2016 NLL season

The 2016 National Lacrosse League season, the 30th in the history of the NLL,^[1] began on January 1, 2016,^[2] and ended with the Champion's Cup Finals series on June 4, 2016. The Saskatchewan Rush won their 2nd straight title; their first while located in Saskatchewan.

2016 NLL season
League	National Lacrosse League
Sport	Indoor lacrosse
Duration	January 1 – June 4, 2016
Number of games	18
Number of teams	9
Regular Season
Top seed	Buffalo Bandits
Season MVP	Dhane Smith (Buffalo Bandits)
Top scorer	Dhane Smith (Buffalo Bandits)
Playoffs
Finals champions	Saskatchewan Rush (2nd title)
Runners-up	Buffalo Bandits
Finals MVP	Aaron Bold (Rush)

Milestones and events

Pre-season

• May 29, 2015: The Minnesota Swarm announce that they would move to the Arena at Gwinnett Center in Duluth, Georgia as the Georgia Swarm.^[3]
• July 20, 2015: The Edmonton Rush announce that they would move to the SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan as the Saskatchewan Rush.^[4]
• September 2, 2015: Buffalo Bandits forward John Tavares announced his retirement after 24 seasons. Tavares is the career leader in goals, assists, points, and games played. He will remain with the Bandits organization as an assistant coach.^[5]

Teams

Bandits

Swarm

Wolves

Hawks

Rock

Rough
necks

Mammoth

Rush

Stealth

East Division West Division

2016 National Lacrosse League
Division	Team	City	Arena	Capacity
East	Buffalo Bandits	Buffalo, New York	First Niagara Center	19,070
	Georgia Swarm	Duluth, Georgia	Infinite Energy Arena	10,500
	New England Black Wolves	Uncasville, Connecticut	Mohegan Sun Arena	7,074
	Rochester Knighthawks	Rochester, New York	Blue Cross Arena	10,662
	Toronto Rock	Toronto, Ontario	Air Canada Centre	18,800
West	Calgary Roughnecks	Calgary, Alberta	Scotiabank Saddledome	19,289
	Colorado Mammoth	Denver, Colorado	Pepsi Center	18,007
	Saskatchewan Rush	Saskatoon, Saskatchewan	SaskTel Centre	15,195
	Vancouver Stealth	Langley, British Columbia	Langley Events Centre	5,276

Standings

Reference: ^[6]

East Division

P	Team	GP	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	GF	GA	Diff	GF/GP	GA/GP
1	Buffalo Bandits – xyz	18	13	5	.722	0.0	8–1	5–4	251	214	+37	13.94	11.89
2	New England Black Wolves – x	18	10	8	.556	3.0	6–3	4–5	229	212	+17	12.72	11.78
3	Georgia Swarm – x	18	8	10	.444	5.0	4–5	4–5	238	240	−2	13.22	13.33
4	Rochester Knighthawks	18	7	11	.389	6.0	3–6	4–5	200	215	−15	11.11	11.94
5	Toronto Rock	18	5	13	.278	8.0	4–5	1–8	190	224	−34	10.56	12.44

West Division

P	Team	GP	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	GF	GA	Diff	GF/GP	GA/GP
1	Saskatchewan Rush – xy	18	13	5	.722	0.0	7–2	6–3	233	190	+43	12.94	10.56
2	Colorado Mammoth – x	18	12	6	.667	1.0	8–1	4–5	203	202	+1	11.28	11.22
3	Calgary Roughnecks – x	18	8	10	.444	5.0	5–4	3–6	216	216	−-0	12.00	12.00
4	Vancouver Stealth	18	5	13	.278	8.0	4–5	1–8	198	245	−47	11.00	13.61

x: Clinched playoff berth; c: Clinched playoff berth by crossing over to another division; y: Clinched division; z: Clinched best regular season record; GP: Games Played
W: Wins; L: Losses; GB: Games back; PCT: Win percentage; Home: Record at Home; Road: Record on the Road; GF: Goals scored; GA: Goals allowed
Differential: Difference between goals scored and allowed; GF/GP: Average number of goals scored per game; GA/GP: Average number of goals allowed per game

