National : 1994

ESPN2's first Monday night broadcast featured the Detroit Turbos against the Baltimore Thunder.
The Philadelphia Wings denied the Buffalo Bandits a third consecutive World Championship by defeating the Bandits, 26–15, in front of a sellout crowd of 16,284 at Memorial Auditorium. The win gave the Wings its third League Championship in their history, the most of any league team. ESPN broadcast the game live from Buffalo, marking the first live telecast by ESPN of a league game.
The league announced that Rochester, New York, would be awarded an expansion team for the 1995 season.

1995

The expansion Rochester Knighthawks won their inaugural game, 12–8, against the New York Saints in the War Memorial.
Philadelphia broke the league's attendance record as 17,380 fans witnessed the Wings defeat of the Baltimore Thunder in the regular season finale.
For the first time in league history, Paul Gait of Rochester played against his twin brother Gary Gait of Philadelphia.
The Philadelphia Wings won back-to-back championships by defeating the Rochester Knighthawks, 15–14, in a thrilling overtime game. As of 1995, the Wings had won 4 league titles in their 9-year history.

1996

Before the beginning of the 1996 season, the second-to-last season that the NLL would be known as the Major Indoor Lacrosse League, it was announced that the season would be expanded to 10 games. In addition, the Boston Blazers announced their new home in the Fleet Center for 1996. Another big crowd of 16,818, the fourth largest in league history, watched the Wings defeat the Charlotte Cobras at CoreStates Spectrum in Philadelphia. The Wings advanced to their fifth consecutive league championship game by defeating the Boston Blazers, 10–8, a week before. That was the final MILL game to be played in the historic arena.
However, the Buffalo Bandits played spoiler to the Wings, and denied them a third consecutive league championship, as Buffalo beat Philadelphia, 15–10, in the 1996 league championship game, in front of a sold-out Memorial Auditorium in Buffalo. The Bandits picked up their third championship win, and said goodbye to their own arena, at the culmination of the season.

1997

The 11th season opened with 3 games, including Rochester playing Buffalo at the Bandits' new home, the Marine Midland Arena, in front of a new league record crowd of 18,595 fans. The Knighthawks of Rochester, coached by Barry Powless, later claimed their first MILL championship title in 1997, in front of the second largest crowd in MILL history, 18,055, also played at the Marine Midland Arena.

National Lacrosse League

NLL logo 1998-2016

A new league known as the National Lacrosse League was formed by combining the tradition of the Major Indoor Lacrosse League with 2 expansion teams and individual team ownership.^[when?] Syracuse, New York (nicknamed Smash and playing at the Onondaga County War Memorial) and Hamilton, Ontario, (nicknamed Raiders and playing at Copps Coliseum) were the new professional box lacrosse entries. The NLL unveiled its new league logo.^[when?]
John Livsey, Jr. was named as Commissioner of the National Lacrosse League.^[when?]
A 3-year collective bargaining agreement between the NLL and the Professional Lacrosse Players Association (PLPA) was announced.^[when?]
NLL Franchise Timeline by Location

1998

The 1998 regular season schedule was announced with teams now playing 12 games (6 at home and 6 on the road) and facing their 6 opponents 2 times during the regular season (once at home and once on the road). In addition, the playoff format saw a best-of-3 championship series with semifinal playoff action still taking place in a single-game elimination format, though sites of all post-season games were based on regular season record.
A blockbuster trade saw 7-time All-Pro Paul Gait go to the expansion Syracuse Smash in exchange for draft picks and player compensation.
Reigning league MVP Gary Gait was sent to Baltimore in a blockbuster trade involving player and cash compensation.
The Philadelphia Wings swept the best-of-3 Championship Series with a 17–12 win over the Thunder after having won 16–12 two days earlier. The second game marked the first title game appearance by Baltimore since 1991, and the win was Philadelphia's fifth in franchise history. Wings goaltender Dallas Eliuk was named Championship Series MVP.

1999

The Toronto Rock finished the season with a perfect home record, going a combined 8–0 (regular season and playoffs) after a 13–10 win over the Rochester Knighthawks in the Championship Game before a sellout crowd of 15,691 in Maple Leaf Gardens. The game was televised throughout Canada by CTV SportsNet, and in the United States on ESPN2.

2000

18,911 fans packed the First Union Center in Philadelphia to watch the Philadelphia Wings battle the Pittsburgh CrosseFire. Pittsburgh won the game, 14–8. At the time, this was the largest single-game crowd to ever see a professional box lacrosse game.
Kaleb Toth beat K-Hawks goaltender Pat O'Toole with 1.1 seconds remaining in regulation time to give the Toronto Rock a 14–13 victory, and their second straight championship. Considered to be among the best lacrosse games ever played,^[15] the 2000 Final was the last sporting event to be held in the historic Maple Leaf Gardens.
The city of Columbus, Ohio was granted an expansion team. Former League Commissioner John Livsey lead the Landsharks.
At a press conference at the ESPNZone in New York City, Jim Jennings was named the new Commissioner of the National Lacrosse League. Jennings announced that league headquarters would be relocated from Buffalo, New York, to Lyndhurst, New Jersey. C

National

Thursday, April 6, 2017

1994