2016 NLL season explained

The 2016 National Lacrosse League season, the 30th in the history of the NLL,^[1] began on January 1, 2016,^[2] and ended with the Champion's Cup Finals series on June 4, 2016. The Saskatchewan Rush won their 2nd straight title; their first while located in Saskatchewan.

Milestones and events

Pre-season

• May 29, 2015: The Minnesota Swarm announce that they would move to the Arena at Gwinnett Center in Duluth, Georgia as the Georgia Swarm.^[3]
• July 20, 2015: The Edmonton Rush announce that they would move to the SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan as the Saskatchewan Rush.^[4]
• September 2, 2015: Buffalo Bandits forward John Tavares announced his retirement after 24 seasons. Tavares is the career leader in goals, assists, points, and games played. He will remain with the Bandits organization as an assistant coach.^[5]

Teams

2016 National Lacrosse League
Division	Team	City	Arena	Capacity
East	Buffalo Bandits	Buffalo, New York	First Niagara Center	19,070
	Georgia Swarm	Duluth, Georgia	Infinite Energy Arena	10,500
	New England Black Wolves	Uncasville, Connecticut	Mohegan Sun Arena	7,074
	Rochester Knighthawks	Rochester, New York	Blue Cross Arena	10,662
	Toronto Rock	Toronto, Ontario	Air Canada Centre	18,800
West	Calgary Roughnecks	Calgary, Alberta	Scotiabank Saddledome	19,289
	Colorado Mammoth	Denver, Colorado	Pepsi Center	18,007
	Saskatchewan Rush	Saskatoon, Saskatchewan	SaskTel Centre	15,195
	Vancouver Stealth	Langley, British Columbia	Langley Events Centre	5,276

Playoffs

*Overtime

Awards

Annual awards

Award	Winner	Other Finalists
Most Valuable Player	Dhane Smith, Buffalo	Shawn Evans, New England Mark Matthews, Saskatchewan[6]
Goaltender of the Year	Evan Kirk, New England	Nick Rose, Toronto Dillon Ward, Colorado[7]
Defensive Player of the Year	Ryan Dilks, Saskatchewan	Chris Corbeil, Saskatchewan Steve Priolo, Buffalo[8]
Transition Player of the Year	Brad Self, Rochester	Jordan MacIntosh, Georgia Jeremy Thompson, Saskatchewan[9]
Rookie of the Year	Randy Staats, Georgia	Wesley Berg, Calgary Jesse King, Georgia[10]
Sportsmanship Award	Ben McIntosh, Saskatchewan	Karsen Leung, Calgary Kiel Matisz, Georgia[11]
GM of the Year	Steve Dietrich, Buffalo	John Arlotta, Georgia Rich Lisk, New England[12]
Les Bartley Award	Glenn Clark, New England	Troy Cordingley, Buffalo Derek Keenan, Saskatchewan[13]
Executive of the Year Award	Lee Genier, Saskatchewan	Mike French, New England Scott Loffler, Buffalo[14]
Teammate of the Year Award	Mike Poulin, Calgary	Joel McCready, Vancouver Andrew Watt, Buffalo[15]
Air Canada Wingman of the Year Award	Callum Crawford, Colorado	Rob Hellyer, Toronto Dhane Smith[16]
Tom Borrelli Award	Teddy Jenner, ILIndoor.com[17]

Monthly awards

Awards are presented monthly for the best overall player and best rookie.

Month	Overall	Rookie
January[18]	Dhane Smith- Buffalo Bandits	Randy Staats- Georgia Swarm
February[19]	Dhane Smith- Buffalo Bandits	Jesse King- Georgia Swarm
March[20]	Dhane Smith- Buffalo Bandits	Wesley Berg- Calgary Roughnecks
April[21]	Rob Hellyer- Toronto Rock	Randy Staats- Georgia Swarm

Stadiums and locations

Buffalo Bandits	Georgia Swarm	New England Black Wolves	Rochester Knighthawks	Toronto Rock
KeyBank Center	Infinite Energy Arena	Mohegan Sun Arena	Blue Cross Arena	Air Canada Centre
Capacity: 19,070	Capacity: 11,355	Capacity: 7,700	Capacity: 11,200	Capacity: 18,819

