TSN, ESPNU Coverage Highlights Saturday NLL Tripleheader in Single-Elimination Round

PHILADELPHIA - April 25, 2024 - PRLog -- It took all 135 regular season games to secure the final National Lacrosse League (@NLL) postseason bracket, and the much-awaited playoffs are here. The top eight NLL teams square off in Quarterfinal matchups highlighted by a Saturday tripleheader of action beginning at 4:30 p.m. ET.

Here are 10 things to know about the NLL entering Week 21:

• Longshot Knighthawks Get Final Spot: Rochester Knighthawks fans couldn't have felt great about their team's chances heading into Week 21. After all, the team not only needed to win two games over the weekend (vs. Georgia and Philadelphia), but they also needed three specific outcomes of other games. That translated to a less than 5% chance, but here they are.
• Playing the Fields: Rochester's unlikely run through the Week 21 scenarios and into the playoffs was fueled in large part by Connor Fields (East Amherst, N.Y.), whose heroics, including 11 goals and five assists in the two wins, are analyzed by Cooper Perkins in this week's edition of LAXMetrics Powered by the NLL (https://www.nll.com/news/laxmetrics-week-21-fields-ridicu...).
• Statistically Speaking: New York's Jeff Teat (Brampton, Ont.) secured his second straight goals crown with 58, edging Fields (56) and Buffalo's Josh Byrne (New Westminster, B.C.) (53). Byrne's teammate Dhane Smith (Kitchener, Ont.) was the runaway assists champion (101).
• Looking Ahead: The League will release the semifinal playoff and broadcast schedule on Sunday after the quarterfinal round is completed.
• 15 Teams, Seven Figures: The 2023-24 season total attendance of 1,060,706 is the second most in the league's 37-year history.
• Pick to Win: Fans can play the NLL Playoff Bracket pick 'em game (https://www.nll.com/unboxed/fans/), through 4:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, for a chance to win a jersey from their favorite team.
• Power On...: Fans can use their own calculations to determine their choices in filling out brackets, or they can see how Anna Taylor sees the Power Rankings heading into the playoffs (https://www.nll.com/news/quarterfinal-power-rankings/).
• Rookie Stars in the Capital Region: Albany's Alex Simmons (Hamilton, Ont.) set the NLL world on Fire(Wolves) in his rookie campaign, totaling 96 points, trailing only Jeff Teat (108 in 2022) for most points by a rookie.
• Youth vs. Experience in Playoffs: Will youth or experience come out on top in the NLL postseason? That's still to be determined, but if fans want to cast their lot with the former, not surprisingly (see above note), it's Albany with the youngest current active roster (26 years, 125 days).
• Indigenous Standouts on Playoff Rosters: The Turtle Island News published this fine roundup (https://theturtleislandnews.com/index.php/2024/04/24/six-nations-members-featured-on-national-lacrosse-league-playoff-participants/) of indigenous athletes competing for the eight playoff teams.

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