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NLL National Lacrosse League

10 Things to Know for Week 12

February 16, 2023 - National Lacrosse League (NLL) News Release


PHILADELPHIA - The National Lacrosse League (@NLL), the world's largest and most successful professional lacrosse league, features seven contests this weekend: three East intra-conference games and three West, plus one inter-conference battle. The TV highlights include linear broadcasts on Friday on ESPN2 (Saskatchewan at San Diego, 10:30 p.m. ET / 7:30 p.m. PT) and the NLL Game of the Week on TSN (Calgary at Vancouver, 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT).

Here are 10 things to know about the NLL for Week 12:

At the midway point of the regular season schedule (exactly 50% of games will have been played by the end of Week 12 action), a few attendance notes:

The Calgary Roughnecks had back-to-back games on Friday and Saturday, drawing a combined 25,889. Friday night's "Battle of the Prairies" win over Saskatchewan attracted 14,070, the third highest crowd of the season behind two Buffalo Bandits games (14,923 on Feb. 4 and 14,189 on Jan. 14).

The Bandits' 13,661 average leads the league so far

The NLL continues its bounce back from the pandemic hiatus with a 61% increase in tickets sold over last season

The New York Riptide on Saturday signed Lacrosse Grandmother and Nassau County Legislator Rose Walker to a one-day honorary contract prior to their game vs. Albany. The decision was based on Walker's longtime and unwavering commitment to the sport of lacrosse and youth sports in Nassau County.

In addition to the two linear TV broadcasts and full coverage across ESPN+ and TSN+, six games this week will be simulcast locally in the U.S.: Albany (WYNA My4); Las Vegas (KVMY Ch. 21); Colorado (Altitude Sports); Panther City (Bally Sports SW); Philadelphia (NBC Sports Philadelphia) and Halifax (CTV2).

On Sunday, Buffalo Bandits players including Ian MacKay (Port Elgin, Ont.) and Brad McCulley (Victoria, B.C.) taught Williamsville's Heim Elementary School students in grades 2-4 about the game of lacrosse. MacKay told local TV reporters that "...we have the best fans in the league by far and to be able to come out and interact with them and teach these kids a little about lacrosse and introduce the game... some of them have never even heard about it before and spark a little interest in them."

The NLL continued its celebration of Black History Month with a feature on Halifax Thunderbirds assistant coach Billy Dee Smith, an NLL champion as a player and cousin of current standouts Dhane Smith (Kitchener, Ont.) and Tyson Bell (St. Catharines, Ont.).

The NLL remains stalwart in support of Every Child Matters, with the latest inspiring video feature on the Thunderbirds forward Cody Jamieson (Six Nations, Ont.) and other indigenous athletes discussing what the game of lacrosse means to them and the importance of mental health.

The NLL and sport of lacrosse are well represented in the North American Indigenous Athletics Hall of Fame's second class, announced earlier this month. Dean Hill of the Mohawk Nation (10 seasons, 247 points), Delby Powless of the Mohawk Nation (2004 first overall draft pick, Buffalo Bandits NLL champion) and Roger Vyse, Mohawk and member of the turtle clan from Six Nations (2006, 13th overall selection by Buffalo) are among the honorees.

Some milestones players eclipsed last week include:

Albany defenseman Greg Downing (Auburn, N.Y.) now has 1,003 loose ball recoveries after collecting four vs. New York

Calgary forward Jesse King (Victoria, B.C.) now has 207 assists after recording six vs. Saskatchewan and four more vs. Colorado

Colorado forward Eli McLaughlin (Surrey, B.C.) now has 200 goals after netting four vs. Calgary

Georgia forward Brendan Bomberry (Six Nations, Ont.) now has 100 points after recording an assist vs. Toronto

Halifax forward Cody Jamieson (Six Nations, Ont.) now has 708 loose ball recoveries after grabbing nine vs. Rochester

New York defenseman Damon Edwards (Toronto) now has 101 points after registering two assists vs. Albany

Toronto goaltender Nick Rose (Orangeville, Ont.) has now played in 200 games

Vancouver forward Shawn Evans (Peterborough, Ont.) now has 858 assists, passing Colin Doyle for fourth place all-time, after collecting five vs. Panther City

Some milestones players may reach this week include:

Albany goaltender Doug Jamieson (Ohsweken, Ont.) needs 35 minutes played for 3,000

Buffalo forward Dhane Smith (Kitchener, Ont.) needs 10 points to reach 900 in his career.

