It was an endless summer for the Buffalo Bandits in 2022. The players, coaches and management realized it had let a golden opportunity - a championship-deciding game at home - get away. That seemed to be on everyone's minds not only through the start of training camp, but realistically during the season as well. No one was chanting "2008" at the team, but the weight of losing three finals in five years was a heavy one.
Still, the business of lacrosse went on. The Bandits had no time to ponder one big decision once the playoffs ended. The National Lacrosse League was expanding to Las Vegas for the 2022-23 season, and the new franchise needed players. Buffalo knew it was losing one of them, and it was quite clear that the biggest decision came down to protecting either Connor Fields or Chase Fraser. They both brought different qualities to the team, but were both valuable. After some agonizing, Las Vegas took Fields.
It's of course easy to second-guess any decision like that. The Bandits tried to reacquire Fields immediately, but couldn't reach a deal. Instead, the Desert Dogs sent him to Rochester in a trade involved a ton (well, five) draft choices plus a player changing hands. As it turned out, Fields thrived in Rochester. He exploded to 52 goals and 60 assists for 112 points, good for second-team all-NLL honors, and he might have been very helpful when injuries hurt the Bandits up front. Fraser, meanwhile, missed much of the season with an injury, although the team's offense did eventually gel once he returned to the lineup.
Some other offseason moves turned out to have little effect on the roster. Kellen McClair was acquired from Calgary for a second-round pick in 2023, but he had trouble finding playing time and was released in midseason. Buffalo picked up Devyn Mayea from San Diego for a couple of draft choices. He never made it off the holdout list. Top pick Cam Wyers didn't play for the Bandits during the 2022-23 season, but second-rounder Dylan Robinson did suit up in a couple of games. Kevin Brownell signed with New York, and Jordan Stouros was dealt to Rochester.
The nucleus was the same, though, and everyone understood the goal: Finish the job. "I want guys to understand that we have a really good team, a great team," coach John Tavares said. "We just need to learn how to get over that last obstacle to a championship, to find out what it takes. Sometimes it takes more grit, more getting into dirty areas than having stats. We want to commit to making the right play. I’m not saying we have to change much. We just have to build off our success. Yes, we didn’t win, but we do have something good here. It can easily implode. It’s hard just to make the playoffs. Think back to last year. We played one game in the first round. They had a great goaltender. That’s a battle. Toronto – that’s a battle. It’s hard to get back to the championship. I want to build off the positives, because we had a lot of positives last year. Yes, when I think about last year I still think of that championship loss. Sometimes teams take a longer time to win a championship. Our goal is to get to the playoffs, get to the championship (round), and win the championship. That’s our goal every year."
The Bandits had run off a long winning streak right at the start of the 2021-22 season. The Albany Firewolves took care of any Buffalo hopes of repeating that right away. They came into the KeyBank Center and won an 11-10 decision. The Bandits' offense looked off for much of the night, falling behind early and never taking the lead except for a 1-0 margin at the start of the game.
“Early on our offense couldn’t get into a flow, and we were down 4-1,” Kyle Buchanan said. “The defense did a good job the whole night, but the offense had some opportunities but just couldn’t bury it.”
The loss looked worse at the end of the season, since it was only one of three wins by Albany in the entire year. The Firewolves finished 3-15, the worst record in the league. But at the time, the bigger concern was the next game on December 17 - a matchup with Toronto in Hamilton. But the Bandits rebounded nicely for an 11-8 win, as Matt Vinc stopped a remarkable 52 of 60 shots. Buffalo had another week off before its next game, but it's not as if the team could come together for some extra practice. A blizzard struck the area during the break, leaving the team and its fans a bit snowbound. "I was in Buffalo downtown – I live there right now – and I decided to drive to Hamburg at 9:30 in the morning (on Dec. 23),” Dhane Smith said. “That wasn’t very smart of me. It took a long, long time, but I made it safely.”
The snow eventually stopped, the streets eventually were cleared, and the Bandits went back to work. Byrne certainly played like he was happy to be out of a snowy prison. He scored seven goals in an 18-13 win over visiting Halifax. Only three other Bandits had reached that number in a game - Mark Steenhuis, John Tavares and Darris Kilgour.
