The 2023 National Lacrosse League season , formally known as the 2022–2023 season, was the 36th in the history of the NLL. The season began on December 2, 2022, and ended with the NLL final on June 3, 2023. This was the inaugural season for the expansion team Las Vegas Desert Dogs .[ 4]
The preseason went from November 5 through November 26, 2022. It included games at Aʼnowaraʼko꞉wa Arena and Toronto Rock Athletic Centre .[ 5] The regular season went from December 2, 2022, through April 20, 2023. This season had the most regular season games in NLL history with 135.[ 6] The broadcasting partners are TSN in Canada and ESPN in the United States. TSN featured 20 games on TV with their NLL Game of the Week on TSN and show all the games online and their app.[ 7] ESPN aired 10 games on TV and all games on ESPN+ .[ 8] Due to scheduling conflicts with ESPN's linear networks, Game 3 of the NLL Final was simulcast on WNLO in addition to being carried on ESPN+.[ 9]
This was the first season for Commissioner Brett Frood, who was previously a NASCAR executive as president of the Stewart-Haas Racing team.[ 10] Frood was a collegiate lacrosse player and was captain of the Brown University lacrosse team .[ 11]
The 2023 NLL Stadium Showdown , the first outdoor NLL game, was held on March 4 at Snapdragon Stadium , between the San Diego Seals and the Las Vegas Desert Dogs .
East Division
West Division
2023 National Lacrosse League
Division
Team
City
Arena
Capacity
East
Albany FireWolves
Albany , New York
MVP Arena
14,236
Buffalo Bandits
Buffalo , New York
KeyBank Center
19,070
Georgia Swarm
Duluth , Georgia
Gas South Arena
10,500
Halifax Thunderbirds
Halifax , Nova Scotia
Scotiabank Centre
10,500
New York Riptide
Uniondale , New York
Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
13,917
Philadelphia Wings
Philadelphia , Pennsylvania
Wells Fargo Center
19,306
Rochester Knighthawks
Rochester , New York
Blue Cross Arena
10,662
Toronto Rock
Toronto , Ontario
Scotiabank Arena
18,800
West
Calgary Roughnecks
Calgary , Alberta
Scotiabank Saddledome
19,289
Colorado Mammoth
Denver , Colorado
Ball Arena
18,000
Las Vegas Desert Dogs
Paradise , Nevada
Michelob Ultra Arena
12,000
Panther City Lacrosse Club
Fort Worth , Texas
Dickies Arena
12,200
San Diego Seals
San Diego , California
Pechanga Arena
12,920
Saskatchewan Rush
Saskatoon , Saskatchewan
SaskTel Centre
15,195
Vancouver Warriors
Vancouver , British Columbia
Rogers Arena
18,910
Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes; LB = Loose Balls
Note: GP = Games played; Mins = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses: GA = Goals Allowed; SV% = Save Percentage; GAA = Goals against average
(E1) Buffalo Bandits vs. (E4) Rochester Knighthawks
