The National Lacrosse League today announced its 2001-2002 schedule, featuring the earliest starting date in league history, earliest finishing date in years, most games in one weekend, and most games in a single season.

The league's sixteenth season begins on Friday, 16 November, with one game -- the expansion New Jersey Storm's debut outing, at the Albany Attack. The opener comes more than a month earlier than it ever had before. By the end of that first weekend, the Vancouver Ravens will also have played their first-ever game. The Ravens, in fact, will have played twice, first at Toronto and then at Ottawa.

The league has made a deliberate attempt to avoid the major holidays of the early season. The second week of the season, just after the American Thanksgiving, is a relatively small three-game slate, with each game on Saturday night. With one of the games held in Canada, where Thanksgiving is celebrated in October, only two games are jeopardized by the holiday weekend. Christmas and New Year's Day are on Tuesday this season, and the surrounding/mid-holiday weekends include four, four, and three games, respectively. With an average of five and a half games per weekend, this acknowledges that holiday weekend crowds have historically been smaller than desired.

The league breaks its record for most games in one weekend twice this season, then ties the record later. The record, currently six, will be bumped up to eight in Week Three (30 November to 2 December), with seven games on tap. In Week Eleven (25-27 January), nine games will be played. In Week Nineteen (22-24 March), the final week of the regular season, there will again be nine games played. Unlike in prior seasons, every team will be playing in the league's concluding weekend.

The last game of the regular season -- Montreal at Albany -- is the earliest finish since 1995, when the six-team Major Indoor Lacrosse League concluded its eight-games-per-team schedule on 11 March.

The nineteen-weekend schedule represents the most spread-out season ever, and the number of games, 104, is sixty-five percent more than last season.

The following is the 2001-2002 NLL schedule. All times are Eastern and are subject to change.

WEEK ONE
Friday, 16 November
New Jersey at Albany, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, 17 November
Vancouver at Toronto, 3:30 p.m.
Sunday, 18 November
Vancouver at Ottawa, 2:00 p.m.

WEEK TWO
Saturday, 24 November
Montreal at Calgary, 3:30 p.m.
Albany at Rochester, 7:30 p.m.
Washington at Buffalo, 8:00 p.m.

WEEK THREE
Friday, 30 November
Calgary at Montreal, 7:30 p.m.
New York at New Jersey, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, 1 December
Toronto at Vancouver, 3:30 p.m.
Rochester at Washington, 7:00 p.m.
Philadelphia at Albany, 7:30 p.m.
Montreal at Buffalo, 7:30 p.m.
New Jersey at Columbus, 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, 2 December
Calgary at Ottawa, 2:00 p.m.

WEEK FOUR
Saturday, 8 December
Albany at New Jersey, 7:30 p.m.
Calgary at New York, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, 9 December
Philadelphia at Vancouver, 10:00 p.m.

WEEK FIVE
Friday, 14 December
Vancouver at Montreal, 7:30 p.m.
Ottawa at Toronto, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, 15 December
Columbus at Calgary, 3:30 p.m.
New Jersey at Washington, 7:00 p.m.
Philadelphia at Rochester, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, 16 December
Buffalo at New York, 5:00 p.m.

WEEK SIX
Friday, 21 December
New York at Albany, 7:30 p.m.
Rochester at Ottawa, 7:30 p.m.
New Jersey at Calgary, 9:30 p.m.
Sunday, 23 December
New Jersey at Vancouver, 10:00 p.m.

WEEK SEVEN
Friday, 28 December
New York at Columbus, 7:30 p.m.
Calgary at New Jersey, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, 29 December
Calgary at Rochester, 7:30 p.m.
Philadelphia at Buffalo, 8:00 p.m.

WEEK EIGHT
Friday, 4 January
Columbus at Ottawa, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, 5 January
Rochester at Buffalo, 7:30 p.m.
Toronto at Washington, 8:00 p.m.

WEEK NINE
Friday, 11 January
Columbus at Montreal, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, 12 January
Toronto at Calgary, 3:30 p.m.
Rochester at Albany, 7:30 p.m.
Philadelphia at New York, 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, 13 January
Washington at Columbus, 5:00 p.m.

