The chase for the championship begins the week of April 30.
The National Lacrosse League (NLL), the largest men’s professional indoor lacrosse league in North America, on Friday announced the schedule for the 2017-18 Playoffs.
In line with the new playoff format announced earlier in the season, Division Semi-Finals and the Division Finals will consist of one game. The Championship Game Finals will remain a best of three series.
Six of the nine teams will earn playoff berths, with the East and West Division champions claiming the 1 seed within their respective divisions. As such, divisional winners will receive a bye in the first round and advance directly to the Division Final while the 2nd and 3rd seeds will play a single elimination semi-final game with the higher seed playing host during the week of April 30. The winner of each Divisional Semi-Final will go on to visit the 1 seed in the East and West Divisional Final during the week of May 7th and unlike previous years, the Division Finals will be single elimination as opposed to a best of three series. The winner of each Divisional Final game will then meet in the Championship in a best of three series.
“With the inclusion of single elimination to our playoff structure, we are elevating the stakes and each possession will become more crucial and dramatic than ever”, said Nick Sakiewicz, Commissioner of the National Lacrosse League. “The playoffs will be more intense and exciting than ever before with everything on the line with single game elimination in the first two rounds.”
Playoff games will be broadcast live on Twitter and NLLTV for subscribers, and available on-demand 24 hours after each match.
The Divisional Semifinals are single elimination set for the week of April 30.
The Divisional Finals are single elimination set for the week of May 7.
The Championship Finals will be a Best-of-3 series, the dates TBD.