Scoring leaders

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes; LB = Loose Balls

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	LB
Dhane Smith	Buffalo Bandits	18	72	65	137	9	111
Shawn Evans	New England Black Wolves	17	50	68	118	39	116
Callum Crawford	Colorado Mammoth	18	32	83	115	15	89
Rob Hellyer	Toronto Rock	18	45	68	113	23	88
Rhys Duch	Vancouver Stealth	18	48	63	111	8	83
Mark Matthews	Saskatchewan Rush	18	40	69	109	23	76
Curtis Dickson	Calgary Roughnecks	18	61	46	107	13	84
Cody Jamieson	Rochester Knighthawks	18	33	61	94	0	83
Dan Dawson	Rochester Knighthawks	18	40	55	95	12	62
Randy Staats	Georgia Swarm	18	36	59	95	22	84

Leading goaltenders

Note: GP = Games played; Mins = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses: GA = Goals Allowed; SV% = Save Percentage; GAA = Goals against average

Player	Team	GP	Mins	W	L	GA	SV%	GAA
Aaron Bold	Saskatchewan Rush	18	1042	12	5	179	0.761	10.30
Evan Kirk	New England Black Wolves	18	844	9	4	166	0.788	11.79
Anthony Cosmo	Buffalo Bandits	18	711	8	2	139	0.782	11.73
Dillon Ward	Colorado Mammoth	16	743	7	3	128	0.799	10.33
Brodie MacDonald	Georgia Swarm	18	823	6	7	176	0.749	12.82

Playoffs

Division semifinals

Division finals (3-game series)

Finals (3-game series)

E1

Buffalo

2

East Division

E2

New England

0

E2

New England

14*

E3

Georgia

13

W1

Saskatchewan

2

E1

Buffalo

0

W1

Saskatchewan

2

West Division

W3

Calgary

0

W2

Colorado

10

W3

Calgary

11*

*Overtime

Division semifinals

East Division

(E2) New England Black Wolves vs. (E3) Georgia Swarm

May 6, 2016

New England Black Wolves

14–13 OT (3–2, 5–5, 3–5, 2–1, 1–0)

Georgia Swarm

Mohegan Sun Arena Attendance: 3,266

Game reference
	Evan Kirk	Goalies	Brodie MacDonald
	Crowley (Hoar) (SH) – 02:28 1–0 Burns (Kirk) – 03:52 2–0 2–1 10:17 – White (SH) Hall (Evans, Kyle Buchanan) – 11:12 3–1 3–2 11:50 – Powless (Matisz, Staats) Evans (Hall, Saunders) – 21:12 4–2 4–3 22:59 – M. Thompson (Staats, King) (PP) 4–4 23:12 – Jackson (MacIntosh) Kyle Buchanan (Ball, Kirk) – 23:56 5–4 5–5 24:13 – Staats (White) Crowley (Saunders, Kevin Buchanan) – 24:52 6–5 6–6 27:11 – L. Thompson (MacIntosh) Evans (Saunders) – 27:28 7–6 7–7 28:57 – Powless (Matisz, Jackson) Kyle Buchanan – 29:08 8–7 Evans (Hall, Crowley) – 31:31 9–7 Crowley (Kyle Buchanan, Hall) (PP) – 41:16 10–7 10–8 41:51 – L. Thompson (Jackson, Powless) Crowley – 42:56 11–8 11–9 43:11 – L. Thompson (O'Connor) 11–10 43:42 – M. Thompson (L. Thompson, Tutton) 11–11 44:37 – Staats (Tutton, Powless) 11–12 44:59 – King (Staats, L. Thompson) Kevin Buchanan (Evans, Crowley) – 46:11 12–12 Kevin Buchanan (Hall, Crowley) – 46:44 13–12 13–13 54:50 – L. Thompson (King) (PP) Evans (Crowley) (PP) – 60:57 14–13
	12 min	Penalties	19 min
	52	Shots	66

West Division

(W2) Colorado Mammoth vs. (W3) Calgary Roughnecks

May 7, 2016

Colorado Mammoth

10–11 OT (2–3, 3–2, 1–2, 4–3, 0–1)

