Sports season
The 2024 NLL season was the 37th season of play of the National Lacrosse League (NLL). The season began on December 1, 2023, and ended on May 18, 2024, with the Buffalo Bandits sweeping the Albany FireWolves 2–0 in the NLL Finals series to claim their sixth league title.
On November 16, 2023, the NLL announced "NLL Unboxed", a new initiative to promote lacrosse among youth via branded "lacrosse communities" in strategic markets that do not currently have NLL teams.[ 4] As part of the initiative, the NLL hosted a regular season game known as the NLL Unboxed Series in Laval, Quebec (a suburb of Unboxed market Montreal, which previously had an NLL team in 2002 in the form of the Montreal Express ) featuring the New York Riptide hosting the Toronto Rock at Place Bell .[ 5]
On February 21, 2024, the NLL announced that the New York Riptide would relocate to Ottawa , and will be renamed the Ottawa Black Bears .[ 6]
2024 National Lacrosse League Team City Arena Capacity Albany FireWolves Albany , New York MVP Arena 14,236 Buffalo Bandits Buffalo , New York KeyBank Center 19,070 Calgary Roughnecks Calgary , Alberta Scotiabank Saddledome 19,289 Colorado Mammoth Denver , Colorado Ball Arena 18,000 Georgia Swarm Duluth , Georgia Gas South Arena 10,500 Halifax Thunderbirds Halifax , Nova Scotia Scotiabank Centre 10,500 Las Vegas Desert Dogs Paradise , Nevada Michelob Ultra Arena 12,000 New York Riptide Uniondale , New York Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum 13,917 Panther City Lacrosse Club Fort Worth , Texas Dickies Arena 12,200 Philadelphia Wings Philadelphia , Pennsylvania Wells Fargo Center 19,306 Rochester Knighthawks Rochester , New York Blue Cross Arena 10,662 San Diego Seals San Diego , California Pechanga Arena 12,920 Saskatchewan Rush Saskatoon , Saskatchewan SaskTel Centre 15,195 Toronto Rock Toronto , Ontario Scotiabank Arena 18,800 Vancouver Warriors Vancouver , British Columbia Rogers Arena 18,910
NLL Teams
The 2024 season introduced a new regular season format; conferences were abolished, with all teams now playing within the same standings. Each team played each other at least once, and the schedule formula provided the opportunity for four "flex games" to showcase league rivalries and players. The top eight teams advanced to the playoffs.[ 7] Reference:[ 8]
x = clinched playoff berth | z = clinched top overall record
Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes
Leading goaltenders [ edit ] Note: GP = Games played; Mins = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses: GA = Goals Allowed; SV% = Save Percentage; GAA = Goals against average
*Overtime
