NLL: Ten Things to Know for Week 7

The National Lacrosse League posts its first eight-game, all-team schedule of the year in Week Seven, with two games on Friday and six on Saturday.

Standing out among those are the NLL on ESPN clash between the San Diego Seals and Las Vegas Desert Dogs (Friday 10 p.m ET / 7 p.m. PT, ESPNU), NLL Game of the Week on TSN featuring the Toronto Rock and Halifax Thunderbirds (Friday, 6:30 p.m. ET / 7:30 p.m. AT, also ESPN+) and NLL Saturday Showcase featuring the undefeated Albany FireWolves at Georgia Swarm (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN+, TSN+).

Here are 10 things to know about the NLL entering Week 7:

Great One Garb: Friday’s NLL on ESPN battle between San Diego and Las Vegas is also “White Hot Rivalry” night at Michelob Ultra Arena. In honor of this game, the first 4000 fans will receive a Wayne Gretzky 99 Jersey.

FireWolves Back to School: The Albany FireWolves announced DICK'S House of Sport in Latham, N.Y., as the presenting sponsor of the AFW School Program for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 NLL seasons. This partnership will include FireWolves player appearances in store, in-game features, as well as DICK'S House of Sport’s support at player school visits. The program averages 10-15 school visits a month and reaches 300-500 students. During the visits, FireWolves players teach students about the basics of lacrosse and about the team.

TV Everywhere: Supplementing the ESPNU and TSN games are six local broadcasts of five other NLL games this week. Saskatchewan at Philadelphia (Saturday, 7 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Philadelphia), Buffalo at Rochester (Saturday, 7 p.m. ET, CW 23), Panther City at New York (Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET, MSG2), Albany at Georgia (Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET, MY4, Peachtree Sports) and San Diego at Colorado (Saturday, 9 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. MT, Altitude Sports) will provide live broadcasts in those markets.

Sealed with a Trip: San Diego draws the first back-to-back nights on the 2023-24 schedule, following up Friday’s game at Las Vegas with Saturday’s trip to Colorado. How did that affect the 10 teams playing back-to-back on the same weekend last year? They went 7-3 in the first game and 5-5 in the second. The Seals had one such weekend, taking a 17-9 win at Panther City (March 24, 2023) and 7-6 defeat to Buffalo (March 25).

Data Driven: This week’s “LaxMetrics Powered by the NLL” feature on NLL.com dives deep into what the Buffalo Bandits’ 2-2 start means, and how there’s something more in the numbers that suggests they may be right where they need to be.

Rookie Simmons Breathing Fire: Fans expected a lot of Alex Simmons (Hamilton, Ont.) when he was the overall No. 4 selection of the Albany FireWolves in the 2022 NLL Draft. He’s been a sensation since his first goal, this blindingly quick tally in his first game back in December. But leading the league in points already? With two more goals and three assists vs. Halifax on Saturday, Simmons is up to 15 and 17 for 32 points, which has people thinking about Jeff Teat (Brampton, Ont.) and the record-setting 37 goals and 71 assists he put up in his first season in 2022.

Swarm-Spectrum: Sympleaf Sport, a holistic whole health CBD brand featuring products developed to complement an active lifestyle, has partnered with the Georgia Swarm, making it the only CBD product in the Swarm's portfolio and the team's CBD partner for the next three seasons.

Power On: NLL.com’s Week 7 Power Rankings are live, and Adam Levi is finally a full believer in the Albany FireWolves, putting the league’s only 5-0 team at the top. Off a bye, the Toronto Rock go down just a peg to second and the Georgia Swarm, now at 4-1 and halfway to last year’s win total already, slots up a spot at No. 3.

NLL Players reaching milestones last week included:

Buffalo forward Chase Fraser (Vancouver, B.C.) has 100 goals after netting two vs. Colorado
Buffalo defenseman Steve Priolo (St. Catharines, Ont.) now has 200 points after registering an assist vs. Colorado
New York forward Connor Kearnan (Courtice, Ont.) now has 103 assists after dishing out four vs. Philadelphia
New York forward Jeff Teat (Brampton, Ont.) now has 103 goals after scoring five vs. Philadelphia

Player achievements within reach this week are:

