The 2020 National Lacrosse League season, formally known as the 2019–2020 season, was the 34th in the history of the NLL. The season began on November 29, 2019, and was scheduled to end with the NLL final in late spring of 2020. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the season was suspended on March 12, 2020. On April 8, the league made a further public statement announcing the cancellation of the remaining games of the 2020 season and that they would be exploring options for playoffs once it was safe to resume play.
This season was the inaugural season for the expansion Knighthawks and Riptide. The former Rochester Knighthawks under owner Curt Styres relocated to Halifax for this season while Pegula Sports and Entertainment took over the Knighthawks moniker with a new expansion team.
With the addition of two teams, the NLL was realigned into a three division league. The five west division teams remained the same but the six east division and two expansion teams were distributed into a north and a new east division. The top-two teams in each division would qualify for the playoffs plus and additional two wild card teams.
Teams 2020 National Lacrosse League Division Team City Arena Capacity North Buffalo Bandits Buffalo, New York KeyBank Center 19,070 Halifax Thunderbirds Halifax, Nova Scotia Scotiabank Centre 10,500 Rochester Knighthawks Rochester, New York Blue Cross Arena 10,662 Toronto Rock Toronto, Ontario Scotiabank Arena 18,800 East Georgia Swarm Duluth, Georgia Infinite Energy Arena 10,500 New England Black Wolves Uncasville, Connecticut Mohegan Sun Arena 7,074 New York Riptide Uniondale, New York Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum 13,917 Philadelphia Wings Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Wells Fargo Center 19,306 West Calgary Roughnecks Calgary, Alberta Scotiabank Saddledome 19,289 Colorado Mammoth Denver, Colorado Pepsi Center 18,007 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
Map of teams
Regular season
Scoring leaders Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes; LB = Loose Balls
Player Team GP G A Pts PIM LBCallum Crawford New England Black Wolves 11334376252Mitchell Jones Vancouver Warriors 132846741789Shayne Jackson Georgia Swarm 12314273865Kevin Crowley Philadelphia Wings 142051711056Randy Staats Georgia Swarm 122248701763Holden Cattoni Rochester Knighthawks 12243862860Lyle Thompson Georgia Swarm 12273360487Ryan Lee Colorado Mammoth 13253560463Cody Jamieson Halifax Thunderbirds 122633591845Wesley Berg San Diego Seals 12193958452
Leading goaltenders Note: GP = Games played; Mins = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses: GA = Goals Allowed; SV% = Save Percentage; GAA = Goals against average
Player Team GP Mins W L GA SV% GAA Doug Jamieson New England Black Wolves 11654 8 3 960.8288.80 Evan Kirk Saskatchewan Rush 10563 7 2 870.8139.26 Nick Rose Toronto Rock 11656 7 4 1030.8169.41 Nick Damude San Diego Seals 12292 3 1 460.7909.43 Zach Higgins Philadelphia Wings 14800 8 5 1260.8149.44
Awards Annual awards
References: Winners
AwardWinnerOther Finalists Most Valuable Player Shayne Jackson, Georgia Swarm Callum Crawford, New England Black WolvesRob Hellyer, Toronto Rock Goaltender of the Year Doug Jamieson, New England Black Wolves Zach Higgins, Philadelphia WingsDillon Ward, Colorado Mammoth Defensive Player of the Year Graeme Hossack, Halifax Thunderbirds Robert Hope, Colorado MammothKyle Rubisch, Saskatchewan Rush Transition Player of the Year Challen Rogers, Toronto Rock Zach Currier, Calgary RoughnecksKiel Matisz, Philadelphia Wings Rookie of the Year Tyson Gibson, New York Riptide Connor Fields, San Diego SealsAndrew Kew, New England Black Wolves Sportsmanship Award Lyle Thompson, Georgia Swarm Kyle Buchanan, San Diego SealsCurtis Knight, Rochester Knighthawks GM of the Year Paul Day, Philadelphia Wings Jamie Dawick, Toronto RockRich Lisk, New England Black Wolves Les Bartley Award Paul Day, Philadelphia Wings Mike Accursi, Halifax ThunderbirdsGlenn Clark, New England Black Wolves Executive of the Year Award John Catalano, Halifax Thunderbirds Matt Hutchings, Colorado MammothRich Lisk, New England Black Wolves Teammate of the Year Award Dan Dawson, Toronto Rock (tie)Mike Poulin, Georgia Swarm John Ranagan, New England Black Wolves Tom Borrelli Award Craig Rybczynski Jake ElliottTeddy Jenner
Stadiums and locations Georgia Swarm New England Black Wolves New York Riptide Philadelphia Wings Gas South Arena Mohegan Sun Arena Nassau Coliseum Wells Fargo Center Capacity: 11,355 Capacity: 7,700 Capacity: 13,917 Capacity: 19,543 Buffalo Bandits Halifax Thunderbirds Rochester Knighthawks Toronto Rock KeyBank Center Scotiabank Centre Blue Cross Arena Scotiabank Arena Capacity: 19,070 Capacity: 10,595 Capacity: 11,200 Capacity: 18,819
Calgary Roughnecks Colorado Mammoth San Diego Seals Saskatchewan Rush Vancouver Warriors Scotiabank Saddledome Ball Arena Pechanga Arena SaskTel Centre Rogers Arena Capacity: 19,289 Capacity: 18,007 Capacity: 12,920 Capacity: 15,190 Capacity: 18,910
Attendance + Home team Home games Average attendance Total attendanceCalgary Roughnecks 512,67763,387Buffalo Bandits 612,08972,537Saskatchewan Rush512,00760,039Colorado Mammoth 611,58669,521Toronto Rock68,33950,037Philadelphia Wings 68,05448,325Halifax Thunderbirds77,64253,496Georgia Swarm67,61345,681Vancouver Warriors 66,76940,616New England Black Wolves75,13235,928Rochester Knighthawks55,05025,252San Diego Seals 64,82928,977New York Riptide 64,15724,942League778,035618,738
See also 2020 in sports
References