(1) Toronto Rock vs. (8) Rochester Knighthawks[ edit ] Nick Rose Goalies Rylan Hartley Riley Hutchcraft Rogers (Schreiber , Weier ) – 7:081–0 Rogers (Craig ) – 7:19 2–0 Boushy (Martin , Jubenville ) – 7:423–0 Small (Matthews , Rogers) – 8:464–0 4–1 17:00 – Waters (Knight , Lanchbury ) Schreiber (Small, de Snoo ) – 18:265–1 5–2 32:58 – Smith (Fields ) (PP) 5–3 37:10 – Knight (Coates , Evans ) Schreiber (Matthews) – 39:39 6–3 Matthews (Rogers, Kri ) – 50:53 7–3 Boushy (Matthews, Rogers) – 55:34 8–3 8–4 67:23 – Fields (Rees ) Craig (Small, Boushy) – 72:25 9–4 9–5 74:42 – Smith (Fields, Biles ) 9–6 77:39 – Smith (Fields, McConvey ) (PP)
12 min Penalties 16 min 50 Shots 57
(4) Buffalo Bandits vs. (5) Georgia Swarm[ edit ]
(2) San Diego Seals vs. (8) Panther City Lacrosse Club[ edit ] Christopher Origlieri Goalies Nick Damude Dobbie (Berg , Leclaire ) – 7:361–0 1–1 11:35 – Crawford (Knox , T. Malcom ) Holding – 14:252–1 2–2 15:11 – Sheridan (Gautier , T. Malcom) Leclaire (Staats ) – 25:28 3–2 3–3 27:28 – Caputo (Patten , Damude ) Staats (Dobbie, Berg) – 28:41 4–3 4–4 30:30 – Sheridan (W. Malcom , Gautier) 4–5 31:11 – Foley (Crawford) Staats (Berg) – 34:28 5–5 5–6 37:03 – W. Malcom (Crawford, Hutchison ) Dobbie (Berg, Dickson ) – 39:57 6–6 Staats (Logan ) – 47:24 7–6 7–7 53:10 – Gautier (W. Malcom, Crawford) 7–8 71:39 – T. Malcom Staats (Logan, Holding) – 69:35 8–8 Dobbie (Berg, Dickson) 87:49 9–8
6 min Penalties 4 min 63 Shots 45
(3) Albany FireWolves vs. (6) Halifax Thunderbirds[ edit ] Semifinal (best of three)[ edit ] (1) Toronto Rock vs. (4) Buffalo Bandits[ edit ] Nick Rose Troy Holowchuk Goalies Matt Vinc 0–1 8:14 – MacKay 0–2 14:16 – Fraser (D. Robinson , Priolo ) 0–3 18:44 – Byrne (MacKay, Weiss ) 0–4 29:37 – Cloutier (Weiss, MacKay) 0–5 31:49 – Buchanan (Byrne) 0–6 50:01 – Smith (Byrne, Buchanan) Martin (Corbeil ) (PP) – 54:041–6 1–7 54:31 – B. Robinson (Smith, Cloutier) (PP) 1–8 59:48 – B. Robinson (Nanticoke ) Schreiber (Martin, Hostrawser ) – 67:092–8 2–9 73:02 – Buchanan (Smith) 2–10 73:47 – Buchanan (Vinc) (PP, ENG) 2–11 74:15 – Fraser (Byrne, Farrell ) Small (Boushy , Matthews ) – 74:403–11 Small (Rogers , Schreiber) (PP) – 77:56 4–11 4–12 78:59 – Cloutier (Smith)
23 min Penalties 39 min 58 Shots 50
Matt Vinc Goalies Nick Rose Smith (Nanticoke ) – 8:191–0 1–1 12:48 – Boushy (Schreiber ) 1–2 13:17 – Craig (Matthews , Schreiber) Nanticoke (Byrne , Smith) – 15:43 2–2 Buchanan (Smith, B. Robinson ) (PP) – 17:483–2 3–3 26:20 – Rogers (Matthews , Boushy) (PP) 3–4 46:04 – Matthews (Rogers, Schreiber) (PP) 3–5 37:39 – Schreiber (Small, Matthews) (PP) 3–6 38:04 – Small (Schreiber, Boushy) Smith (Nanticoke, Cloutier ) – 48:17 4–6 4–7 55:50 – Weier (Jubenville ) 4–8 66:32 – Matthews (Martin , Kri ) Fraser (Byrne, Bomberry ) – 67:055–8 Nanticoke (Byrne, MacKay ) – 68:01 6–8 Byrne (Buchanan, Smith) – 68:54 7–8 Fraser (Byrne, Smith) – 71:40 8–8 Fraser (Byrne, Priolo ) – 74:21 9–8 Byrne (Priolo, Weiss ) – 75:15 10–8
15 min Penalties 10 min 46 Shots 58
Bandits win series 2–0.
