National Lacrosse League season starts tonight
The Oshawa FireWolves of the National Lacrosse League (NLL) will begin their first season since relocating to Ontario from Albany, New York tonight (Friday) against the Toronto Rock at home. Courtesy Oshawa FireWolves
After offseason concerns that a new collective bargaining agreement would not be reached in time for the season to start on time, the National Lacrosse League (NLL) is indeed back tonight (Friday) after a brief preseason calendar.
For the second year in a row, the Toronto Rock will be visiting a newly relocated team in the season’s opening game, as they will be in Oshawa to play the FireWolves at 7:30 p.m.
The FireWolves are playing their first year in Oshawa, Ontario, after they played in Albany, New York, from 2021-2025. Although they had signed a six-year agreement with their previous arena in Albany in 2024, the team had been struggling to attract fans since they began play.
Three other games are on the slate for week one of the regular season.
The San Diego Seals will take on the Ottawa Black Bears in Ottawa on Saturday at 7 p.m. The Georgia Swarm will visit the reigning NLL champion Buffalo Bandits at 7:30 p.m. that same night, and the Vancouver Warriors will host the Colorado Mammoth at 10 p.m. for the west coast game.
Unfortunately for Kahnawake lacrosse fans, the three local laxers who signed on to teams during the offseason did not make their respective rosters going into the new season.
Kaymen Diabo (Colorado Mammoth), Stone Jacobs (Halifax Thunderbirds), and Teioshontathe McComber (Ottawa Black Bears) were all released in the days prior to the start of the regular season.
Louis Alfred Jr. was also released from the Thunderbirds, after spending the entirety of last season on the physically unable to perform list.
There are still many Indigenous players in the NLL to cheer for this year, though.
That includes goaltender and Hunters’ alumnus Waukiigan Shognosh, from Walpole Island in Ontario, who was named to the active roster of the Buffalo Bandits after being drafted by them in the first round of the most recent draft.
For the Mammoth, 20-year-old rookie Jameson Bucktooth from Onondaga will start the season after being taken 30th overall in the 2025 draft.
Forward Lyle Thompson, also a member of the Onondaga Nation, had his fourth straight 40-goal season last year with the Georgia Swarm, adding 52 assists for 92 points. He could conceivably reach 400 career goals and 900 career points in 2025-2026.
His brother, transition player Jeremy Thompson, was signed by the Rochester Knighthawks during the offseason after playing with the Swarm in 2024-2025. The Thompson brothers, who at one time were four siblings playing in the NLL at the same time, are now down to two regulars, after Jerome’s retirement a few seasons ago and Miles not finding a roster spot this offseason.
Jeremy will join Haudenosaunee Nationals regular Zed Williams, who is Seneca. He is looking to bounce back from an Achilles injury that ended his 2024-2025 season early.
He was traded to the Rochester Knighthawks from Colorado in exchange for a first-round draft pick and a swap of second-round picks.
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In just 10 games, Williams had 15 goals and 18 assists for 33 points.
Of note, the Seneca Nation purchased the Knighthawks in August through their business subsidiary, Seneca Holdings LLC, for an undisclosed amount after Buffalo Bills and Sabres owner Terry Pegula announced he would be divesting from the team.
Every NLL regular season game can be viewed on the TSN+ streaming service in Canada and the ESPN+ streaming service in the United States, with 21 Friday night games - including tonight’s Oshawa vs Toronto game - broadcast on regular TSN television.
