Sports Media Report
The National Lacrosse League (@NLL), the largest and most successful professional lacrosse property in the world, today revealed its full 2021-22 game schedule, beginning with Face Off Weekend, December 3-4. Early highlights of the slate include the standalone first contest featuring the Vancouver Warriors at San Diego Seals on Friday, December 3; a 2019 NLL Finals Rematch between the Calgary Roughnecks and Buffalo Bandits in Buffalo on Saturday, December 4; the first game played in Fort Worth, Texas (Dec. 10) and the return of the NLL to Hamilton, Ontario (Dec. 4) and Albany, New York (Dec. 18).
Each team will play nine home and nine away contests during the season. TSN will broadcast a regular season “Game of the Week” on linear television as well as distribute every regular season game on its digital platforms, the TSN app or TSN.ca. Other broadcast networks and schedules will be announced soon.
In addition to the Warriors-Seals lid-lifter, Calgary-Buffalo rematch, and renewals of many classic rivalries, contests of note that NLL fans will be circling on their calendars include:
- Saturday, December 4, Albany FireWolves at Toronto Rock, first game at Hamilton’s FirstOntario Centre since the Ontario Raiders in 1998 and first game for the relocated Albany franchise
- Saturday, December 4, Panther City Lacrosse Club at Philadelphia Wings, inaugural contest for expansion Panther City
- Saturday, December 4, Saskatchewan Rush at Halifax Thunderbirds, a re-match of their classic matchup from the 2019-20 season that ended in overtime with the Rush winning 16-15.
- Friday, December 10, Vancouver Warriors at Panther City Lacrosse Club, first home game in Fort Worth and first ever NLL game in Texas
- Saturday, December 11, Calgary Roughnecks at Saskatchewan Rush and Buffalo Bandits at Rochester Knighthawks, in the first of three matchups through the season between these division rivals
- Friday, December 17, San Diego Seals at Calgary Roughnecks, return game for 13-year Roughneck and former MVP Dane Dobbie with his new team
- Saturday, December 18, Rochester Knighthawks at Albany FireWolves, first game in Albany since the Albany Attack in 2003 for the relocated FireWolves franchise
- Saturday, February 5, and Saturday, March 19, Georgia Swarm at Albany FireWolves, return to Albany with University at Albany standouts Miles Thompson and Lyle Thompson
- Saturday, March 26, New York Riptide at Albany FireWolves, return of Callum Crawford to his former franchise where he led the team in scoring the past two seasons and a league best .727-win percentage in the 2019-20 season
- Saturday, April 2, Buffalo Bandits at Colorado Mammoth, features the matchup of the number one and two ranked goaltenders (Matt Vinc and Dillon Ward) as voted by the NLLPA player poll
- Week 22, the final week of the regular season from April 29-30, will see every team in action in conference matchups with many potential playoff seeding positions on the line
“It’s great to be back playing lacrosse and a lot of work has gone into putting together the competition schedule. We are all thrilled to welcome the League’s 14th expansion team, Panther City Lacrosse Club in their inaugural season and all the new and exciting players joining the League over the last two Entry Drafts. There are so many intriguing matchups, particularly early in the season and we can’t wait to get started,” said Nick Sakiewicz, NLL Commissioner. “We know that fans have been anxious to see when their favorite teams will be returning to action so we worked extra hard to make sure all our teams play on opening weekend and, we can’t wait to see NLL fans cheering on ‘Face Off Weekend’ beginning in a just over two months.”
Fans can view the entire 2021-22 schedule at https://www.nll.com/schedule/full-schedule/.
