2018 NLL season

The 2018 National Lacrosse League season, also known as the 2017–18 season, was the 32nd season in NLL history. It began on December 8, 2017,^[2] and ending on June 9, 2018, with the Saskatchewan Rush winning their 3rd title in 4 years.

2018 NLL season
League	National Lacrosse League
Sport	Indoor lacrosse (box lacrosse)
Duration	December 8, 2017 – June 9, 2018
Number of games	18
Number of teams	9
TV partner(s)	B/R Live[1]
Draft
Top draft pick	Austin Staats
Picked by	San Diego Seals
Regular Season
Top seed	Saskatchewan Rush
Season MVP	Mark Matthews (Saskatchewan Rush)
Top scorer	Mark Matthews (Saskatchewan Rush)
Playoffs
Finals champions	Saskatchewan Rush (3rd title)
Runners-up	Rochester Knighthawks
Finals MVP	Jeff Shattler (Rush)

Teams

Bandits

Swarm

Wolves

Hawks

Rock

Rough
necks

Mammoth

Rush

Stealth

East Division West Division

2018 National Lacrosse League
Division	Team	City	Arena	Capacity
East	Buffalo Bandits	Buffalo, New York	KeyBank 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

Final standings

Reference: ^[3]

East Division

P	Team	GP	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	GF	GA	Diff	GF/GP	GA/GP
1	Georgia Swarm – xy	18	11	7	.611	0.0	6–3	5–4	226	215	+11	12.56	11.94
2	Rochester Knighthawks – x	18	10	8	.556	1.0	5–4	5–4	236	210	+26	13.11	11.67
3	New England Black Wolves – x	18	9	9	.500	2.0	4–5	5–4	194	242	−48	10.78	13.44
4	Toronto Rock	18	8	10	.444	3.0	3–6	5–4	237	216	+21	13.17	12.00
5	Buffalo Bandits	18	8	10	.444	3.0	4–5	4–5	232	240	−8	12.89	13.33

West Division

P	Team	GP	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	GF	GA	Diff	GF/GP	GA/GP
1	Saskatchewan Rush – xyz	18	14	4	.778	0.0	6–3	8–1	254	196	+58	14.11	10.89
2	Colorado Mammoth – x	18	11	7	.611	3.0	5–4	6–3	214	199	+15	11.89	11.06
3	Calgary Roughnecks – x	18	8	10	.444	6.0	5–4	3–6	227	211	+16	12.61	11.72
4	Vancouver Stealth	18	2	16	.111	12.0	0–9	2–7	186	277	−91	10.33	15.39

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
Mark Matthews	Saskatchewan Rush	18	33	84	116	6	67
Robert Church	Saskatchewan Rush	18	47	60	107	6	72
Dhane Smith	Buffalo Bandits	18	37	68	105	0	95
Joe Resetarits	Rochester Knighthawks	18	37	63	100	0	92
Ryan Benesch	Colorado Mammoth	18	36	57	93	6	96
Rob Hellyer	Toronto Rock	18	30	63	93	5	84
Curtis Dickson	Calgary Roughnecks	18	47	45	92	26	86
Cody Jamieson	Rochester Knighthawks	18	26	63	89	8	75
Adam Jones	Toronto Rock	18	37	52	89	9	109
Lyle Thompson	Georgia Swarm	18	46	40	86	6	123

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
Evan Kirk	Saskatchewan Rush	18	926	12	3	167	0.777	10.82
Mike Poulin	Georgia Swarm	18	1042	11	5	203	0.773	11.69
Dillon Ward	Colorado Mammoth	18	981	10	6	181	0.780	11.06
Aaron Bold	New England Black Wolves	18	993	9	8	207	0.774	12.50
Matt Vinc	Rochester Knighthawks	18	960	9	6	182	0.781	11.37

Playoffs

Division semifinals (Single elimination)

Division finals (Single elimination)

Finals (Best-of-3)

