The Saskatchewan Rush host the San Diego Seals at SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, March 14, 2026
Just in time for the League’s two-week break from Friday Nights on TSN, the longest reigning team of the year suits up against the fastest climbing team of the year! With another victory counted in the win column for both squads, the #5 Toronto Rock gets set to host the #1 Saskatchewan Rush.
The would-be champs, the Rush, have once again maintained their position in the number one slot headed into this weekend, despite the Vancouver Warriors’ hopes that they might finally tie at 10-5. The Rush were faced with the rise-to-the-occasion San Diego Seals in Week 16, who kept Saskatchewan to a one-goal lead until the final minutes of competition. In their last-minute 10-9 win over the Seals, the Rush defense put in more than just blood, sweat and tears to keep Rowdy happy, with Mike Messenger blocking five shots to assist goaltender Frank Scigliano’s 40 saves, while Matt Hossack and Matt Acchione caused seven turnovers. Now sat unsteadily in first as the first team to 11 wins, the Rush need an extra win this weekend to pad their lead and take another step towards securing a first-round home playoff game.
The Rock have quickly climbed their way into the upper half of the League’s rankings, with last weekend’s overtime win over Halifax placing them just out of the top four at 8-5. Now with a shot to be the Rush’s fourth blot on an otherwise winning record, the Toronto vets and rookies alike are gunning to make this Friday a worthwhile competition. In Week 16’s clash with the Thunderbirds, though the Rock were clearly still in the throes of reintroducing goaltender Nick Rose into the fold, the defense has never looked more aggressive. The Toronto backend handled 68 looseballs at the Scotiabank Centre and was responsible for 10 Halifax turnovers, with rookie forward CJ Kirst being responsible for three of those. Additionally, despite a still shaky 13 goals against, Rose still batted away 45 shots from the Thunderbirds’ offense.
Depending on the outcomes of the weekend’s other matches, the Rock have a chance to grace the League’s top four with a win against Saskatchewan and a Georgia loss to Halifax. The Rush, on the other hand, need a win this Friday regardless of the outcome of the Vancouver-Ottawa game later in the evening in order to keep their hold over the top slot.
The Rock welcomes the Rush this Friday at 7:30PM ET on ESPN+, NLL+ and TSN+.
Welcome back to Sting City, Swarm fans! The lights are back on at Gas South Arena this weekend for the Swarm’s third straight home appearance, this time hosting the Halifax Thunderbirds for a Week 10 rematch. With both teams headed into the weekend with the sting of defeat still fresh in their minds from Week 16, the Swarm and the Thunderbirds aren’t looking to hold anything back.
Though the Swarm has managed to hang onto their position as the fourth seed thanks to several early wins, they’ve been on the receiving end of an unlucky streak, having dropped their last two games at home to Philadelphia and Vancouver. In their last two losses, their opponents both won with double the amount of goals scored by the Swarm, falling to Philly 9-5 and to Vancouver 14-7, in which star goaltender Brett Dobson was momentarily benched once the Warriors broke away with a four-goal lead. While the Vancouver loss could be attributed to an off-day for Dobson, the Swarm have been displaying a great deal of issues with their second-half performances in their last few matchups, only putting up four second-half goals to combat a stagnant seven-goal deficit against Vancouver, and being held completely scoreless in the second half against the Wings.
Though their record has yet to fully reflect their 60-minute effort, Halifax is a squad the Swarm cannot afford to play half-speed against in the second half. Since their last meeting with Georgia in Week 10, the Thunderbirds are 2-3 over their last five games, and averaged six goals in the second half in each of those games. Additionally, their three losses were only by a single goal, and their two wins were each by at least two goals.
With that knowledge, the Thunderbirds are hoping to capitalize on the Swarm’s streak of slow second halves, and with the chance at the eighth seat drifting further with each loss, Halifax needs a win tonight now more than ever. Though a loss this weekend may not drop the Swarm out of the elite eight immediately, it could put them back in the race for fifth through eighth place, depending on the weekend’s results.