Calgary Roughnecks

Pepsi Center Attendance: 13,116

Game reference
	Dillon Ward	Goalies	Mike Poulin Frankie Scigliano
	Noble (Crawford, Grant Jr.) (PP) – 03:14 1–0 Wardle (Gajic) – 06:24 2–0 2–1 09:18 – Digby (O'Connor, Shattler) 2–2 09:46 – Digby (Dickson, Dobbie) 2–3 11:59 – Dobbie (Berg, Dickson) (PP) 2–4 16:02 – Dickson (Dobbie, Berg) Jones (Mallroy) (PP) – 21:58 3–4 Noble – 22:47 4–4 4–5 24:29 – Berg (Dobbie) Noble – 29:36 5–5 5–6 37:27 – Dickson (Shattler, Poulin) (SH) Jones (Grant Jr.) (PP) – 43:21 6–6 6–7 43:41 – Dickson (Burton, Shattler) (SH) Noble (Crawford, Mallroy) – 46:34 7–7 Jones (Noble, Crawford) – 48:14 8–7 8–8 49:36 – Dickson (Poulin) 8–9 51:19 – Digby (Berg, Dickson) Cupido (Gajic) – 51:28 9–9 Jones (Grant Jr., Mallroy) – 51:48 10–9 10–10 59:35 – Dickson (Shattler) 10–11 70:17 – Dobbie (Shattler, Dickson)
	10 min	Penalties	18 min
	67	Shots	58

Division Finals (best of three)

Eastern Division

(E1) Buffalo Bandits vs. (E2) New England Black Wolves

May 16, 2016

New England Black Wolves

10–15 (3–5, 2–3, 3–3, 2–4)

Buffalo Bandits

Mohegan Sun Arena Attendance: 3,697

Game reference
	Evan Kirk Tye Belanger	Goalies	Anthony Cosmo
	Kevin Buchanan (Kyle Buchanan, Saunders) – 01:45 1–0 Saunders (Crowley) (PP) – 04:32 2–0 Kyle Buchanan (Crowley) – 05:07 3–0 3–1 06:31 – Benesch (D. Smith) (PP) 3–2 08:51 – Hill (D. Smith) 3–3 09:56 – Jones (Benesch) 3–4 11:32 – D. Smith (Benesch) (PP) 3–5 13:35 – Hill (Benesch) Evans (Crowley, Hall) (PP) – 16:05 4–5 4–6 17:02 – Hill (Weiss) 4–7 18:09 – D. Smith (Benesch, Culp) 4–8 21:02 – D. Smith (Malcom) Saunders (Evans, Kyle Buchanan) (SH) – 27:31 5–8 5–9 30:33 – Culp (Benesch, Steenhuis) 5–10 33:33 – Steenhuis (Veltman, Culp) 5–11 33:53 – D. Smith (Jones) Burns (PP) – 39:28 6–11 Bucktooth (Manney, Belanger) – 42:47 7–11 Kyle Buchanan – 42:54 8–11 8–12 51:08 – Hill (Benesch) Saunders (Evans) – 51:36 9–12 9–13 52:51 – D. Smith (Culp) 9–14 53:05 – Benesch (Brownwell, Thorimbert) Kyle Buchanan (Kevin Buchanan, Hall) – 58:04 10–14 10–15 58:45 – Benesch (Brownwell, Weiss) (ENG)
	38 min	Penalties	32 min
	55	Shots	52

May 21, 2016

Buffalo Bandits

20–15 (3–5, 6–4, 5–4, 6–2)

New England Black Wolves

First Niagara Center Attendance: 14,255

Game reference
	Anthony Cosmo	Goalies	Evan Kirk
	28 min	Penalties	21 min
	61	Shots	50

Bandits win series 2–0.

Western Division

(W1) Saskatchewan Rush vs. (W3) Calgary Roughnecks

May 14, 2016

Calgary Roughnecks

10–16 (3–4, 2–2, 3–2, 2–8)

Saskatchewan Rush

Scotiabank Saddledome Attendance: 12,211

Game reference
	Mike Poulin Frankie Scigliano	Goalies	Aaron Bold
	14 min	Penalties	12 min
	45	Shots	52

May 21, 2016

Saskatchewan Rush

12–9 (1–1, 4–2, 3–2, 4–4)

Calgary Roughnecks

SaskTel Centre Attendance: 15,192

Game reference
	Aaron Bold	Goalies	Mike Poulin Frankie Scigliano
	6 min	Penalties	10 min
	49	Shots	48

Rush wins series 2–0.

