About
The Halifax Thunderbirds are a professional box lacrosse team located in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The Thunderbirds are a team within the 34-year-old National Lacrosse League (NLL), the world's only professional box lacrosse league. The league ranks third in average attendance for professional indoor sports worldwide, behind the NBA and NHL. The Thunderbirds joined the NLL in the 2019-20 season.
APRIL 7, 2020 - Due to the ongoing situation with COVID-19 the National Lacrosse League announced the official cancellation of the 2019-20 season.
The 8-4 Thunderbirds finished the 2019-20 regular season in sole possession of first place within the North Division after an 11-9 win over the Buffalo Bandits on March 8th.
SEPTEMBER 13, 2018 – The National Lacrosse League (NLL), the largest men’s professional indoor lacrosse league in North America, announced today that a team is coming to Halifax under the ownership of Curt Styres. Styres is the current owner and general manager of the Rochester Knighthawks.
Styres, who was named NLL’s 2017-18 General Manager of the Year, applied to relocate his team and received approval from the NLL Board of Governors.
The Halifax team began to play during the 2019-20 season at Scotiabank Centre, with many of the players on the current Knighthawks’ roster. The season was to include nine regular-season home games, plus pre-season and playoff games.
Finishing the regular season with a 10-8 record, the 2017-18 Knighthawks were crowned East Division champions and advanced to the franchise’s first NLL Finals appearance since 2014. Though falling short to the defending champion Saskatchewan Rush in Game 3, the franchise was still awarded for their stellar season. Four members of the Knighthawks took home NLL season awards.
The National Lacrosse League
Indoor lacrosse is fast, hard-hitting, and fun. It’s played in a hockey rink with two teams consisting of five players plus a goalie. The lights are low. The music is loud. And the crowd is electric.
The season runs from December to June and each game has four 15-minute quarters. There’s a lot of goals. This means there’s plenty of time high five, raise a glass, and celebrate with your friends. Both new and old.
The National Lacrosse League (NLL) is home to 13 teams stacked with some of the best in the world. Each game is guaranteed to be a night unlike any you’ve ever had in your life.
Fast play. Hard hits. Good times.
About the Game
Indoor lacrosse is played inside the confines of an ice hockey rink, with glass and rink boards intact. The playing surface consists of a green dieter turf carpet that is laid down over the hockey ice. The two teams combine to score a total of 25 goals on average during an NLL game.
Each team has five runners (forwards, transition players and defensemen) and a goaltender on the floor during the game. Each team dresses 18 players (16 runners and two goaltenders) per game, and the players rotate on and off the floor in shifts, similar to ice hockey. The game consists of four quarters, each fifteen minutes in length. A game that is tied at the end of regulation is decided in a sudden-death overtime. There are no tie games in professional indoor lacrosse.
Learn more about the game: www.nll.com