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Matt Vinc Devlin Shanahan Goalies Rylan Hartley Riley Hutchcraft MacKay (Byrne ) – 00:231–0 Buchanan (Fraser , Cloutier ) – 05:212–0 Byrne (PP) – 09:56 3–0 3–1 16:38 – Cattoni (Fields ) 3–2 17:25 – Cattoni 3–3 20:17 – Cattoni (Fields) Clouiter (Byrne, Smith ) (PP) – 23:10 4–3 4–4 24:03 – Fields (Smith , Cattoni) (PP) Cloutier (Fraser, Byrne) – 24:48 5–4 Smith (Cloutier) – 25:36 6–4 Smith (Nanticoke ) – 27:18 7–4 Nanticoke (Smith, Byrne) – 29:29 8–4 8–5 31:14 – Smith (Gilray , Hasen ) 8–6 34:16 – Hoggarth (Cattoni, Evans ) (PP) Smith (Cloutier, MacKay) – 37:25 9–6 MacKay – 39:01 10–6 Priolo – 39:3911–6 Buchanan (Smith) – 39:57 12–6 Byrne (Cloutier, Smith) – 40:54 13–6 13–7 41:16 – Knight (Smith, Fields) Byrne (MacKay) – 43:00 14–7 Fraser (Weiss , Vinc) – 45:34 15–7 McCulley (Smith, Buchanan) – 47:4316–7 Nanticoke – 49:45 17–7 Buchanan (Smith, MacKay) – 50:13 18–7 Clouiter (Smith, Byrne) – 50:38 19–7 Byrne (Buchanan, Nanticoke) – 52:50 20–7 20–8 59:05 – Cattoni (Fields, Smith) (PP)
10 min Penalties 10 min 60 Shots 58
(E2) Toronto Rock vs. (E3) Halifax Thunderbirds
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Nick Rose Goalies Warren Hill Keogh (Small , Rogers ) – 01:061–0 1–1 01:13 – Hossack Small (Rogers, Dawson ) (PP) – 11:24 2–1 Manns (Jubenville , Rose) – 11:423–1 Dawson (Manns, Hostrawser ) (PP) – 16:44 4–1 4–2 18:36 – Boushy (Terefenko ) Small (Craig , Jay ) – 19:58 5–2 5–3 21:46 – Staats (Boushy) (PP) 5–4 22:02 – Benesch (Terefenko, Withers ) 5–5 28:39 – Brock (Hill) Craig (Dawson) – 32:43 6–5 6–6 34:54 – Staats (Benesch, Withers) (PP) Small (Manns, Rogers) (PP) – 36:37 7–6 Harris (de Snoo ) – 37:168–6 Keogh (Manns, Dawson) – 38:07 9–6 Craig (Kri ) – 47:11 10–6 Manns (Small, Keogh) – 48:05 11–6 11–7 48:55 – Staats (Boushy, Petterson ) 11–8 49:13 – Boushy (Jamieson , Withers) 11–9 50:59 – Boushy (Theede ) Manns (Keogh) – 55:30 12–9 12–10 56:57 – Benesch (Boushy, Jamieson) de Snoo (ENG) – 57:33 13–10 Jay (Corbeil ) (ENG) – 58:51 14–10 14–11 59:24 – Petterson (Jamieson) (PP, EA) Downing (ENG) – 59:3015–11
17 min Penalties 26 min 53 Shots 41
(W1) San Diego Seals vs. (W4) Colorado Mammoth
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Frank Scigliano Goalies Dillon Ward 0–1 04:08 – Gilles (Ward) 0–2 05:44 – Wardle (Lee , McLaughlin ) Dobbie (Dickson ) – 10:381–2 1–3 11:28 – McLaughlin (Lee, Williams ) 1–4 20:37 – Williams (Robinson ) 1–5 21:56 – Lee (McLaughlin) Dickson (Staats , Crowley ) – 23:18 2–5 2–6 24:35 – McLaughlin (Williams, Lee) 2–7 29:14 – Lee (Joaquim , Ward) Crowley (Dobbie, Dickson) (PP) – 29:51 3–7 Staats (Dobbie, Belgrave ) – 33:45 4–7 Berg (Dickson, Dobbie) – 34:105–7 5–8 Edwards – 35:01Crowley (Berg, O'Keefe ) – 36:26 6–8 6–9 39:02 – Lee (Williams, Gibson ) 6–10 40:05 – Williams (Kinnear ) O'Keefe (Dickson) – 43:17 7–10 Staats (Berg) – 47:05 8–10 8–11 48:58 – Lee (Lintz , Hope ) (SH) Berg (Dobbie, Crowley) (PP) – 49:29 9–11 Staats (Crowley) (PP) – 51:27 10–11 O'Keefe (Dickson) – 53:21 11–11 11–12 55:43 – McLaughlin (Lee) Crowley – 56:44 12–12 12–13 59:58 – McLaughlin (Lee) (PP)