(2) San Diego Seals vs. (3) Albany FireWolves[ edit ] Christopher Origlieri Goalies Doug Jamieson Dobbie (Berg ) – 5:401–0 1–1 11:15 – Simmons (Powless , Walker ) Dickson (Baptiste , Belgrave ) – 11:492–1 2–2 13:46 – Walker (Simmons) 2–3 19:59 – Firth (Simmons, Kurtz ) 2–4 26:22 – Simmons (Wagner ) 2–5 27:35 – Walker (Kurtz, Simmons) (PP) 2–6 29:32 – Kurtz (Powless, Simmons) Dobbie (Staats , Berg) (PP) – 33:28 3–6 Berg (Bradley, Shoemay ) – 39:26 4–6 Berg (Leclaire , Dickson) – 45:23 5–6 5–7 45:46 – Simmons (Walker, Longboat ) 5–8 46:20 – Grenon (Kurtz, Firth) Dickson (Berg, Dobbie) (PP) – 48:11 6–8 6–9 51:25 – Simmons (Walker) (PP) 6–10 54:32 – Simmons (Powless, Walker) 6–11 58:39 – Grenon (Kurtz, Chaykowsky ) Staats (Gobrecht , LeClair ) – 67:19 7–11 Berg (Dickson, Staats) – 68:16 8–11 8–12 69:21 – Byrne (Wagner) 8–13 74:06 – Powless (Walker, Simmons) (PP) Leclaire (Staats) – 76:28 9–13 Dickson (Berg, Staats) – 76:53 10–13 Dickson (Gobrecht ) – 78:11 11–13 Dobbie (Staats) – 78:53 12–13 12–14 79:21 – Watkinson (Kaschalk ) (ENG)
25 min Penalties 18 min 39 Shots 52
Doug Jamieson Goalies Christopher Origlieri 0–1 7:23 – Leclaire (Dickson , Gobrecht ) 0–2 7:53 – Staats (Dickson, Berg ) Simmons (Firth , Kurtz ) – 11:551–2 Firth (Walker , Kurtz) (PP) – 16:06 2–2 Longboat (Simmons) – 18:333–2 3–3 27:49 – Leclaire (Origlieri) Kurtz (Walker) – 28:31 4–3 Walker (Kurtz, Simmons) (PP) – 31:04 5–3 Simmons (Kurtz, Walker) (PP) – 34:31 6–3 6–4 38:10 – Dickson (Dobbie ) (PP) 6–5 39:36 – Staats (Dickson) 6–6 47:27 – Dobbie (Berg) Longboat (Simmons, Firth) – 48:11 7–6 Kurtz – 49:56 8–6 Longboat (Simmons, Kurtz) (PP) – 52:08 9–6 9–7 57:19 – Dickson (Leclaire, Dobbie) (PP) Simmons (Walker) (PP) – 59:20 10–7 Walker (Kurtz, Nishimura ) – 66:06 11–7 11–8 69:44 – Staats (Leclaire, Berg) (PP) Kurtz – 72:43 12–8 12–9 73:58 – Dobbie (Leclaire, Gobrecht) 12–10 74:51 – Staats (Merrill , Origlieri) Watkinson (Kaschalk ) (ENG) – 78:0513–10
14 min Penalties 63 min 46 Shots 61
FireWolves win series 2–0.
(3) Albany FireWolves vs. (4) Buffalo Bandits[ edit ] NLL Final (best of three)[ edit ] Doug Jamieson Goalies Matt Vinc Kurtz (Simmons , Walker ) – 5:351–0 1–1 7:44 – Nanticoke (Byrne , Smith ) 1–2 10:26 – Byrne (Smith, Cloutier ) Walker (Simmons, Powless ) – 12:13 2–2 Kurtz (Simmons, Kaschalk ) – 15:09 3–2 3–3 17:47 – Byrne (Smith, Cloutier) (PP) 3–4 18:11 – Smith (Cloutier, Byrne) (PP) Walker (Grenon , Simmons) – 19:39 4–4 4–5 27:43 – Cloutier (Smith) Longboat (Walker, Kurtz) – 35:445–5 Simmons (Kurtz, Walker) – 39:34 6–5 6–6 49:33 – Cloutier (Smith, Nanticoke) 6–7 57:57 – Fraser (Smith, Cloutier) 6–8 65:37 – MacKay (Smith, Byrne) Simmons (Walker) – 66:10 7–8 7–9 72:04 – Buchanan (Smith) 7–10 75:44 – Byrne (Smith, MacKay) 7–11 77:26 – Smith (B. Robinson , Byrne) 7–12 77:40 – D. Robinson (ENG) Firth (Powless, Walker) – 78:588–12
