The 2025-26 Season

Who doesn't love a good banner-raising ceremony?

 

The operative number for the Buffalo Bandits in 2025-26 figured to be four. 

The Bandits had won their third straight championship in 2025, a remarkable achievement that had only been accomplished by the Rochester Knighthawks (2012 to 2014) in the National Lacrosse League.  But no one in the history of the league had ever won four straight. 

Could the Bandits do that? They'd need some key figures back from the 2025 roster to do so. The first order of business, then, was to see if some veterans were ready to return. As the 2025-26 season approached, players such as Matt Vinc, Paul Dawson and Kyle Buchanan enlisted for another year.  

But there are always changes on a roster from year to year. In this case, Chris Cloutier and Chase Fraser had the chance for a good-sized pay hike and a bigger role in an offense if they signed as free agents elsewhere. They did so, both joining Las Vegas. Cloutier was a very good secondary threat so that defenses couldn't completely concentrate on Dhane Smith and Josh Byrne, while Fraser probably was the emotional center of the team. (Cloutier had 40 goals in his new home, while injuries shortened Fraser's season.)

The Bandits still had players like Ian MacKay and Buchanan up front, and had to hope that the team would have some young players, like Tehoka Nanticoke, could step up a bit. Just in case, they signed old friend Ryan Benesch to a contract. General manager Steve Dietrich also had the chance to pick up a valuable player on defense, as he gave up some draft choices to Philadelphia for another ex-Bandit, Mitch de Snoo. 

The team opened the season with its third straight banner-raising ceremony in the KeyBank Center. 

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If the team needed a reminder of what was the task for the coming season - add to the banner collection - that moment served its purpose. Buffalo and Georgia played the first 30 minutes evenly, but a big third quarter led to a 15-11 victory. The Bandits had 60 shots on goal, and Smith finished with four goals and four assists.

Two weeks later, Buffalo looked to be on its way to another win. It had 7-4 lead in the middle of the third quarter. But Halifax ran off four straight goals to take the lead. Josh Byrne tied the game with 3:09 left, but the Thunderbirds won it only 26 seconds into overtime - a somewhat shocking result.

“Overtime is so crazy,” Nick Weiss said of the Bandits said. “We look at it one shift at a time. We always think we can play one shift and give our offense a chance. We have a lot of faith in them. But unfortunately, they scored on the first possession, and that’s tough to swallow.”

The Bandits had a couple of weeks to rebound, and did so with a convincing 13-7 win in Calgary. Back home on January 3, Buffalo played 49 great minutes in taking a 14-7 lead. What could go wrong in so little time? The Desert Dogs answered that question by scoring five straight goals goals to get within two. Smith added a little insurance, but the 15-13 didn't leave anyone watching Buffalo to be full of confidence about the team. “Not the way we wanted it, but … good teams find a way,” forward Ian MacKay said.

Sure enough, a road trip to Rochester provided the first sign of major trouble. The Knighthawks had a 7-3 lead early in the second quarter. Buffalo never really got within striking distance, and dropped a 12-9 decision. Even more worrisome was a fourth-quarter collapse at home against Ottawa on January 16. The Black Bears scored four straight goals at the start of the fourth quarter and stole a 10-9 decision.“We were going back and forth, and couldn’t go on a run,” Smith said. “We need to step it up a bit.”

That was only a warmup for what happened next. It took the Bandits less than four minutes to figure out they were in major trouble on January 31 in Colorado. The Mammoth had taken a 3-0 lead by that point, and it extended the margin to 6-0 after 18 minutes of play. Leads like that are almost always safe, and the Mammoth didn't make any mistakes in a 20-9 romp. Smith and Byrne combined for only eight points, while Andrew Kew had seven goals for Colorado. 

That certainly felt like the team had hit bottom, but it didn't get any better at home on February 7 against lowly Philadelphia. The Bandits scored three goals in a row at the start, and then gave up four. It was going to be one of those nights. The Wings scored the game's final four goals to win 13-11. It was one of five wins Philadelphia had during the season. 

 

“Two-goal lead, and we took two stupid penalties,” coach John Tavares said. “It was like Ottawa – tie game and we took a stupid penalty. We’re finding ways to lose, and it’s frustrating obviously to everybody. I’m not going to blame the loss on one play, but we need to find ways to win. We’re finding ways to lose for whatever reason. We have to turn the page. … We have to be a little more disciplined, and be able to take a hit – not retaliate – and be smart enough not to take a penalty.” 

The Bandits had lost four in a row to fall to 3-5, and seemed to be in serious trouble. The team had lost to some teams at the bottom of the standings, and the upcoming schedule was loaded with tough opponents. It had moments where the roster looked out of gas and tired. Suddenly, the road to the championship seemed difficult; making the playoffs was no longer a given. 