2 min Penalties 8 min 64 Shots 45
(W2) Calgary Roughnecks vs. (W3) Panther City Lacrosse Club
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Christian Del Bianco Goalies Nick Damude King (Cook , Pace ) – 00:311–0 1–1 00:52 – Donville (Gautier , W. Malcom ) (PP) 1–2 01:45 – Crawford (T. Malcom , Sellars ) 1–3 03:34 – Caputo (Donville , W. Malcom) Pace (King, Cook) – 05:24 2–3 2–4 07:30 – Dodds (Crawford, Hossack ) Cook (Pace, J. Currier ) – 07:59 3–4 3–5 09:16 – Gautier (Donville, Dodds) 3–6 10:15 – Caputo (Dodds, Gautier) Z. Currier (Del Bianco) – 14:194–6 King (Cook, J. Currier) – 17:39 5–6 Z. Currier (Callies ) – 18:37 6–6 Cook (Pace) (PP) – 21:25 7–6 7–7 27:38 – W. Malcom (Crawford, Grenon ) King (Pace) – 28:30 8–7 8–8 30:52 – Dodds (Crawford, W. Malcom) 8–9 44:54 – Hossack (Hutchison ) (SH) Pace (King) (PP) – 47:05 9–9 Pace (King) (PP) – 51:05 10–9 Pace (Cook, Dickson ) – 57:54 11–9 Cornwall (Manning ) (ENG) – 58:5312–9
10 min Penalties 12 min 50 Shots 46
Semifinal (best of three)
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(E1) Buffalo Bandits vs. (E2) Toronto Rock
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Matt Vinc Goalies Nick Rose Troy Holowchuk Byrne (Smith , Nanticoke ) – 00:301–0 1–1 04:38 – Schreiber (Rogers , Craig ) Nanticoke (Smith, McCulley ) – 08:11 2–1 Fraser (Bomberry , Robinson ) – 08:273–1 3–2 09:51 – Rogers (Schreiber, Kri ) Robinson (Spanger ) – 09:35 4–2 4–3 13:30 – Rogers (Schreiber, Manns ) Byrne (Smith, Vinc) – 23:56 5–3 5–4 26:28 – Rogers (Craig, Manns) Byrne (Buchanan ) – 24:25 6–4 Nanticoke (Byrne, Smith) – 27:23 7–4 Fraser – 31:29 8–4 MacKay – 33:319–4 Byrne (Buchanan, Smith) – 36:05 10–4 Buchanan (Cloutier , Smith) (EA) – 36:31 11–4 Byrne (Weiss , Sweeting ) – 37:20 12–4 Cloutier (Smith) (PP) – 44:18 13–4 13–5 45:21 – Schreiber (Manns, Rogers) Cloutier (Smith, Byrne) (PP) – 55:32 14–5
18 min Penalties 18 min 41 Shots 57
Nick Rose Troy Holowchuk Goalies Matt Vinc Devlin Shanahan 0–1 01:19 – Byrne (McCulley ) Small (Dawson , Mazzuca ) – 02:481–1 1–2 06:49 – Smith (Byrne, Buchanan ) Mazzuca – 11:56 2–2 2–3 10:25 – Nanticoke (Byrne, Buchanan) (SH) Small – 12:15 3–3 3–4 18:18 – Cloutier (Priolo , O'Connor ) (SH) Craig (Small, Rogers ) (PP) – 18:404–4 4–5 21:52 – Cloutier (Smith, Byrne) (PP) 4–6 22:24 – Smith (Byrne) (PP) 4–7 23:28 – Cloutier (Byrne) 4–8 23:38 – Nanticoke (MacKay ) 4–9 25:09 – Cloutier (Buchanan, Byrne) 4–10 25:22 – Nanticoke (Smith, Cloutier) 4–11 25:41 – Fraser (Buchanan, Byrne) Jubenville (Harris , Rose) – 33:285–11 5–12 33:58 – Robinson Craig (Rogers, Dawson) (PP) – 36:41 6–12 6–13 37:49 – Smith (Byrne, Nanticoke) (EA) Craig (Dawson) (PP) – 41:17 7–13 7–14 44:25 – Byrne (Cloutier, Smith) Slade (Downing, Corbeil ) – 49:168–14 8–15 52:24 – Cloutier (Smith, Weiss ) 8–16 52:52 – Priolo (Vinc) 8–17 54:41 – Cloutier (Smith) (ENG)
11 min Penalties 12 min 47 Shots 57
Bandits win series 2–0.
