Sports season
The 2023 National Lacrosse League season , formally known as the 2022–2023 season, was the 36th in the history of the NLL. The season began on December 2, 2022, and ended with the NLL final on June 3, 2023. This was the inaugural season for the expansion team Las Vegas Desert Dogs .[ 4]
The preseason went from November 5 through November 26, 2022. It included games at Aʼnowaraʼko꞉wa Arena and Toronto Rock Athletic Centre .[ 5] The regular season went from December 2, 2022, through April 20, 2023. This season had the most regular season games in NLL history with 135.[ 6] The broadcasting partners are TSN in Canada and ESPN in the United States. TSN featured 20 games on TV with their NLL Game of the Week on TSN and show all the games online and their app.[ 7] ESPN aired 10 games on TV and all games on ESPN+ .[ 8] Due to scheduling conflicts with ESPN's linear networks, Game 3 of the NLL Final was simulcast on WNLO in addition to being carried on ESPN+.[ 9]
This was the first season for Commissioner Brett Frood, who was previously a NASCAR executive as president of the Stewart-Haas Racing team.[ 10] Frood was a collegiate lacrosse player and was captain of the Brown University lacrosse team .[ 11]
The 2023 NLL Stadium Showdown , the first outdoor NLL game, was held on March 4 at Snapdragon Stadium , between the San Diego Seals and the Las Vegas Desert Dogs .
East Division
West Division
2023 National Lacrosse League Division Team City Arena Capacity East Albany FireWolves Albany , New York MVP Arena 14,236 Buffalo Bandits Buffalo , New York KeyBank Center 19,070 Georgia Swarm Duluth , Georgia Gas South Arena 10,500 Halifax Thunderbirds Halifax , Nova Scotia Scotiabank Centre 10,500 New York Riptide Uniondale , New York Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum 13,917 Philadelphia Wings Philadelphia , Pennsylvania Wells Fargo Center 19,306 Rochester Knighthawks Rochester , New York Blue Cross Arena 10,662 Toronto Rock Toronto , Ontario Scotiabank Arena 18,800 West Calgary Roughnecks Calgary , Alberta Scotiabank Saddledome 19,289 Colorado Mammoth Denver , Colorado Ball Arena 18,000 Las Vegas Desert Dogs Paradise , Nevada Michelob Ultra Arena 12,000 Panther City Lacrosse Club Fort Worth , Texas Dickies Arena 12,200 San Diego Seals San Diego , California Pechanga Arena 12,920 Saskatchewan Rush Saskatoon , Saskatchewan SaskTel Centre 15,195 Vancouver Warriors Vancouver , British Columbia Rogers Arena 18,910
Reference:[ 12]
Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes; LB = Loose Balls
Leading goaltenders [ edit ] Note: GP = Games played; Mins = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses: GA = Goals Allowed; SV% = Save Percentage; GAA = Goals against average