Buffalo showed a little life on Valentine's Day, with Smith scoring a short-handed goal with 2:24 left to give his team an 11-10 win in Halifax. About a week later the Bandits played a streaky game in Vancouver, going down by 4-1, rallying to lead 7-5, falling behind 10-7, and finally losing 11-9. Buffalo was 4-6 with eight games to go. It was the key moment of the regular season. 

Dietrich knew the trading deadline was coming up in a handful of days. He certainly could break up the team at that point, selling off some parts in order to help a rebuilding process. Dietrich also could try to load up for one last push with some trades. He opted to wait until the team got through two more games that weekend against Saskatchewan and Toronto before making that decision. Meanwhile, the team had what sounded like an emotional meeting, pointing out that some of the veterans had come back for one more kick at the can and the rest of the team was letting them down. 

That set up the best game of the season, a home game against Saskatchewan on February 27. There were all sorts of shifts in momentum in a well-played game. Buffalo had a 10-7 lead after three quarters, only to give up three goals to send the contest to overtime. Both teams had good chances in the extra session, which stretched out for more than six minutes. Finally, Byrne fired home a shot from long distance to give the team an emotional 11-10 win. Tavares was asked if he felt more joy or relief when the last shot of the game went in. 

“There was a lot of relief,” he said. “This was a much-needed win in the season. We had a great game against Vancouver, which is a great team, and we played another great team tonight. We still have a great team. We put ourselves in a bad situation and it’s definitely a relief to get the win and get back in the playoff hunt.” 

Even better, the Bandits came back the next night and had enough left in the tank to pound the Rock, 14-9. The team was 6-6 and had an early funeral to the season. Dietrich responded by trading for Joe Resetarits, giving up Lukas Nielsen and a second-round draft choice to Philadelphia to acquire the Western New York native. It was one last signal to the rest of the league that the Bandits were going to do whatever it took to have a chance at winning that fourth title. 

With that settled, Buffalo settled in for a nice run of victories. The rematch with Colorado was a much different contest, as the Bandits broke the game open in the third quarter in a 13-10 win. Smith and Byrne both had four goals and five assists to lead the way.

“With the offense here, you don’t have to do too much,” Resetarits said about playing with Smith and Byrne. “You’ve got the best one-two punch, in my opinion, in history, with a supporting cast. To be a part of that, you do whatever you can to help the team win.”

On March 21, Buffalo looked dead with seven minutes to go and San Diego leading by 8-4. Buffalo scored the next five goals, including Dhane Smith's tally in overtime, and took a shocking 9-8 decision. 

It was a similar story in the next game, as the Bandits came back from a 7-4 deficit with nine minutes left to steal a 8-7 win from Saskatchewan. Resetarits had the game-winner. In yet another chance to avenge a loss, Buffalo only let Vancouver hang around for a quarter before blasting the Warriors - the eventual regular-season champion - by a shocking score of 15-5. The Bandits scored the last six goals of that game; Byrne finished with 10 points. 

The Revenge Tour continued on April 11, as the Bandits treated Rochester like a bug on the windshield in a 12-6 win. Buffalo took a 5-1 lead in less than 16 minutes, as four players had at least two goals each. That game had an emotional tinge to it under the circumstances. This was the Bandits' final home game of the regular season. While the win wrapped off a playoff spot, there was no guarantee that this collection of players would ever be together on its home field again. 

“When I came in tonight, I wondered when the last time I was going to be playing in front of Banditland,” Buchanan said. “You want to take advantage of those things. But then it’s gone. What do you do with that information? You want to put out the effort and do the small things. That’s the way I try to savor it. Having fans and friends here, it’s not hard to get up for it. It’s certainly pretty special. I think when you win, you not only get closer, but you spend a lot of time together. … You build bonds that last a lifetime.”

“When you don’t know the future, you want to soak up those memories,” goalie Matt Vinc said. “I’ve got a lot of friends and family here, and playing here – it’s a special place. Having the opportunity to go out with a great group of guys, you don’t take it for granted. Your career goes by pretty fast. We’re fortunate to have a special group here. Hopefully we can keep things going.”

The Bandits seemed primed for another playoff run. They had won seven straight games, and still had at least a mathematical chance to finish first in the overall standings. Buffalo needed to win its last game at Oshawa and receive some help, but at least it was possible. The Bandits looked like the team that no one wanted to play in the postseason.  

Then everything, including dreams, fell apart.

Oshawa, of 5-12 record entering the contest, scored the first seven goals of the April 18 matchup. (Buffalo had only given up the first seven goals in a game in two other contests since 2005 - and hadn't given up more than that.) The Bandits didn't even score until 25:17 had elapsed; that's the team's second-longest wait for a goal at the game's start since 2005. Buffalo moved within three goals a couple of times, but couldn't conclude a big comeback. The Firewolves had played spoiler in an 12-8 victory. 

  

That put Buffalo in fifth place in the final standings, trailing Vancouver, Colorado, Saskatchewan and Georgia in that order. With eight teams in the playoffs, the Bandits would have to open the postseason on the road. 