(W2) Calgary Roughnecks vs. (W4) Colorado Mammoth
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Dillon Ward Goalies Christian Del Bianco 0–1 05:37 – Cook (King ) 0–2 07:04 – Cook (King, J. Currier ) (PP) 0–3 15:10 – Z. Currier Williams (Robinson ) – 15:431–3 1–4 15:54 – Cornwall (J. Currier, Willman ) Robinson (Lee , Joaquim ) – 17:31 2–4 Gilles (Jeffrey ) – 20:373–4 3–5 24:15 – Van Schepen (Z. Currier) Wardle (McLaughlin , Lee) (PP) – 30:274–5 McLaughlin (Gilles, Sullivan ) (SH) – 32:02 5–5 Wardle (Robinson, McLaughlin) (PP) – 34:28 6–5 6–6 38:33 – Taylor (Herreweyers , Waters ) 6–7 40:23 – Taylor (Cook, J. Currier) Robinson (Lee, Williams) (PP, EA) – 54:06 7–7 Robinson (Williams, Lee) (PP) – 56:49 8–7
4 min Penalties 14 min 50 Shots 43
Christian Del Bianco Goalies Dillon Ward 0–1 07:58 – Robinson (Williams ) Simpson – 08:401–1 King (Pace , Dickson ) (PP) – 09:332–1 2–2 12:13 – Jeffrey Taylor (King, Simpson) – 22:293–2 Pace (King) (PP) – 24:05 4–2 4–3 26:41 – Williams (Robinson) (PP) Cook (Z. Currier ) – 29:465–3 Pace (King, Simpson) – 31:21 6–3 6–4 32:40 – Williams (Lee ) Taylor (King, J. Currier ) – 35:54 7–4 7–5 39:34 – McLaughlin (Lee, Wardle ) J. Currier (Waters , King) – 40:27 8–5 8–6 42:11 – Kinnear (Robinson, Lee) Z. Currier (Waters, Dickson) – 44:18 9–6 King (Pace) – 46:18 10–6 10–7 47:09 – Robinson (McLaughlin, Lintz ) Cook (Pace, Dickson) – 47:39 11–7 11–8 48:42 – Robinson (Lee, McLaughlin) 11–9 49:52 – Wardle (Lee, Robinson) 11–10 50:54 – McLaughlin (Wardle, Kinnear) Cook (King, Pace) – 54:35 12–10 Pace (Cook) – 56:39 13–10 13–11 58:09 – McIntyre (Robinson, Lee) (EA) 13–12 58:35 – Williams (McLaughlin, McIntyre) (EA)
8 min Penalties 10 min 50 Shots 44
Mammoth wins series 2–1.
(E1) Buffalo Bandits vs. (W4) Colorado Mammoth
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NLL Final (best of three)
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Matt Vinc Goalies Dillon Ward Smith (Cloutier ) – 00:401–0 Smith (Nanticoke , MacKay ) – 02:02 2–0 Fraser – 04:363–0 Smith (Cloutier) (PP) – 08:16 4–0 4–1 10:11 – Downey (Edwards ) 4–2 11:36 – Lee (Williams , Garrison ) Smith (MacKay, Buchanan ) – 12:01 5–2 5–3 14:07 – Williams (Lee, Robinson ) 5–4 14:57 – McLaughlin (Gibson , Robinson) MacKay (Buchanan) – 16:29 6–4 6–5 17:39 – Gibson (McLaughlin) 6–6 18:12 – Robinson (McLaughlin, Williams) (PP) 6–7 25:45 – Gibson (McLaughlin) (PP) McCulley (Nanticoke, Weiss ) – 24:447–7 7–8 27:34 – Lee (Kinnear ) Nanticoke (MacKay, Buchanan) (PP) – 30:24 8–8 Fraser (Smith, MacKay) (SH) – 31:31 9–8 Smith (Weiss, MacKay) – 33:01 10–8 Nanticoke (Cloutier, Buchanan) – 33:24 11–8 11–9 34:06 – McLaughlin (Lee, Williams) Nanticoke (MacKay, Buchanan) (PP) – 37:00 12–9 12–10 45:38 – Williams (Lee) (PP) Fraser (Cloutier, Buchanan) (PP) – 48:13 13–10 13–11 47:37 – Wardle (Robinson, Downey) 13–12 54:42 – McLaughlin (Lee, Robinson) (PP)
