In 2017, the Georgia Swarm set a record with 426 assists. That's 35 more assists than the second place team, the 2018 Saskatchewan Rush who had 391.

In 2023, the San Diego Seals scored 20 shorthanded goals. This was the highest total since 2007 when the Knighthawks scored 23. The 2010 Washington Stealth won the Championship and led the league with only 10 shorthanded goals.

In the shortened 2020 season, five different teams had a team GAA of under 10.00. It was only done four times from 2012-2019 - Edmonton and Rochester each did it in 2014 and 2015.

Ian Llord is the only player who has played for the old Wings (2007), the new Wings (2020-2024), the old Knighthawks (2013-2019), and the new Knighthawks (2025-now).

Chris Gill is the only NLL player who took at least one faceoff in the same year he scored 50 goals. Gill won 4 of 5 faceoffs and scored 53 goals in 2002 with the Vancouver Ravens.

The lowest score for an overtime game in NLL history is 7-6, done twice: Feb 6, 2015 (Minnesota over Rochester) and Mar 24, 2023 (Buffalo over San Diego). In both cases, the losing team was winning by one after three quarters but shut out in the 4th.

On March 27, 1998, the Ontario Raiders and Syracuse Smash went to overtime tied at 21. The 22-21 final (won by the Raiders) is the highest-scoring overtime game in NLL history.

Since 2016, there have been ten goals scored by goaltenders. Those goals were scored by only four players: Nick Rose (4), Nick Damude (3), Doug Jamieson (2), and Matt Vinc (1).

In 2025, the top four scorers on Albany (Simmons, Kurtz, Walker, and Williams) took a total of 14 penalty minutes all season. That ties Georgia's top four (L.Thompson, Jackson, Kew, Cole) and Ottawa's (Teat, Kearnan, O'Connor, Dunbar) for lowest in the league.

With his next face-off win, Jake Withers will tie Geoff Snider for 3rd on the all-time face-off win list with 2,150. Withers's career face-off percentage is 72.0%, second only to Snider's 72.4%.

There have been dozens of sets of brothers playing in the NLL including the Thompsons, Gaits, Malawskys, Evans's, Robinsons, and many more. But there have been 20 different players named Smith, none of whom are brothers.

In 2025, if you were an NLL player who was 6'3", there were fifty players in the NLL taller than you.

There have been 21 games that featured at least 40 goals. Only two have occured since 2003: Jan 27, 2007 (Rochester Knighthawks over New York Titans 22-18) and Mar 19, 2016 (Saskatchewan Rush over Vancouver Stealth 24-16).

In their three seasons in the NLL, the Panther City Lacrosse Club scored 299 goals at home and 300 on the road.

Among teams with at least 5 OT games, the best record is the San Diego Seals who are 6-3 (.667). Next are the new Wings at 11-6 (.647), the Mammoth at 28-16 (.636), the Arizona Sting & San Jose Stealth at 7-4 (.636), and Panther City at 5-3 (.625).

Since 2005, no brothers have fought each other in the NLL. However Dan and Paul Dawson both got fighting majors in the same game twice: Jan 15, 2010 and March 27, 2010. Pat McCready and his nephew Joel both got fighting majors on Apr 2, 2011.

There have been 14 weekends in NLL history that featured two or more different home-and-home series. Week 16 in 2006 had Colorado/Calgary, Buffalo/Philadelphia, and Arizona/San Jose all playing home-and-home.

A "Gordie Howe hat trick" is when a player gets a goal, an assist, and a fight in one game. There have been 184 of these in the NLL since 2005. Shawn Evans had 12, Scott Evans and Sean Pollock each had 6, and Cam Woods, Dan Dawson, Eric Martin, and Brodie Merrill each had 4.

Only four players in NLL history have recorded 130+ points in one season: Dhane Smith (5 times), Josh Byrne (twice), Jeff Teat (twice), and Shawn Evans (once). In 2024, Smith, Byrne, and Teat all did it.

Since 2011, all players who played an NLL game at the age of 18: Christian Del Bianco - 18 years, 214 days Rob Hellyer - 18 years, 248 days Latrell Harris - 18 years, 289 days Johnny Powless - 18 years, 304 days Chris Origlieri - 18 years, 349 days

Nick Rose is the only goalie to have a GAA under 10.00 and a save percentage over 80% for four straight seasons (2020, 2022, 2023, 2024).

Players with number of games played after age 42: John Tavares, 77 Dallas Eliuk, 35 Matt Vinc, 24 Gary Gait, 16 Dwight Maetche, 16 Brodie Merrill, 6 John Grant, Jr., 2

The Buffalo Bandits have played 60 overtime games in their history, 41 on the road and only 19 at home. They are 30-30 overall in overtime.

Since 2005, there have been 24 games featuring two goalies named Matt (Vinc, King, Roik, Disher have all played each other). In second place is Tyler with 5 games, Nick with 3, Pat and Mike each with 2, and Doug with 1.

Welcome to another season of NLL Fact of the Day! We will post a fact or stat about the National Lacrosse League every day at 3pm EST (noon PST) until the end of the season. To get things started, we'll have a fact every Monday from today until the season opener on November 28!

That wraps up another season of NLL Fact of the Day. Congratulations to the 2025 NLL Champion Buffalo Bandits! We'll be back with more facts for the 2026 NLL season.