NLL Finals (best of three)

(E1) Buffalo Bandits vs. (W1) Saskatchewan Rush

May 28, 2016

Buffalo Bandits

9–11 (0–2, 6–4, 2–2, 1–3)

Saskatchewan Rush

First Niagara Center Attendance: 12,692

Game reference
	Anthony Cosmo	Goalies	Aaron Bold
	6 min	Penalties	4 min
	52	Shots	52

June 4, 2016

Saskatchewan Rush

11–10 (3–4, 2–1, 2–4, 4–1)

Buffalo Bandits

SaskTel Centre Attendance: 15,182

Game reference
	Aaron Bold	Goalies	Anthony Cosmo
	11 min	Penalties	8 min
	54	Shots	57

Rush wins series 2–0.

Awards

Annual awards

Award	Winner	Other Finalists
Most Valuable Player	Dhane Smith, Buffalo	Shawn Evans, New England Mark Matthews, Saskatchewan[7]
Goaltender of the Year	Evan Kirk, New England	Nick Rose, Toronto Dillon Ward, Colorado[8]
Defensive Player of the Year	Ryan Dilks, Saskatchewan	Chris Corbeil, Saskatchewan Steve Priolo, Buffalo[9]
Transition Player of the Year	Brad Self, Rochester	Jordan MacIntosh, Georgia Jeremy Thompson, Saskatchewan[10]
Rookie of the Year	Randy Staats, Georgia	Wesley Berg, Calgary Jesse King, Georgia[11]
Sportsmanship Award	Ben McIntosh, Saskatchewan	Karsen Leung, Calgary Kiel Matisz, Georgia[12]
GM of the Year	Steve Dietrich, Buffalo	John Arlotta, Georgia Rich Lisk, New England[13]
Les Bartley Award	Glenn Clark, New England	Troy Cordingley, Buffalo Derek Keenan, Saskatchewan[14]
Executive of the Year Award	Lee Genier, Saskatchewan	Mike French, New England Scott Loffler, Buffalo[15]
Teammate of the Year Award	Mike Poulin, Calgary	Joel McCready, Vancouver Andrew Watt, Buffalo[16]
Air Canada Wingman of the Year Award	Callum Crawford, Colorado	Rob Hellyer, Toronto Dhane Smith[17]
Tom Borrelli Award	Teddy Jenner, ILIndoor.com[18]

Monthly awards

Awards are presented monthly for the best overall player and best rookie.

Month	Overall	Rookie
January[19]	Dhane Smith- Buffalo Bandits	Randy Staats- Georgia Swarm
February[20]	Dhane Smith- Buffalo Bandits	Jesse King- Georgia Swarm
March[21]	Dhane Smith- Buffalo Bandits	Wesley Berg- Calgary Roughnecks
April[22]	Rob Hellyer- Toronto Rock	Randy Staats- Georgia Swarm

Stadiums and locations

Buffalo Bandits	Georgia Swarm	New England Black Wolves	Rochester Knighthawks	Toronto Rock
KeyBank Center	Infinite Energy Arena	Mohegan Sun Arena	Blue Cross Arena	Air Canada Centre
Capacity: 19,070	Capacity: 11,355	Capacity: 7,700	Capacity: 11,200	Capacity: 18,819

Calgary Roughnecks	Colorado Mammoth	Saskatchewan Rush	Vancouver Stealth
Scotiabank Saddledome	Pepsi Center	SaskTel Centre	Langley Events Centre
Capacity: 19,289	Capacity: 18,007	Capacity: 15,190	Capacity: 5,276

Attendance

Regular season

Home Team	Home Games	Average Attendance	Total Attendance[23]
Buffalo Bandits	9	15,833	142,505
Colorado Mammoth	9	13,832	124,489
Saskatchewan Rush	9	11,737	105,637
Calgary Roughnecks	9	11,471	103,246
Toronto Rock	9	9,159	82,432
Rochester Knighthawks	9	8,164	73,483
Georgia Swarm	9	4,667	42,010
Vancouver Stealth	9	3,758	33,828
New England Black Wolves	9	3,751	33,761
League	81	9,152	741,391

Playoffs

Home Team	Home Games	Average Attendance	Total Attendance[24]
Saskatchewan Rush	2	15,187	30,374
Buffalo Bandits	2	13,473	26,947
Colorado Mammoth	1	13,116	13,116
Calgary Roughnecks	1	13,116	13,116
New England Black Wolves	2	3,481	6,963
League	8	11,201	89,611

See also

• 2016 in sports