2023 NLL Playoffs: Everything you need to know
2023 NLL Cup Champions, Buffalo Bandits (Photo: Michael Hetzel)
The 2023 National Lacrosse League Playoffs started on Friday, May 5 at the FirstOntario Centre when the Toronto Rock hosted the Halifax Thunderbirds in one of four NLL Quarterfinal matches.
Below is this year’s playoff schedule, scores, past NLL Finals results, Playoff MVPs, and the postseason’s most attended games in league history.
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All times listed are ET. All games will be streamed on TSN.ca/live and the TSN+ app in Canada, plus ESPN.com in the US. Select games will also be broadcast on TSN & ESPN television networks. See schedules below for further details.
Andrew McBride, Ashley Docking and Matt Vinc (Photo: Isaiah J. Downing)
NLL Playoff Seeding
League standings (playoff teams only) in order of overall playoff placement based on regular season records & tiebreakers. (Regular season record, playoff record)
E1 Buffalo Bandits (14-4, 5-1)
W1 San Diego Seals (14-4, 0-1)*
E2 Toronto Rock (13-5, 1-2)*
W2 Calgary Roughnecks (13-5, 2-2)*
E3 Halifax Thunderbirds (10-8, 0-1)*
E4 Rochester Knighthawks (10-8, 0-1)*
W3 Panther City Lacrosse Club (10-8, 0-1)*
W4 Colorado Mammoth (9-9, 4-3)*
*Eliminated
Nick Rose & Matt Vinc (Photo: Christian Bender)
East Conference
NLL Quarterfinals
Single-elimination game
E1 Buffalo Bandits vs. E4 Rochester Knighthawks
Final: Rochester 8 at Buffalo 20
E2 Toronto Rock vs. E3 Halifax Thunderbirds
Final: Halifax 11 at Toronto 15
East Conference Finals
Best-of-three series
E2 Toronto Rock vs. E1 Buffalo Bandits
Buffalo wins series 2-0
Game 1: Toronto 5 at Buffalo 14
Game 2: Buffalo 17 at Toronto 8
Warren Jeffrey & Jesse King (Photo: Jenn Pierce)
West Conference
NLL Quarterfinals
Single-elimination game
W1 San Diego Seals vs. W4 Colorado Mammoth
Final: Colorado 13 at San Diego 12
W2 Calgary Roughnecks vs. W3 Panther City Lacrosse Club
Final: Panther City 9 at Calgary 12
West Conference Finals
Best-of-three series
W2 Calgary Roughnecks vs. W4 Colorado Mammoth
Colorado wins series 2-1
Game 1: Calgary 7 at Colorado 8
Game 2: Colorado 12 at Calgary 13
Game 3: Colorado 9 at Calgary 7
Dhane Smith, Buffalo Bandits (Photo: Michael Hetzel)
NLL Cup Finals
Best-of-three series
E1 Buffalo Bandits vs. W4 Colorado Mammoth
Buffalo wins series 2-1
Game 1: Colorado 12 at Buffalo 13
Game 2: Buffalo 10 at Colorado 16
Game 3: Colorado 4 at Buffalo 13
Dan Taylor, Calgary Roughnecks 2019 (Photo: Candice Ward)
NLL Cup History
Champions
*Best-of-three series. All other years were single-game finals.