(E1) Buffalo Bandits vs. (E4) Rochester Knighthawks[ edit ] Matt Vinc Devlin Shanahan Goalies Rylan Hartley Riley Hutchcraft MacKay (Byrne ) – 00:231–0 Buchanan (Fraser , Cloutier ) – 05:212–0 Byrne (PP) – 09:56 3–0 3–1 16:38 – Cattoni (Fields ) 3–2 17:25 – Cattoni 3–3 20:17 – Cattoni (Fields) Clouiter (Byrne, Smith ) (PP) – 23:10 4–3 4–4 24:03 – Fields (Smith , Cattoni) (PP) Cloutier (Fraser, Byrne) – 24:48 5–4 Smith (Cloutier) – 25:36 6–4 Smith (Nanticoke ) – 27:18 7–4 Nanticoke (Smith, Byrne) – 29:29 8–4 8–5 31:14 – Smith (Gilray , Hasen ) 8–6 34:16 – Hoggarth (Cattoni, Evans ) (PP) Smith (Cloutier, MacKay) – 37:25 9–6 MacKay – 39:01 10–6 Priolo – 39:3911–6 Buchanan (Smith) – 39:57 12–6 Byrne (Cloutier, Smith) – 40:54 13–6 13–7 41:16 – Knight (Smith, Fields) Byrne (MacKay) – 43:00 14–7 Fraser (Weiss , Vinc) – 45:34 15–7 McCulley (Smith, Buchanan) – 47:4316–7 Nanticoke – 49:45 17–7 Buchanan (Smith, MacKay) – 50:13 18–7 Clouiter (Smith, Byrne) – 50:38 19–7 Byrne (Buchanan, Nanticoke) – 52:50 20–7 20–8 59:05 – Cattoni (Fields, Smith) (PP)
10 min Penalties 10 min 60 Shots 58
(E2) Toronto Rock vs. (E3) Halifax Thunderbirds[ edit ] Nick Rose Goalies Warren Hill Keogh (Small , Rogers ) – 01:061–0 1–1 01:13 – Hossack Small (Rogers, Dawson ) (PP) – 11:24 2–1 Manns (Jubenville , Rose) – 11:423–1 Dawson (Manns, Hostrawser ) (PP) – 16:44 4–1 4–2 18:36 – Boushy (Terefenko ) Small (Craig , Jay ) – 19:58 5–2 5–3 21:46 – Staats (Boushy) (PP) 5–4 22:02 – Benesch (Terefenko, Withers ) 5–5 28:39 – Brock (Hill) Craig (Dawson) – 32:43 6–5 6–6 34:54 – Staats (Benesch, Withers) (PP) Small (Manns, Rogers) (PP) – 36:37 7–6 Harris (de Snoo ) – 37:168–6 Keogh (Manns, Dawson) – 38:07 9–6 Craig (Kri ) – 47:11 10–6 Manns (Small, Keogh) – 48:05 11–6 11–7 48:55 – Staats (Boushy, Petterson ) 11–8 49:13 – Boushy (Jamieson , Withers) 11–9 50:59 – Boushy (Theede ) Manns (Keogh) – 55:30 12–9 12–10 56:57 – Benesch (Boushy, Jamieson) de Snoo (ENG) – 57:33 13–10 Jay (Corbeil ) (ENG) – 58:51 14–10 14–11 59:24 – Petterson (Jamieson) (PP, EA) Downing (ENG) – 59:3015–11
17 min Penalties 26 min 53 Shots 41
(W1) San Diego Seals vs. (W4) Colorado Mammoth[ edit ] Frank Scigliano Goalies Dillon Ward 0–1 04:08 – Gilles (Ward) 0–2 05:44 – Wardle (Lee , McLaughlin ) Dobbie (Dickson ) – 10:381–2 1–3 11:28 – McLaughlin (Lee, Williams ) 1–4 20:37 – Williams (Robinson ) 1–5 21:56 – Lee (McLaughlin) Dickson (Staats , Crowley ) – 23:18 2–5 2–6 24:35 – McLaughlin (Williams, Lee) 2–7 29:14 – Lee (Joaquim , Ward) Crowley (Dobbie, Dickson) (PP) – 29:51 3–7 Staats (Dobbie, Belgrave ) – 33:45 4–7 Berg (Dickson, Dobbie) – 34:105–7 5–8 Edwards – 35:01Crowley (Berg, O'Keefe ) – 36:26 6–8 6–9 39:02 – Lee (Williams, Gibson ) 6–10 40:05 – Williams (Kinnear ) O'Keefe (Dickson) – 43:17 7–10 Staats (Berg) – 47:05 8–10 8–11 48:58 – Lee (Lintz , Hope ) (SH) Berg (Dobbie, Crowley) (PP) – 49:29 9–11 Staats (Crowley) (PP) – 51:27 10–11 O'Keefe (Dickson) – 53:21 11–11 11–12 55:43 – McLaughlin (Lee) Crowley – 56:44 12–12 12–13 59:58 – McLaughlin (Lee) (PP)