Buffalo forward Chris Cloutier (Kitchener, Ont.) needs six points to reach 200
Buffalo forward Tehoka Nanticoke (Six Nations, Ont.) needs one point to reach 100
Buffalo goaltender Matt Vinc needs one win to become the first goaltender in league history to have 150
Calgary forward Tyler Pace (Coquitlam, B.C.) needs five goals to reach 100
Calgary goaltender Christian Del Bianco (Coquitlam, B.C.) needs five minutes played to become the 20th goaltender all-time with 5000
Calgary forward Thomas Hoggarth (Lakefield, Ont.) needs two goals to reach 100
Calgary forward Tyler Pace needs five goals to reach 100
Colorado goaltender Dillon Ward (Orangeville, Ont.) needs one win to pass Dallas Eliuk for eighth on the all-time list with 70
Colorado forward Zed Williams (Silver Creek, N.Y.) needs one assist to reach 100
Georgia forward Brendan Bomberry (Six Nations, Ont.) needs three assists to reach 100
Georgia forward Shayne Jackson needs two points to reach 800
Georgia forward Andrew Kew (Oakville, Ont.) needs two goals to reach 100
Georgia forward Lyle Thompson (Onandaga Nation, N.Y.) needs five goals to reach 300
Halifax forward Ryan Benesch (Elmira, Ont.) needs five goals to pass Colin Doyle (depending on Dane Dobbie, see below note) for fifth on the all-time goals list with 528
Halifax defenseman Graeme Hossack (Port Perry, Ont.) needs two points to reach 100
Halifax forward Randy Staats (Six Nations, Ont.) needs four goals to reach 200
Las Vegas forward Zack Greer (Whitby, Ont.) needs nine points to reach 600
Philadelphia forward Holden Cattoni needs four points to reach 400
Philadelphia forward Joe Resetarits (Hamburg, N.Y.) needs one assist to reach 400
Saskatchewan forward Patrick Dodds (Victoria, B.C.) needs five assists to reach 100
Saskatchewan goaltender Frank Scigliano needs 36 minutes to become the 18th goaltender in league history to reach 6000
San Diego forward Wesley Berg (Coquitlam, B.C.) needs two goals to reach 200
San Diego forward Dane Dobbie (Elora, Ont.) needs eight goals (depending on Ryan Benesch, see above) to pass Colin Doyle for fifth place on the all-time goals list with 528
Toronto forward Mark Matthews needs four assists to pass Rhys Duch for 12th on the all-time list with 617 and nine assists to pass Gavin Prout for 11th on the all-time list with 622
Toronto forward Challen Rogers (Coquitlam, B.C.) needs three points to reach 200
Toronto goaltender Nick Rose needs 22 saves to become seventh goaltender in league history to reach 6000
Vancouver goaltender Aaron Bold (Victoria, B.C.) needs 52 saves to pass Steve Dietrich for eighth all-time with 5515; and one win to become the seventh goalie all-time to win 90 games

Schedule – Week 7 (All Times Eastern)

Friday

Toronto Rock (3-0) at Halifax Thunderbirds (2-1), 6:30 p.m., NLL Game of the Week on TSN, ESPN+ (Abbott, Gregoire, M. Jenner)
San Diego Seals (2-1) at Las Vegas Desert Dogs (1-3), 10 p.m., ESPNU, TSN+ (Kanell, Elliott, Werth)

Saturday

Saskatchewan Rush (1-3) at Philadelphia Wings (2-3), 7 p.m., ESPN+, TSN+, NBC Sports Philadelphia (Smith, Gabrielsen, McGuinness)
Buffalo Bandits (2-2) at Rochester Knighthawks (3-1), 7 p.m., ESPN+, TSN+, CW23 (Rybczynski, McDaniels, Mossbrooks)
Panther City Lacrosse Club (1-3) at New York Riptide (1-3), 7:30 p.m., ESPN+, TSN+, MSG2 (Delvecchio, Belisle)
Albany FireWolves (5-0) at Georgia Swarm (4-1), 7:30 p.m., NLL Saturday Showcase, ESPN+, TSN+, My4, Peachtree Sports (Mooneyham, Hanover, Hoffman)
San Diego Seals (2-1*) at Colorado Mammoth (1-3), 9 p.m., ESPN+, TSN+, Altitude Sports (Lindahl, Shewchuk, Gallant)
Calgary Roughnecks (1-2) at Vancouver Warriors (1-3), 10 p.m., ESPN+, TSN+ (Elliott, Challoner, Chand)

*S.D. record pending Friday result