NLL: 10 Things To Know For Week Two
Published
The National Lacrosse League enters its second week of regular season play with two games Friday and two Saturday night, including the inaugural Las Vegas Desert Dogs game at Panther City and the season openers for PCLC and Calgary.
Here are 10 things to know about the NLL for Week 2:
- The NLL regular season opened with six games last weekend, with two decided by a single goal and averaging more than 25 goals per contest. Mark Matthews (Oshawa, ON) of Saskatchewan tallied 10 assists and his 12 points lead the league in scoring. This week's four-game slate includes Saturday's TSN Game of the Week, Vancouver (0-1) at Calgary (0-0) (9:30 p.m. ET / 7:30 p.m. MT)
- Last Saturday’s NLL Game of the Week on TSN, Vancouver at Toronto, earned the highest viewership in league history, a 30% increase over last year’s Face Off Weekend opener.
- The first week of the NLL season also saw a marked rise in attendance, led by 11,493 at the Bandits home opener in Buffalo. The first week average of over 7,700 was up almost 1,700 from last season's opening weekend, with several teams welcoming fans back at increased capacity this coming weekend.
NLL Teams continue to contribute to their communities in meaningful ways:
- The Vancouver Warriors’ Stick to School program is available at schools across Metro Vancouver, a “Lacrosse 101” that speak to ideals and concepts that overlap between sports and studies: dedicated work ethic, goal setting, and fostering healthy minds and bodies.
- The Panther City Lacrosse Club has announced its Community Champion Program, in which one local Fort Worth non-profit will be featured at each Panther City game over the course of the team's nine-game home schedule. PCLC opens its slate vs. Las Vegas on Friday (8:30 p.m. ET / 7:30 p.m. CT)
- Calgary Roughnecks goaltender Christian Del Bianco (Coquitlam, BC) is once again teaming up with Ascent Consulting Ltd for the fourth year of his Assists for Kids program.
- The League announced this week that San Diego will battle Las Vegas in the first NLL Outdoor Game, March 4 at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego.
- The Philadelphia Wings announced that they will retire the No. 11 jersey of legend and NLL Hall of Famer Kevin Finneran on January 27, Finneran donned the Wings uniform for 10 years, winning four titles.
- The expansion Las Vegas Desert Dogs took a break from training to participate in a Wing Eating Contest last week, in advance of their inaugural contest, Friday at 8:30 p.m. ET / 5:30 p.m. PT at Panther City. The "home-and-home" series with PCLC (an expansion team in 2021-22) continues next Friday, December 16, in the Desert Dogs' inaugural home contest at Michelob Ultra Arena (10:30 p.m. ET / 7:30 p.m. PT).
- Two NLL plays earned SportsCenter Top 10 mention: Halifax's Chris Boushy's (Burlington, ON) goal vs. Philadelphia on Friday (No. 9) and Saskatchewan's Marshall Powless's (Osheweken, ON) behind-the-back tally against Colorado on Saturday (No. 7).
- UniWatch, which tracks all things regarding sports design and uniforms, highlighted all 15 NLL threads in its primer on the season.
- Power93.7 WBLK Radio in Buffalo cited a Buffalo Bandits game at the top of its list of "Best Places to Go on a Date this Winter in Buffalo."
- Brandon London of the New York Post got a hands-on (and gloves-on) lesson in how to play lacrosse from Riptide star Damon Edwards (Toronto).
Schedule – Week 2 (All Times Eastern)
Friday
Desert Dogs (0-0) @ Panther City (0-0), 8:30pm, ESPN+, TSN.ca, TSN app
Rush (1-0) @ Seals (1-0), 10pm, ESPN+, TSN.ca, TSN app
Saturday
Rock (1-0) @ Knighthawks (1-0), 7pm, ESPN+, TSN.ca, TSN app
Warriors (0-1) @ Roughnecks (0-0), 7:30p.m., ESPN+, TSN, TSN.ca, TSN app