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BUF at SD - Sat. 10pm ET on ESPNews Schedule

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WK
1
Fri, Dec 2
FINAL
Philadelphia
8
Halifax
18
Sat, Dec 3
FINAL
Vancouver
8
Toronto
19
Sat, Dec 3
FINAL
San Diego
15
New York
14
Sat, Dec 3
FINAL
Albany
11
Buffalo
10
Sat, Dec 3
FINAL
Rochester
16
Georgia
11
Sat, Dec 3
FINAL
Colorado
6
Saskatchewan
18
WK
2
Fri, Dec 9
FINAL
Las Vegas
11
Panther City
13
Fri, Dec 9
FINAL/OT
Saskatchewan
12
San Diego
13
Sat, Dec 10
FINAL
Toronto
7
Rochester
11
Sat, Dec 10
FINAL
Vancouver
9
Calgary
11
WK
3
Fri, Dec 16
FINAL
Calgary
14
Vancouver
5
Fri, Dec 16
FINAL
Panther City
9
Las Vegas
3
Sat, Dec 17
FINAL
Buffalo
11
Toronto
8
Sat, Dec 17
FINAL
Rochester
14
Albany
13
Sat, Dec 17
FINAL
Philadelphia
13
Georgia
12
Sat, Dec 17
FINAL
Halifax
20
New York
11
Sat, Dec 17
FINAL
Colorado
12
Panther City
9
WK
5
Fri, Dec 30
FINAL
Halifax
13
Buffalo
18
Fri, Dec 30
FINAL
San Diego
17
Calgary
14
Sat, Dec 31
FINAL
Panther City
9
Saskatchewan
11
WK
6
Fri, Jan 6
FINAL
Philadelphia
14
Las Vegas
9
Sat, Jan 7
FINAL
Panther City
9
Rochester
17
Sat, Jan 7
FINAL
Halifax
14
Albany
11
Sat, Jan 7
FINAL
Buffalo
18
Georgia
9
Sat, Jan 7
FINAL
Toronto
15
New York
7
Sat, Jan 7
FINAL
Calgary
8
Colorado
9
Sat, Jan 7
FINAL
Vancouver
11
San Diego
16
WK
7
Fri, Jan 13
FINAL/OT
Albany
11
Halifax
10
Fri, Jan 13
FINAL/OT
Saskatchewan
10
Colorado
11
Sat, Jan 14
FINAL
Halifax
8
Toronto
17
Sat, Jan 14
FINAL
Panther City
12
Philadelphia
10
Sat, Jan 14
FINAL
Georgia
9
Buffalo
11
Sat, Jan 14
FINAL
San Diego
10
Calgary
14
Sat, Jan 14
FINAL
Las Vegas
16
Vancouver
19
Sun, Jan 15
FINAL
Rochester
11
New York
8
WK
8
Fri, Jan 20
FINAL
Buffalo
12
Rochester
15
Fri, Jan 20
FINAL
Vancouver
14
Las Vegas
15
Sat, Jan 21
FINAL
Toronto
14
Philadelphia
5
Sat, Jan 21
FINAL
New York
16
Albany
10
WK
9
Fri, Jan 27
FINAL
Rochester
7
Halifax
17
Fri, Jan 27
FINAL
Buffalo
13
Philadelphia
9
Sat, Jan 28
FINAL
Buffalo
16
New York
10
Sat, Jan 28
FINAL
Las Vegas
10
Saskatchewan
15
Sat, Jan 28
FINAL/OT
Toronto
11
Calgary
10
Sat, Jan 28
FINAL
San Diego
13
Colorado
9
Sat, Jan 28
FINAL
Panther City
20
Vancouver
7
WK
10
Fri, Feb 3
FINAL
Georgia
10
Colorado
13
Sat, Feb 4
FINAL/OT
Calgary
12
Halifax
11
Sat, Feb 4
FINAL
New York
14
Toronto
22
Sat, Feb 4
FINAL
Albany
5
Philadelphia
13
Sat, Feb 4
FINAL
Rochester
10
Buffalo
13
Sat, Feb 4
FINAL
Panther City
10
San Diego
12
Sat, Feb 4
FINAL
Saskatchewan
14
Vancouver
8
Sat, Feb 4
FINAL
Colorado
8
Las Vegas
13
WK
11
Fri, Feb 10
FINAL
Toronto
11
Georgia
10
Fri, Feb 10
FINAL
Saskatchewan
6
Calgary
13
Sat, Feb 11
FINAL
Halifax
14
Rochester
16
Sat, Feb 11
FINAL
Albany
12
New York
14
Sat, Feb 11
FINAL
Vancouver
13
Panther City
14
Sat, Feb 11
FINAL
Colorado
9
Calgary
13
WK
12
Fri, Feb 17
FINAL
Calgary
14
Vancouver
9
Fri, Feb 17
FINAL
Saskatchewan
16
San Diego
11
Sat, Feb 18
FINAL
Georgia
7
Toronto
16
Sat, Feb 18
FINAL
Las Vegas
12
Albany
10
Sat, Feb 18
FINAL/OT
Philadelphia
12
Buffalo
13
Sat, Feb 18
FINAL
