When the Buffalo Bandits gathered again in November, 2021, they had some serious work to do - mostly in the form of introductions and reintroductions.
After all, they hadn't gotten together as a group since March, 2020, when the pandemic began. The team had Zoom meetings at regular intervals over the 20-month span, but it wasn't as if they practiced on the same field or even met in the same locker room.
"I was thinking last year that since ’92, I don’t think I’ve had a winter
off," general manager Steve Dietrich said. "It’s kind of scary. Obviously, more stuff went on than my
aggravation about not having lacrosse. It sort of puts a lot of stuff
into perspective than just counting down the time until we got back into
the building. It’s hard to believe that it was March (of 2020) that it was the
last time we were here."
What's more, the cast of characters was a little different. Dietrich was still the GM, and John Tavares was still the coach. Players such as Dhane Smith, Josh Byrne, Matt Vinc and Steve Priolo were still on the roster. But the comings and goings continued in spite of the pandemic. For starters, the team lost defender Liam Patten to the Panther City Lacrosse Club, an expansion team in the National Lacrosse League. Patten had been acquired from Philadelphia during the pandemic break.
Buffalo also had not one, but two draft classes. In 2020, the Bandits took Brad McCulley of Robert Morris in the first round. A year later, Buffalo had the third overall pick due to a trade with Rochester, and took Tehoka Nanticoke from the University at Albany. They also added to the local flavor of the team by trading for Connor Fields, a Western New Yorker who played at Bishop Timon and whose family had Bandits' season tickets. Kyle Buchanan had been acquired way back in 2020, and he joined a dynamic group of forwards.
But everyone else had added players as well. That made it almost impossible to guess who would be good in the coming season. Even so, Buffalo had its strong nucleus back and figured to be a contender. As for who else might be good, well, we'd have to wait and see. Attendance was also a question mark, as no one knew how many people were willing to turn out with the Covid-19 virus still in the air.
If nothing else, the Bandits' offense was ready to go on Opening Night (December 4). After Buffalo and Calgary played 30 even minutes in the first half at the KeyBank Center, the Bandits had a 7-0 third period to break the game open. The nicest surprise of the evening was Fields, who had four goals. It was my dream growing up to be part of the Bandits,” he said. “I came
to all these games as a kid. It was really special being out there. To
get a win in front of those fans, there’s nothing better than that.”
The crowd wasn't quite as impressive. The team announced that 7,395 were in the building, but reports circulated that the actual attendance was closer to 5,000. It would prove to be a difficult climb - not only for the Bandits, but for the NLL in general.
Buffalo opened its road schedule a week later in Rochester, and its cousins down the Thruway (the Pegulas own both franchises) proved pesky for a while. But the Bandits ran off six straight goals in the fourth quarter to win going away, 12-8. Fields had four more goals.
After three weeks off (!), Buffalo returned home on January 8 to top a team that had Toronto on its uniform but that played its home games in Hamilton, 12-6. A 7-2 run in the second half was the decisive point. Chris Cloutier had a goal and six assists. “It was weird to wait so long to get the season started, and then have a few weeks off in a row,” goaltender Matt Vinc said about the gap between games. “We didn’t have a lot of practices. I’m proud of the way guys came in focused. We were ready to play tonight. … It was a special night to get a big win.”
The season-opening winning streak reached four games on January 14. Buffalo never did trail in taking a 12-10 decision, although the Swarm kept fighting back. Byrne had two goals and five assists in leading a balanced attack. The game wasn't too stylish, but it was still a way to get to 4-0. "It seemed like when it was 4-1, guys thought it was a point night – we kind of took our foot off the gas,” Tavares said. “They took the momentum. They scored a couple of goals, and you could hear their bench cheering after goals. They thought they were in the game, and they were. When you get a strong lead, sometimes you take it easy. It wasn’t. It was a typically close NLL game.”