E1

Georgia

8

East Division

E2

Rochester

9

E2

Rochester

15

E3

New England

11

E2

Rochester

1

W1

Saskatchewan

2

W1

Saskatchewan

15

West Division

W3

Calgary

13

W2

Colorado

12

W3

Calgary

15

*Overtime

Conference Semifinals

Eastern Division

(E2) Rochester Knighthawks vs. (E3) New England Black Wolves

May 4, 2018

Rochester Knighthawks

15–11 (4–2, 7–2, 1–5, 3–2)

New England Black Wolves

Blue Cross Arena Attendance: 5,263

Game reference
	Matt Vinc	Goalies	Aaron Bold Doug Jamieson
	Shanks (Smith, Withers) – 01:07 1–0 Shanks (Gillies, Perroni – 04:00 2–0 Jackson (Resetarits) – 04:22 3–0 Shanks (Magnan, Vinc) – 07:38 4–0 4–1 08:05 – Leblanc (O'Connor, Crowley) 4–2 10:19 – Crawford (Bomberry, Coyle) Gillies (Withers) – 15:28 5–2 5–3 15:42 – O'Connor (Powless, Crawford) 5–4 16:50 – Buchanan (Evans) Fannell (Currier, Resetarits) – 17:27 6–4 Jackson (Vitarelli) (PP) – 19:47 7–4 Resetarits (Vitarelli) – 20:07 8–4 Vitarelli (Magnan, Vinc) – 21:39 9–4 Hossack (Jamieson) – 25:31 10–4 Shanks (Resetarits, Jackson) – 29:46 11–4 11–5 30:54 – Crawford (Crowley, Powless) 11–6 31:14 – Leblanc (Crowley, Buchanan) 11–7 32:45 – O'Connor (Brock) 11–8 37:52 – Crawford (Leblanc) Resetarits (Currier) – 40:10 12–8 12–9 40:47 – Bomberry 12–10 45:41 – Leblanc (Crowley) (SH) Gillies – 49:42 13–10 Vitarelli (Resetarits, Jamieson) – 50:53 14–10 14–11 53:22 – O'Connor (Bomberry) Gillies (ENG) – 57:03 15–11
	0 min	Penalties	6 min
	60	Shots	60

Western Division

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

May 5, 2018

Colorado Mammoth

12–15 (3–1, 4–2, 2–6, 3–6)

Calgary Roughnecks

Pepsi Center Attendance: 13,884

Game reference
	Dillon Ward	Goalies	Christian Del Bianco
	0–1 01:27 – Dobbie (Berg, Cattoni) Keogh (Benesch) – 02:55 1–1 Benesch (Greer, Noble) – 03:58 2–1 Ruest – 05:34 3–1 Greer (Wardle, Keogh) – 16:59 4–1 Downing – 17:33 5–1 McLaughlin (Ruest) (SH) – 19:54 6–1 6–2 21:23 – Dickson (Cattoni, Bell) Noble (Benesch) (PP) – 26:45 7–2 7–3 29:29 – Dobbie 7–4 31:28 – Berg (Loewen, Cattoni) 7–5 33:19 – Dobbie (Berg, Digby) 7–6 35:29 – Digby (Cattoni, Dobbie) (PP) Greer (Ruest, Keogh) (PP) – 36:54 8–6 8–7 40:20 – Berg (Dobbie, Cummings 8–8 41:01 – Dobbie (Dickson) 8–9 42:30 – Cattoni (Dobbie, Loewen) Benesch (Ruest) – 44:50 9–9 9–10 47:04 – Dickson (Digby, Berg) Greer – 50:43 10–10 Noble – 51:18 11–10 11–11 52:09 – Dobbie (Cattoni, McIntosh) Ruest (Benesch, McLaughlin) – 53:23 12–11 12–12 55:35 – Dobbie (Loewen, Berg) 12–13 57:17 – Dickson (Digby, Berg) 12–14 59:37 – Dickson (Del Bianco) (ENG) 12–15 59:54 – Wilde (ENG)
	8 min	Penalties	6 min
	50	Shots	46

