This is it. We have reached the final weekend of the regular season. 7 teams are battling it out this weekend to fill the 3 remaining playoff spots still open. Only 2 teams have locked up their seed for the 2025 playoffs, meaning this is going to be a massively consequential and wild weekend.
Here are some nuggets in this week’s edition of By The Numbers to get you ready for a weekend worthy of the moment.
22 – # Saves Nick Rose Needs To Pass Anthony Cosmo For 2nd All-Time
Nick Rose has proved to be an excellent addition to the Calgary Roughnecks.
In his first 5 games with the team, he’s stopped 219 of the 273 shots he’s faced, giving him an 80.2% save percentage. That’s up 2.8% from his save percentage with the Toronto Rock before he was traded earlier this season.
His 219 saves with Roughnecks have helped bring him within reaching distance of passing Anthony Cosmo for the 2nd-most regular season career saves in NLL history. Over his 17 years in the NLL, Cosmo made 7,222 saves.
Over this final weekend of the 2024-25 NLL Regular Season, Rose has 2 games to collect the 22 saves that would bring him past Cosmo. Moving up to 2nd place all-time in regular season career saves is a big deal because, realistically, he will never pass Matt Vinc (the all-time saves leader) for career saves. Coming into this weekend, Vinc is 3,920 saves ahead of Rose.
17 – # of Years Since Rochester Knighthawks Last 7-game Win Streak
The Rochester Knighthawks can make some history this weekend with a win against the Toronto Rock.
If they beat the Rock on Saturday night, they will have extended their win streak to 7 games. This would be the new Knighthawks longest win streak in franchise history and the longest win streak by any Rochester Knighthawks team since they won 12 games in a row back in 2007. For the record, the Knighthawks won the NLL championship that year.
On their 6-game win streak, the Knighthawks have beaten the Calgary Roughnecks, Albany FireWolves, Las Vegas Desert Dogs, Ottawa Black Bears (twice), and the San Diego Seals. Most of those were wins they would likely say are the ones they should have won, but most teams don’t win all of those types of games.
Facing the 5-11 Rock this weekend, that is another game they’ll feel they should win. If they do win, the Knighthawks will have a chance to clinch a home playoff game in the win-or-go-home Quarterfinal. On top of a win, they will need the Vancouver Warriors to lose to the Philadelphia Wings to clinch that home playoff game.
28 – # of Years Since The Colorado Mammoth Franchise Missed The Playoffs In Back-To-Back years
The Colorado Mammoth have never missed the playoffs in back-to-back seasons. That could change after this weekend’s slate of games.
The Mammoth have been in Colorado since 2003. They have missed the playoffs twice (2010 and 2024). If they lose to the Calgary Roughnecks on Saturday, they will officially not be eligible to participate in the 2025 playoffs. This would mark the first time since the 11996 and 1997 seasons (when they were the Baltimore Thunder) that they will have the playoffs in back-to-back seasons.
A brief history lesson: from 1987-1999, the Colorado Mammoth franchise was the Baltimore Thunder. During the 2000 season, they were the Pittsburgh CrossFire. From 2001 through 2002, they were the Washington Power, and then in 2003, they became the Colorado Mammoth.
Last season, the Mammoth were 5-13 with a 0.278% win percentage. If the Mammoth lose this weekend, they’ll finish this season with an 8-10 record and a 0.444% win percentage. This would be the franchise’s first time with back-to-back sub-0.500% win percentages since the 2013 and 2014 seasons.
Now, if the Mammoth win, their 9-9 record will not guarantee them a playoff spot. They would need 1 of these 4 things to happen to make it into the postseason.
A Calgary win vs. Las Vegas, OR
A Georgia loss vs. Buffalo, OR
A San Diego loss vs. Albany, OR
An Ottawa loss vs. Saskatchewan.
Let’s see what happens.
5 – # of Points Keegan Bal Needs To Set The Single-Season Franchise Record
Keegan Bal has been the Vancouver Warriors best offensive player over the past few seasons. This year has been his best yet.
During the 2021-2022 season, he posted 99 points, which, at the time, was the 6th-most points scored by a player in a single season in franchise history. Last season, Bal tallied 105 points, which was the 4th-most by any player in franchise history.
Coming into the final weekend of this regular season, Bal has tallied a career-high 107 points. Bal now only needs to post 5 points to give him the record for the most points tallied by a player in Vancouver Warriors franchise history.
Another brief history lesson: From 2000-2003, the franchise started as the Albany Attack. Then, from 2004-2009, they were the San Jose Stealth. After that, they were the Washington Stealth 2010-2013. Before they became the Warriors, from 2014 to 2018, they were the Vancouver Stealth from 2014 to 18.
With 5 points, Bal will pass Colin Doyle (2009), Rhys Duch (2016), and Corey Small (2017), who all tallied 111 points in their respective seasons. Setting this record would be another piece of evidence proving that Bal is one of the team’s greatest players in franchise history.
10 – Mitch Jones Points Per Game vs. Vancouver Warriors
The Philadelphia Wings are looking to prevent the Vancouver Warriors from hosting a Quarterfinals playoff matchup at the end of the month.
The Wings have a tiny statistical chance (1.9%) to make the playoffs. However, they do have a chance to go into Vancouver’s Rogers Arena and stop the surging Warriors. Former Warriors forward Mitch Jones will likely be leading that charge.Â
Jones has played some of the best ball of his career against the Warriors. He’s only played them twice since he was traded from the team in January of 2023, but he’s had some huge games. Last season, Jones tallied 4 goals and 5 assists for 9 points against the Warriors. Albeit, it was in 21-12 loss for his Wings, but that’s still a big game. Earlier this year, Jones posted 5 goals and 6 assists for 11 points in a dramatic 14-13 Wings win over the Warriors.
Jones, who is a Metro Vancouver native, has a chance to play the role of spoiler this weekend in front of family and friends. Averaging 10 points per game against the Warriors since the trade, the Wings could use Jones’ offensive power against this weekend’s opposition to pull off an upset victory.