Around the National Lacrosse League for the games of Week Sixteen, 15-17 April 2005. (Summaries are based on best-available information and may be amended as necessary.)

Colorado Mammoth at Rochester Knighthawks
Friday, 7:35 PM - Blue Cross Arena
Info: Game Summary | Game Stats

John Grant scored three goals, including one with 49 seconds remaining, leading the Knighthawks to a 13-12 victory over the Mammoth.

Colorado (8-8) scored three goals to begin the second quarter, riding its first lead all the way to halftime, a 9-7 advantage.

Rochester outscored Colorado in the third quarter, 3-1, tying the game at ten, then the teams traded goals throughout the fourth quarter, culminating with Grant's tiebreaker at 14:11.

Grant, O'Connor and Williams scored three goals each for the Knighthawks, who entered the game already knowing that they'll be the third seed in the Eastern Division playoffs.

Gait scored five goals in defeat, punctuating his final regular season game. He'll retire when Colorado's playoff run is complete.

Philadelphia Wings at Minnesota Swarm
Friday, 8:30 PM - Xcel Energy Center
Info: Game Stats

The Swarm scored four goals in the final nine minutes, rallying to beat the Wings, 14-12, in the season finale for both teams.

Minnesota (5-11) led 2-0 after four minutes, but Philadelphia (6-10) tied the game barely more than a minute later and led 4-3 at the end of the first quarter.

With the score tied at six late in the second quarter, Ryder Bateman and Kelly Hall scored for Minnesota, but the visiting Wings scored three times in the third period to pull within one, 10-9.

Philadelphia strung together three goals to open the fourth quarter, establishing a 12-10 lead, but the Swarm closed out the game on a four-goal run.

Jeff Ratcliffe (six goals, two assists) and Dan Marohl (eight assists) tallied eight points each for the Wings. Tom Marechek added three goals and two assists, finishing his career with 399 goals.

Bateman scored three goals for the Swarm.

Arizona Sting at Anaheim Storm
Friday, 10:30 PM - Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim
Info: Game Stats

Lindsay Plunkett scored with three minutes remaining in regulation, breaking a 12-12 tie and lifting the Sting to a 14-12 victory over the Storm.

Arizona (9-6), which needed two wins and a Calgary loss to clinch the Western Division title, fell behind 4-1 by the end of the first quarter, but rallied to within 7-6 at halftime.

Anaheim (4-11) scored four goals in the third quarter, split up by a pair of goals from Plunkett, and led 11-8 at the end of the period.

After another three minutes, the game was tied. Adam Bysouth put Anaheim back in the lead with 6:04 remaining, but Dan Dawson tied the game a minute later. That set up Plunkett for the game-winner at 11:58 and Peter Lough for an empty-netter in the final seconds.

Plunkett tallied seven points (four goals, three assists) to lead all scorers. Casey Powell had four goals and two assists for Anaheim.

San Jose Stealth at Buffalo Bandits
Saturday, 7:30 PM - HSBC Arena
Info: Game Summary | Game Stats

In a game marked by three lengthy scoring droughts, the Bandits outlasted the Stealth, 13-10.

Buffalo (11-5) led 2-0 after one quarter and kept the Stealth off the scoreboard for almost nineteen minutes. Once San Jose (4-12) came alive, though, it was the Bandits who went to sleep, allowing six goals and not scoring again until 2:16 remained in the first half.

After a seemingly normal third quarter, Buffalo came up huge again. A Kevin Olson goal with 2:24 left in the third proved to be San Jose's last, with the Bandits running off six straight tallies to end the game.

John Tavares and Mark Steenhuis recorded three goals and two assists, leading the Bandits in scoring. Gary Rosyski (3 goals, 2 assists) and Ryan Boyle (2 goals, 3 assists) had five points each for San Jose.

Anaheim Storm at Arizona Sting
Saturday, 10:30 PM - Glendale Arena
Info: Game Stats

The Sting blew its last shot at the Western Division championship Saturday night, falling at home to the Storm, 11-10.

Arizona (9-7), which hosts Colorado next weekend in the first round of the playoffs, led only twice in the game -- 3-2 briefly in the first quarter and 8-7 for much of the third quarter.

Instead, Anaheim (5-11) played like the team going to the postseason, surging to victory via a four-goal run spanning the third and fourth quarters.

The Storm would need all four goals in order to post the victory. Seconds after Cam Bergman made it 11-8, Jonas Derks pulled the Sting within two, and Scott Self made it a one-goal game at 12:48.

Both teams benefited from balanced scoring. Casey Powell, Ryan Powell, Shawn Cable and Scott Stewart scored two goals each for Anaheim; Cory Bomberry, Pat Maddalena and Dan Dawson did likewise for the Sting.

Toronto Rock at Calgary Roughnecks
Sunday, 4:00 PM - Pengrowth Saddledome
Info: Game Summary | Game Stats

In a meaningless game for both teams, the Roughnecks crushed the Rock, 20-12.

Toronto (12-4), which last week secured home-floor advantage throughout the playoffs, led 5-2 after one quarter, but fell behind 10-8 by halftime via a six-goal Roughnecks run to end the second quarter.

After Josh Sanderson pulled the Rock within one 32 seconds into the second half, Calgary (10-6) ran off another six goals and strolled to victory -- but not before a brawl late in the third quarter resulted in four ejections, including goaltenders Bob Watson (Toronto) and Andrew Leyshon (Calgary).

In addition to his goal, Sanderson dished out four assists, breaking his own single-season record of 68. "Shooter" finished with 71 assists on the season.

Tracey Kelusky led all scorers with ten points, on eight goals and two assists for Calgary, which clinched the Western Division title last night. Colin Doyle, NLL's scoring champ this season (111 points), and Blaine Manning tallied two goals and five assists each for the Rock.