2 min Penalties 8 min 64 Shots 45
(W2) Calgary Roughnecks vs. (W3) Panther City Lacrosse Club[ edit ] Christian Del Bianco Goalies Nick Damude King (Cook , Pace ) – 00:311–0 1–1 00:52 – Donville (Gautier , W. Malcom ) (PP) 1–2 01:45 – Crawford (T. Malcom , Sellars ) 1–3 03:34 – Caputo (Donville , W. Malcom) Pace (King, Cook) – 05:24 2–3 2–4 07:30 – Dodds (Crawford, Hossack ) Cook (Pace, J. Currier ) – 07:59 3–4 3–5 09:16 – Gautier (Donville, Dodds) 3–6 10:15 – Caputo (Dodds, Gautier) Z. Currier (Del Bianco) – 14:194–6 King (Cook, J. Currier) – 17:39 5–6 Z. Currier (Callies ) – 18:37 6–6 Cook (Pace) (PP) – 21:25 7–6 7–7 27:38 – W. Malcom (Crawford, Grenon ) King (Pace) – 28:30 8–7 8–8 30:52 – Dodds (Crawford, W. Malcom) 8–9 44:54 – Hossack (Hutchison ) (SH) Pace (King) (PP) – 47:05 9–9 Pace (King) (PP) – 51:05 10–9 Pace (Cook, Dickson ) – 57:54 11–9 Cornwall (Manning ) (ENG) – 58:5312–9
10 min Penalties 12 min 50 Shots 46
Semifinal (best of three)[ edit ] (E1) Buffalo Bandits vs. (E2) Toronto Rock[ edit ] Matt Vinc Goalies Nick Rose Troy Holowchuk Byrne (Smith , Nanticoke ) – 00:301–0 1–1 04:38 – Schreiber (Rogers , Craig ) Nanticoke (Smith, McCulley ) – 08:11 2–1 Fraser (Bomberry , Robinson ) – 08:273–1 3–2 09:51 – Roger (Schreiber, Kri ) Robinson (Spanger ) – 09:35 4–2 4–3 13:30 – Roger (Schreiber, Manns ) Byrne (Smith, Vinc) – 23:56 5–3 5–4 26:28 – Rogers (Craig, Manns) Byrne (Buchanan ) – 24:25 6–4 Nanticoke (Byrne, Smith) – 27:23 7–4 Fraser – 31:29 8–4 MacKay – 33:319–4 Byrne (Buchanan, Smith) – 36:05 10–4 Buchanan (Cloutier , Smith) (EA) – 36:31 11–4 Byrne (Weiss , Sweeting ) – 37:20 12–4 Cloutier (Smith) (PP) – 44:18 13–4 13–5 45:21 – Schreiber (Manns, Rogers) Cloutier (Smith, Byrne) (PP) – 55:32 14–5
18 min Penalties 18 min 41 Shots 57
Nick Rose Troy Holowchuk Goalies Matt Vinc Devlin Shanahan 0–1 01:19 – Byrne (McCulley ) Small (Dawson , Mazzuca ) – 02:481–1 1–2 06:49 – Smith (Byrne, Buchanan ) Mazzuca – 11:56 2–2 2–3 10:25 – Nanticoke (Byrne, Buchanan) (SH) Small – 12:15 3–3 3–4 18:18 – Cloutier (Priolo , O'Connor ) (SH) Craig (Small, Rogers ) (PP) – 18:404–4 4–5 21:52 – Cloutier (Smith, Byrne) (PP) 4–6 22:24 – Smith (Byrne) (PP) 4–7 23:28 – Cloutier (Byrne) 4–8 23:38 – Nanticoke (MacKay ) 4–9 25:09 – Cloutier (Buchanan, Byrne) 4–10 25:22 – Nanticoke (Smith, Cloutier) 4–11 25:41 – Fraser (Buchanan, Byrne) Jubenville (Harris , Rose) – 33:285–11 5–12 33:58 – Robinson Craig (Rogers, Dawson) (PP) – 36:41 6–12 6–13 37:49 – Smith (Byrne, Nanticoke) (EA) Craig (Dawson) (PP) – 41:17 7–13 7–14 44:25 – Byrne (Cloutier, Smith) Slade (Downing, Corbeil ) – 49:168–14 8–15 52:24 – Cloutier (Smith, Weiss ) 8–16 52:52 – Priolo (Vinc) 8–17 54:41 – Cloutier (Smith) (ENG)
11 min Penalties 12 min 47 Shots 57
Bandits win series 2–0.