After a week off, the Bandits headed to Long Island for a date with the New York Riptide. In spite of what the score indicated, the goalies for both teams did make the trip. It was a crazy, back-and-forth game throughout. Buffalo had a 10-6 lead at the half, and was still ahead by a 14-11 score after thre periods. Then the Riptide opened the fourth with six straight goals in the first eight minutes of the period to take the lead. Down by 17-14, Chase Fraser, Fields and Byrne scored in the final four minutes to send the game to overtime. Then Cloutier finished the job by scoring 1:11 into overtime. Smith had two goals and nine assists for Buffalo, while Jeff Teat finished with three goals and seven assists for New York.
From there the Bandits made it six in a row when they had a much easier time in an 11-8 win over Rochester. The Knighthawks scored four straight goals in the fourth quarter to make things uneasy for those in the KeyBank Center, but Byrne added some insurance with 4:15 left. “It’s been going well,” Steve Priolo said about the season. “I think the mentality in the locker room is that we’re broken the season into thirds, and we’re going to be 0-0 going forward. That’s the type of mentality we have to have in order to keep playing.”
One of the oddities of the schedule in 2021-22 was that the Bandits didn't leave the state of New York for a game in their first six contests. A change of scenery didn't help on February 12, as Buffalo lost a 12-10 decision to the Toronto Rock in Hamilton. The Rock scored three straight goals in the fourth quarter to pull the win out.
Then came one of the oddest contests in Bandits' history, at least statistically. came against Albany on February 18 at home. Albany took a 1-0 lead after one period, but Buffalo led at the half, 6-1. The FireWolves rallied to go ahead, 8-6, after 45 minutes. Then the Bandits scored seven straight goals of their own to win by a score of 13-8. That sort of back-and-forth flow isn't too unusual in indoor soccer. What was unusual is that every single goal was scored into the same net. Vinc said later that he thought the goal that allowed no scores should have been named the first star. “The floor must have been tilted,” Tavares joked
afterwards. “I was told that after the game. I don’t think I’ve ever
seen that before. … I still don’t believe it.”
The Bandits stayed in New York State for the next two games, and won them both. A good second half led to a 14-8 win over Rochester; Byrne finished with eight assists. That was followed by a March 5 trip to Albany in which the teams essentially traded goals for the first 60 minutes. Naturally the game went into overtime, but it didn't take long to setting matters. Buchanan scored only 22 seconds into the extra session to give Buffalo the 12-11 win.
Buffalo was 9-1 and again flying. The Bandits might have played their best overall game of the season on March 12. They ran up 17 goals, including the last six, as the Philadelphia Wings were powerless to stop them. Smith had 10 assists and 12 points. At the other end, Vinc stopped 50 of 55 shots to guarantee win no. 10. That added up to a 17-5 win. “The defense, that was one of their best games,” Tavares said. “That’s a really potent offense. They have a lot of offense threats. And when they did get a chance, Matty was incredible.”
The NLL trading deadline arrived at that point, and the Bandits were coming into it in a position of strength. They traded former first-round draft pick Brent Noseworthy and a fourth-rounder to New York for a first-round choice in 2024. It's impossible to predict the future in such things, and the Riptide does have a great building block in Teat. But, New York did finish 6-12 during the 2021-22 season, so it is at least possible that the Riptide's choice in the 2024 will be a prime one for Buffalo.
After a week off, the Bandits had a chance to make a huge statement about the division race. They were scheduled to meet Halifax in a home-and-home series on March 26 and 27. The Thunderbirds were still holding out hopes that they could catch Buffalo in the East Division, but a sweep was probably necessary. That thought died a quick death in Buffalo, thanks to a 16-11 win that featured a 10-3 edge in the second half. Nine different players scored, and Smith had nine points. “It’s a total trust,” Byrne said about the balanced attack. “As you long as you can sit there and look at a guy on the bench and trust that he’ll make the right play at the right time, it goes a long way. It feels like you don’t have to do too much, and stick to your strengths.”
A day later, the Bandits had a 7-2 lead after the first period, and the game essentially was decided. Buffalo again won by a 17-12 score, although Halifax had to score five of the last six goals to make it respectable. Vinc had 60 saves on 71 shots, and Smith had five goals. Four days later, the Bandits had a rare Thursday night game in Philadelphia, and beat the Wings again easily, 17-12. Philadelphia scored seven goals in the fourth quarter to make the final score look reasonable.