There were some highlights in the regular sason. Smith finished with 118 points, and he probably was the most consistent player on the team. Byrne wasn't far behind at 113, including five game-winning goals. MacKay had 34 goals, Buchanan had 26, and Nanticoke had 21. Vinc finished with a goals-against average of 9.85, the first time he had been under 10.00 as a Bandit. 

Georgia was waiting in the first round, a best-of-one matchup. Buffalo had needed overtime in 2024 to knock off the Swarm in a similar situation, but this time it had a potential difference-maker in goalie Brett Dobson. He had set an NLL record for goals-against average in a season. If you thought that might be a result of good team defense, he also broke the league record for save percentage in a season. This was going to be a difficult task. 

An announced crowd of only 4,134 - the second-lowest for a road playoff game in the Bandits' history - turned out on April 25. Georgia must not have needed the motivation that comes with a big crowd. The Swarm had a 3-1 lead after 15 minutes, and it ballooned to 8-2 only seven minutes later. Since at least 2009, Buffalo had never erased a five-goal deficit in a playoff game ... let alone six. A five-goal run in the middle of the second half by the home team essentially ended any slim hopes that the Bandits had. The final score, 17-10 for the Swarm, was essentially academic. The dynasty was official over.  

 

The first round of the playoffs in the league turned out to be an odd one. The three top seeds all lost at home and were done for the season. If the Bandits had beaten Georgia, they would have had the top seed through the rest of the playoffs. 

The 2024-25 season will be remembered for its inconsistency, but maybe one key factor in the team's play had been overlooked. Buffalo had played in 17 playoff games during its three championship runs. In other words, the Bandits had played the equivalent of almost four seasons in a period when everyone else played a little more than three. That might have been a heavy lift. (Tack on a trip to the Finals in 2022, and it's 23 extra games in the previous four years.) 

It had been one of the great runs in Buffalo's sports history, but all such streaks must end sometime. Everyone could only wait to see what would happen before the next opening night of the season comes November.   

Bandits' Best/Worst One-Game Faceoff Percentage (2010 to 2025-26)

Connor Farrell had a heck of a night in the season opener of the Bandits' season in November 2025. He won 26 of 31 faceoffs. For a team that historically has been known for losing faceoffs, this was quite a revelation. 

It raised the question, how good was it in team history? It will take a while to figure it out as we go through the records. But here's a list of the best faceoff percentages in a game of the last several years; a player has to take at least 20 draws to qualify. Sometimes the Bandits have tried a number of players at the spot when things haven't gone well in a particular game, so there aren't many truly dreadful numbers presented here. The list does include playoff games. 

Yes, Farrell's performance in the past 10 years was No. 1, but Jay Thorimbert had an even better day in March, 2015 - with another one in the playoffs the year before.   

Name - Date - Record - Percentage

Jay Thorimbert - 3/14/15 - 22-3 - .880

Jay Thorimbert - 5/3/14 - 27-5 - .844 (Playoffs) 

Connor Farrell - 11/29/25 - 26-5 - .839

Jay Thorimbert - 3/21/15 - 20-4 - .833 

Connor Farrell - 3/8/24 - 27-6 - .818 

And, of course, we need the bottom numbers as well:

Name - Date - Record - Percentage

Connor Farrell - 2/27/26 - 4-20 - .167

Max Adler - 2/30/22 - 6-24 - .200

Jon Harasyn - 3/6/10 - 5-16 - .238 

Ian MacKay - 1/13/24 - 7-22 - .241

Ian MacKay - 12/9/23 - 5-15 - .250

Updated on April 27, 2026

Introducing Goals Created

Here's a statistic that has been floating around my brain for more than 30 years ... and it's time to apply it in a new way. 

Baseball writer Bill James once came up with a way of measuring offensive performance within the structure of the team. It was called Runs Created. The idea was to create a formula in which the individual totals of the players' contributions would add up to the number of runs scored by the team for a year. 

At some point around 1990, when I worked for the Sabres, I tried to do a simple version of that for hockey. I started with the reference point that a goal has two statistical components - the goal and the assist. Responsibility for a particular goal can vary on the play. Sometime the goal scorer does all the work. Sometime the assist is the key play. 

Therefore, I assigned 50 percent of the credit to the goal-scorer. So if Alexander Mogilny scores 50 goals, he gets credit for 25 goals created. That was the easy part.

But what about assists? The problem was that not all goals have two assists. So I did the math, and discovered that if you take about 30 percent of a players' assist total, you have the assist component. (I think the exact number was .306.) In other words, if you register 50 assists, you get credit for 15 goals. So a 50-50=100 player would get credit for creating 40 goals. Add those up for a particular team and they should - and did come close to the offensive output.

All right .... what about in indoor lacrosse?