(W2) Calgary Roughnecks vs. (W4) Colorado Mammoth[ edit ] Dillon Ward Goalies Christian Del Bianco 0–1 05:37 – Cook (King ) 0–2 07:04 – Cook (King, J. Currier ) (PP) 0–3 15:10 – Z. Currier Williams (Robinson ) – 15:431–3 1–4 15:54 – Cornwall (J. Currier, Willman ) Robinson (Lee , Joaquim ) – 17:31 2–4 Gilles (Jeffrey ) – 20:373–4 3–5 24:15 – Van Schepen (Z. Currier) Wardle (McLaughlin , Lee) (PP) – 30:274–5 McLaughlin (Gilles, Sullivan ) (SH) – 32:02 5–5 Wardle (Robinson, McLaughlin) (PP) – 34:28 6–5 6–6 38:33 – Taylor (Herreweyers , Waters ) 6–7 40:23 – Taylor (Cook, J. Currier) Robinson (Lee, Williams) (PP, EA) – 54:06 7–7 Robinson (Williams, Lee) (PP) – 56:49 8–7
4 min Penalties 14 min 50 Shots 43
Christian Del Bianco Goalies Dillon Ward 0–1 07:58 – Robinson (Williams ) Simpson – 08:401–1 King (Pace , Dickson ) (PP) – 09:332–1 2–2 12:13 – Jeffrey Taylor (King, Simpson) – 22:293–2 Pace (King) (PP) – 24:05 4–2 4–3 26:41 – Williams (Robinson) (PP) Cook (Z. Currier ) – 29:465–3 Pace (King, Simpson) – 31:21 6–3 6–4 32:40 – Williams (Lee ) Taylor (King, J. Currier ) – 35:54 7–4 7–5 39:34 – McLaughlin (Lee, Wardle ) J. Currier (Waters , King) – 40:27 8–5 8–6 42:11 – Kinnear (Robinson, Lee) Z. Currier (Waters, Dickson) – 44:18 9–6 King (Pace) – 46:18 10–6 10–7 47:09 – Robinson (McLaughlin, Lintz ) Cook (Pace, Dickson) – 47:39 11–7 11–8 48:42 – Robinson (Lee, McLaughlin) 11–9 49:52 – Wardle (Lee, Robinson) 11–10 50:54 – McLaughlin (Wardle, Kinnear) Cook (King, Pace) – 54:35 12–10 Pace (Cook) – 56:39 13–10 13–11 58:09 – McIntyre (Robinson, Lee) (EA) 13–12 58:35 – Williams (McLaughlin, McIntyre) (EA)
8 min Penalties 10 min 50 Shots 44
Mammoth wins series 2–1.