12 min Penalties 12 min 54 Shots 43
Dillon Ward Goalies Matt Vinc Devlin Shanahan 0–1 04:00 – MacKay (Smith , Priolo ) 0–2 07:54 – Buchanan (Cloutier ) (PP) Wardle (Chaster , Lee ) – 10:431–2 1–3 12:23 – Smith (Cloutier) (PP) Edwards (Gilles ) – 12:332–3 Robinson (Hope , Ward) – 13:353–3 Lee (Williams , Robinson) – 16:24 4–3 Lee (McLaughlin , Kinnear ) – 16:48 5–3 5–4 20:29 – Smith (Cloutier) Lee (McLaughlin, Williams) (PP) – 21:34 6–4 Robinson (Lee, McLaughlin) (PP) – 24:37 7–4 7–5 26:43 – Cloutier (Smith) Williams (McIntosh , Jeffrey ) – 29:14 8–5 McLaughlin (Robinson) (PP) – 33:23 9–5 9–6 33:52 – Nanticoke (Smith, Cloutier) (PP) Lee (Williams, Gibson ) – 34:48 10–6 McLaughlin (Kinnear, Downey ) – 36:54 11–6 11–7 38:36 – Nanticoke (Priolo, McCulley ) Williams (Downey) – 39:01 12–7 McLaughlin (Lee, Williams) (PP) – 43:36 13–7 Gibson (McLaughlin) (PP) – 46:33 14–7 14–8 47:40 – Nanticoke (Smith) 14–9 51:27 – Fraser (Smith, Buchanan) Robinson (Joaquim , Hope) (SH) – 55:29 15–9 15–10 55:46 – Nanticoke (Buchanan, Smith) (PP) Kinnear – 59:26 16–10
16 min Penalties 50 min 59 Shots 48
Bandits win series 2–1
Award
Winner
Other Finalists
Most Valuable Player
Christian Del Bianco , Calgary Roughnecks [ 13]
Dhane Smith , Buffalo Bandits Jeff Teat , New York Riptide
Goaltender of the Year
Christian Del Bianco, Calgary Roughnecks[ 14]
Nick Rose , Toronto Rock Matt Vinc , Buffalo Bandits
Defensive Player of the Year
Latrell Harris, Toronto Rock[ 14]
Graeme Hossack , Halifax Thunderbirds Brad Kri, Toronto Rock
Transition Player of the Year
Zach Currier , Calgary Roughnecks[ 14]
Reid Bowering, Vancouver Warriors Challen Rogers, Toronto Rock
Rookie of the Year
Jonathan Donville, Panther City Lacrosse Club [ 13]
Brett Dobson, Georgia Swarm Jack Hannah, Las Vegas Desert Dogs
Sportsmanship Award
Lyle Thompson , Georgia Swarm[ 15]
Kyle Buchanan, Buffalo BanditsTom Schreiber , Toronto Rock
GM of the Year
Dan Carey , Rochester Knighthawks [ 16]
Mike Board, Calgary Roughnecks Jamie Dawick, Toronto Rock
Les Bartley Award
Curt Malawsky , Calgary Roughnecks[ 16]
Tracey Kelusky , Panther City Lacrosse Club Mike Hasen, Rochester Knighthawks
Executive of the Year Award
Mark Fine, Las Vegas Desert Dogs[ 17]
Melissa Blades, Calgary Roughnecks Matt Hutchings, Colorado Mammoth
Teammate of the Year Award
Dan Dawson , Toronto Rock[ 15]
Kyle Buchanan, Buffalo Bandits John LaFontaine, Albany FireWolves
Tom Borrelli Award
Teddy Jenner , TSN , Off The Crossebar Podcast[ 17]
Adam Levi, NLL , Lacrosse Flash Pat Gregoire, Halifax Thunderbirds, Off The Crossebar Podcast
Stadiums and locations
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Home Team
Home Games
Average Attendance
Total Attendance[ 19]
Buffalo Bandits
9
14,731
132,581
Calgary Roughnecks
9
11,665
104,984
Colorado Mammoth
9
9,972
89,748
Toronto Rock
9
9,423
84,806
Georgia Swarm
9
8,665
77,984
Saskatchewan Rush
9
8,606
77,454
Philadelphia Wings