Colorado
7
Panther City
13
Sun, Feb 19
FINAL
New York
12
Halifax
13
WK
13
Fri, Feb 24
FINAL
Panther City
12
Colorado
14
Fri, Feb 24
FINAL
Calgary
9
Las Vegas
11
Sat, Feb 25
FINAL/OT
New York
10
Rochester
11
Sat, Feb 25
FINAL
Albany
4
Georgia
20
Sat, Feb 25
FINAL
Vancouver
16
Saskatchewan
12
WK
14
Fri, Mar 3
FINAL
Buffalo
10
Halifax
9
Sat, Mar 4
FINAL
New York
12
Philadelphia
19
Sat, Mar 4
FINAL
Las Vegas
12
San Diego
15
Sat, Mar 4
FINAL
Rochester
8
Toronto
9
Sat, Mar 4
FINAL/OT
Georgia
9
Albany
8
Sat, Mar 4
FINAL
Saskatchewan
10
Panther City
16
Mon, Mar 6
FINAL
Toronto
10
Philadelphia
11
WK
15
Fri, Mar 10
FINAL/OT
Halifax
9
Buffalo
10
Fri, Mar 10
FINAL
Calgary
16
Colorado
10
Sat, Mar 11
FINAL
Albany
6
Toronto
12
Sat, Mar 11
FINAL
Philadelphia
10
New York
13
Sat, Mar 11
FINAL
San Diego
12
Saskatchewan
11
Sat, Mar 11
FINAL
Vancouver
14
Las Vegas
5
Sun, Mar 12
FINAL
Rochester
19
Georgia
18
WK
16
Fri, Mar 17
FINAL
Saskatchewan
6
Calgary
11
Fri, Mar 17
FINAL
San Diego
16
Vancouver
9
Sat, Mar 18
FINAL
Georgia
13
Philadelphia
12
Sat, Mar 18
FINAL
Toronto
12
Halifax
14
Sat, Mar 18
FINAL
Albany
10
New York
13
Sat, Mar 18
FINAL
Colorado
13
Buffalo
8
Sat, Mar 18
FINAL
Las Vegas
8
Panther City
11
Sun, Mar 19
FINAL/OT
Philadelphia
9
Rochester
8
WK
17
Fri, Mar 24
20:30:00
San Diego
Panther City
Sat, Mar 25
19:00:00
Toronto
Albany
Sat, Mar 25
19:00:00
Halifax
Philadelphia
Sat, Mar 25
19:30:00
Georgia
New York
Sat, Mar 25
21:30:00
Calgary
Saskatchewan
Sat, Mar 25
22:00:00
Buffalo
San Diego
Sat, Mar 25
22:00:00
Colorado
Vancouver
Sat, Mar 25
22:30:00
Rochester
Las Vegas
WK
18
Fri, Mar 31
19:00:00
New York
Georgia
Fri, Mar 31
21:00:00
Las Vegas
Colorado
Fri, Mar 31
22:00:00
Calgary
San Diego
Sat, Apr 1
19:00:00
Buffalo
Toronto
Sat, Apr 1
20:00:00
Albany
Panther City
Sat, Apr 1
21:30:00
Vancouver
Saskatchewan
Sun, Apr 2
13:00:00
Georgia
Halifax
Sun, Apr 2
18:00:00
Rochester
Philadelphia
WK
19
Sat, Apr 8
19:00:00
Albany
Rochester
Sat, Apr 8
19:00:00
Saskatchewan
Georgia
Sat, Apr 8
21:00:00
Panther City
Calgary
Sat, Apr 8
21:00:00
Vancouver
Colorado
Sat, Apr 8
22:30:00
San Diego
Las Vegas
WK
20
Fri, Apr 14
21:00:00
Las Vegas
Calgary
Fri, Apr 14
21:00:00
San Diego
Colorado
Sat, Apr 15
19:00:00
Philadelphia
Toronto
Sat, Apr 15
19:00:00
Georgia
Albany
Sat, Apr 15
19:30:00
New York
Buffalo
Sat, Apr 15
21:30:00
Halifax
Saskatchewan
Sat, Apr 15
22:00:00
Panther City
Vancouver
WK
21
Fri, Apr 21
20:30:00
Calgary
Panther City
Sat, Apr 22
18:00:00
New York
Halifax
Sat, Apr 22
19:00:00
Georgia
Rochester
Sat, Apr 22
20:00:00
Toronto
Buffalo
Sat, Apr 22
21:30:00
Colorado
Saskatchewan
Sat, Apr 22
22:00:00
Las Vegas
San Diego
Sun, Apr 23
15:00:00
Philadelphia
Albany
WK
22
Sat, Apr 29
19:00:00
Philadelphia
Rochester
Sat, Apr 29
19:00:00
Buffalo
Albany
Sat, Apr 29
19:00:00
Halifax
Georgia
Sat, Apr 29
22:00:00
Colorado
San Diego
Sat, Apr 29
22:00:00
New York
Vancouver
Sat, Apr 29
22:30:00
Saskatchewan
Las Vegas
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Stories/Op-Ed

