993, 1996, 2008, 2023 and 2024.
They are looking to become the second team to ever three-peat in the NLL. The Bandits are tied with the Toronto Rock and Philadelphia Wings for the most titles at six each, but the Bandits hold the record for most appearances in the Final at 13.
Buffalo has never faced the Vancouver Warriors franchise in the playoffs, and only faced Saskatchewan once (in which they lost the 2016 Finals). Buffalo has never met Halifax, although they played them 10 times as the Rochester Knighthawks, including the 1997 Final, which Rochester won 15-12. That history also includes seven Semifinal matchups, with Rochester holding the 5-2 advantage.
Other than Rochester, Buffalo’s most familiar semifinal opponent is cross-border rival Toronto. They have faced each other nine times in the playoffs. Toronto got the better of Buffalo when they met in 2010, 2011 and 2012, but Buffalo has won every other playoff matchup. Fans in both cities are anxiously waiting for the day when the pair meet in the Championship, which is now possible thanks to the Unified Standings.
John Tavares leads the Bandits in playoff scoring with 200 points. Dhane Smith and Josh Byrne are numbers two and three, with 191 and 117 points, respectively. Tavares reached 200 points in 38 games spread over 20 years. Smith has reached 191 in 31 games spread over eight years.

Saskatchewan

The Saskatchewan Rush host the Georgia Swarm at Sask Tel Centre in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, April 26, 2025

The Rush tasted immediate success upon their move from Edmonton to Saskatchewan for the 2015-16 season, winning the NLL title for the second consecutive year. They won again in 2018, giving them three titles in four seasons. Since then, they have only made the playoffs once, in 2019, where they were eliminated in the Semifinals by Colorado.
That game ended 11-10 in favour of the Mammoth when Joey Cupido scored 4:45 into overtime, picking off a pass and putting a bounce shot past Evan Kirk. It was 4-4 at halftime, and then Saskatchewan dominated the third quarter. Colorado came back in the fourth, and the teams went back and forth, with Ben McIntosh of the Rush tying the game 10-10 with 41 seconds left. It was the first time since moving to Saskatoon that the Rush did not play in the championship final.
The Rush missed the playoffs entirely from 2022-2024.
As the Edmonton Rush (2006-2015), the team made the playoffs for the first time in 2010, losing in the Conference Final to Washington. In 2012, they lost to Rochester in the championship game, a 9-6 heartbreaker after the Knighthawks outscored them 6-0 in the third quarter. In 2014, the Calgary Roughnecks beat them in the Conference Final.

Halifax

The Halifax Thunderbirds had to wait two years after moving to Nova Scotia for their first playoff experience, with COVID cancelling the 2020 playoffs and full 2021 season. 2022 marked their first playoff series, the East Conference Semifinals (which would be a Quarterfinal under the current format). They lost to Toronto in that one-game playoff, 14-13 in overtime.
Toronto led 9-3 at halftime and 12-8 after the third, but Halifax scored five straight in the fourth to take a one-goal lead, their first of the game. Toronto tied it at the 7:20 mark, and there was no more scoring until Challen Rogers ended it 2:27 into OT. Cody Jamieson and Clarke Petterson led Halifax with five points each, and Ryan Terefenko had four. Warren Hill split time in goal with Aaron Bold.
In 2023, the Thunderbirds were eliminated by the Rock again in the East Conference Semifinals and last year, by the Albany FireWolves in the Quarterfinals under the new Unified Standings.
As the former Rochester Knighthawks (1995-2019), the franchise made the playoffs 20 times in 25 seasons, winning five championships and making it to the Finals five more times. They only lost out in the Quarterfinals once, in 2004, to the Buffalo Bandits. They are currently the only team in NLL history to win three straight Championships from 2012-2014. The three-peat featured several stars who are still participating in this year’s playoffs: Cody Jamieson, Paul Dawson, and Matt Vinc.

Vancouver

2025 marks the first playoff appearance for the Vancouver Warriors at Rogers Arena in downtown Vancouver.
As the Vancouver Stealth, who played out of the Langley Events Centre, the team made the playoffs once between 2014-2018. In 2016, they lost in the West Conference Semifinal to Colorado.
Colorado had a 6-2 lead in the second quarter, but Vancouver came back to tie it 6-6. The Mammoth led again to start the fourth, 10-8. They were up 13-9 before Vancouver scored the final three goals of the game, yet they failed to find the equalizer. Corey Small had a sock trick, while Logan Schuss scored three goals and six assists. Tye Belanger suffered the loss in goal.
The Warriors franchise had more success during their stint as the Washington Stealth (2010-2013). Their first year in Everett, they beat Toronto 15-11 to win the championship (the Final was just one game back then). They lost to Toronto in the Final the next year, missed the playoffs in 2012 and lost in the Final again in 2013, 11-10 to Rochester, which was in the middle of its historic three-peat.
Of note, two players from the Washington Stealth are still currently participating in this year’s playoffs: Matt Beers, of the Warriors, and Buffalo’s Kyle Buchanan.