There have been four Championship games in NLL history where the losing team scored 6 or fewer goals. Matt Vinc was in net for three of them: 2023, game 3 (4 goals) 2012 (6 goals) 2025, game 3 (6 goals) The other goalie was Bob Watson, who allowed 6 goals in 2003.

Of the 15 highest-scoring playoff games, only three have occurred since 2010. Of the 15 lowest-scoring playoff games, ten have occurred since 2010.

In 2025, Kyle Buchanan of the Bandits won the Sportsmanship Award, breaking Georgia's seven-season streak. The Swarm's Jordan Hall won it in 2017, and Lyle Thompson won it in six straight seasons from 2018-2024.

The last NLL Championship that featured neither the Bandits nor the Rush (Saskatchewan or Edmonton) was 2014 when the Rochester Knighthawks beat the Calgary Roughnecks.

The Rush have played in seven playoff series since they moved to Saskatchewan in 2016. They are 5-1 in those series, with the seventh to be decided on Saturday.

The Buffalo Bandits have only allowed double-digit goals in 5 of their past 16 playoff games. They are 14-2 in those games.

This Saturday will be the fourth Championship Final Game Three in NLL history. All four involved the Rush or Bandits: June 9, 2018: Rush beat the Knighthawks 15-10 June 18, 2022: Mammoth beat the Bandits 10-8 June 3, 2023: Bandits beat the Mammoth 13-4

Brock Haley's two penalty-shot goals in game one of the semi-finals were scored six seconds apart, making them the fastest two goals scored by one player in NLL playoff history.

Matt Vinc has played the most playoff games with 54. Steve Priolo is tied with Tyler Carlson for fourth with 36, and Dhane Smith is tied with Dan Dawson and Colin Doyle for sixth with 34. If this series goes three games, Priolo will tie John Tavares and Dane Dobbie for second.

Career scoring records in the playoffs (since 2005): Goals: Dane Dobbie, 86 Assists: Dhane Smith, 131 Points: Dhane Smith, 199 PP goals: Dane Dobbie, 19 SH goals: Curtis Dickson/Steve Toll, 5 GW goals: Mark Matthews, 7

The record for best shooting percentage in the playoffs (with at least 20 goals) is 37.0% by Kevin Dostie. Dostie scored 20 goals on 54 shots in 10 playoff games from 2004-2010.

Only two players have had multiple six-goal games in the playoffs: Mike Accursi and Curtis Dickson have each had two. Six players have scored seven goals in a playoff game: Accursi, Dickson, Ryan Benesch, Dan Dawson, Mark Steenhuis, and Jeff Zywicki.

Former Bandits now on the Rush: Derek Keenan (GM, coach) Former Rush now on the Bandits: none

The 2025 Finals will feature the Bandits hosting the Rush, a rematch of the 2016 finals. Players from that series still on each team: Rush - Robert Church Bandits: - Dhane Smith - Steve Priolo - Nick Weiss

The Colorado Mammoth have played 22 seasons in the NLL. They have scored 4,250 goals and given up 4,259 in that time. The -0.41 goal differential average per season is the closest to 0 of any team.

From 1999-2011, the Toronto Rock were 16-5 in the playoffs. Since then, they are 8-15.

Winning percentages of NLL teams in the playoffs (> 5 games): 1. Washington Stealth, 7-2 (.778) 2. Saskatchewan Rush, 11-4 (.733) 3. Buffalo Bandits, 43-24 (.642) 4. Arizona Sting, 5-3 (.625) 5. Rochester Knighthawks (old), 27-19 (.587) 6. Philadelphia Wings (old), 16-12 (.571)

2025 is the first time that two brothers (Graeme Hossack, Matt Hossack) have been finalists for the same NLL award. In 2022, Jeremy Thompson won the Teammate of the Year award while his brother Lyle Thompson won the Sportsmanship Award.

33 teams have been undefeated in the playoffs in one season. The 2024 Bandits went 5-0. The 2016 Rush, 2017 Swarm, and 2019 Roughnecks went 4-0. 12 teams (including the 2025 Bandits) went 3-0. 15 teams (including the 2025 Rush) went 2-0. The 1991 Turbos and 1989 Wings went 1-0.

Chris Origlieri has the highest playoff save percentage for a season at 88.6% and the lowest playoff GAA for a season at 5.00. Both values came in a game he lost.

The Buffalo Bandits are the third team to reach the NLL Finals in five straight seasons. The others are the (original) Philadelphia Wings from 1992-1996 (won twice) and the Toronto Rock from 1999-2003 (won four times). The Bandits have won two of their appearances from 2019-2024.

Saturday night's game was the first NLL playoff game (since stats became available in 2005) to feature two penalty shot goals. It's happened in four regular season games as well and in all five cases, the same player scored both goals.

Matt Vinc has played nine playoff games allowing <= 6 goals. Nick Rose is the only other goalie who's done it more than once (2). The only players who have done it nine or more times in the regular season are: Matt Vinc, 24 Nick Rose, 15 Aaron Bold, 10 Christian Del Bianco, 10

The Thunderbirds and Rush have met seven times in the regular season. Halifax is 5-2 in those games, 3-1 in Halifax and 2-1 in Saskatchewan. The Rush's two wins occurred in Halifax in 2020 and in Saskatchewan in 2024. The teams have never met in the playoffs.