I used the same technique for this sport - a 50/50 split in credit between goals and assists. The number for assists changes in lacrosse. Last season, I counted up (by hand, no less) 2,711 goals in the NLL's regular season. On those goals, there were 4,332 assists. So the goals are multiplied by .500, and the assists are multiplied by .313. By the way, the multiplier for assists when I did it last year was .316 - so it hasn't changed much. It's a little higher than in the NHL. Then again, it's easier to complete passes in lacrosse because you are on two feet and not skates. 

(Footnote: That number has come down quite a bit over the years. Back in the early days of indoor lacrosse, there were fewer assists awarded so the number was around .400. It was down to .350 or so about 10 years later, and reached current levels in the 2010s.) 

With that done, let's see what a top 10 looks like for the 2025-26 season:

Name - Team - Goals - Assists - Goals Created

Keegan Bal - Vancouver - 45 - 79 - 22.5 + 24.7 = 47.2

Connor Fields - Rochester - 41 - 78 - 20.5 + 24.4 = 44.9

Dhane Smith - Buffalo - 39 - 79 - 19.5 + 24.7 = 44.2 

Jeff Teat - Ottawa - 44 - 71 - 22.0 + 22.2 - 44.2

Josh Byrne - Buffalo - 36 - 77 - 18.0 + 24.1 = 42.1 

Alex Simmons - Oshawa - 41 - 68 - 20.5 + 21.3 = 41.8

Tanner Cook - Calgary - 49 - 52 - 24.5 + 16.3 = 40.8 

Mitch Jones - Las Vegas - 35 - 69 - 17.5 + 21.6 = 39.1 

Tyler Pace - Calgary - 31 - 72 - 15.5 + 22.5 = 38.0

Jonathan Donville - Las Vegas - 27 - 78 - 13.5 + 24.4 = 37.9 

Bal wins the title, which goes with his scoring title. I'm sure he'll treasure both of them equally. 

What happens when we add in the leaders from the last two seasons? This:

Name - Team - Year - Goals - Assists - Goals Created

Josh Byrne - Buffalo - 2023-24 - 53 - 82 - 26.5 + 25.9 = 52.4

Jeff Teat - New York - 2023-24 - 58 - 72 - 29.0 + 22.8 = 51.8

Connor Fields - Rochester - 2023-24 - 56 - 64 - 28.0 + 20.2 = 50.2 

Josh Byrne - Buffalo - 2024-25 - 44 - 90 - 22.0 + 28.4 = 48.4

Dhane Smith - Buffalo - 2023-24 - 33 - 101 - 16.5 + 31.9 = 48.4

Dhane Smith - Buffalo - 2024-25 - 32 - 102 - 16.0 + 32.2 = 48.2

Connor Fields - Rochester - 2024-25 - 46 - 77 - 23.0 + 24.3 = 47.3

Keegan Bal - Vancouver - 2025-26 - 45 - 79 - 22.5 + 24.7 = 47.2 

Jeff Teat - Ottawa - 56 - 56 - 2024-25 - 28.0 + 17.7 = 45.7 

Joe Resetarits - Philadelphia - 2024-25 - 41 - 80 - 20.5 + 25.3 = 45.8

Bal was the only one from 2025-26 to join the top 10, and he knocked himself out of the list. If I get inspired, I'll go back further in time - although it's a bit of work to do so.   

Updated April 27, 2026

The 2024-25 Season

It didn't take long after the Bandits won their second straight championship to realize what would be ahead of them in the following season. 

One title was nice. Two was very good. Three would be historic.

Three-peats are very unusual in professional sports. It's difficult to keep all of the players together financially. Players get hurt. Coaches and executives move on. Luck is involved. Complacency can creep into the picture. Only one team in the history of the National Lacrosse League (and its former configuration, the Major Indoor Lacrosse League)  had done it - the Rochester Knighthawks, who won titles in 2012, 2013, and 2014. The last team before the Bandits to win even two in a row besides Rochester was the Toronto Rock (2002 and 2003). 

If the Bandits were going to make it three in a row, they'd have one less team to beat. The Panther City franchise in Fort Worth, Texas, was an experiment in a part of the world where indoor lacrosse was generally unknown. Its attendance was always terrible even if the team itself was middle of the pack, and ownership mercifully decided to pull the plug in the summer of 2024. There was an attempt to find a spot for the team on short notice. Charlotte came close to landing the franchise, but there wasn't enough time for it all to come together. 

The next stop was the dispersal draft, which was quite a prize for some of the losing teams in the NLL. Colorado, for example, picked up a top scorer in Will Malcom. The Bandits didn't have any pressing needs, and a new player might have trouble making the roster. So they dealt the pick to Philadelphia for a second-round draft choice in 2025.

"You look at Colorado – two years in a row they’re in the league final," Bandits general manager Steve Dietrich said. "They have a tough year last year, and their present was Will Malcom – a 100-point scorer. Every team got two guys better. Obviously with us picking late (No. 14), things worked out that we ended up getting a draft pick (second-rounder from Philadelphia in 2025). The guy we wanted went a couple of picks earlier. It just makes a competitive league more competitive, when teams get two players."