Calgary Roughnecks	Colorado Mammoth	Saskatchewan Rush	Vancouver Stealth
Scotiabank Saddledome	Pepsi Center	SaskTel Centre	Langley Events Centre
Capacity: 19,289	Capacity: 18,007	Capacity: 15,190	Capacity: 5,276

Attendance

Regular Season

Home Team	Home Games	Average Attendance	Total Attendance[22]
Buffalo Bandits	9	15,833	142,505
Colorado Mammoth	9	13,832	124,489
Saskatchewan Rush	9	11,737	105,637
Calgary Roughnecks	9	11,471	103,246
Toronto Rock	9	9,159	82,432
Rochester Knighthawks	9	8,164	73,483
Georgia Swarm	9	4,667	42,010
Vancouver Stealth	9	3,758	33,828
New England Black Wolves	9	3,751	33,761
League	81	9,152	741,391

Playoffs

Home Team	Home Games	Average Attendance	Total Attendance[23]
Saskatchewan Rush	2	15,187	30,374
Buffalo Bandits	2	13,473	26,947
Colorado Mammoth	1	13,116	13,116
Calgary Roughnecks	1	13,116	13,116
New England Black Wolves	2	3,481	6,963
League	8	11,201	89,611

See also

• 2016 in sports

Notes and References

1. Web site: NLL announces 30th Anniversary Team countdown. NLL.com. November 13, 2015. November 14, 2015.
2. Web site: League announces 2016 NLL regular season schedule. September 27, 2015. NLL.com. November 14, 2015.
3. Web site: Swarm Announce Relocation to Metro-Atlanta Area. May 29, 2015. NLL.com. May 31, 2015.
4. Web site: Rush announce relocation to Saskatchewan. NLL.com. July 20, 2015. November 14, 2015. September 10, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150910154222/http://www.nll.com/view/nll/news-1147/news_310406. dead.
5. Web site: Bandits legend Tavares retires after 24-year NLL career. NLL.com. September 2, 2015. January 12, 2016.
6. Web site: 2016 NLL Most Valuable Player award finalists. NLL.com. June 30, 2016. September 8, 2016.
7. Web site: 2016 NLL Goaltender of the Year award finalists. NLL.com. June 2, 2016. September 8, 2016.
8. Web site: 2016 NLL Defensive Player of the Year award finalists. NLL.com. June 21, 2016. September 8, 2016.
9. Web site: 2016 NLL Transition Player of the Year finalists. NLL.com. June 23, 2016. September 8, 2016.
10. Web site: 2016 NLL Rookie of the Year finalists. NLL.com. June 29, 2016. September 8, 2016.
11. Web site: 2016 NLL Sportsmanship Award finalists. NLL.com. June 20, 2016. September 8, 2016.
12. Web site: 2016 NLL GM of the Year finalists. NLL.com. June 28, 2016. September 8, 2016.
13. Web site: 2016 NLL Head Coach of the Year finalists. NLL.com. June 27, 2016. September 8, 2016.
14. Web site: 2016 NLL Executive of the Year finalists. NLL.com. July 7, 2016. September 8, 2016.
15. Web site: 2016 NLL Teammate of the Year finalists. NLL.com. July 5, 2016. September 8, 2016.
16. Web site: 2016 NLL Air Canada Wingman of the Year finalists. NLL.com. July 6, 2016. September 8, 2016.
17. Web site: Teddy Jenner named 2016 NLL Media Person of the year. NLL.com. July 11, 2016. September 8, 2016.
18. Web site: Bandits' Dhane Smith wins Player of the Month for January. NLL.com. February 5, 2016. February 5, 2016.
19. Web site: Bandits' Smith repeats as NLL Player of the Month. NLL.com. March 4, 2016. March 6, 2016.
20. Web site: Bandits' Smith wins third-straight Player of the Month award. NLL.com. April 1, 2016. April 1, 2016.
21. Web site: Rock's Hellyer wins NLL Player of the Month for April. NLL.com. May 6, 2016. May 8, 2016.
22. Web site: National Lacrosse League - attendance | Pointstreak Sports Technologies.
23. Web site: National Lacrosse League - attendance | Pointstreak Sports Technologies.