It’s the playoffs! We had four exciting games this past weekend, and of the eight teams who made the playoffs, four of them are out. The crazy thing is that the #1, #2, and #3 seeded teams are all out thanks to getting beat by the #6, #7, and #8 teams. There are an awful lotta brackets that have been destroyed.

For the playoffs, I will skip the Awesome / Not Awesome format and just look at the games that happened. With one exception.

Halifax vs. Vancouver

This started off looking like it was going to be an exciting close game. And then it wasn’t. And then it was!

Christian Del Bianco looked like he was chasing that elusive first-ever NLL shutout, and it was 14 minutes before a Halifax got anything by him, but Warren Hill was just as good at the other end. In the second quarter, the Warriors looked to be pulling away, scoring five more and keeping the Thunderbirds off the board entirely. They took a comfortable 7–1 lead into the half.

In the second half, it was clear that Warren Hill and the Halifax defense had stepped up their game a bit, and Vancouver just couldn’t get shots off or missed the net. Cody Jamieson and Jason Knox both scored to get the Thunderbirds back within four, but it wasn’t until the next goal, completing Knox’s hat-trick, that I realized Vancouver still hadn’t scored in the second half, and started to think that Halifax had a real shot. They got a couple on the power play and then Mike Robinson tied it with 25 seconds left in the quarter, and I thought we were in for a whale of a fourth quarter. And we were but again, not how I thought it would go.

I expected a couple of goals each way and a one-goal final score, possibly even involving overtime. But Halifax’s new-found dominance continued. Long story short, Vancouver never scored again and Halifax did. Both goalies were excellent in one half and even better in the other. But Halifax’s defense was the X-factor here, not just preventing goals but preventing shots. Vancouver’s defense, one of the best in the league, allowed 71 shots. CDB had a higher save percentage than Warren Hill in this game, but the volume of shots he was seeing was just too much. I’m not enough of an X’s and O’s guy to tell you exactly what the Warriors defense was doing wrong, but “allowing too many shots” was the end result.

Jason Knox

The 71 shots faced and 61 saves made are both NLL playoff game records for Del Bianco, and as I said he beat Hill in save percentage in the game as well. But I’m quite sure doesn’t give even the smallest f**k about any of that. Congratulations to the Thunderbirds on their well-earned victory.

Buffalo vs. Georgia

This game was the only one where the higher-seeded team won, but it was also surprising because it ended what will likely be known as “the Buffalo Bandits dynasty of the early 20’s”. We all expected this to be a close game since they were fairly evenly matched teams, but considering we had the current best goalie in the league facing the all-time best goalie in the league, I think we all expected a low-scoring game as well. Brett Dobson allowed double-digit goals, which he’d only done three times out of eighteen games in the regular season, but still made some of the incredible saves that we’ve become accustomed to this season. Matt Vinc allowed 17, something he hadn’t done in over a year and tied for the highest total of his career. Obviously the loss of Steve Priolo affected the Bandits defense but the Swarm offense was clicking all night. Lyle Thompson was vintage Lyle Thompson, rookie Nolan Byrne looked like a wily vet rather then a 21-year-old playing in his first-ever NLL playoff game, and Benedict, Moon, Jackson, and Connell all put up big numbers as well.

Ian MacKay was the only Bandit to score more than once, and Dhane Smith had an incredibly rare two-point night including no goals. The Swarm took an early lead but we all knew the Bandits were fully capable of pouring it on and catching up… they just never did. The loss of Michael Grace in the first quarter didn’t help the Swarm defense at all, considering he’s been one of their best defenders all year, but guys like Van Schepen, Hickey, and Wiedemann were able to pick up the slack.

The Swarm move on to face the Thunderbirds while the Bandits go home far earlier than they have in a few years – this will be the first NLL Finals without the Bandits since 2018.

Toronto vs. Saskatchewan

Considering the OT game these teams played just a week ago, this was another case of “this should be a close one”, and it was, for the most part. Toronto took a 2–1 lead six minutes into the first quarter and built up a four-goal lead by the end of the quarter. They kept that lead until near the end of the second, when the Rush tied it at 7. The Rush even took a lead in the third and held it for almost two minutes before the Rock tied it, outscoring the Rush 8–4 the rest of the way. Neither goalie was particularly sharp but despite the 29 goals scored, I thought both defenses did pretty well at limiting looks and forcing bad shots.

The Rock welcomed Mark Matthews back from injury with open arms and while Chris Boushy didn’t have a great season, he looked strong with five of his typical shoot-from-the-doorstep-or-dive-through-the crease goals. On the Rush side, Shanks and Church each had hat-tricks, and their transition game was great. It’s hard to point to one single thing and say that is why Toronto won or that is why the Rush lost. It was an evenly matched game, but the Rock were just a bit stronger in the fourth quarter, which allowed them to pull away and punch their ticket to the semis.

San Diego vs. Colorado

Similar to Matthews on the Rock, Andrew Kew and Thomas Vela were happily welcomed back into the Mammoth dressing room on Saturday. They both had good games, with Kew scoring 4 goals and seven points. Vela picked up a couple of assists but as usual, he was involved in many of the Mammoth goals even if the stats didn’t reflect it. But a bit surprisingly, their return wasn’t enough to propel the Mammoth past the Seals. Historically, the Seals have always been tough for the Mammoth – Colorado has won seven games against San Diego, but never by more than 3 goals. The Seals have won 13 of their meetings, and seven of those were by four or more.

Colorado led by four twice in the third but only for a total of about three minutes. Otherwise, this was a close game all the way through. I thought both offenses had great games, with good ball movement and some pretty creative shooting and passing. Origlieri and Ward were both pretty solid in the cages, with Ward facing 68 shots (second all-time in shots faced in a playoff game – only Del Bianco’s game on Friday beats it).

And then came overtime. Only a minute in, Tre Leclaire took a shot on Ward which he stopped, sending the rebound off to his left. Wes Berg retrieved the ball and passed it back to Leclaire who shot it between Ward’s legs. That goal ended the game and Colorado’s season.

Not Awesome

It shouldn’t have. Or maybe it should have?

I’ve written another article with more details on this strange case and will update this article with a link once it’s published. It’s strange enough that the league admitted that their officials got a call wrong. I’m sure that’s happened before in a number of leagues but as far as I know, a league admitting that the outcome of a playoff game was wrong might be unprecedented.