They say history repeats itself, but not in 2013. The Buffalo Bandits will not be in the NLL playoffs for the first time in 11 years, as they fell to the Rochester Knighthawks 10-9 last night in front of 19,000 fans at First Niagara Center.
On the other side of the country, the Colorado Mammoth also won, defeating the Minnesota Swarm, clinching a playoff seed. The Swarm are now in the Western Conference cellar, meaning we see the crossover rule for the first time in the NLL.
Next Sunday Minnesota will face the Eastern Conference division winner Toronto Rock. The Philadelphia Wings will travel to Rochester to face the second seeded Knighthawks in a game TBD.
On Saturday the Colorado Mammoth will play the Western Conference division winner Calgary Roughnecks at the Saddledome. That same night, the Edmonton Rush will host the Washington Stealth.
With their win over Edmonton last night, the Roughnecks clinched home field throughout in the west. However, the Toronto Rock still hold the league’s first overall seed and will host every playoff game they play in.
If Buffalo had won last night, they could have become the second seed in the east as Philadelphia lost, and the Knighthawks would have been eliminated with Colorado winning.
