2024’s rosters ranked by NLL Cup-winning experience
Matt Vinc, Buffalo Bandits, 2023 NLL Cup (Photo: Michael Hetzel)
A few weeks ago, we looked at every roster in the National Lacrosse League, pulled the players that had yet to win an NLL Cup, and then added up their games played to determine who’s been searching the longest without any Cup-winning success.
Not at all surprisingly, Brodie Merrill, who recently came out of retirement, led the lengthy list, the 42-year-old San Diego Seal now sitting at 302 total games played in the league without a Cup to his credit.
Today, we’ve again inspected every NLL roster - those that have qualified for the playoffs, those that are already out and those still fighting for a final second-season spot (with a weekend left, five teams are attempting to secure two remaining spots) - to conclude which team has the most Cup-winning experience entering this year’s playoffs.
Again, not so shockingly, last year’s NLL Cup winners, the Buffalo Bandits, are at the top of our lists, leading in both number of players that have previously won (and played during that year’s playoffs) and total rings on the roster (won by those same players).
Of note, since we’re most interested in Cup-winning experience, although scratched names, practice players and even injured players have a role on the team, we only included players that actually played in that season’s playoffs.
Matt Vinc & Mike Accursi, Rochester Knighthawks, 2012 NLL Cup (Photo: Ward Laforme Jr.)
The still-active player with the most Cups clinched? Two are tied for the top spot, and they’re both goalies.
Buffalo backstop Matt Vinc has four Cups, winning three times with the Rochester Knighthawks 1.0 (2012-2014) and of course last year in Banditland. While playing a pivotal role in every one of those victories, he was oddly never named the Cup’s MVP.
The other 4x winner is current Colorado Mammoth backup backstop, Tyler Carlson, supporting starting stoppers Aaron Bold, Evan Kirk and Dillon Ward during his Cup-winning seasons.
There actually aren’t that many players presently in the league who’ve won an NLL title multiple times. In fact, out of the 377 players that have played this regular season, only 27 have won the Cup more than once.
Tyler Carlson, Colorado Mammoth, 2022 NLL Cup (Photo: Jack Dempsey)
Active players with multiple NLL Cup wins
4 Cups (2)
Tyler Carlson, Matt Vinc
3 Cups (14)
Tyler Burton, Robert Church, Chris Corbeil, Jeff Cornwall, Ryan Dilks, Cody Jamieson, Stephen Keogh, Ian Llord, Mark Matthews, Ben McIntosh, Brett Mydske, Kyle Rubsich, Jeremy Thompson, Adrian Sorichetti
2 Cups (11)
Aaron Bold, Paul Dawson, Dane Dobbie, Angus Goodleaf, Zack Greer, Curtis Knight, John Lafontaine, John Lintz, Riley Loewen, Ethan O’Connor, Dan Taylor
Does having more Cup winners on your roster, and more specifically your core roster (which is what we’re concentrating on primarily today), better prepare you for a title run? Logic would suggest it does, but…
Two of this year’s rosters with the most previous Cup winners on them, Calgary and Colorado, are already out of playoff contention. In fact, before either of those teams won their most recent titles (2019 and 2022 respectively), a large percentage of their lineup was made up of names that had never previously won.
With that said, 25 of the 27 multi-Cup winning players presented above contributed to one of two highly regarded recent runs: 2012-2014 Rochester Knighthawks and 2015-2018 Edmonton/Saskatchewan Rush. These dominant modern-era dynasties were filled with players many consider, well, all-time winners that are always in demand.
Chris Corbeil, Toronto Rock (Photo: Ryan McCullough)
Like the Cup-winning 2017 Swarm, 2019 Roughnecks, 2022 Mammoth and even the Bandits last year, the Toronto Rock, who’ve already claimed 2024’s regular season crown, have very few previous title-game winners present on their roster. In fact, no team has fewer than Toronto’s two (Mark Matthews and Chris Corbeil).
Over the previous seven completed seasons, Toronto has lost the Conference/Division Finals four times, and the Final once back in 2015, a year they were led by none other than Brodie Merrill.
Outside of Matthews and Corbeil, most of Toronto’s roster have tasted plenty of playoff-exiting defeat in recent years, obviously lacking in the Cup-winning experience we’re examining today.
Does a history of past wins or of too many losses motivate a team more in the playoffs? Well, for this season at least, we’ll find out soon enough, right?
Below, check out how many rostered players every NLL team currently has that previously won the Cup and contributed on the floor during their club’s Cup-winning campaigns. Plus, we’ve also added up how many total rings each team has rostered (again, only including players that played in the playoffs the year(s) their team won the Cup(s)) and the last time each team won it all, if ever.
Mike Poulin & Lyle Thompson, Georgia Swarm, 2017 NLL Cup (Photo: Calvin So)
Buffalo Bandits
Players: 17
Rings: 21
Last: 2023
Colorado Mammoth
Players: 14
Rings: 17
Last: 2022
Calgary Roughnecks
Players: 9
Rings: 12
Last: 2019
Georgia Swarm
Players: 8
Rings: 11
Last: 2017
Vancouver Warriors
Players: 6
Rings: 12
Last: 2010 (Washington Stealth)
San Diego Seals
Players: 5
Rings: 8
Last: Have never won
Panther City Lacrosse Club
Players: 4
Rings: 7
Last: Have never won
New York Riptide
Players: 4
Rings: 5
Last: Have never won
Philadelphia Wings
Players: 3
Rings: 7
Last: Have never won (2.0)
Las Vegas Desert Dogs
Players: 3
Rings: 6
Last: Have never won
Halifax Thunderbirds
Players: 3
Rings: 5
Last: 2014 (Rochester Knighthawks 1.0)
Saskatchewan Rush
Players: 3
Rings: 5
Last: 2018
Albany FireWolves
Players: 3
Rings: 3
Last: 2001 (Philadelphia Wings 1.0)
Toronto Rock
Players: 2
Rings: 6
Last: 2011
Rochester Knighthawks
Players: 2
Rings: 4
Last: Have never won (2.0)
Mark Matthews, Saskatchewan Rush, 2018 NLL Cup