8 min Penalties 2 min 45 Shots 56
Matt Vinc Goalies Doug Jamieson Buchanan (Byrne , Weiss ) – 6:581–0 1–1 9:54 – Kaschalk (Chaykowsky , Nishimura ) Smith (Byrne, D. Robinson ) – 12:562–1 B. Robinson (Byrne, Fraser ) – 13:333–1 Nanticoke (Smith, Byrne) (PP) – 15:464–1 4–2 16:05 – Simmons (Firth ) 4–3 19:57 – Firth (Kurtz , Walker ) (PP) Nanticoke (Fraser, Dawson – 25:53 5–3 Fraser (Priolo ) – 29:14 6–3 Cloutier (Byrne, Smith) – 30:027–3 Fraser (Byrne, Nanticoke) – 30:32 8–3 8–4 31:27 – Simmons (Longboat ) Cloutier (Smith, Byrne) – 32:12 9–4 9–5 33:29 – Firth (Walker, Simmons) 9–6 37:49 – Firth (Simmons, Grenon ) 9–7 39:59 – Longboat (Walker) 9–8 47:32 – Longboat (Firth, Kurtz) Smith (Byrne, MacKay ) – 48:52 10–8 Fraser (Buchanan, Cloutier) – 50:30 11–8 Fraser (Cloutier, Smith) – 52:16 12–8 Byrne (Buchanan) – 53:53 13–8 Fraser (MacKay, Farrell ) – 54:19 14–8 14–9 66:03 – Firth (Simmons, Walker) B. Robinson (Smith, Cloutier) (PP) – 67:55 15–9 15–10 68:08 – Longboat (Grenon, Chaykowsky) 15–11 69:59 – Simmons (Kurtz) 15–12 77:21 – Kurtz (Powless ) 15–13 79:52 – Firth (Simmons, Walker)
14 min Penalties 12 min 51 Shots 49
Bandits win series 2–0.
Award Winner Other Finalists Most Valuable Player Josh Byrne , Buffalo Bandits [ 9] Dhane Smith , Buffalo Bandits[ 10] Nick Rose , Toronto Rock Goaltender of the Year Nick Rose, Toronto Rock[ 11] Doug Jamieson, Albany FireWolves [ 10] Chris Origlieri, San Diego Seals Defensive Player of the Year Ryan Dilks, Vancouver Warriors [ 11] Mitch de Snoo , Toronto Rock[ 10] Brad Kri, Toronto Rock Transition Player of the Year Jake Withers, Halifax Thunderbirds [ 11] Ian MacKay, Buffalo Bandits[ 10] Shane Simpson, Calgary Roughnecks Offensive Player of the Year Josh Byrne, Buffalo Bandits[ 11] Dhane Smith, Buffalo Bandits[ 10] Jeff Teat , New York Riptide Rookie of the Year Alex Simmons, Albany FireWolves[ 12] Owen Grant, Vancouver Warriors[ 10] Tye Kurtz, Albany FireWolves Sportsmanship Award Lyle Thompson , Georgia Swarm [ 13] Keegan Bal, Vancouver Warriors[ 10] Tom Schreiber , Toronto Rock GM of the Year Glenn Clark , Albany FireWolves[ 14] Jamie Dawick,[ 10] Toronto RockCurt Malawsky , Vancouver Warriors Les Bartley Award Glenn Clark, Albany FireWolves[ 14] Curt Malawsky,[ 10] Vancouver Warriors Matt Sawyer, Toronto Rock Executive of the Year Award John Catalano, Halifax Thunderbirds[ 15] Mike Hancock,[ 10] Toronto Rock Oliver Marti, Albany FireWolves Teammate of the Year Award Zach Greer, Las Vegas Desert Dogs[ 13] not announced Tom Borrelli Award Adam Levi, NLL.com, NLLPA, Inside Lacrosse, "Lacrosse Matrix" podcast[ 15] Teddy Jenner, TSN, "Off the CrosseBar" podcast[ 10] Graeme Perrow, NLL Chatter
