2012 NLL Division Finals Preview

By Tom Hoffman

Saturday night the National Lacrosse League will determine who will battle for teh Champions Cup next weekend as the Divisional Finals will take place.  Both games will be shown live on the CBS Sports Network.

East Division Final

Rochester Knighthawks (8-9) at Toronto Rock (10-7)
7 PM at Air Canada Centre

Regular Season: Toronto swept the season series 3-0.

Playoff History: Toronto is 5-2 against Rochester with the Rock winning the last meeting last season 10-8 in Toronto.  The Knighthawks are 0-4 in postseason games in Toronto (0-2 at Maple Leaf Gardens, 0-2 at the ACC).

How they got here: Rochester survived a late Philadelphia rally to defeat the Wings 14-13 last Friday at Blue Cross Arena.  Joe Walters and Cody Jamieson each had six points while Craig Point scored three goals for the Knighthawks.  Toronto rallied from a 6-2 halftime deficit, shutting out Buffalo over the final 34:03 to take a 7-6 victory last Saturday at Air Canada Centre.  Brenden Thenhaus capped the Toronto comeback scoring the winning goal with 35 seconds left in regulation.  Nick Rose stopped 36 shots for Toronto.

X-Factors: Can Rochester finally win a playoff game in Toronto?  Including last season's playoff matchup, Toronto has won eight straight games against the Knighthawks going back to 2010.  Buffalo held Garrett Billings, Josh Sanderson, Stephan Leblanc and Blaine Manning to a combined three goals on 34 shots, can the Rochester defense do the same?  Rochester will need to play a full 60 minutes after almost surrendering a five goal lead in the last 2:32.

West Division Final

Edmonton Rush (7-10) at Minnesota Swarm (10-7)
9:30 PM at Xcel Energy Center

Regular Season: The teams split a pair of overtime decisions with each team winning at home.

Playoff History: This is the first postseason meeting between the two teams.

How they got here: After losing all four regular season meetings, the Rush stunned the Calgary Roughnecks 19-11 in Calgary.  Ryan Ward and Corey Small each had five goals while Ward also added six assists in the Edmonton rout.  The Swarm never trailed in defeating the Colorado Mammoth 14-10 at Pepsi Center.  Ryan Benesch had seven points (3G, 4A) for Minnesota while Evan Kirk stopped 37 shots. 

X-Factors: Edmonton has only appeared in three playoff games (all on the road) yet hold a 2-1 record while Minnesota won their first ever playoff game last week.  The Rush set a season high with last week's 19 goal performance after scoring aleague low 167 goals during the regular season and are the last team to beat the Swarm this year.  Will Ryan Ward and Aaron Wilson haunt their former team?