9
8,530
76,768
Halifax Thunderbirds
9
8,512
76,604
Vancouver Warriors
9
8,166
73,489
Las Vegas Desert Dogs
9
5,960
53,636
San Diego Seals
9
5,115
46,032
Rochester Knighthawks
9
5,114
46,024
New York Riptide
9
4,612
41,501
Albany FireWolves
9
3,610
32,491
Panther City LC
9
2,813
25,316
League
135
7,700
1,039,418
Home Team
Home Games
Average Attendance
Total Attendance[ 19]
Buffalo Bandits
4
14,715
58,860
Calgary Roughnecks
3
8,679
26,036
Colorado Mammoth
2
9,435
18,869
Toronto Rock
2
8,568
17,135
San Diego Seals
1
5,210
5,210
League
12
10,509
126,110
^ Rigdon, Jay (October 26, 2021). "ESPN gets exclusive rights to National Lacrosse League in multiyear deal" . Awful Announcing .
^ "Full Schedule" .
^ "National Lacrosse League Heads to ESPN Under New Broadcast Deal" . 26 October 2021.
^ "NATIONAL LACROSSE LEAGUE ANNOUNCES 2022-23 SCHEDULE; FACE OFF WEEKEND SET FOR DECEMBER 2-3" . National Lacrosse League . Retrieved December 27, 2019 .
^ "Pre-Season Games Begin November 5 In Advance of National Lacrosse League 2022-23 Schedule" . NLL . 2022-10-26. Retrieved 2022-10-27 .
^ TSN ca Staff (2022-09-20). "NLL releases its 2022-2023 schedule - TSN.ca" . TSN . Retrieved 2022-10-23 .
^ Tutka, Paul. "League reveals "NLL Game of the Week on TSN" broadcast schedule" . The Lax Mag . Retrieved 2022-11-05 .
^ "NLL Announces 10 Games to Air on ESPN Linear Networks" . Inside Lacrosse . 2022-11-16. Retrieved 2022-11-17 .
^ Pergament, Alan (2023-06-01). "WNLO-TV to carry deciding game in Bandits-Mammoth championship lacrosse series" . Buffalo News . Retrieved 2023-06-01 .
^ Perrow, Graeme (2022-08-29). "2022 Off-season summary, Part I" . NLL Chatter . Retrieved 2022-10-29 .
^ Goods, Jack (2022-08-03). "Brett Frood Combines Passion and Product as NLL's New Commissioner" . usalaxmagazine.com . Retrieved 2022-11-30 .
^ "Standings" . National Lacrosse League.
^ a b "Del Bianco becomes second goaltender to win MVP, Donville fourth straight number one overall selection to win Rookie of the Year" . NLL.com . May 26, 2023. Retrieved May 26, 2023 .
^ a b c "Currier repeats as Transition Player of the Year, Del Bianco and Harris take home first awards" . NLL.com . May 25, 2023. Retrieved May 25, 2023 .
^ a b "Thompson wins fifth straight Sportsmanship Award, Dawson wins second Teammate Award" . NLL.com . May 23, 2023. Retrieved May 23, 2023 .
^ a b "Calgary's Curt Malawsky, Rochester's Dan Carey win Les Bartley Award and General Manager of the Year" . NLL.com . May 24, 2023. Retrieved May 24, 2023 .
^ a b "TSN's Teddy Jenner wins second Tom Borrelli Award; Las Vegas CEO Mark Fine takes home Executive of the Year in inaugural season" . NLL.com . May 23, 2023. Retrieved May 23, 2023 .
^ "NLL Announces brands and identities for its two newest teams" . NLL.com . February 17, 2019. Retrieved August 24, 2019 .
^ a b "2023 Season" . nllstats.com . Retrieved 16 June 2023 .