The Bandits had to fly to Colorado and its mile-high altitude two days later for a game with the Mammoth. It was almost unfair to schedule a team to play three games within a week, but that was the assignment. The game was close throughout, but Connor Robinson's goal with a minute left was the different in the Mammoth's 15-14 win. That ended Buffalo's seven-game win streak and put the team's record at 13-2.
The defeat was no cause for alarm, but the game at home at New York a week later was a bit more of a concern. The Bandits had a terrible first half, falling behind by a 10-3 score. This time it was Buffalo's turn to score some goals that didn't really matter, as they closed with four straight to make the score 15-12 in favor of New York. The game had been a chance to clinch home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. “We came out flat,” Smith said. “We thought they’d just give it to us. Every team in this league is a great team. We had just a terrible first half.”
The Bandits had to wait a week, then, to celebrate the top seed in the playoffs. They left little doubt after an eight-goal second period. Buffalo won by a score of 18-9, as Smith had nine points and Cloutier added eight. That meant the final game of the regular season was completely meaningless ... except that Toronto had been playing extremely well down the stretch, and a playoff meeting between the teams seemed likely. The offenses didn't do much for about 50 minutes, but Toronto closed the show with six straight goals for a 10-7 win. “There are a couple of ways to look at it,” Kyle Buchanan said. “You don’t want to go out on a low note, but we were 14-4. That’s a heck of a year. You have to keep that in mind.”
Individually, Smith shattered some records with his 135 points on the season; he also had 94 assists to set an NLL mark. Byrne was sixth in the league in scoring with 99 points and his four shorthanded goals lead the league. Nanticoke had six game-winning goals to top the NLL. Vinc was first in the league in saves and save percentage. The Bandits did have the league's best attendance for the first time since 2017. However, the number was 9,921 - the first time since at least 2005 that the league leader was under 10,000. The NLL's average attendance dropped from 8,035 in 2019-20 to 6,865 in 2021-22. Some of that was the pandemic, but it's tough to figure out else went wrong in that area.
The playoffs opened at home against Albany, and goals were tough to find in the early going. The score was 2-2 after 30 minutes, as Vinc and Albany's Doug Jamieson traded saves. Buffalo's Smith and Byre scored in the first two minutes of the second half, and the team never looked back. The Bandits scored the game's final three goals to finish with the 10-5 win.
The victory moved Buffalo into the East finals. Due to a scheduling conflict, the Bandits and Rock had to open their series on Sunday, May 15. The day before, however, Buffalo was rocked by a mass shooting that killed 10 people in a supermarket. The game had to be played, but it was hard to know what to expect from everyone - from players to fans. Somewhat unexpectedly, what the 10,258 in the building saw was perhaps the most intense game in Bandits' history.
Not every goal was SportsCenter worthy, but it was close, as Buffalo set a furious pace. However, whenever the Bandits relaxed for a minute, Toronto came right back. It was like that for the entire game. The Rock's final comeback took place in the final seconds. Trailing by two, Tom Schreiber scored with 11 seconds left to narrow the Buffalo lead to 18-17. Toronto then won the faceoff, moved the ball up the field, and got the ball to Rob Hellyer ... who was alone in front. But he hit the goalpost, the ball went into the corner, time ran out, and the Bandits had a win to remember.
Byrne finished with 11 points, and Smith added 10. Both are people of color, and they were in pain over the shooting. Smith became the team spokesman concerning the shooting. “I’m not the type of guy to talk too much,” Smith said. “I’m a shy guy,
and I don’t like to talk about my feelings. I did get emotional before
the game regarding what happened (Saturday) in Buffalo. It’s tough for
everyone in Buffalo and the world in general. Basically, my story was
that I play lacrosse because I love it, and I want to show kids of color
that they can play at the top of the level and be a pro.”