“I’m super-proud of the boys, after we started 0-1 against Albany,” Byrne said. “It was a big hit for us. But we went up to Toronto and battled, and then we had a statement game against Halifax. It says a lot about the guys.”
The next game on January 7 was easier - an 18-9 win over Georgia on the road. Kyle Buchanan, Smith and Tehoka Nanticoke all had eight points in the romp. The Swarm was better in the rematch of the home-and-home series on January 14, but the Bandits came from behind to win 11-9. Byrne had six goals and three assists in a game that was a little ugly at times.
"I think offensively, at times we were trying to do too much,” Kyle Buchanan added. “They’ve got some good offensive players over there. We missed some loose balls, we missed some chances. In this league, everyone can score and everyone can play. That’s what happens.”
From there, Buffalo had its first look at the surprise team of the league, the Rochester Knighthawks, on January 20. They were well out of the playoffs in the 2021-22 season, but had won five in a row to start this campaign to surprise just about everyone. The surprises continued - Rochester scored five straight goals to open the fourth quarter to earn a 15-12 win. Fields, by the way, said hello to his old teammates with three goals and five assists. The Knighthawks didn't keep that pace up, but they did qualify for the playoffs - a good-sized step forward.
The team was supposed to follow that game with a trip to Halifax, but Covid-19 wiped that game off for a while. Buffalo returned to action on January 27 in Philadelphia to start a two-game road swing. That contest marked the debut of Adam Bomberry, who was acquired from Albany for Thomas Vaesen on January 19. The Bandits trailed 6-3 at halftime, but outscored the Wings 10-3 in the second half to take a 13-9 contest. Smith had nine points. It was a similar story against New York a day later. The teams were tied 7-7 after 30 minutes, and Buffalo had a 9-3 edge from there to win by a score of 16-10. Smith upped his game to 12 points on the night.
Rochester came to Buffalo on February 4, and the Knighthawks tried to make a statement early. They took a 5-1 lead in the first 20 minutes, and almost made it 6-1 through a goal that was wiped out by a crease violation. But the Bandits snapped back by scoring six goals in a row and 10 of the next 11. That's was the spark for the team to take a 13-10 win in the KeyBank Center, and gave it a 7-2 record and the division lead at the season's halfway point.
“That’s lacrosse – they are going to go on their runs, and we are going to go on ours,” said, Smith, who had nine points. “I think the main thing when you look in the mirror is staying off the refs and staying out of the penalty box. We’re one of the top teams, and refs don’t like to make it easy for us. I think if we stay out of the box, we’ll be fine.”
Smith didn't have his usual playmate, Byrne, in the lineup. He'd be out for three games with an injury. Others went missing as well, as the team was down five players at one point. That meant Smith needed some help on offense, and Brad McCulley provided it. He had four goals and five assists to go with Smith's 10 points - including the overtime winner - in a 13-12 squeaker.
“We had some guys missing and we had a little bit of a depth check,” McCulley said. “We had to get it done. I’m getting more comfortable week by week, and I’m getting put in spots where I’m able to do that. I’m happy to be able to do that and help the team as best as I can.”
Buffalo finally made it to Halifax on March 3, and showed a second-half kick. The Bandits scored five straight goals at one point to take a 10-8, and held on for the 10-0 victory. Ian MacKay took a turn at filling in for Byrne with three goals and two assists. Another week later was another close win over Halifax - this time in overtime. Chris Cloutier, who missed several weeks with an injury, scored with 1:58 gone in the extra session for another 10-9 win. All these close games were tough on the heart.
“It’s not by design, but good teams find a way to win,” Tavares said. “Now we’re doing that. We’re playing with fire a bit here. Teams are strong. There’s a lot of parity in the league. You can’t take anybody lightly.”
But the win streak ended there, at the hands of a familiar rival. The Colorado Mammoth scored the game's final five goals for a 13-8 win right back in Buffalo - where it had won the title the previous June - on March 18. Byrne, back in the lineup for a second straight game, had six points. About the only good news of the night was the return of Fraser, finally back from offseason surgery.
“It felt great to be back with the team,” he said afterwards. “Terrible result, but it was great to be back out there. … It was a six-month recovery process from the surgery I had. It was a lot of work, but the fun part of it is getting back.”
