TORONTO – Over the next few weeks, take time to dust off your calculator. You’ll likely need one to help you to gauge the playoff picture in both the East and West divisions in the National Lacrosse League, with just four weeks remaining in the regular season.
All teams in the Eastern Division are above .500, with Rochester and Toronto tied for first overall in the NLL with 7-5 records.
Buffalo (5-4) sits in third after a dramatic overtime win over Rochester on Saturday night, with former Rock forward Kim Squire netting the game winner. Philadelphia and Minnesota are tied for the fourth and final playoff spot in the East with 6-5 records.
Minnesota, predicted to be the weak sister in the East, pulled off a huge victory in Portland on the weekend to keep things tight. They host Buffalo on Friday night at the XCEL Energy Centre.
Western Division
The Western Division is just as competitive, with San Jose (5-4) narrowly ahead of Calgary and Colorado (6-5). Arizona and Portland are tied for the fourth and final playoff spot at 5-5.
The expansion Edmonton Rush (1-11) are the only team in the NLL mathematically out of the playoffs.
Playoff Format
The following is the format for the NLL post-season. All playoff games are single elimination:
1. The top four teams in each division shall earn playoff berths. Each division champion faces the fourth-place finisher from their division. The second-place finisher in each division faces the third-place finisher from their division in the Division Semi-finals. Each game is hosted by the higher-seeded team.
2. In the Divisional Finals, the winner of the first vs. fourth place Divisional Semi-final game faces the winner of the second vs. third place Divisional Semi-final game in each division respectively. Each game is hosted by the higher-seeded team.
3. The Divisional Final winners shall meet in the 2006 Championship Game, (East vs. West) with the higher overall seed hosting the game.
Overall Seeding
At the conclusion of the regular season, an overall seeding of teams takes place to determine which of the Divisional Final winning teams hosts the Championship Game. The division-winning club with the best regular-season record becomes the top overall seed and receives home advantage throughout the playoffs. The division-winning club with the lesser record of th two becomes the second-overall seed. The club with the best regular-season record among the non-division winning clubs becomes the third overall seed, followed by the club with the second-best record among non-division winners as the fourth seed, and so on.
Note – The following is the tie-breaking procedure for clubs having identical won-lost records at the conclusion of the regular season to determine the order of finish and seeding:
a) Head-to-head record during the regular season;
b) Win-loss record against common opponents played an equal number of games during the regular season;
c) Goals for/goals against in head-to-head match-ups;
d) Total goals for/goals against for the regular season;
e) Coin Toss.
Divisional Tiebreakers
The following is the tie-breaking procedure for clubs having identical won-lost records at the conclusion of the regular season within their division, to determine the order of finish and seeding within the division:
a) Head-to-head record during the regular season;
b) Win-loss record against divisional opponents;
c) Win-loss record against common opponents played an equal number of times during the regular season;
d) Goals for/goals against in head-to-head match-ups;
e) Total goals for/goals against within Division;
f) Total goals for/goals against for the regular season;
g) Coin toss.