WEEK TEN
Friday, 18 January
New York at Philadelphia, 7:30 p.m.
Buffalo at Calgary, 9:00 p.m.
Saturday, 19 January
Ottawa at Albany, 1:00 p.m.
Washington at Vancouver, 3:30 p.m.
Columbus at Rochester, 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, 20 January
Philadelphia at New Jersey, 1:00 p.m.

WEEK ELEVEN
Friday, 25 January
Vancouver at Columbus, 7:30 p.m.
Ottawa at Montreal, 7:30 p.m.
Buffalo at Philadelphia, 7:30 p.m.
Washington at New York, 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, 26 January
Rochester at Toronto, 3:30 p.m.
Vancouver at Buffalo, 7:30 p.m.
New York at Washington, 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, 27 January
Montreal at Ottawa, 2:00 p.m.
Albany at Calgary, 7:00 p.m.

WEEK TWELVE
Friday, 1 February
Buffalo at Montreal, 7:30 p.m.
Rochester at Philadelphia, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, 2 February
Ottawa at Vancouver, 3:30 p.m.
Calgary at Washington, 7:00 p.m.
Albany at New York, 7:30 p.m.
Columbus at Buffalo, 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, 3 February
Montreal at Toronto, 3:30 p.m.

WEEK THIRTEEN
Friday, 8 February
Columbus at Albany, 7:30 p.m.
Vancouver at New Jersey, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, 9 February
Ottawa at Calgary, 3:30 p.m.
Albany at Buffalo, 7:30 p.m.
Montreal at Rochester, 7:30 p.m.
Vancouver at New York, 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, 10 February
Washington at Toronto, 3:30 p.m.

WEEK FOURTEEN
Friday, 15 February
Washington at New Jersey, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, 16 February
Toronto at Ottawa, 3:30 p.m.
Albany at Washington, 7:00 p.m.
Buffalo at Columbus, 7:30 p.m.
New Jersey at Philadelphia, 8:00 p.m.
New York at Vancouver, 10:30 p.m.
Sunday, 17 February
Rochester at Montreal, 3:30 p.m.

WEEK FIFTEEN
Friday, 22 February
Washington at Ottawa, 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, 23 February
Buffalo at Albany, 1:00 p.m.
Calgary at Toronto, 3:30 p.m.
Columbus at Philadelphia, 7:30 p.m.
New York at Rochester, 7:30 p.m.
Montreal at Vancouver, 10:30 p.m.

WEEK SIXTEEN
Saturday, 2 March
Toronto at Buffalo, 2:00 p.m.
Montreal at Columbus, 7:30 p.m.
Ottawa at Philadelphia, 7:30 p.m.

WEEK SEVENTEEN
Friday, 8 March
Toronto at Montreal, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, 9 March
Philadelphia at Washington, 7:00 p.m.
New Jersey at New York, 7:30 p.m.
Buffalo at Rochester, 7:30 p.m.
Albany at Columbus, 8:00 p.m.

WEEK EIGHTEEN
Friday, 15 March
Albany at Montreal, 7:30 p.m.
New York at Toronto, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, 16 March
Calgary at Vancouver, 3:30 p.m.
Toronto at Rochester, 7:30 p.m.
Ottawa at New Jersey, 8:00 p.m.
Washington at Philadelphia, 8:00 p.m.

WEEK NINETEEN
Friday, 22 March
Rochester at Columbus, 7:30 p.m.
New Jersey at Ottawa, 7:30 p.m.
Philadelphia at Toronto, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, 23 March
Vancouver at Calgary, 3:30 p.m.
Buffalo at Washington, 7:00 p.m.
Columbus at New Jersey, 7:30 p.m.
Ottawa at New York, 7:30 p.m.
Toronto at Philadelphia, 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, 24 March
Montreal at Albany, 7:00 p.m.

Article amended 15 August 2001 to reflect announced changes in schedule -- Calgary at Vancouver, originally 3 March at 3:30 PM, now 16 March at 3:30 PM; Rochester at Albany (12 January), originally 1:00 PM, now 7:30 PM; Ottawa at Albany (19 January), originally 7:30 PM, now 1:00 PM.