Rochester lost six in a row then won eight of its last 10 games to land a home playoff date in the NLL East semifinal.

“Everybody counted us out except for the guys in the locker room,” said head coach Mike Hasen. “They believe in each other and stuck to the process throughout the year. Even during that skid, they stuck with it, and they were rewarded.”

New England will be Rochester’s opponent Friday and coach Glenn Clark’s club made a strategic change to make it in.

“We’ve adopted more of a structured pressure D,” Clark said. “We’re being more active as opposed to reactive.”

Colorado knew for weeks that it would get home floor for the NLL West semifinal, but kept its eye on the prize. 

“I still think we have some work to do but, overall, we are happy with our direction,” said head coach Pat Coyle.

Calgary will play in Denver with a history of playoff successes against the Mammoth, but coach Curt Malawsky and his players know what they do this spring is all that counts.

“Zero relevance,” Malawsky said when asked to define the Calgary-Colorado history. “We’re different teams now and what happened in the past is history for a reason. It means nothing now. We’re just going to focus on Saturday night.”

Two will advance to division finals in Georgia and Saskatchewan. The new NLL Cup is what they all want.

Here’s a look at the matchups for the semifinals:

NEW ENGLAND (9-9) at ROCHESTER (10-8)
7:30 p.m. ET Friday

LAST GAMES

New England lost 16-11 when it was at home against Georgia with first place and a bye to the division final at stake, while Rochester went into Buffalo needing to win to make the playoffs and eliminated the Bandits 15-13.

“It was disappointing that we lost Sunday and didn’t get the opportunity to host, but anybody in the East will tell you it’s an accomplishment to make the playoffs,” said Clark. “We’ve earned our way into the playoffs and that wasn’t an easy thing to do. We had noticeable breakdowns and Georgia made us play for those mistakes. We won’t get away with that this weekend. The key will be rolling out that effort on the D end for the full 60 minutes.”

SEASON SERIES

New England swept 3-0 because goaltender Aaron Bold had some of his best games against Rochester.

• Jan. 13: New England won 9-8 in Rochester despite being outshot 56-43. Bold made 48 saves and Matt Vinc stopped 34 at the other end. Steph Leblanc, acquired Dec. 20 from Toronto, scored two Black Wolves goals. Kevin Crowley, who would finish the season with a league-high 51 goals, got only one, but his team didn’t need more.

• Jan. 21: New England won 11-9 at home. Shots were 54-54. Bold stopped 45 and Vinc stopped 43. Crowley broke loose for three goals and Leblanc got two.

• April 21: New England won 11-6 in Rochester despite being outshot 65-50. Bold made 59 saves and Vinc stopped 39. Leblanc again scored twice and the Black Wolves got six goals from back-end boys who got progressively better at cashing in on fast-break opportunities as the season progressed.

“That all goes out the window once playoffs start,” Clark said of his team’s 3-0 record against Rochester. “It’s a whole new season.”

“It’s a new season,” Hasen said, echoing Clark’s outlook. “We’re ready to battle.”

Limiting Crowley is a necessity for the Knighthawks. Will one defenseman be assigned to smother him? No.

“Everything we do on the back end is by committee, so it won’t be one guy’s job but that of all five guys on the floor,” said Hasen.

POWER PLAYS

In the three games, New England was 6-for-11 and Rochester was 4-for-12.

FACEOFFS

Rochester’s Jake Withers was best in the league over the full season with 279 wins in 417 draws for a win rate of 67 percent. New England’s Jay Thorimbert won 245 of 472 for a win rate of 51 percent.

OVERALL RANKINGS

New England was eighth in both offense (10.78 goals/game) and defense (13.44 goals/game) at season’s end. Rochester was third in the league on both offense (13.11 goals/game) and defense (11.67 goals/game).

“Game by game, shift by shift, they just kept getting better,” Hasen said of his players. “The guys believe in each other and are playing good lacrosse at the right time.”

GOALTENDING

Vinc’s .782 is the second-best save percentage in the league and Bold’s .775 is fifth-best.

Hasen’s comfort level with Vinc in the nets is “100 percent. In my biased opinion, he’s the best goalie in the league, the best big-game player.”

RECENT ROCHESTER PLAYOFF HISTORY

This is the Knighthawks’ first playoff appearance since 2015 when it beat Buffalo in the division semifinal and lost to Toronto in the final. They won the championship in 2012, 2013 and 2014.

RECENT NEW ENGLAND PLAYOFF HISTORY

The Black Wolves lost the division semifinal 18-10 in Toronto last season. In 2016, the Black Wolves eliminated Georgia in the semi before losing to Buffalo in the division finals. In 2015, they missed the playoffs in their first season in Uncasville, Conn.

