Rush to Open 2021-22 N-L-L Season in Halifax; Compete in Six-Team Western Conference

The full schedule hasn’t been released, and won’t be for a few more weeks, but the Saskatchewan Rush know that they will open their 2021-22 National Lacrosse League schedule on the road with an inter-conference game.

The N-L-L released the opening weekend slate of games for their 35th campaign Wednesday. There’ll be one game on Friday, December 3 and five more on Saturday, December 4…including the Rush visiting Halifax. The N-L-L did announce that the 14 teams will be split into two conferences, an eight-team Eastern group and the other six in the Western Conference. Saskatchewan will be in the West with the expansion Panther City club out of Fort Worth, Texas, along with Calgary, Vancouver, Colorado and San Diego. The top three teams will qualify for the playoffs with the fourth place team also getting in, so long as they have a better record than the fifth place team from the Eastern Conference. The first round of playoffs will be single-game elimination while the semi-finals and final will be best-of-three series. Following is the news release from the Rush and the N-L-L…..

July 14 , 2021

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Wait Is Over! Rush To Open the Season Saturday, December 4^th in Halifax

New Two-Conference Alignment, Extended Playoff Format, Debut of Panther City Lacrosse Club Highlight 2021-22 Season

The National Lacrosse League (@NLL), the largest and most successful professional lacrosse property in the world, will officially start its 35^th season with Face Off Weekend, December 3-4^th, 2021, with six games across North America, highlighting a series of exciting changes for 2021-22. A new two-Conference format, extended playoffs, and the inaugural season of Panther City Lacrosse Club are among the changes in the upcoming season.

The NLL’s 14 teams competing this year will be aligned into two Conferences: East (Albany FireWolves, Buffalo Bandits, Georgia Swarm, Halifax Thunderbirds, New York Riptide, Philadelphia Wings, Rochester Knighthawks, and Toronto Rock); and West (Calgary Roughnecks, Colorado Mammoth, Panther City Lacrosse Club, San Diego Seals, Saskatchewan Rush, and Vancouver Warriors).

The new alignment means a revised playoff format, with the top four teams in the East and top three in the West advancing to the playoffs. The eighth playoff slot will go to the team with the better record between the fifth place East and fourth place West teams, per NLL tiebreaker rules. The first round will be single elimination, while the second round and Finals will each be best-of-three series.

The first matchup for the 2021-22 season will take place on Friday, December 3, when Colorado visits San Diego. On Saturday, December 4, there will be five matches, with Calgary visiting Buffalo, Philadelphia visiting Georgia, Rochester visiting New York, Saskatchewan visiting Halifax and Albany taking on Toronto in its new home in Hamilton, Ontario. Two teams, Vancouver and expansion Panther City, will have byes the first weekend.

“It’s very exciting to announce Face Off Weekend and returning to play,” said NLL Commissioner Nick Sakiewicz. “Face Off Weekend will mark a long-anticipated return to play for the NLL in a very big way with a new TSN Game of the Week partnership featuring 20+ games on linear television and the remaining match-ups streamed on TSN GO.”

“Combined with our 14^th team, our Panther City Lacrosse Club in Ft. Worth, Texas, a new conference alignment and expanded playoff format there will be more games, more access for fans, and more amazing NLL electricity and excitement,” Sakiewicz added. “With more announcements coming in the months and weeks ahead, this will truly be a season to remember for all.”

The entire NLL schedule and game times, as well as national broadcast showings, will be announced in the coming weeks. Each team will have 9 home games during the regular season, followed by the playoffs and the league championship series. The Calgary Roughnecks, who defeated the Buffalo Bandits to win the 2019 NLL Title, are the league defending champions, since the 2019-20 NLL season was not completed due to the pandemic.