Divisional Finals

Eastern Division

(E1) Georgia Swarm vs. (E3) Rochester Knighthawks

May 12, 2018

Georgia Swarm

8–9 (1–1, 1–1, 1–2, 5–5)

Rochester Knighthawks

Infinite Energy Arena Attendance: 4,106

Game reference
	Mike Poulin	Goalies	Matt Vinc
	0–1 07:30 – Jamieson (Resetarits) (PP) M. Thompson (Staats, L. Thompson) (PP) – 10:44 1–1 M. Thompson (Jackson, Hall) – 15:55 2–1 2–2 29:04 – Jamieson Staats (Jackson, L. Thompson) – 31:50 3–2 3–3 32:12 – Jamieson (Vitarelli, Magnan) 3–4 41:53 – Currier (Withers, Magnan) 3–5 45:48 – Fannell (Resetarits, Jamieson) Staats (M. Thompson, Jackson) – 46:44 4–5 4–6 47:32 – Shanks (Magnan) 4–7 48:34 – Campbell (Llord, Dawson) 4–8 48:55 – Jackson (Shanks, Dawson) M. Thompson (Staats, Jackson) – 50:20 5–8 M. Thompson (Jackson, Staats) – 51:42 6–8 L. Thompson (White, Poulin) – 52:15 7–8 7–9 53:50 – Shanks (Jackson, Campbell) Jackson (Sellars, Cole) – 57:50 8–9
	8 min	Penalties	4 min
	54	Shots	44

Western Division

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

May 13, 2018

Saskatchewan Rush

15–13 (4–2, 4–3, 4–4, 3–4)

Calgary Roughnecks

SaskTel Centre Attendance: 11,568

Game reference
	Evan Kirk	Goalies	Christian Del Bianco
	McIntosh (Keenan, Church) – 01:08 1–0 Keenan (Church, Dinsdale) – 06:18 2–0 2–1 07:19 – Dickson (Dobbie, Loewen) Knight (Matthews) – 12:07 3–1 3–2 13:04 – Dickson (Dobbie, Cattoni) Church (Matthews) (PP) – 13:53 4–2 Hossack (Matthews) – 16:34 5–2 McIntosh (Matthews, Shattler) (PP) – 18:05 6–2 6–3 18:52 – Berg (Digby) Dilks – 19:07 7–3 7–4 23:20 – Dickson (Cummings, Del Bianco) 7–5 24:20 – Berg (Dickson, Dobbie) Matthews (Church) – 26:28 8–5 8–6 32:51 – Cattoni (Dickson, Dobbie) (PP) 8–7 33:25 – Dickson (Dobbie, Loewen) 8–8 35:06 – Dobbie (Dickson) Church (Dinsdale) – 36:19 9–8 Shattler (McIntosh, Keenan) – 41:07 10–8 Church (Dinsdale, McIntosh) – 42:29 11–8 McIntosh (Matthews, Keenan) (PP) – 43:39 12–8 12–9 44:59 – Berg (Dobbie, Cattoni) Dinsdale (McIntosh, Thompson) – 47:55 13–9 Matthews (Corbeil) – 48:56 14–9 14–10 51:43 – Dickson (Dobbie) (PP) 14–11 53:31 – Dobbie (Berg, Cattoni) (PP) Dilks (ENG) – 56:59 15–11 15–12 57:55 – Dickson (Dobbie, Cattoni) 15–13 58:35 – Berg (Dobbie, Dickson) (PP)
	15 min	Penalties	8 min
	60	Shots	46

NLL Final (best of three)

(W1) Saskatchewan Rush vs. (E2) Rochester Knighthawks

May 26, 2018

Saskatchewan Rush

16–9 (2–2, 4–2, 5–2, 5–3)