COACHES CORNER

Coach Clark: “We need to be as good as we’ve been on the back end against Rochester in our previous three games against them and that includes Aaron. We’re still not where we want to be in terms of offensive production, so we have got to continue finding ways to manufacture offense. And we’ve got to win the transition battle.”

Coach Hasen: “I’ve never been to Atlanta in May. One hundred percent that we’d like to experience it.”

CALGARY (8-10) at COLORADO (11-7)
9 p.m. ET Saturday

LAST GAMES

Calgary lost 11-10 at Saskatchewan and Colorado defeated visiting Toronto 19-15 in games that had no bearings on the standings.

SEASON SERIES

Colorado had a 2-1 edge and all three were close.

• Dec. 29: Colorado won 11-7 in Calgary and had a 53-47 edge in shots on goal. Ryan Benesch scored five goals. Dillon Ward made 40 saves. Calgary’s Frankie Scigliano made 42 saves. Curtis Dickson, who would finish the season with 47 goals, couldn’t get a ball behind Ward.

• Feb. 10: Calgary won 13-9 at home despite being outshot 60-50. Christian Del Bianco had supplanted Scigliano as the No. 1 Calgary goalie. He made 51 saves in his starring role. Dane Dobbie scored four goals and Dickson broke loose for three.

• March 10: Colorado won 8-7 at home. Shots were 51-50. Del Bianco made 42 saves and Ward 44. Chris Wardle scored two goals for the Mammoth. Dickson was held to one.

Limiting Dickson’s effectiveness like they did in the first and third games against Calgary is a necessity for the Mammoth.

“For sure,” said Coyle. “We’ve done a good job on him, but I think he’s playing better now than he was then so we know we’ve got our work cut out for us. But we can’t pay too much attention to him because they have so many weapons. We need to take away their transition foremost. We match up well five on five.”

“Dickson has been our top offensive producer, he and Wes Berg, all season,” said Malawsky. “We’ve empowered him to be a floor general rather than just a shooter. The big thing for us is to be sure he’s getting looks for his teammates and to bear down when he gets them himself.”

Calgary has to be vigilant when transition speedster Joey Cupido is on the floor.

“He’s very quick, and with that football background, he reads plays quickly,” said Malawsky. “You have to know where he is on the floor, like knowing where Kyle Rubisch is on the floor when you play Saskatchewan. You’re never going to shut him down. You just try to limit his production.”

POWER PLAYS

In the three games, Colorado was 10-for-16 and Calgary was 6-for-13.

FACEOFFS

For the season, Calgary’s Tyler Burton won 236 of 418 for a win rate of 57 percent, while Colorado’s Tim Edwards won 224 of 436 for a win rate of 51 percent.

OVERALL RANKINGS

Colorado was seventh on the attack (11.89 goals/game) and second on defense (11.06 goals/game), while Calgary was fifth on offense (12.61 goals/game) and fourth on defense (11.72 goals/game).

GOALTENDING

Del Bianco has a league-best save percentage of .793 and Ward’s .781 is third-best.

“Going in, I would assume so,” Coyle said when asked if fans should expect a low-scoring game. “I’d hope so, from our end. Coaching Christian in the summer, I know what he’s capable of.”

RECENT COLORADO PLAYOFF HISTORY

The Mammoth won the division semifinal at Vancouver last year and lost to Saskatchewan in the finals. They are 0-7 against Calgary in playoff elimination games since winning the championship in 2006.

“We’ve got a bad playoff record against Calgary over the years, but this year, that doesn’t mean anything,” said Coyle. “Calgary didn’t even make the playoffs last year and we made it to the second round. But the past doesn’t really matter now.”

RECENT CALGARY PLAYOFF HISTORY

The Roughnecks missed the playoffs last year. In 2016 and 2015, they won semis over Colorado and lost to Saskatchewan/Edmonton in the finals. In 2014, they eliminated Colorado and Edmonton before losing a minigame to Rochester after splitting the first to games of the championship series. They last won the championship in 2009.

COACHES CORNER

Coach Coyle: “We need to really focus on what we do that makes us successful. If we work hard and move the ball on offense, play the defense system that’s made us successful all year, and Dillon does his job in the nets, I think we’ll be fine.”

Coach Malwsky: “We’ve won seven of the last 12. We’ve played well down the stretch. We’re sticking to the process and trying to get better week to week. Come playoff time you have to check all the boxes ... and we’ve been really consistent in doing that.”