The Bandits had a tough assignment a week later, traveling all the way to San Diego for a game. Buffalo's two biggest stars responded on defense in a game on March 25 that featured only 13 goals in total. Vinc was brilliant in 49 of 55 shots. Steve Priolo did the rest, with a slightly unexpected overtime that gave the Bandits a 7-6 win. Any good feelings from that cross-country win disappeared in a hurry on April 1. Toronto jumped out to a 7-0 lead, and coasted to an 18-7 win.
The Bandits' problems were completely over two weeks later, as they struggled with the New York Riptide. But Byrne came to the rescue with an overtime goal - the fourth and final such win of the year - in an 11-10 outcome. If the Bisons had lost that game to New York, the entire season might have gone in a different direction ... making the score the Biggest Goal of the Season. “They haven’t been pretty, the wins that have come in the last little while,” said Kyle Buchanan, who had a hat trick. “Again, we found a way. Guys stepped up when they had to, and it was nice for the birthday boy to finish it off there.”
The win kept Buffalo in the race for first place in the East, something that would be decided on April 22 when Toronto came back to town. The Rock must have felt good about their chances after the previous meeting of the teams, but Buffalo's three-goal burst in 96 seconds in the fourth quarter proved decisive in yet another 11-10 win. Vinc finished with 44 saves in a game that felt like the playoff games between the two teams a year ago.
“It’s a fun matchup,” he said. “Any time you get to play for first place, you like that competition and that challenge. … It seemed like it was the same script, as they got a couple of chances late. It’s a testament to their team. … It was a battle, and rightfully so, in a big game for first place.”
At that point, the Bandits had clinched first place in the division, and had everyone back in the lineup after a string of assorted injuries. A relatively meaningless game against Albany was just what the team needed under the circumstances, and the team capitalized on it on April 29. Buffalo slowly pulled away in scoring 16 goals in a 16-10 win over Albany to close the regular season. That guaranteed that the Bandits would have home field advantage throughout the playoffs. Buffalo again finished 14-4. Smith had 132 points to finish second in the league in that category, while Byrne had 43 goals to lead the team. With all that out of the way, the season turned serious ... and avenging 2022 became the goal.
In the NLL awards, Smith finished second in the MVP voting to goalie Christian Del Blanco of Calgary. Smith was a first-team all-league selection. Priolo was a second-team pick for all-NLL honors on defense. Buchanan was a runner-up in the voting for the Sportsmanship Award and third in the Teammate of the Year balloting; either would have been a nice acknowledgment of his contributions to the team had he won it. Vinc was third in the voting for the goalie of the year.
Need a few unsung heroes? MacKay's contributions were well known in Buffalo, but he might not have caught the eye of those outside the 716. He was used in a variety of roles, and excelled in all of them. For example, Ian often played defense and sparkled in transition. But when Byrne was injured, MacKay moved up front and help the Bandits earn some important wins when they were missing their top offensive weapon. Nick Weiss started strong and settled in for what might have been his best season. Justin Martin - like all defensive defensemen - showed up every night and did his job well.
Buffalo almost copied the script for Round Two against Toronto. The Bandits led 7-4 at halftime, and then had a 6-0 third quarter to blow the game open. Buffalo essentially killed time in the fourth quarter before celebrating a 14-5 win. Vinc had 52 saves on 57 shots, a fabulous .912 save percentage. And the rematch on May 13, a night later, in Hamilton was virtually a rerun. Buffalo piled up eight goals in the second quarter to go up 11-4. Nothing happened in the second half to change the outcome; the final score was 17-8. Cloutier finished with six goals. The team was obviously peaking at exactly the right time.
The Bandits were in the NLL Finals for the fourth time in six years. And guess who was waiting. Yes, Colorado. The Mammoth had knocked off the top seeds, San Diego and Calgary, to return to represent the West. The Bandits had to be feeling confident. They had just won three straight games - in the playoffs, no less - by at least nine goals. That had never happened in the history of the franchise. What could go wrong?
Then word came that Byrne was out with an upper-body injury. There was no news on when he'd be back, but he'd definitely miss the opener of the series. The phrase "has to be cleared to play" was used around the team about his status, which led to speculation that a concussion was the problem. No matter what the injury was, though, this was no time to start planning the championship rally.