Buffalo's biggest preseason transaction probably was the trade of forward Brandon Robinson to Rochester for defender Thomas Whitty. Then the Bandits dealt Justin Robinson to Ottawa for a conditional draft choice. If nothing else, having two fewer Robinsons around would make it easier for broadcasters to describe the play. Whitty proved to be a good fit, but otherwise the team chose to stand pat. The nucleus would be intact. 

"We’re lucky," Dietrich said. "Scott (Loffler of the team's front office) and the ownership group give us a lot of leeway to financially keep a lot of these guys together. Getting Matt Spanger back was going to be a big one for us. We knew we had to do a couple of things. Getting Thomas Whitty is going to help. The kids we drafted will help. We wanted to keep a lot of the same team, but we also wanted to make changes so that you’re always keeping up with the Joneses. You’re always trying to stay young while staying competitive." 

The Bandits did stash away three first-round draft picks for the fall of 2024 selection session. They took Lukas Nielsen, Luca Antongiovanni and Taylor Dooley with them, and could afford to let them develop slowly so they could contribute down the road. Dooley played four games, while Nielsen participated in two.  

The schedule-makers at the NLL office didn't do the Bandits any favors. The dates were back-loaded. Buffalo was scheduled to play two straight games on the road in early December, take a week off and finally play the home opener (and accompanying banner-raising ceremony) on December 28. Then they followed a pattern of week on/week off that lasted until mid-February. But from there, Buffalo played 12 games in 10 weeks with no byes. 

It took all of three quarters in the opener against Rochester for the defending champions to get serious about the season. With the score 7-6 for Buffalo, the Bandits went on an 8-1 rampage in the fourth period to take a 15-7 win. Dhane Smith had 11 points, and Matt Vinc stopped 54 of 61 shots for a save percentage of .885. Kyle Buchanan started his season off with three goals, setting the tone for a very successful season. 

It was even easier a week later. The New York Riptide became the Ottawa Black Bears in the offseason, but the Bandits overwhelmed them. Buffalo had a 9-3 lead at halftime, and threw in the final six goals of the game to come away with an 18-7 triumph. Noteworthy was a five-goal performance by Ian MacKay; there's be more of that as the season went on. 

After a week of rest, Buffalo finally got around to a last celebration of its previous title.

 

Suitably inspired, the Bandits simply scored the first six goals of the game. Josh Byrne was the only one to have two goals in that run, as scoring came from everywhere. Byrne had 11 points, and Tehoka Nanticoke added a hat trick in an easy 13-6 win over Rochester. The Bandits were three games into the season, and they had outscored their opponents by a 46-20 margin.  

“It’s one of those games when you’re a little uncomfortable during the day,” Vinc said about the home opener and accompanying ceremony. “You want to get that part of it over with. It means so much to everyone, but we’re here to play a game. It’s one of those things when you’ll look back and be very proud of that moment.” 

Toronto was tough on January 10, 2025. The Rock, which had been playing second fiddle to the Bandits for the past few years, usually gave Buffalo a tough game. This qualified. Neither team had more than a two-goal lead. The Bandits found themselves down by a goal with five minutes to play when Chase Fraser and Nick Weiss turned the tables. 

With the score tied, Steve Priolo completed a last-minute (literally) pass to Weiss, who went alone when the defense adjusted slightly to guard against a pass to Byrne on the right side. “I’m glad I looked back when I did,” Weiss said. “The ball was already in the air. It would have been pretty awkward if it hit me in the head and didn’t get a shot. I caught it, and they went straight to J.B., and I had a lane. I went through a couple of fakes and shot, and it went in. When you have a great offense like we do, sometimes we don’t push it. But when we have the chance, we can go.” 

Dhane Smith added an empty-netter in a 15-13 win. Smith had 10 points and MacKay had five goals. 

During the next two games, Buffalo returned to its dominating ways. It scored 10 goals in the second period alone to take a 13-5 lead on Philadelphia; Byrne had six goals on seven shots at intermission as everything he touched turned to goal. The Wings scored six straight goals to make the second half a little interesting, but a pair of power-play goals by the Bandits in the final five minutes finished the win. Byrne went 7-5=12, while Smith was 1-9=10. 

“You hear about guys like Steph Curry and LeBron (James) talking about being in a flow state,” Byrne said about being in the zone. “You’re not really pressing. You’re not trying too hard. Everything is working.  I didn’t have to do a whole lot. Guys were setting seals and setting picks. I think something that’s underrated is that they are so focused on Dhane (Smith), because of how great a facilitator and goal scorer he is, that sometimes I get more room. Suddenly, it’s a wide-open shot.”   

Buffalo put on another burst against Albany on February 1, taking a 6-2 lead late in the first quarter. The margin grew to 11-4 and finished at 16-10. The Bandits were 6-0 and dominating the NLL.

“It’s a cool feeling for sure,” Byrne said about the big runs. “It includes the defense, with (Vinc) as the best ever. The defense is unreal. A lot of guys don’t get recognized enough. Our offense is insanely talented. You take any one of our guys, and they could be a No. 1 (forward) on any other team.” 

