Credit: Halifax Thunderbirds
The Halifax Thunderbirds will return to Scotiabank Centre on December 4 to take on the Saskatchewan Rush.
The National Lacrosse League (NLL) announced the schedule for opening weekend on Wednesday after a long hiatus due to COVID-19.
The first matchup for the 2021-22 season will take place on Friday, December 3, when Colorado visits San Diego. On Saturday, December 4, there will be five matches, with Calgary visiting Buffalo, Philadelphia visiting Georgia, Rochester visiting New York, Saskatchewan visiting Halifax and Albany taking on Toronto in its new home in Hamilton, Ontario. Two teams, Vancouver and expansion Panther City, will have byes the first weekend.
A new two-conference format, expanded playoffs, and the inaugural season of Panther City Lacrosse Club are among the changes in the upcoming season.
East:
Albany Fire Wolves, Buffalo Bandits, Georgia Swarm, Halifax Thunderbirds, New York Riptide, Philadelphia Wings, Rochester Knighthawks, and Toronto Rock
West
Calgary Roughnecks, Colorado Mammoth, Panther City Lacrosse Club, San Diego Seals, Saskatchewan Rush, and Vancouver Warriors
The new alignment means a revised playoff format, with the top four teams in the East and top three in the West advancing to the playoffs. The eighth playoff slot will go to the team with the better record between the fifth place East and fourth place West teams, per NLL tiebreaker rules.
The first round will be single elimination, while the second round and finals will each be best-of-three series.
“It’s very exciting to announce Face-Off Weekend and returning to play,” said NLL Commissioner Nick Sakiewicz. “Face Off Weekend will mark a long-anticipated return to play for the NLL in a very big way with a new TSN Game of the Week partnership featuring 20+ games on linear television and the remaining match-ups streamed on TSN GO.”
The entire NLL schedule and game times, as well as national broadcast showings, will be announced in the coming weeks. Each team will have 9 home games during the regular season, followed by the playoffs and the league championship series.
The Calgary Roughnecks, who defeated the Buffalo Bandits to win the 2019 NLL Title, are the league defending champions, since the 2019-20 NLL season was not completed due to the pandemic.