The Long Road Back For Riptide Forward Dan Lomas

Dan Lomas can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

This past July 27th, the New York Riptide forward was playing for the Cobourg Kodiaks against the Brooklin Redmen during a summer box lacrosse league game in Oakville, Ontario.  The Kodiaks were on the power play during the second quarter when a Redmen defenseman picked up a loose ball in front of their own net following a shot on goal. Lomas began to backpedal when he saw the defenseman start to run towards him.

Then, the defender dropped the ball right in front of the net.

“My eyes lit up and I saw a scoring opportunity,” said the 29-year-old Lomas. “With my right leg fully extended behind me, I tried to push off of it and completely change direction.”

Lomas felt a sharp pain in his right foot and had two thoughts as to what had happened.

“My first reaction with the noise and kind of what I felt…I assumed somebody threw a second ball on the floor and hit me in the back of the leg,” said Lomas.  “The second thought was that somebody had slashed me.”

After Lomas pulled up a little bit on the shot, he turned around and didn’t see anybody standing near him.  Having been around other players who had gone through the same type of feeling and pain, Lomas knew exactly what had happened.

He had suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon.

“I think I knew right away how serious it was,” said the Burlington, Ontario native. “It wasn’t just a calf pull or something.  It set in pretty quick.”

Lomas is nearing his return to the Riptide lineup and it was his belief and determination that paved the way for a remarkable recovery just about 7 months after surgery.

After a lengthy COVID-19 hiatus cut short the 2019-20 season and wiped out the entire 2020-21 campaign, the National Lacrosse League was getting ready for a return to play for the 2021-22 season and Lomas was excited about getting back to business. He had been working hard throughout the entire pause to the point where he was feeling great and was in outstanding shape.

And then, in just a split second during that summer league game, it all came crashing down when he suffered the ruptured Achilles tendon.

“Holy s***,” thought Lomas.  “I’ve got so much work to do just to get to where I was even in the last year let alone to the kind of fitness level that I thought I had taken myself to since then. I think it was overwhelming. It was frustrating. It was emotional. It was one of those things that only lasted for about a minute and a half and I was like okay what do we do now?”

Lomas wasn’t sure at that moment what type of rehab he was looking at so he began to Google the expected timeline for recovery from a ruptured Achilles tendon. He learned that it takes six months after surgery to return to recreational sports, but he needed to know what it was going to take to return the Riptide at some point during the 2021-22 season.

The veteran forward then spoke to former teammate Cody Jamieson who had returned to action seven months after surgery for the same injury so he started to think about some dates in his head and he saw March 5th on the calendar.

That was just the inspiration he needed…or so he thought.

“I circled that date and I printed it off and posted a picture of it above my desk just to keep it there all of the time,” said Lomas.

But when Lomas went to see his doctor, a different timeline was presented to him…he was told to expect a recovery time of a year.

“That was pretty alarming,” recalled Lomas.

When the doctor left the room, Lomas became emotional and broke down in tears. He knew what the landscape was, not just in the National Lacrosse League, but in all of professional sports. If you miss an entire year of action and an entire season, the chances of returning are reduced greatly.

Lomas decided that he was going to go with his own deadline and not the one that the doctor wanted to prescribe.

