NATIONALS ANNOUNCE 2012 SCHEDULE

(Hamilton, December 12)… The start of the 2012 Major League Lacrosse season for the Hamilton Nationals will mirror their playoff schedule from this past August. The Nats will open the 2012 season against their semifinal opponent, the Denver Outlaws, on Saturday, May 5th at INVESCO Field at Mile High. The second contest features a rematch of the MLL Finals with Hamilton playing the Boston Cannons at Harvard Stadium on Saturday, May 12th.

 

2012 HAMILTON NATIONALS SCHEDULE

 

Hamilton makes its home debut on Friday, May 18th with an 11:00 a.m. contest against the Chesapeake Bayhawks at Ron Joyce Stadium at McMaster University. For ticket information, contact the Nationals Ticket Office at (905) 768-2225. The Nats head into the 2012 season after an impressive 2011 campaign that landed the team in the league finals. After finishing with a 7-5 record, Hamilton knocked off the Outlaws to advance to the MLL title game. In the Finals, the Nationals fell one goal shy to the Cannons, 10-9.

 

“I am excited. It certainly is a good challenge to playing Denver and Boston to start the season,” said Head Coach Regy Thorpe. “They are two tough places to play with big crowds.”

 

The schedule includes home games against the league’s other seven teams: Boston Cannons, Charlotte Hounds, Chesapeake Bayhawks, Denver Outlaws, Long Island Lizards, Ohio Machine and Rochester Rattlers. The Nats’ longest homestand will take place over three weeks from Saturday, July 28th to Saturday, August 11th. The three-game set concludes the regular season for Hamilton and features games against Denver (July 28th), Charlotte (August 4th) and Long Island (August 11th).

 

“With such parody in the league, I am excited to finish the season with three home games,” said Thorpe. “Like last year, they could be must-win games to make the playoffs.”

 

The MLL season will conclude with three postseason games during the MLL Championship Weekend. Two semifinal games will take place on Saturday, August 25th and the MLL Championship game will take place on Sunday, August 26th.

 

Schedule highlights include the return of the MLL All-Star Game, to be played on Saturday, June 30th at 7:30 p.m. The Denver Outlaws will host the Ohio Machine on Independence Day (Wednesday, July 4th) at 7:00 p.m. MT/9:00 p.m. ET. In 2011, the Outlaws broke a league record for single game attendance during the July 3rd game when the team hosted the Boston Cannons. There were 27,184 fans in attendance.
 

A total of 20 live, nationally televised games will be broadcast in 2012, to be announced at a later date. In November, the league announced a major broadcast deal with CBS Sports Network that will put 14 live games on TV in addition to all 18 episodes of “Inside the MLL,” the league’s 30-minute magazine show. ESPN2 will air six live games and will stream most games on ESPN3.com.

 

The next major announcement for the Nationals is scheduled for Wednesday, December 14th, as Hamilton and the seven other MLL teams participate in the 2012 Supplemental Draft. The draft will consist of 18 rounds with each team scheduled to make one selection per round. Hamilton has the seventh overall selection in the draft.

 

For more information, call the Nationals Communications Office at (585) 454-HAWK (4295), ext. 3008.