Rochester Knighthawks

SaskTel Centre Attendance: 11,842

Game reference
	Evan Kirk	Goalies	Matt Vinc Angus Goodleaf
	Thompson (Kirk) – 02:34 1–0 1–1 07:10 – Hossack 1–2 10:47 – Shanks (Jackson, Fannell) Cornwall (Messenger, Dilks) – 13:19 2–2 McIntosh (Shattler, Knight) – 16:56 3–2 3–3 18:51 – Resetarits (Jamieson) 3–4 19:40 – Jamieson (Resetarits) Church (SH) – 22:05 4–4 Church (Dinsdale) – 23:39 5–4 Church – 25:08 6–4 McIntosh (Cornwall) – 30:57 7–4 Cornwall (Mydske) – 32:14 8–4 Keenan (Dinsdale, Church) – 32:44 9–4 Matthews (Hossack) – 33:39 10–4 10–5 39:17 – Currier (Resetarits, Jamieson) (PP) 10–6 39:41 – Fannell (Jackson, Resetarits) Dinsdale (Church) – 41:10 11–6 Keenan (Dinsdale) – 47:08 12–6 12–7 47:29 – Fannell (Jamieson, Currier) 12–8 48:31 – Vitarelli (Jamieson, Jackson) Church (Dilks, Matthews) – 49:28 13–8 13–9 50:46 – Jackson (Jamieson, Fannell) Hossack (Thompson) – 52:06 14–9 Messenger (Kirk) – 52:42 15–9 Keenan (Dinsdale, Matthews) (PP) – 57:12 16–9
	8 min	Penalties	16 min
	64	Shots	44

June 2, 2018

Rochester Knighthawks

13–8 (3–3, 5–1, 2–1, 3–3)

Saskatchewan Rush

Blue Cross Arena Attendance: 9,174

Game reference
	Matt Vinc	Goalies	Evan Kirk Tyler Carlson
	0–1 00:50 – Church (McIntosh, Shattler) 0–2 03:32 – Shattler (Matthews, Church) Currier (Fannell, Jackson – 07:38 1–2 Hossack (Campbell) – 13:21 2–2 Fannell (Currier) – 14:27 3–2 3–3 14:56 – Keenan (McIntosh, Matthews) Shanks (Dawson, Fannell) (SH) – 15:26 4–3 Currier (Shanks) – 20:08 5–3 Jamieson (Shanks, Currier) – 23:10 6–3 Currier (Jamieson, Shanks) – 23:47 7–3 7–4 24:42 – McIntosh (Shattler) Vitarelli (Dawson, Fannell) – 27:42 8–4 8–5 32:53 – Shattler (McIntosh, Matthews) Jamieson (Campbell, Magnan) – 35:32 9–5 Hossack – 37:30 10–5 Currier (Brown, Vitarelli) 11–5 11–6 50:49 – Keenan (Matthews, Shattler) (PP) Jackson (Jamieson, Resetarits) – 51:24 12–6 12–7 52:15 – Shattler (Bilic) Gillies (Llord) (ENG) – 57:40 13–7 13–8 59:59 – Dawson (Church, Shattler)
	4 min	Penalties	10 min
	53	Shots	55

May 26, 2018

Saskatchewan Rush

15–10 (0–1, 6–3, 4–4, 5–2)

Rochester Knighthawks

SaskTel Centre Attendance: 13,645

Game reference
	Evan Kirk	Goalies	Matt Vinc
	0–1 14:16 – Currier (Fannell, Shanks) Shattler (Keenan, Matthews) – 15:25 1–1 McIntosh (Matthews, Thompson) – 18:05 2–1 Keenan (Shattler, Hossack) – 20:25 3–1 Corbeil (Hossack) – 21:25 4–1 4–2 22:11 – Resetarits (Shanks, Campbell) 4–3 23:39 – Shanks (Jackson, Magnan) (SH) Shattler (Messenger, Kirk) – 25:43 5–3 Knight (Matthews) – 27:01 6–3 6–4 27:25 – Jamieson (Resetarits, Shanks) 6–5 34:21 – Currier (Campbell) Shattler (Knight, McIntosh) – 35:57 7–5 7–6 37:19 – Jamieson 7–7 39:27 – Currier 7–8 39:42 – Jamieson (Jackson, Shanks) Shattler (McIntosh, Matthews) (PP) – 41:05 8–8 Corbeil (Rubisch) – 41:32 9–8 Dinsdale (Matthews, McIntosh) – 42:46 10–8 McIntosh (Matthews, Sorichetti) – 47:08 11–8 11–9 47:29 – Fannell (Shanks, Jamieson) 11–10 48:00 – Currier (Jackson, Campbell) Knight – 52:56 12–10 Keenan (McIntosh, Matthews) – 53:38 13–10 Dinsdale (Knight, Matthews) – 56:15 14–10 Corbeil (Rubisch) (ENG) – 57:26 15–10
	4 min	Penalties	6 min
	52	Shots	47

