Good news: The Finals are here! We’re this close to determining the 2026 NLL Champion!
Bad news: There are at most three games left in the NLL season.

Georgia @ Halifax, Game two

It almost looked like it was going to happen again. The Swarm led the Thunderbirds 5–2 at the end of one quarter, and built that lead up to five goals on two different occasions in the second. But when Halifax went on a 4–1 run in the second to cut the lead to only two, a lot of people were wondering if the big 6+ goal Halifax comeback we saw in the first round would make an appearance in the second round as well. When Ryan Terefenko took a penalty late in the second, Georgia decided “OK, that Halifax comeback stuff stops now.” Nolan Byrne scored on the power play and then again a minute and a half later with only one second left in the half, and then completed his natural hat-trick 41 seconds into the third quarter. The Swarm never looked back.

They outscored the Thunderbirds 5–1 in the third and 5–2 in the fourth on their way to an eleven-goal rout to let everyone know that (a) they were not going away quietly, and (b) they could beat the Thunderbirds in Halifax. Game three would go on Sunday. It would be in Halifax again, but the home team had lost each of the first two games, so we didn’t know whether home floor would actually be an advantage.

San Diego @ Toronto, Game three

It’s not often that a team can go scoreless for an entire quarter, in fact have a scoring drought of over 22 minutes, and not only win the game but arguably dominate a good chunk of it. The Rock’s scoring drought started at 9:26 of the first quarter and didn’t end until 2:12 into the third. But the domination part didn’t start until about eight minutes after that.

The finals will feature the Thunderbirds and the Rock

Four of the first five Rock goals of the game were transition goals, and the fifth was by their Transition Player of the Year candidate Sam English. (That one was a settled play, and the full offense was on the floor, but English was the only player who touched the ball.) When their fifth goal was scored, two minutes into the third quarter, Dan Craig had scored one on a bench transition play, and Matthews, Hiltz, Rogers, Kirst, Boushy, and Dawick had a combined total of zero points. Kri, Rose, Kelleher, and English had two points each. Great transition is awesome, but when that’s all the offense you can muster, that’s not a recipe for success.

Cam Dunkerley continued his strong play from game two. By halftime, he’d only allowed four goals, three of which came within a minute and a half in the first quarter, and then nothing for 20 minutes. His armour began to crack a little in the third when the Rock offense started to get going. They scored three goals in a minute and a half again, giving the Rock a 9–6 lead after three quarters, and then started to pour it on in the fourth. By the end, Kirst had four points, Matthews had three, and Hiltz and Boushy had two goals each.

For the Seals, Zach Currier led the way with 3+3 but only Connor Robinson (0+3) and Wes Berg (1+1) had more than a single point. While the Rock were on their 22-minute scoring drought, the Seals certainly took advantage. They outscored the Rock 6–1 over the next half an hour, with Currier’s three as well as goals by Berg, McIntosh, and Ari Steenhuis. Steenhuis’s goal in particular was a great transition goal as he took the pass from Zach Currier near his own restraining line and ran the length of the floor before shooting low-to-high and fooling Nick Rose. That goal reminded me of another player who used to play in the league, coincidentally also named Steenhuis.

Nick Rose was outstanding for the Rock, stopping 53 of 61 shots for an 86.9% save percentage. He even stopped a penalty shot by Wes Berg and got the crowd chanting his name on more than one occasion in the fourth quarter and also during the handshakes after the game. There are those who say that Nick Rose is a great goalie but can’t step up in the playoffs, but they were silent on this night.

The Rock advance to the finals for the first time since 2015, hoping to win their first NLL Championship since 2011.

Georgia @ Halifax, Game three

Another win-or-go-home game, so we knew it would be intense, with both teams putting everything on the line. And we were right.

Considering both goaltenders had excellent seasons and post-seasons, it was a bit surprising to see a 7–6 score after one quarter. Both offences were playing very well and neither goalie was particularly sharp. The defense and goaltending improved quite a bit in the second, as the teams alternated goals a couple of times. But then the Warren Hill from Game One took over, and kept Georgia from scoring for almost 25 minutes. Brett Dobson was almost as strong in that time, as the T-Birds went 10 minutes without scoring, then scored twice in 1:22, then had 15 scoreless minutes.

But in the fourth quarter, the wheels kind of fell off of the Swarm. They scored three more in the quarter but every time, the Thunderbirds would score to take away any momentum they tried to get. Every T-Birds goal increased the volume inside the arena, which didn’t help the Swarm’s comeback attempts either.

Clarke Petterson scored twice but added seven helpers and Jason Knox continued his crazy playoff run with another three goals and three assists. Knox is leading the playoff goal scoring race with 15 goals and is tied for fourth in points, though the only player ahead of him who’s still active in the playoffs is Petterson.

The biggest news of the day was who was playing for one team and who wasn’t for the other. Both Randy Staats and Max Wilson were activated earlier in the day for Halifax. Neither had played since the end of February but both were welcomed back with open arms, though they had to do without the injured Stephen Keogh and Nonkon Thompson. Staats scored one and added four helpers, while Wilson only registered a loose ball but as a defender, he doesn’t put up big numbers anyway.

On the Georgia side, Rookie of the Year candidate Nolan Byrne was out of the lineup, replaced by Toron Eccleston. Byrne was the third-leading scorer on the Swarm this year so his absence was notable, although Eccleston scored two goals and an assist so he did an admirable job in relief.

The Thunderbirds advance to the finals for the first time since they moved to Halifax. Oddly, I’ve seen a couple of places saying that this is the Thunderbirds first trip to the finals in franchise history. Since the Thunderbirds took the Rochester Knighthawks history with them to Halifax, that’s wrong, since they did win five Championships as the Knighthawks. Halifax playing Toronto makes this only the second all-Canadian NLL finals in league history. The Rock also appeared in the only other such series, in 2015 when they lost to the Edmonton Rush.