.

Buffalo's next game was in Toronto, and it took a period to get the Bandits' attention. Five straight goals by the Rock opened the game, and it was still up by a pair early in the fourth quarter. Buffalo responded with six goals in under eight minutes in a 13-12 win. 

Another bad start was an omen, as visiting San Diego had a 4-0 lead before eight minutes had elapsed a day after the Toronto game. The Bandits fought back and led by a goal in the final moments. But Zach Currier tied the game with six seconds left, Wes Berg ended it in overtime, and the Bandits had finally lost (14-13). The team's 16-game winning streak was over. 

“It was a little déjà vu,” MacKay said. “We knew we had fallen behind the previous night, but we also had the memory of fighting back through it. Obviously, we don’t want to start like that. In the first quarter we had three or four good chances. … It wasn’t for a lack of effort. We just weren’t hitting our shots.”

Buffalo returned the favor a week later, outlasting the Seals in San Diego by a score of 13-12. Kyle Buchanan scored the game-winning goal with 4:25 left. Next up was Saskatchewan, the surprise team of the league and one that was battling the Bandits for first place overall. Buffalo trailed 5-2 late in the second quarter, and then ripped off a 7-1 run through the fourth quarter. The Bandits were fully in charge of the league after a 9-7 win.

The Bandits traded back-to-back wins with Calgary in a home-and-home swap. The Roughnecks had a 7-2 edge in the fourth quarter to take a surprisingly 17-11 win in the KeyBank Center on March 8. The one-sided wins for Buffalo had disappeared for the moment, and it was easy to wonder if the other teams were learning to play with each other as the season went on. Buffalo had that edge early in the season because it had so many returning players.

“Teams get together more (as the season progresses), and the dispersal draft of the Texas team (Panther City) made a lot of teams stronger,”  coach John Tavares said. “They added some new pieces to the puzzle, and it takes some time. So maybe these teams are starting to get better with these new additions. … I think there’s parity throughout the entire year, but now it’s getting even tighter. If you look at the standings, there are a lot of teams around .500 – 6-6, 5-6. 7-5. On any night, anybody can win.” 

A week later, Buffalo bounced back with five straight goals in the first half to take control. The Bandits ended up 11-6 winners. 

In between those two games, the NLL trading deadline took place. Dietrich thought his roster was a little thin, especially with the loss of Matt Spanger for the season to injury. The Bandits' GM realized he had a chance at another title, and gave up a little of the future for some immediate help. A second-round pick in 2028 went to Vancouver for Kiel Matisz and a low-round pick. Buffalo also picked up Western New York Ron John and a draft pick from San Diego for Sam Le Roue and a second-rounder in 2026. 

If it's a good start to a game you wanted, the Bandits provided one against Las Vegas. They scored the first eight goals of the first quarter and had an 11-2 lead at halftime - the largest such margin by the team since at least 2005. The Bandits were never in danger after that, even though the Desert Dogs closed with five straight scores to make the game a more reasonable 13-10. “It’s just a lot of fun,” Chris Cloutier said about the team's ball movement. “Those are the goals you get up for. Those are the goals that you all celebrate together. … It looks like Christmas morning on everyone’s face.”

Buffalo had to travel to Albany for another game the next night, and fell short in spite of tying the game with three straight goals to close regulation time. Future NLL Rookie of the Year Dyson Williams scored eight minutes into overtime to give the Firebirds the win. It was the second-longest game in Bandits' history.    

A poor fourth quarter led to a home loss to the suddenly hot Vancouver Warriors led to a 13-12 loss. But Buffalo rebounded nicely with a 15-10 win in Colorado. That meant the Bandits only needed to win at home against Halifax on April 12 to clinch first overall and home-field for the playoffs. They did that by scoring five of the game's last six goals to pull out a 15-12 win; Buchanan (his fourth) scored the game-winner.

“Most of our losses have been one-goal games, except for maybe one of them,” Buchanan said. “You want to play tough lacrosse. You want to get those tough wins. It was nice to pull away in the fourth quarter.” 

 

That win made the season's final game meaningless. The Bandits dropped an 14-11 decision in Georgia to finish 13-5. It was the 10th time the team had been the No. 1 seed entering the playoffs, more than any other team. It didn't guarantee anything, since Buffalo had won only four championships in its nine previous seasons on top. 

It turned out to be a good year for the Bandits in terms of postseason hardware. Smith was picked as the offensive player of the year, and Buchanan won the sportsmanship prize. A nice surprise came when team broadcaster John Gurtler earned the Tom Borrelli Award as the "Media Person of the Year." Gurtler had been broadcasting the team's games since 2004, but it took 21 years for him to be recognized by the league for his fine work. 