“Standard timelines are for standard people that put in standard work and I just didn’t see myself doing that,” said Lomas.  “I wanted to do more to try and get back quicker.”

And it looks like Lomas was right to stick to his target date.

Lomas underwent surgery to repair the ruptured Achilles tendon on August 9th and if all goes according to plan, he will make his season debut a week from Saturday, March 5th, when the Riptide visit the Toronto Rock in Hamilton, Ontario.

He is expected to return to game action on the exact date that he circled on his calendar.

“We’re getting a lot closer,” said Lomas who recently went through a good full-contact practice.

Lomas is getting ready to go through a simulated game weekend in preparation for his return. He will arrive on Long Island for practice this Friday night and then he’ll participate in the Saturday morning shootaround.  From there, Lomas will take part in both warmups before the Riptide’s home game Saturday night against Toronto at Nassau Coliseum.

And then, he’ll see how he feels.

“Hopefully, fingers crossed, everything goes well…if I feel comfortable enough that I can go out and play the way I think I’m capable of playing then the idea is to play next week in Hamilton,” said Lomas.

Getting to this point has not been an easy road for Lomas, but he’s been able to climb the mountain with a tremendous amount of support from the entire Riptide organization including owner Erik Baker, Team Physician James Paci, Executive Vice President Rich List, General Manger Jim Veltman, Head Coach Dan Ladouceur and the players.

“They were great,” said Lomas who had 21 goals and 20 assists during his first season with the Riptide in 2019-20. “I got calls from everyone on the team. They said they wanted to help in any way they can. The organization was there in terms of support.”

Whenever he would receive a call from the Riptide to check up on him, Lomas had a simple message and that was for everyone on the team to focus on the group that they had and when he was healthy, they could determine if there was a place for him on the roster.

And then…Lomas reached a milestone in his recovery.

On January 28th, Lomas returned to practice with the Riptide.

“It was emotional in a sense because you get your friends back,” said Lomas. “You feel kind of exiled like you’re not a part of the highs and the lows that they go through. Just to be out there…it was great. I think there was a little too many dropped passes on my end the first practice but it was so much fun.”

The next day, the Riptide opened up the Evaluation Period for Lomas to return from the Physically Unable To Perform List and he is now on the practice squad.

During his absence, Lomas has watched the Riptide get off to a 1-7 start to the season. What’s been particularly frustrating is that the Riptide has been in every game but they haven’t been able to get winning results. They’re 0-4 at home including three losses in overtime and they’ve had some solid road efforts but lost a couple of them but two goals and another by three.

Lomas is hoping that he can help the team get things turned around when he returns.

“I know how hard everyone is working and how bad they do want it,” said Lomas. “Hopefully I can get back here and help to do whatever it takes to try and finish these games out.”

Recovering from a major injury is not an easy thing to do, especially for an athlete. Lomas has been very diligent in his rehab and his hard work is about to pay off with his expected return.  It’s been a long journey for him, but he’s been able to stay connected to the sport that he loves from watching the Riptide, mainly on television, but also continuing to produce episodes of “Back of the Bird”, a lacrosse podcast that he co-hosts with Rochester Knighthawks defenseman Paul Dawson.

Lomas and Dawson had been planning on getting the podcast off the ground when their playing days were over, but the launch was moved up when the NLL decided not to have a 2020-21 season.

“We kind of took it as a let’s do this as a way to kind of maybe get some interest back and make sure people don’t forget about us or think we’ve forgotten about fans,” said Lomas. “It’s been really good to kind of take my off of (the injury) and be part of a routine every day.  Adding that once a week in there has been really fun and there’s so many good stories to hear from these guys that play and have played in our league.”

During his time away from the Riptide, Lomas educated himself about what athletes go through when they suffer a significant injury. His advice for other athletes who are going through what he has gone through comes from reading the words of author and media strategist Ryan Holiday. He learned that athletes can experience depression and a feeling of loneliness that they don’t have the same abilities they had before getting hurt.

Lomas also learned that there can be a positive outcome with athletes showing a higher likelihood of giving back to other people, more happiness and having more strength overall as a human being in terms of dealing with adversity.

“If you can, for lack of a better term, water the grass around you to get through something like this, at the end of the day it’s just going to be stronger and you’re going to be better for it when everything is done and you can move forward.”

When Dan Lomas finally steps back onto the field in a game for the Riptide, it will be the culmination of a long road back for one the five-year NLL veteran. As emotional as it will be for him, Lomas’ return could be the inspiration that the Riptide needs to get things turned around.

NLL