Calgary defenseman/transition player Zach Currier (Peterborough, Ont.) needs one point to reach 100 in his career.

Colorado forward Rhys Duch (Victoria, B.C.) needs one game played to reach 200

Colorado forward Chris Wardle (Victoria, B.C.) needs three goals to reach 100

Georgia forward Shayne Jackson (Bowmanville, Ont.) needs three points to reach 700

Halifax forward Ryan Benesch (Elmira, Ont.) needs six goals to become the sixth player in league history to reach 500

Halifax forward Clarke Petterson (Toronto) needs one assist to reach 100

Las Vegas forward Rob Hellyer (Lions Head, Ont.) needs five loose ball recoveries to reach 600

Panther City forward Callum Crawford (Ottawa, Ont.) needs five loose ball recoveries for 1,000 and seven points to pass Gary Gait for eighth place in league history at 1,166

Panther City goaltender Nick Damude (Fonthill, Ont.) needs 37 saves to reach 1,000

Philadelphia forward Ben McIntosh needs nine loose ball recoveries to reach 500

Philadelphia forward Matt Rambo (Glenside, Pa.) needs eight points to reach 200

Philadelphia defenseman John Ranagan (Yorktown, N,Y.) needs five loose ball recoveries to reach 400

San Diego forward Kevin Crowley (New Westminster, B.C.) needs five points to reach 800

San Diego forward Curtis Dickson (Port Coquitlam, B.C.) needs nine points to reach 900 in his career

San Diego defenseman/transition player Brodie Merrill (Orangeville, Ont.) needs one game played to pass Colin Doyle and Mark Steenhuis for fifth place on the all-time list with 267

Saskatchewan defenseman Matt Beers (Coquitlam, B.C.) needs five assists to reach 100

Saskatchewan forward Ryan Keenan (Oshawa, Ont.) needs two assists to reach 200

Saskatchewan forward Mark Matthews (Oshawa, Ont.) needs four points to reach 900

Toronto forward Dan Dawson (Oakville, Ont.) needs one point to become the second player in NLL history to reach 1500 in his career (John Tavares is the other)

Toronto defenseman Latrell Harris (St. Catharines, Ont.) needs one loose ball recovery to reach 500

Toronto defenseman TD Ierlan (Victor, N.Y.) needs seven faceoff wins to reach 400

Vancouver forward Keegan Bal (Coquitlam, B.C.) needs four points to reach 300

Schedule - Week 12 (All Times Eastern)

Friday

Roughnecks (6-3) @ Warriors (1-8), 10pm, ESPN+, NLL Game of the Week on TSN, TSN+

Rush (4-3) @ Seals (6-1), 10:30pm, ESPN2, ESPN+, TSN+

Saturday

Desert Dogs (2-5) @ FireWolves (2-5), 7pm, ESPN+, TSN+, KMVY, WNYA

Swarm (0-6) @ Rock (7-2), 7pm, ESPN+, TSN+

Wings (3-4) @ Bandits (7-2), 7:30pm, ESPN+, TSN+, NBC Sports Philadelphia

Mammoth (4-4) @ Panther City (5-4), 8pm, ESPN+, TSN+, Altitude, Bally Sports SW

Sunday

Riptide (2-6) @ Thunderbirds (4-5), 1pm, ESPN+, TSN+, CTV2

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.


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