(E1) Buffalo Bandits vs. (W4) Colorado Mammoth[ edit ] NLL Final (best of three)[ edit ] Matt Vinc Goalies Dillon Ward Smith (Cloutier ) – 00:401–0 Smith (Nanticoke , MacKay ) – 02:02 2–0 Fraser – 04:363–0 Smith (Cloutier) (PP) – 08:16 4–0 4–1 10:11 – Downey (Edwards ) 4–2 11:36 – Lee (Williams , Garrison ) Smith (MacKay, Buchanan ) – 12:01 5–2 5–3 14:07 – Williams (Lee, Robinson ) 5–4 14:57 – McLaughlin (Gibson , Robinson) MacKay (Buchanan) – 16:29 6–4 6–5 17:39 – Gibson (McLaughlin) 6–6 18:12 – Robinson (McLaughlin, Williams) (PP) 6–7 25:45 – Gibson (McLaughlin) (PP) McCulley (Nanticoke, Weiss ) – 24:447–7 7–8 27:34 – Lee (Kinnear ) Nanticoke (MacKay, Buchanan) (PP) – 30:24 8–8 Fraser (Smith, MacKay) (SH) – 31:31 9–8 Smith (Weiss, MacKay) – 33:01 10–8 Nanticoke (Cloutier, Buchanan) – 33:24 11–8 11–9 34:06 – McLaughlin (Lee, Williams) Nanticoke (MacKay, Buchanan) (PP) – 37:00 12–9 12–10 45:38 – Williams (Lee) (PP) Fraser (Cloutier, Buchanan) (PP) – 48:13 13–10 13–11 47:37 – Wardle (Robinson, Downey) 13–12 54:42 – McLaughlin (Lee, Robinson) (PP)
12 min Penalties 12 min 54 Shots 43
Dillon Ward Goalies Matt Vinc Devlin Shanahan 0–1 04:00 – MacKay (Smith , Priolo ) 0–2 07:54 – Buchanan (Cloutier ) (PP) Wardle (Chaster , Lee ) – 10:431–2 1–3 12:23 – Smith (Cloutier) (PP) Edwards (Gilles ) – 12:332–3 Robinson (Hope , Ward) – 13:353–3 Lee (Williams , Robinson) – 16:24 4–3 Lee (McLaughlin , Kinnear ) – 16:48 5–3 5–4 20:29 – Smith (Cloutier) Lee (McLaughlin, Williams) (PP) – 21:34 6–4 Robinson (Lee, McLaughlin) (PP) – 24:37 7–4 7–5 26:43 – Cloutier (Smith) Williams (McIntosh , Jeffrey ) – 29:14 8–5 McLaughlin (Robinson) (PP) – 33:23 9–5 9–6 33:52 – Nanticoke (Smith, Cloutier) (PP) Lee (Williams, Gibson ) – 34:48 10–6 McLaughlin (Kinnear, Downey ) – 36:54 11–6 11–7 38:36 – Nanticoke (Priolo, McCulley ) Williams (Downey) – 39:01 12–7 McLaughlin (Lee, Williams) (PP) – 43:36 13–7 Gibson (McLaughlin) (PP) – 46:33 14–7 14–8 47:40 – Nanticoke (Smith) 14–9 51:27 – Fraser (Smith, Buchanan) Robinson (Joaquim , Hope) (SH) – 55:29 15–9 15–10 55:46 – Nanticoke (Buchanan, Smith) (PP) Kinnear – 59:26 16–10
16 min Penalties 50 min 59 Shots 48
Bandits win series 2–1
Award Winner Other Finalists Most Valuable Player Christian Del Bianco , Calgary Roughnecks [ 13] Dhane Smith , Buffalo Bandits Jeff Teat , New York Riptide Goaltender of the Year Christian Del Bianco, Calgary Roughnecks[ 14] Nick Rose , Toronto Rock Matt Vinc , Buffalo Bandits Defensive Player of the Year Latrell Harris, Toronto Rock[ 14] Graeme Hossack , Halifax Thunderbirds Brad Kri, Toronto Rock Transition Player of the Year Zach Currier , Calgary Roughnecks[ 14] Reid Bowering, Vancouver Warriors Challen Rogers, Toronto Rock Rookie of the Year Jonathan Donville, Panther City Lacrosse Club [ 13] Brett Dobson, Georgia Swarm Jack Hannah, Las Vegas Desert Dogs Sportsmanship Award Lyle Thompson , Georgia Swarm[ 15] Kyle Buchanan, Buffalo BanditsTom Schreiber , Toronto Rock GM of the Year Dan Carey , Rochester Knighthawks [ 16] Mike Board, Calgary Roughnecks Jamie Dawick, Toronto Rock Les Bartley Award Curt Malawsky , Calgary Roughnecks[ 16] Tracey Kelusky , Panther City Lacrosse Club Mike Hasen, Rochester Knighthawks Executive of the Year Award Mark Fine, Las Vegas Desert Dogs[ 17] Melissa Blades, Calgary Roughnecks Matt Hutchings, Colorado Mammoth Teammate of the Year Award Dan Dawson , Toronto Rock[ 15] Kyle Buchanan, Buffalo Bandits John LaFontaine, Albany FireWolves Tom Borrelli Award Teddy Jenner , TSN , Off The Crossebar Podcast[ 17] Adam Levi, NLL , Lacrosse Flash Pat Gregoire, Halifax Thunderbirds, Off The Crossebar Podcast