Individually, Byrne and Smith tied for the team and NLL scoring lead with 134 points each. Their total of 268 points was the second-highest total by two teammates in league history - one behind their number of 269 a year ago. Buchanan had 34 goals in an outstanding season, and Ian MacKay topped that with 37 goals. Vinc wound up playing all but 12 minutes, and his goals-against average of .10.71 and save percentage of .791 were typically good. 

And how about the attendance? The team averaged 18,471, a record for the franchise and a jump of 1,497 per game from 2023-24.  

The Bandits opened the playoffs with a first-round game against San Diego, which already had a win at the KeyBank Center in 2025 to its credit. To put it mildly, it was an unusual night at the office. The Bandits' defense smothered the Seals right from the start, and scored four straight goals in the fourth quarter to take a 5-2 lead at halftime. Then the offense simply stopped. Buffalo was blanked for the final 30 minutes. However, the defense gave up only two goals, and one came with a second to go. Vinc had a save percentage of .930 - No. 2 on the Bandits' all-time (2005-2025) list. The 5-4 win was one of the lowest-scoring games in NLL playoff history, and it was the fewest goals the Bandits had ever scored in a victory. 

 

Buffalo's defensive wizardry continued into the semifinals against Vancouver. The Bandits jumped out to a 6-1 lead 10 minutes into the second quarter, and the rest was easy. MacKay had four goals in a 9-3 victory that featured Vinc stopping 35 of 38 shots for a .921 save percentage. 

The same two teams had to cross the continent for Game Two in the best-or-three series with only a day off in between. But Buffalo erased a two-goal lead down the stretch and took an 11-9 win to capture the series in two straight. MacKay led the scoring with six points. 

Meanwhile, Saskatchewan had taken care of its business on the other side of the bracket. Therefore, it was No. 1 versus No. 2 for the NLL championship. Game One was played in Buffalo, and the Rush showed no signs of nervousness. They had the better of the play for most of the game, and had a lead of 10-8 with 6:48 left in the third quarter. Buffalo's veterans answered the call, as Smith and Buchanan scored two goals each in a 12-10 win. It was a particular impressive performance by Smith, who took charge of the game at a crucial time. It may have been his finest moment as a Bandit.  

“Talking about Dhane, he’s the one of the best because he’s very determined to be the best,” Tavares said. "No matter what the score is, he never gives up. He always wants the ball when it matters most. He showed it today why he deserves to have the ball.”

Smith finished with eight points. Vinc and his defense also deserved credit for shutting down the Rush without a goal for the final 21:43. 

"They're our backbone, and have been throughout the year," Smith said about the team's defense. "Obviously Matt Vinc is the best goalie for a reason. He shut the door. There's probably a few that he wants back. As an offensive group, we get so much motivation because we know the defense is going to make that next stop."

 

Two days later in Saskatoon, the Rush started the game quickly again by taking a 3-0 lead after 10 minutes of play. Buffalo immediately answered with two goals by Smith and one by MacKay. And back and forth we went. The score was tied 6-6 at the half, and Buffalo led 9-8 with a quarter ago. Soon the Bandits were 10 minutes from a championship, and it looked as if we might have a rerun of Game One. Instead, Austin Shanks continued his great play in Game One, when he had three goals and five assists. Shanks had two goals and an assist at game's end as Saskatchewan took a two-goal lead with three minutes to go. Buchanan got one of those back, but the Rush held on in the final minute for an 11-10 win. 

Both teams headed back to Buffalo for the deciding Game Three. It was a close series, and the Rush had shown no sign of backing down. There was no reason to think the final game of the season would be anything but tight. Sure, enough Shanks set the tone with a goal 24 seconds into the game. Buffalo had a 3-2 lead after the first quarter, as Byrne was playing with aggressiveness again and Cloutier was back in the lineup after mostly recovering from an injury. 

The Bandits started the second period with four straight goals with the usual suspects involved - Byrne (twice), MacKay and Buchanan. The sellout crowd of 19,070 was threatening to carry the Bandits on a wave that would lead to a championship. But Robert Church of the Rush scored 13 seconds after Buchanan had made it a four-goal game, and two more Saskatchewan goals reduced the margin to 7-6 at the half. The Rush would not go away. 

At halftime, Vinc wasn't particularly satisfied with the way the first half had gone for him. He decided he needed a "reset." The veteran, who usually only took off a couple of pieces of equipment at halftime, started over in putting on his gear. 

The Bandits probably needed a spark beginning the second half, and Fraser provided one with the latest in a series of spectacular goals only 1:34 into the period. Byrne added his fourth of the game 53 seconds later, and Buffalo was on the verge of starting another run. The Bandits were 22-1 in playoff games since 2014 when they had a three-goal lead, and it seemed very unlikely that this group of veterans would take their foot off the gas. Sure enough, Smith and Cloutier each scored twice within four minutes, and the score was 13-6 Buffalo. 

In the meantime, a re-set Vinc was invincible. He stopped everything the Rush threw at him. The veteran was not going to let this opportunity get away. Even after the Bandits stopped pressing for goals in the fourth quarter, Vinc and his defense weren't allowing anything to go in the net. 