The Thunderbirds fly into Sting City this Friday at 7:30PM on ESPN+, NLL+ and TSN+.
After weeks of near misses, Vancouver has finally secured their tenth win of the season to break away from the third seat. Following their Week 16 win against the now 8-5 Georgia Swarm, as well as the now 9-5 Colorado Mammoth’s loss to Buffalo, the Warriors are now sat at second place in the League rankings at 10-5, just a win and a few strategic losses around the League from potentially usurping the #1 Saskatchewan Rush’s place ahead of the pack. In their most recent victory, the Warriors overwhelmed the Swarm early on, pulling out a three-goal lead to end the first quarter before hammering in an extra five to expand their lead to six scores by the end of the half. Star offensive players Keegan Bal (4G, 5A) and Curtis Dickson (3G, 4A) were major scoreboard contributors to the Vancouver frontend that evening with support from Christian Del Bianco and Connor O’Toole’s combined 47 saves, as well as the defense’s 66 saves and seven caused turnovers.
While the Warriors have been a consistent presence on the regular season podium, the Black Bears have had an especially interesting go of it leading up to the March to May. Ottawa has slipped in and out of the leaderboard’s elite eight throughout the season, but its current 8-5 record has all but completely secured its position in at least the bottom four playoff positions. They’ve thus far snuck out an upset win against both Colorado and Saskatchewan, as well as the reigning champs, the Buffalo Bandits, but this past weekend’s unexpected defeat at the hands of the Roughnecks may be cause for alarm in Ottawa as April inches closer. Against Calgary in Week 16, the Black Bears were only able to notch two goals in response to the Roughnecks’ seven first-half goals, a deficit that, despite Rob Hellyer and Jeff Teat’s 12 combined points, Ottawa was unable to recover from. To get back on track in terms of wins and losses, the Black Bears will need not only a hot start against the 10-4 Warriors, but a consistent finish to keep them in the competition for the whole 60-minutes.
The Black Bears close out the Friday contests in Vancouver at 10:00PM ET on ESPN+, NLL+ and TSN+.
Henderson, USA – March 15, 2026: Rochester Knighthawks vs Las Vegas Desert Dogs at Lee’s Family Forum in Henderson, USA. (Photo by Candice Ward/National Lacrosse League)
The Desert Dogs and the Knighthawks are set to kick off Saturday night of Week 17 with the second game of their two-weekend series. Much to Rochester’s surprise, Las Vegas not only came out swinging from the whistle in their first meeting, but pulled out a 17-10 win over the Knighthawks to bring themselves within a single win of the League’s elite eight.
Ahead of Week 16, both the Knighthawks and the Desert Dogs brought in several new and exciting key figures to help them in their race to the playoffs. Though they’re only a little over a week out from the trade deadline, Las Vegas made quite the showing of their newly acquired pieces. In their Desert Dogs debut, defender Tyson Bell and Zachary Young were both only responsible for a combined seven loose balls on the stat sheet, with Bell picking up a block and a caused turnover of his own, but their positional play made for an easy click with Connor Kirst and the Vegas backend. Additionally, recent Vancouver signee Kevin Crowley also looked to be getting his footing as a Desert Dog, tallying a goal and two assists in last week’s matchup.
On top of the acquisition of the hometown kid, Blaze Riorden, who tallied two goals in his Rochester debut, the Knighthawks also named Randy Mearns their interim head coach after relieving Mike Hasen and Pat O’Toole of their coaching duties. While growing pains are inevitable when introducing a new head coach at this stage in the season, a seven-goal loss is not the introduction the Knighthawks can afford at the moment. With the first loss to Vegas, 5-7, Rochester has dropped to the tenth seat with five weeks remaining in the season. While they’re not out of postseason contention yet, their March to May only gets harder from here, with Buffalo and another doubleheader against Georgia waiting for them down the line.
Catch the exciting conclusion to Vegas and Rochester’s two-game series this Saturday at 7:00PM ET on ESPN+, NLL+ and TSN+.