How could a game top that for emotion and excitement? Nothing could do that, but the Bandits and Rock certainly tried. It was close until the fourth quarter, when Buffalo moved ahead by 9-5 on three straight goals from Smith, Fraser and Byrne. The Rock answered with three of its own. Fraser added some insurance with 3:34 left, but Schreiber struck again with 46 seconds left ... and soon Toronto had the ball with a chance to tie. Almost unbelievably, Dan Craig was left alone on the doorstep, and the Rock forward one-timed the ball at Vinc at the buzzer. But would the goal count? Officials checked the replay and saw the ball enter the net about a tenth of a second, if that, after the clock struck all zeroes. In other words, no goal. Game over.
The Bandits had swept the best-of-three series by a fraction of an inch and a fraction of a second. That sounds like a tough act to follow. Still, Buffalo was in the NLL Finals, hoping once again to win its first championship since 2008. Colorado had won the West in a way that almost matched the Bandits' dramatics.
There wasn't much to choose between the teams that opened the playoffs on June 4 at the KeyBank Center. Buffalo kept taking small leads, and Colorado kept coming back. The Mammoth tied the game early in the fourth quarter, and the teams traded goals down the stretch. That left the score at 14-14 with under a minute left. Colorado had a bad change after a 30-second violation, and Ian MacKay sent Nick Weiss off with a long breakaway. Weiss had about half the floor to cover on the breakaway, which gave him the chance to plan his shot and ponder the situation. Then he put the ball in the top corner for the go-ahead goal.
“(Ian MacKay) made an unbelievable play on a loose ball, … and I just saw open floor,” said Weiss – he of three goals in the entire regular season. “I started running, he gave it to me. Most of the guys on my team knew exactly where I was shooting the ball.”
But still, the game wasn't over. Eli McLaughlin had the ball at the crease for Colorado with a few seconds left, but Vinc made the save and time ran out. Somehow, the Bandits had survived another preposterous game. At that point, it seemed as if Buffalo was leading a charmed life in its playoff run; destiny was always on its side.
But then the Lacrosse Gods changed their minds. In Game Two of the best-of-three series in Denver, the Bandits held a 8-6 lead with 12 minutes left after a goal by Buchanan. But it was the Mammoth, playing without its top two scorers, that found its scoring touch. Colorado scored five straight goals to win, 11-8.
It was back to Buffalo, and the fans were waiting. The Bandits recorded their first sellout in more than four years, as everyone wanted to see their favorite team wrap up a championship at home. The 19,060 in the building were ready to explode at any moment, and Colorado's biggest task was to not let the emotion of the day carry Buffalo forward. The Mammoth did that. After an mostly even first period, Colorado used a 5-2 run to take a 7-5 lead at halftime. The Mammoth had some good chances to pad its lead in the third period, but Vinc stopped everything in sight to keep his team within striking distance. And the Bandits did tie the game, 7-7, early in the fourth quarter. Anyone's game.
The Mammoth took it. Zed Williams, who grew up in nearby Silver Creek, took a long slot from high in the slot that seem to pass through about five bodies on its way to the net for the go-ahead goal. Chris Wardle made it a two-goal lead a couple of minutes later. The Bandits kept trying to come back, throwing 24 shots on goalie Dillon Ward. But most of the shots were from long range, as they had been most of the night. Ward almost always was in a good position to see and stop the shots. A couple of late goals didn't alter the game's trajectory, and the Bandits fell, 10-8. Ward was the Most Valuable Player of the Finals.
Priolo, who has been chasing a title since 2010 in Buffalo, was as downcast as you'd expect after the game. “It hurts mostly because it was in front of our fans,” he said. “You
feel like you let the city down. It hurts that way. We were good, we
were bonded, and we had a lot of things going for us. I feel like I’m
dreaming right now.”
“I’m not going to sugarcoat it – it’s heartbreaking,” Dietrich said.
“Someone told me, the sun’s going to rise. My reply was, I still haven’t
gotten over 2006 (his first loss in the finals with the Bandits). It’s
going to be a long time to get over this one.”
By any stretch of the imagination, it had been a great season for the Bandits. They won 18 of 24 games. Smith was named as the league's MVP, and Vinc was the goaltender of the year. It's not fair that the team will be remembered for not finishing the job, but that's the reality of pro sports. Buffalo's front office figured to be haunted by a simple question throughout the summer and fall: How can the team take that last step?
(Follow Budd on Twitter @WDX2BB)
