MATT VOLZ

Editor in Chief

After three rounds of a grueling, fictitious “March Madness” bracket with all 14 NLL teams, we have finally reached the title game.

In a surprising twist, neither of these teams received first-round byes, meaning they had to fight their way through all three rounds to get here.

Both teams were also responsible for the elimination of one of the top two seeds, proving that neither team had an easy path to the championship.

Before we dive into the NLL Madness championship game and see how both of these teams got here, RE: Lax sends its official congratulations to the champions of the Division I men’s and women’s basketball tournaments.

Congratulations to the Michigan Wolverines and UCLA Bruins, respectively.

Now, let’s take a look at our final two teams, starting with the squad who knocked off the top overall seed in the semifinal round.

#4 Georgia Swarm

The Swarm are one of the few teams who are still in the same spot they began the tournament in.

They began NLL Madness in fourth place in the NLL, and that’s where they still sit.

Georgia’s path to the title game was no joke, but it started off with a bit of a no-brainer.

They faced off against the #13 seed Oshawa FireWolves, a team with some young stars but not much of a cohesive identity.

26-year-old Alex Simmons has once again torn up the league, and he ranks in the top 10 in goals and points with 38 and 96, respectively.

Simmons also turns 27 on Sunday, which means he shares a birthday with my mom.

Simmons is joined by Tye Kurtz to fuel the Oshawa offense, who is 10th in the league in goals with 35.

Other than that, Oshawa doesn’t bring much to the table.

With Brett Dobson on a rampage so far this season, there wasn’t much of a question that Georgia would survive the upset.

Georgia’s second matchup was much tougher, facing a rejuvenated Toronto Rock team.

After an abysmal 2025 season that saw them finish near the bottom of the league and trade key pieces at the deadline, the Rock have worked their way to a 10-6 record with two games to go.

They’re led by two top draft picks from last year, first overall pick C.J. Kirst and third overall pick Owen Hiltz.

Kirst is the runaway favorite for Rookie of the Year, as he leads all rookies in every offensive category.

Toronto also got a boost with the return of Mark Matthews, as the star forward was ready to go after an injury ended his 2025 season in just his fifth game.

They also welcomed Nick Rose back, as the veteran goalie rejoined the team after a trade sent him to Calgary at last year’s deadline.

Toronto and Georgia played once in the regular season, a 10-9 overtime win for the Swarm on Jan. 24.

This may have been our closest matchup of NLL Madness, but because of how incredible Dobson has been between the pipes, I went with Georgia to reach the semifinal round.

There, they’d meet a team who started the year flaming but have since cooled down, the Saskatchewan Rush.

The Rush began the season 10-1 before falling to Earth as of late, as they’ve lost four of their last five games.

When this bracket was created, though, they still held the top spot in the league.

It’s no surprise to see the Rush have this much success. They fell just one game short of an NLL Cup last year, and they certainly have the talent to get back there.

Ryan Keenan, Robert Church and Zach Manns are as good of a three-headed monster as any team could ask for on offense.

All three have scored at least 32 goals and racked up 75 points.

They also have Austin Shanks, who isn’t far behind with 26 goals and 62 points of his own.

Veterans Mike Messenger and Matt Hossack anchor one of the league’s best defensive units, holding down the fort in front of goalie Frank Scigliano.

Scigliano has been one of the league’s best starting goalies this season, and he’s currently allowing the second fewest goals per game of any starter.

It was tough to go against the Rush, but Dobson’s numbers don’t lie.

It’s not common for a goalie to win league MVP, but Georgia’s netminder is on pace to do just that.

As the old adage says, defense wins championships.

Despite solid scorers like Shayne Jackson, Lyle Thompson and rookie Nolan Byrne, the Swarm have arrived at the title game for one primary reason — they out-goalied everyone else.

#7 Buffalo Bandits

They’re baaaaaaaaaack.

Seriously, did you really think I wouldn’t pick the Bandits to go this far?

Yes, it might show a bit of hometown bias to pick Buffalo at a time when they were in seventh place, but I think I’ve been somewhat vindicated by their play over the past few weeks.

The Bandits have lost just one game over the past two months, and they’ve won each of their last six.