CALGARY, AB – MARCH 14, 2026: The Calgary Roughnecks against the Ottawa Black Bears at Scotiabank Saddledome on Saturday. (Photo by Jenn Pierce/NLL)
It’s a game of two’s at Ball Arena this weekend, as the Roughnecks fly into Colorado hot off their second straight win to face the Mammoth, now going cold after their second straight loss.
In a surprise turn of events, the Roughnecks have once again made themselves known, picking up their fourth and second straight win over the Ottawa Black Bears in Week 16. Goaltender Aden Walsh’s 38 saves held the Black Bears to two goals in the first half, and Haiden Dickson’s second-quarter hat trick, as well Tyler Pace’s four assists, put the Roughnecks ahead by five headed into the second half. Now sitting at 4-9, Calgary has clawed its way up to the twelfth seat and is within a win of slipping past the Thunderbirds, and depending on the rest of the weekend’s results, could potentially put itself within a win of a last-minute bid at the eighth playoff seat.
Colorado, on the other hand, has been on an uncharacteristic string of losses, most recently falling to the revamped Buffalo Bandits in Week 16. The Mammoth have dropped three of their last four matchups, each by at least three goals, dropping them from their cushy second seat down to third place. In last weekend’s run-in against Buffalo, of their 55 shots on goal, Colorado was only able to convert on more than ten goals, while the defense seemed unprepared to square off against the newly acquired forward Joe Resetarits and the infamous Smith-Byrne combo. Despite a second straight loss now tarnishing their previously near-spotless record, the Mammoth need another tally in the win column to keep Georgia and Toronto from encroaching any further on the playoff podium.
Colorado hosts Calgary on ESPN+, NLL+ and TSN+ this Saturday at 9:00PM ET.
Buffalo Bandits against the Colorado Mammoth on March 13, 2026 at KeyBank Center in Buffalo, NY. (Caroline Sherman/NLL)
The Buffalo Bandits enter this weekend hot on a three-game win streak following their 13-10 victory over Colorado. In spite of the early criticisms hurled their way ahead of the March to May, Week 16’s Bandits performance gave the Mammoth and the rest of the League an unwelcome reminder of why they’re the three-time champs. In addition to Matt Vinc’s 45-save performance, the Buffalo front end notched multiple hat-trick performances from Tehoka Nanticoke (3G), Josh Byrne (4G, 5A) and Dhane Smith (4G, 5A), who secured his hatty in the first quarter. In addition to their now three-win streak, the Bandits have also taken special care to acclimate their new acquisitions following last week’s trade deadline. Former Philly Wing and returning Bandit Joe Resetarits made his presence known in Week 16’s big win over the Colorado Mammoth, assisting two goals in his Bandits re-debut, but has yet to score his first goal back in Buffalo orange.
On the opposing end, the hosts for the evening, the San Diego Seals, have been running the 2024 playoff gauntlet over the last several weeks, first facing the Thunderbirds in Week 13, then falling to the Warriors and the Rush in Week 15 and 16, respectively. Now, once again faced with the task of ruining a good thing, the Seals look to simultaneously break the Bandits’ hot streak and their own cold streak. Though the Seals were unable to sneak away with a win against the #1 Rush last weekend, their 9-8 loss reiterated the message they’ve been sending all year– the Seals are not to be underestimated. The low-scoring contest was led by the Seals’ Tre Leclaire (2G, 2A) and Ben McIntosh (4A, 1A), with immense offensive support from transition player Zach Currier’s four assists and goaltender Chris Origlieri’s 38 saves.
Though San Diego has shown immense heart and determination against the League’s current top teams, they’re still stuck floating between the seventh, eighth and ninth positions on the leaderboard. However, a win against Resetarits, Smith and the Bandits could potentially pull the Seals back up to .500 and Buffalo back down to .500, and both of them just a game away from securing or losing their respective playoff futures.
The Seals finish out the 2024 playoff gauntlet this Saturday at 10:00PM ET on ESPN+, NLL+ and TSN+.