Without Byrne, the blowouts figured to come to an end ... and they did. Buffalo had to go back to its formula of getting just enough goals to win, and they did so in a 13-12 win at the KeyBank Center. Buffalo took the lead for good with four straight goals at the start of the third quarter. Even so, this wasn't decided until the end. Zed Williams, from nearby Silver Creek, almost scored the tying goal on a wraparound at the buzzer. But time expired just before the shot was taken, and the game was over. “I knew it was going to be a dogfight,” Smith said. “We went on a run. They went on theirs. It comes down to little things. I felt like it was going to be a close game.”
Even so, the Mammoth had played the Bandits very well after a slow start in the opener of the best-of-three series. Colorado picked up its game a notch in the rematch, two days later. The Mammoth pulled away in the middle quarters, and Buffalo never really responded to the challenge. Colorado finished with a 16-10 win that had little entertainment value to Bandits' fans.
The team re-crossed the country for a third and deciding game of the series in Buffalo. Sound familiar? Colorado now had accounted for almost half of all of the Bandits' losses covering the past two seasons, registering five of Buffalo's 11 defeats in that span. The question on everyone's minds was ... would Byrne play? By the end of practice the night of June 2, Tavares had the answer to how to fill out his lineup: Byrne was a go. What neither man knew was how good he'd be. A crowd of 18,296 was waiting a night later to find out the answer.
Josh
needed little time to contribute, making the primary assist on
Nanticoke's opening goal. Then with the score tied at 1-1, Byrne's
long-distance shot entered the net with less than a second to go in the
period to put Buffalo ahead. Fraser added two more to give the Bandits a
4-2 lead after 30 minutes. Still, the Mammoth were playing rather well,
and seemed capable of a rally. After all, they had done so a year ago.
But Byrne rose to the occasion. He had two goals in the first 3:14 of the second half, and it felt like a major moment in the game. Byrne made it four goals in the game and Smith scored his first of the night to make it an 8-3 score with 15 minutes to go. You don't give a good Bandit team a five-goal lead with 15 minutes to go. Colorado had to open up its game, and thus become more prone to error. Buffalo capitalized with five goals in less than six minutes. It was 13-4 with less than six minutes left, and from there it was a matter of killing time. Still, Smith wasn't taking any chances.
“I was nervous the whole time,” he said. “Honestly, even when we were up by quite a bit, it didn’t feel real. Anything can happen. It was a crazy, emotional roller-coaster ride.”
Finally, the Bandits' MacKay had the ball in the Colorado zone with a few seconds left. He stood there and watched the time run out. Then he joined in a celebration that had been 15 years in the making.
“I feel like 2016 I was a little kid – I didn’t understand it,” said Smith, who hugged cousin Billy Dee Smith of the 2008 champion Bandits team soon after the horn. “I was grateful that we got there, but I didn’t really get it. In 2019, we fell short. Each time we got a little better. Last year we got a win under our belt. This year, we won the championship. Things have a funny way of working, and I’m so thankful. I’d love to have four championships, but this one means the world to me.”
Byrne was a major hero of the night with four crucial goals, and Smith was the MVP of the series with nine points. Still, the star of the show might have been Vinc. He made 46 saves on 50 shots. That's a save percentage of .920, the best by a Bandit in a playoff game since at least 2005 (when the records start). He said he wanted to bring a championship to Buffalo ever since joining the team, and he made sure it happened this time. That's not bad for a goalie who was less than a week from turning 41.
“I said to him in line (as part of the postgame celebration), ‘You can’t retire at four, with four goals against," general manager Steve Dietrich said. "He laughed at me. He’s the backbone of our team, and we’re going to do our best to get him back. If he’s ever going to leave, this is a pretty good time to leave, but we’ll do our best. He’s a difference-maker for us, our ace in the hole.”
A loss would have meant that this team would have lost four finals in six years, and thus doomed to "very good, but ..." status. If you're thinking about the Buffalo Bills of the early 1990s with that description, you are on target. The win meant that players like Smith, Priolo and Weiss, who have been part of all four of those teams, always will be champions.
The Bandits won 18 games during all of the 2021-22 season, and they won 19 games in 2022-23. One more game had made all the difference. Mission accomplished.
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