Stadiums and locations [ edit ] Home Team Home Games Average Attendance Total Attendance[ 17] Buffalo Bandits 9 16,974 152,767 Calgary Roughnecks 9 11,713 105,417 Colorado Mammoth 9 10,380 93,416 Halifax Thunderbirds 9 9,165 82,484 Vancouver Warriors 9 8,874 79,867 Toronto Rock 9 8,636 77,727 Philadelphia Wings 9 8,364 75,276 Saskatchewan Rush 9 8,085 72,767 Las Vegas Desert Dogs 9 6,350 57,154 Georgia Swarm 9 6,231 56,079 Rochester Knighthawks 9 5,526 48,738 New York Riptide 9 4,891 44,021 San Diego Seals 9 4,667 42,002 Albany FireWolves 9 3,963 35,665 Panther City LC 9 2,704 24,332 League 135 7,768 1,047,712
Home Team Home Games Average Attendance Total Attendance[ 17] Buffalo Bandits 3 17,749 53,247 Toronto Rock 2 7,032 14,064 San Diego Seals 2 4,903 9,805 Albany FireWolves 3 2,930 8,790 League 10 8,591 85,906
^ Rigdon, Jay (October 26, 2021). "ESPN gets exclusive rights to National Lacrosse League in multiyear deal" . Awful Announcing . ^ "Full Schedule" . ^ "National Lacrosse League Heads to ESPN Under New Broadcast Deal" . 26 October 2021. ^ Genetti, Dominic. "St. Louis Rhythm could be a reality if NLL's youth initiative works" . The Edwardsville Intelligencer . Retrieved 2024-05-23 . ^ "NLL returns to Montreal area for regular season game" . TSN . 2023-11-16. Retrieved 2024-05-23 . ^ "NLL's New York team to move to Ottawa and be renamed Black Bears starting next season" . Toronto Star . The Canadian Press . February 21, 2024. Archived from the original on February 21, 2024. Retrieved February 21, 2024 . ^ "NLL ADOPTS UNIFIED STANDINGS FORMAT, UPDATED PLAYOFF STRUCTURE" . National Lacrosse League . Retrieved September 26, 2023 . ^ "Standings" . National Lacrosse League. ^ "JOSH BYRNE VOTED NATIONAL LACROSSE LEAGUE MVP" . NLL.com . May 17, 2024. Retrieved May 17, 2024 . ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "NATIONAL LACROSSE LEAGUE ANNOUNCES FINALISTS FOR 2023-24 NLL AWARDS" . NLL.com . May 8, 2024. Retrieved May 9, 2024 . ^ a b c d "BUFFALO'S BYRNE, VANCOUVER'S DILKS, HALIFAX'S WITHERS AND TORONTO'S ROSE TAKE NLL POSITIONAL PLAYER OF THE YEAR AWARDS" . NLL.com . May 16, 2024. Retrieved May 17, 2024 . ^ "ALBANY'S ALEX SIMMONS WINS 2023-24 NLL ROOKIE OF THE YEAR" . NLL.com . May 17, 2024. Retrieved May 17, 2024 . ^ a b "GEORGIA'S LYLE THOMPSON COLLECTS SIXTH STRAIGHT NLL SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD" . NLL.com . May 14, 2024. Retrieved May 17, 2024 . ^ a b "ALBANY'S GLENN CLARK SCORES DOUBLE HONOR AS NLL COACH OF THE YEAR AND NLL GENERAL MANAGER OF THE YEAR" . NLL.com . May 15, 2024. Retrieved May 17, 2024 . ^ a b "HALIFAX'S JOHN CATALANO SELECTED NLL EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR AS NATIONAL LACROSSE LEAGUE ANNOUNCED FIRST 2023-2024 AWARDS" . NLL.com . May 13, 2024. Retrieved May 13, 2024 . ^ "NLL Announces brands and identities for its two newest teams" . NLL.com . February 17, 2019. Retrieved August 24, 2019 . ^ a b "2024 Season" . nllstats.com . Retrieved 16 June 2023 .
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