NLL Announces Playoff Schedule
from press release
The National Lacrosse League has announced the schedule of games for the Divisional Semifinals weekend of the 2009 Playoffs. All eight playoff teams participate in this opening round of the playoffs, consisting of four single-elimination games over the weekend of May 1-3. The playoffs will open with a doubleheader night of action on Friday, May 1st. The New York Titans, regular season champions of the East Division, will host the Rochester Knighthawks at Madison Square Garden, at 7:30pm ET. Later that evening, the West Division gets going as the Portland LumberJax host the San Jose Stealth at 10:30pm ET. On Saturday, the Buffalo Bandits host the Boston Blazers at 7:30pm ET. The weekend's playoff action concludes on Sunday, as the Calgary Roughnecks, regular season champions of the West Division, host the Colorado Mammoth at 5pm ET.
Schedule, Divisional Semifinals
Friday, May 1
Rochester Knighthawks (7-9, #4 East) at New York Titans (10-6, #1 East), 7:30pm ET at Madison Square Garden
San Jose Stealth (7-9, #3 West) at Portland LumberJax (9-7, #2 West), 10:30pm ET at Rose Garden
Saturday, May 2
Boston Blazers (10-6, #3 East) at Buffalo Bandits (10-6, #2 East), 7:30pm ET at HSBC Arena
Sunday, May 3
Colorado Mammoth (7-9, #4 West) at Calgary Roughnecks (12-4, #1 West), 5pm ET at Pengrowth Saddledome
Fans will be able to watch every playoff game live on the NLL Network at NLL.com.
The winners of this weekend's games will advance to the Divisional Finals, to be played on the following weekend (May 8-10). The winners of the Divisional Finals will be the champions of the East and West Divisions, and will meet in the Championship Game on the weekend of May 15-17. The Championship Game will be hosted by the higher overall seed of the East and West Division champions.
By posting a league-best 12-4 regular season record, Calgary has
earned the #1 overall seed. As winners of the East Division, the
New York Titans are the #2 seed.
Overall seeding of the eight teams in the 2009 Playoffs:
1 Calgary (12-4)
2 New York (10-6)
3 Buffalo (10-6)
4 Boston (10-6)
5 Portland (9-7)
6 San Jose (7-9)
7 Rochester (7-9)
8 Colorado (7-9)
New York edged both Boston and Buffalo in a three-way tie based on
best head-to-head record against the other two (4-1). In the
tiebreaker between Buffalo and Boston, the two teams split their
head-to-head meetings (1-1) and finished with the same divisional
record (7-5). As a result, their seedings were determined by the
third tiebreaker, which is record versus common opponents played an
equal number of times. The only team that Buffalo and Boston each
played an equal number of times during the season is the Portland
LumberJax. They each played Portland once, as the Bandits won their
matchup (14-4 on March 21) while the Blazers lost to Portland (9-8
on January 31).
In the three-way tie for the final three spots, the tiebreakers are
broken by head-to-head matchups from the regular season. San Jose
over Rochester, and Rochester over Colorado.
Playoffs Calendar:
Weekend of April 24-26: No Games
Weekend of May 1-3: Divisional Semifinals
Weekend of May 8-10: Divisional Finals
Weekend of May 15-17: Championship Game