They’re coming off a dominant win over the Vancouver Warriors, a team with the league’s top scorer and one of its best goalies.

Ironically enough, Buffalo also faced Vancouver in the second round of this tournament, but we’ll get to that.

To begin NLL Madness, the Bandits matched up against their regional rivals, the Rochester Knighthawks.

Rochester is headlined by the defending league MVP, Amherst native Connor Fields.

Fields hasn’t been far off that pace this season, as he ranks fourth in the league in both goals and points.

He hasn’t had to do it alone, as Ryan Lanchbury has facilitated offense well with 71 assists.

Ryan Smith has also been an excellent contributor, too, sniping 36 goals.

But, I’ll go back to the “defense wins championships” argument, and Rochester doesn’t have a great one.

Their goalie tandem of Rylan Hartley and Riley Hutchcraft has struggled, so much so that Rochester has allowed more goals than anyone else despite playing one fewer game than most teams.

Buffalo’s offense has gone cold at times this season, but they’d likely be able to turn it right back on against a struggling defensive unit.

I picked Buffalo to get past the Knighthawks, meaning they’d stare down Vancouver in the second round.

The Warriors are led by another MVP favorite, Keegan Bal.

Bal leads the league in assists and points, and he’s seventh in the league in goals.

Somehow, he doesn’t lead his own team in goals, as Curtis Dickson has scored 38 compared to Bal’s 37.

Jesse King, Adam Charalambides and young gun Marcus Klarich round out an offense that leads the league in shooting percentage.

They also boast an anchor in net, as Christian Del Bianco is enjoying yet another stellar season.

Del Bianco, the 2023 NLL MVP, ranks second in the league in goals against average (GAA) and third in save percentage.

He still holds those ranks even after being shelled by the Bandits’ offense last weekend.

This game was tough to predict on paper, but I went with Buffalo because of their unmatched postseason experience.

I was a bit unsure of the selection, but after Saturday’s game, I’m 100% confident.

That led Buffalo to the semifinal game, where they’d face the Colorado Mammoth.

This was a similar matchup on paper to the Vancouver game, as Colorado also boasts a strong offense and good goaltending.

The Mammoth are tied with the Rush for the most goals of any team in the NLL, and the duo of Andrew Kew and Will Malcom have combined for many of them.

Jack Hannah, Dylan McIntosh and rookie Braedon Saris have also put up solid numbers.

The veteran presence of Dillon Ward has kept things steady on the back end, as he ranks third in the league in save percentage.

The Bandits and Mammoth played twice this season, once in Buffalo and once in Denver.

The game in Denver was a massacre, as the Mammoth steamrolled Buffalo on the way to a 20-9 win on Jan. 31.

It was a different story when the two teams played in Buffalo on March 13, as the Bandits came away with a 13-10 win.

These two squads are very evenly matched, but I again went with Buffalo’s experience.

The Bandits simply know how to get the job done in the playoffs, so I selected them to pull off another upset and reach the championship game.

Matt’s Pick

This game would be fascinating, and it usually is when they meet.

They actually began the regular season against each other, a 15-11 win for the Bandits in Buffalo.

That was a rare off game for Dobson, and it’s one of only three games all season in which the Swarm have given up double-digit goals.

Although Dobson would likely be a brick wall standing in the way of the Buffalo offense, Vinc has been equally as hot over the past couple of months.

In each win of Buffalo’s six-game win streak, Vinc has recorded a save percentage of 81% or higher.

He also hasn’t allowed 10 goals in a game in nearly a month.

The 43-year-old is widely considered to be the greatest goalie in the history of professional box lacrosse, and some believe he may be the NLL’s best player of all time.

He continues to defy Father Time and be a crucial asset to a Buffalo team that seems deadset on winning a record fourth straight championship.

It’s tough to go against Dobson considering how great he’s been this season, but Buffalo is pretty much unbeatable when it comes to the postseason.

The Bandits have won the last three NLL Cups, and they’re taking home the first NLL Madness championship.

Prediction: Buffalo wins.

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Stats for this story were provided by nllstats.com, a league-wide database run by NLL writer Graeme Perrow.

Check out his commentary on nllchatter.com as well as his updates on X (@GraemePerrow).