Rush wins series 2–1.

Awards

Annual awards

Award	Winner	Other Finalists
Most Valuable Player	Mark Matthews, Saskatchewan	Robert Church, Saskatchewan Kevin Crowley, New England
Goaltender of the Year	Matt Vinc, Rochester[4]	Christian Del Bianco, Calgary Dillon Ward, Colorado
Defensive Player of the Year	Graeme Hossack, Rochester[5]	Robert Hope, Colorado Kyle Rubisch, Saskatchewan
Transition Player of the Year	Joey Cupido, Colorado[6]	Zach Currier, Calgary Challen Rogers, Toronto
Rookie of the Year	Jake Withers, Rochester[7]	Zach Currier, Calgary Austin Shanks, Rochester
Sportsmanship Award	Lyle Thompson, Georgia	Jordan Gilles, Colorado John Lafontaine, New England
GM of the Year	Curt Styres, Rochester[8]	Mike Board, Calgary Derek Keenan, Saskatchewan
Les Bartley Award	Derek Keenan, Saskatchewan[9]	Pat Coyle, Colorado Mike Hasen, Rochester
Executive of the Year Award	Matt Hutchings, Colorado[10]	Andy Arlotta, Georgia Al Ryz, Saskatchewan
Teammate of the Year Award	Craig England, Buffalo[11]	Chris Corbeil, Saskatchewan Brandon Miller, Toronto
Tom Borrelli Award	Stephen Stamp[12]	Jake Elliott Teddy Jenner

All-Pro First Team

• Kevin Crowley, New England Black Wolves
• Mark Matthews, Saskatchewan Rush
• Robert Church, Saskatchewan Rush
• Joey Cupido, Colorado Mammoth
• Graeme Hossack, Rochester Knighthawks
• Matt Vinc, Rochester Knighthawks

All-Pro Second Team

• Curtis Dickson, Calgary Roughnecks
• Joe Resetarits, Rochester Knighthawks
• Lyle Thompson, Georgia Swarm
• Zach Currier, Calgary Roughnecks
• Kyle Rubisch, Saskatchewan Rush
• Dillon Ward, Colorado Mammoth

All-Rookie Team

• Josh Byrne, Buffalo Bandits
• Zach Currier, Calgary Roughnecks
• Eric Fannell, Rochester Knighthawks
• Austin Shanks, Rochester Knighthawks
• Colton Watkinson, New England Black Wolves
• Jake Withers, Rochester Knighthawks

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[13]
Saskatchewan Rush	9	14,639	131,754
Buffalo Bandits	9	14,181	127,634
Colorado Mammoth	9	14,077	126,693
Calgary Roughnecks	9	11,847	106,623
Toronto Rock	9	9,700	87,301
Rochester Knighthawks	9	6,760	60,841
New England Black Wolves	9	5,557	50,013
Georgia Swarm	9	4,437	39,940
Vancouver Stealth	9	3,507	31,568
League	81	9,411	762,367

Playoffs

Home Team	Home Games	Average Attendance	Total Attendance[14]
Colorado Mammoth	1	13,884	13,884
Saskatchewan Rush	3	12,351	37,055
Rochester Knighthawks	2	7,218	14,437
Georgia Swarm	1	4,106	4,106
League	7	9,926	69,482

See also

• 2018 in sports