Stadiums and locations [ edit ] Home Team Home Games Average Attendance Total Attendance[ 19] Buffalo Bandits 9 14,731 132,581 Calgary Roughnecks 9 11,665 104,984 Colorado Mammoth 9 9,972 89,748 Toronto Rock 9 9,423 84,806 Georgia Swarm 9 8,665 77,984 Saskatchewan Rush 9 8,606 77,454 Philadelphia Wings 9 8,530 76,768 Halifax Thunderbirds 9 8,512 76,604 Vancouver Warriors 9 8,166 73,489 Las Vegas Desert Dogs 9 5,960 53,636 San Diego Seals 9 5,115 46,032 Rochester Knighthawks 9 5,114 46,024 New York Riptide 9 4,612 41,501 Albany FireWolves 9 3,610 32,491 Panther City LC 9 2,813 25,316 League 135 7,700 1,039,418
Home Team Home Games Average Attendance Total Attendance[ 19] Buffalo Bandits 4 14,715 58,860 Calgary Roughnecks 3 8,679 26,036 Colorado Mammoth 2 9,435 18,869 Toronto Rock 2 8,568 17,135 San Diego Seals 1 5,210 5,210 League 12 10,509 126,110
^ 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. ^ "NATIONAL LACROSSE LEAGUE ANNOUNCES 2022-23 SCHEDULE; FACE OFF WEEKEND SET FOR DECEMBER 2-3" . National Lacrosse League . Retrieved December 27, 2019 . ^ "Pre-Season Games Begin November 5 In Advance of National Lacrosse League 2022-23 Schedule" . NLL . 2022-10-26. Retrieved 2022-10-27 . ^ TSN ca Staff (2022-09-20). "NLL releases its 2022-2023 schedule - TSN.ca" . TSN . Retrieved 2022-10-23 . ^ Tutka, Paul. "League reveals "NLL Game of the Week on TSN" broadcast schedule" . The Lax Mag . Retrieved 2022-11-05 . ^ "NLL Announces 10 Games to Air on ESPN Linear Networks" . Inside Lacrosse . 2022-11-16. Retrieved 2022-11-17 . ^ Pergament, Alan (2023-06-01). "WNLO-TV to carry deciding game in Bandits-Mammoth championship lacrosse series" . Buffalo News . Retrieved 2023-06-01 . ^ Perrow, Graeme (2022-08-29). "2022 Off-season summary, Part I" . NLL Chatter . Retrieved 2022-10-29 . ^ Goods, Jack (2022-08-03). "Brett Frood Combines Passion and Product as NLL's New Commissioner" . usalaxmagazine.com . Retrieved 2022-11-30 . ^ "Standings" . National Lacrosse League. ^ a b "Del Bianco becomes second goaltender to win MVP, Donville fourth straight number one overall selection to win Rookie of the Year" . NLL.com . May 26, 2023. Retrieved May 26, 2023 . ^ a b c "Currier repeats as Transition Player of the Year, Del Bianco and Harris take home first awards" . NLL.com . May 25, 2023. Retrieved May 25, 2023 . ^ a b "Thompson wins fifth straight Sportsmanship Award, Dawson wins second Teammate Award" . NLL.com . May 23, 2023. Retrieved May 23, 2023 . ^ a b "Calgary's Curt Malawsky, Rochester's Dan Carey win Les Bartley Award and General Manager of the Year" . NLL.com . May 24, 2023. Retrieved May 24, 2023 . ^ a b "TSN's Teddy Jenner wins second Tom Borrelli Award; Las Vegas CEO Mark Fine takes home Executive of the Year in inaugural season" . NLL.com . May 23, 2023. Retrieved May 23, 2023 . ^ "NLL Announces brands and identities for its two newest teams" . NLL.com . February 17, 2019. Retrieved August 24, 2019 . ^ a b "2023 Season" . nllstats.com . Retrieved 16 June 2023 .
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