The books are closed on the 2026 NLL season, as the Toronto Rock defeated the Halifax Thunderbirds in the Nest to take game two. The Rock won their seventh Championship, but first since 2011. Challen Rogers was 17 when the Rock last won it all. CJ Kirst was eight. The Thunderbirds lost their first trip to the Finals since 2018 when they were the old Rochester Knighthawks. Of course that predates their move to Halifax, so the vast majority of Thunderbirds fans will consider that their first trip to the dance.
Category Archives: Game Review
2026 NLL Finals, game one
Game one of the finals was close, back-and-forth, and exciting with some great goaltending, exceptional defense, and a big comeback. But unlike the quarterfinals, it wasn’t the Halifax Thunderbirds staging the big comeback.
Game report: Semi finals game 1, San Diego @ Toronto
The Rock played their first home playoff game in just over two years on Friday night, and what a game it was. It started off looking like it would be very physical, but that sort of calmed down a bit. But the end-to-end action never did, and literally right to the end of regulation time, it was anybody’s game.
Game review: Colorado @ Toronto
This was a really entertaining game. It was close with a few lead changes and only a couple of leads of as much as two until the very end. I was going to list this game under the Awesome section of my weekly report, but it got kind of long so I split it out.
Game report: Philadelphia @ Toronto
On Saturday night, Toronto and Philadelphia could have switched team names. The Rock were flying while the Wings dropped like a stone.
Game report: Albany @ Toronto
We have a game between last year’s Champion’s Cup finalist and last year’s first-overall team. We’re expecting a hard-fought close game right? Yes, that’s what we’re expecting but no, that’s not what we got. Instead the powerhouse Albany FireWolves came into Toronto Hamilton Mississauga and destroyed the Rock.
Game report: Thunderbirds @ Rock
What a crazy game. This was one of those weird games where the Rock never led in the game at all, but still won. The shots on net numbers were wacky and there were a lot of penalties on both sides until the fourth quarter, when there were none.
Game review: Toronto @ Las Vegas
This past weekend, I added one to the list of NLL arenas I have visited, though I have to say that number is still pretty small (Toronto, Hamilton, Buffalo, Rochester, and now Vegas) compared to other people I know. My family and I (and a bunch of friends – 17 total) travelled to Las Vegas last Wednesday night and went to the Rock / Desert Dogs game on Friday. As I’ve mentioned before, my friend Mike is Shawn Williams’ uncle, and so when we found that the Rock were going to Vegas, Mike asked Shawn if he could get tickets for us, which he did. Thanks Shawn!
We also saw a show at Sphere, did a virtual flyover of Iceland, did a hike through the incredible Valley of Fire, and according to my phone, walked about 52 km (32 miles) in three days. But you’re not here to read about my travel adventures, so let’s get to the actual game report.
Game Report: Vancouver @ Toronto
If you didn’t know anything about the NLL and I told you before this game that one of the teams was 7-2 and tied for first overall and the other was 2-7 and in dead last, I doubt you could have told me during this game which was which. Both teams had offense that just wasn’t quite clicking, very strong defense, and great goaltending.
Game report: Buffalo @ Toronto
I haven’t done one of these in a while. I usually fold my thoughts about games I attend into the Awesome or Not Awesome section of my weekly report, but there was so much to say about this one that I split it out into its own report.
NLL Chatter 