1987: Baltimore over Washington (11-10)
1988: New Jersey over Washington (17-16)
1989: Philadelphia over New York (11-10)
1990: Philadelphia over New England (17-7)
1991: Detroit over Baltimore (14-12)
1992: Buffalo over Philadelphia (11-10) OT
1993: Buffalo over Philadelphia (13-12)
1994: Philadelphia over Buffalo (26-15)
1995: Philadelphia over Rochester (15-14) OT
1996: Buffalo over Philadelphia (15-10)
1997: Rochester over Buffalo (15-12)
1998: Philadelphia over Baltimore (2-0)
1999: Toronto over Rochester (13-10)
2000: Toronto over Rochester (14-13)
2001: Philadelphia over Toronto (9-8)
2002: Toronto over Albany (13-12)
2003: Toronto over Rochester (8-6)
2004: Calgary over Buffalo (14-11)
2005: Toronto over Arizona (19-13)
2006: Colorado over Buffalo (16-9)
2007: Rochester over Arizona (13-11)
2008: Buffalo over Portland (14-13)
2009: Calgary over New York (12-10)
2010: Washington over Toronto (15-11)
2011: Toronto over Washington (8-7)
2012: Rochester over Edmonton (9-6)
2013: Rochester over Washington (11-10)
2014: Rochester over Calgary (2-1)
2015: Edmonton over Toronto (2-0)
2016: Saskatchewan over Buffalo (2-0)
2017: Georgia over Saskatchewan (2-0)
2018: Saskatchewan over Rochester (2-1)
2019: Calgary over Buffalo (2-0)
2022: Colorado over Buffalo (2-1)
Dillon Ward, Colorado Mammoth 2022 (Photo: Jack Dempsey)
Finals MVP
1987: Buzz Sheain, Baltimore
1988: Larry Quinn & Jeff Goldberg, New Jersey
1989: John Tucker, Philadelphia
1990: Brad Kotz, Philadelphia
1991: Gary Gait, Detroit
1992: John Tavares, Buffalo
1993: John Tavares, Buffalo
1994: Paul Gait, Philadelphia
1995: Gary Gait, Philadelphia
1996: Pat O’Toole, Buffalo
1997: Steve Dietrich, Rochester
1998: Dallas Eliuk, Philadelphia
1999: Colin Doyle, Toronto
2000: Dan Stroup, Toronto
2001: Dallas Eliuk, Philadelphia
2002: Colin Doyle, Toronto
2003: Bob Watson, Toronto
2004: Curtis Palidwor, Calgary
2005: Colin Doyle, Toronto
2006: Gavin Prout, Colorado
2007: John Grant, Rochester
2008: Mark Steenhuis, Buffalo
2009: Josh Sanderson, Calgary
2010: Lewis Ratcliff, Washington
2011: Bob Watson, Toronto
2012: Cody Jamieson, Rochester
2013: Cody Jamieson, Rochester
2014: Dan Dawson, Rochester
2015: Mark Matthews, Edmonton
2016: Aaron Bold, Saskatchewan
2017: Lyle Thompson, Georgia
2018: Jeff Shattler, Saskatchewan
2019: Dane Dobbie, Calgary
2020: Dillon Ward, Colorado
2019 NLL Cup Finals, SaskTel Centre, Saskatoon SK (Photo: Josh Schaefer)
Playoff Attendance: Over 15K
Top 10 highest all-time attendance during playoffs
1989: New York at Philadelphia (16,042) NLL Finals
1992: Boston at Buffalo (15,603) NLL Quarterfinals
1993: Boston at Buffalo (16,325) NLL Semifinals
1993: Philadelphia at Buffalo (16,325) NLL Finals
1994: Detroit at Buffalo (15,836) NLL Semifinals
1994: Philadelphia at Buffalo (16,284) NLL Finals
1996: Philadelphia at Buffalo (16,230) NLL Finals
1997: Rochester at Buffalo (18,055) NLL Finals
1999: Rochester at Toronto (15,691) NLL Finals
2001: Philadelphia at Toronto (19,409) NLL Finals
2002: Vancouver at Colorado (17,129) NLL Quarterfinals
2002: Colorado at Toronto (16,733) NLL Semifinals
2004: Buffalo at Calgary (19,289) NLL Finals
2005: Rochester at Toronto (17,289) NLL Semifinals
2005: Arizona at Toronto (19,432) NLL Finals
2006: Colorado at Buffalo (16,104) NLL Finals
2007: San Jose at Colorado (16,309) West Semifinals
2008: Calgary at Colorado (15,554) West Semifinals
2008: Portland at Buffalo (18,690) NLL Finals
2014: Rochester at Calgary (16,541) NLL Finals Game 1
2015: Calgary at Colorado (16,027) West Semifinals
2016: Calgary at Saskatchewan (15,192) West Finals Game 2
2016: Buffalo at Saskatchewan (15,182) NLL Finals Game 2
2019: Calgary at Buffalo (15,747) NLL Finals Game 1
2019: Buffalo at Calgary (17,038) NLL Finals Game 2
2022: Colorado at Buffalo (19,060) NLL Finals Game 3