The team's future obvious Hall of Famers - Smith, Byrne and Vinc - had raised their game a few notches when it mattered most, and the rest of the team followed along. The Bandits played a perfect half, essentially - a fitting cap for a game that will be remembered by the team's followers forever. Byrne finished with nine points, Smith had eight, and Vinc stopped 42 of 48 shots. 

“The leadership group stepped up and said, ‘We’re not losing tonight,” Dietrich said. 

Soon it became a matter of letting the clock run out, and eventually it did. The Bandits won by a score of 15-6, and had won three championships in a row. They passed Toronto and Philadelphia for all-time championships with seven, and they had appearance in a record five straight NLL Finals. 

  

“It’s been in the back of your mind that we have the same squad here, and the opportunity for it (a three-peat),” Priolo said. “But it wasn’t real until the horn went off.” 

“It’s unbelievable,” said MacKay, who picked up the Most Valuable Player award for the NLL Finals. “Obviously the goal every year is to win a championship. To do it for the third time (in a row) is unheard of. There’s only one other team to do it. To cement ourselves in history is an unbelievable feeling.”

The Bandits had put together a nucleus in 2019, and rode it to some of the greatest moments in team history. Here are its members: Dhane Smith, Josh Byrne, Chase Fraser, Ian MacKay, Steve Priolo, Chris Cloutier, Nick Weiss, Matt Vinc, Matt Spanger, Justin Martin, and Bryce Sweeting.

The win did have a bit of a "Last Dance" feeling, as it is difficult to keep any sports team together almost indefinitely. If this is the group's last ride together, no one can say it wasn't the most best finish possible. 

Significance of Leads in Bandits' Playoff Games (2005 - 2026)

We've done what happens to the Bandits in the regular season when they take a lead. What about the playoffs? You'd think that the competition would be tougher, so the chances of blowing a lead or making a comeback might be smaller. Let's see how the numbers work. 

Lead - Record

Three-goal lead - 30-4

Four-goal lead - 25-2

Five-goal lead - 18-1

Six-goal lead - 13-1

Seven-goal lead - 8-0

Eight-goal lead - 7-0

Nine-goal lead - 6-0

10-goal lead - 1-0

11-goal lead - 1-0

12-goal lead - 1-0

13-goal lead - 1-0 

Now for the flip side:

Deficit - Record

Three-goal deficit - 4-15

Four-goal deficit - 2-9

Five-goal deficit - 0-9

Six-goal deficit - 0-6

Seven-goal deficit - 0-5

Eight-goal deficit - 0-1

Nine-goal deficit - 0-1

Let's narrow down the margins to those in the fourth quarter. If the Bandits were ahead by a certain number at any point of the period (including one second), it counts for these purposes. I've added two-goal stats here, because they can be significant in such a small time span.

Lead - Record

Two-goal lead - 21-5

Three-goal lead - 14-1

Four-goal lead - 13-0

Five-goal lead - 12-0

Six-goal lead - 9-0

Seven-goal lead - 7-0

Eight-goal lead - 7-0

Nine-goal lead - 6-0

10-goal lead - 1-0

11-goal lead - 1-0

12-goal lead - 1-0

13-goal lead - 1-0

The Bandits are close to money in the bank once they have a two-goal lead in the fourth quarter. Let's turn the numbers around, and it seems any deficit is difficult to overcome:

Deficit - Record

Two-goal deficit - 1-10 

Three-goal deficit - 1-6 

Four-goal deficit - 1-5

Five-goal deficit - 0-7

Six-goal deficit - 0-5

Seven-goal deficit - 0-3

Eight-goal deficit - 0-2

Nine-goal deficit - 0-2

Updated on April 28, 2026

Most No. 1 Seeds Entering Postseason in MILL/NLL History

 Let's call it the Presidents' Trophy, NLL style. 

The NHL gives that award to the team for the best record in the regular season. What does that look like in the history of the National Lacrosse League (and before that, the Major Indoor Lacrosse League)?

The Buffalo Bandits are the champions in the category, with 10 first-place overall finishes. Here's the breakdown:

No. - Team - Years

10 -  Buffalo Bandits - 1993 1994, 1996, 2006, 2008, 2016, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2025

7 - Toronto Rock - 1999, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2013, 2015, 2024

4 - Philadelphia Wings - 1989, 1995, 1997, 1998

3 - Calgary Roughnecks - 2009, 2011, 2012

2 - Detroit Turbos - 1991, 1992 

2 - Rochester Knighthawks - 2003, 2007

2 - Edmonton/Saskatchewan Rush - 2014, 2018

1 - New England Blazers - 1990 

1 - Albany Attack - 2002 

1 - Colorado Mammoth - 2004

1 - Washington Stealth - 2010 

1 - George Swarm - 2017

1 - Vancouver Warriors - 2025 

The logical next step is ... how many of those teams won the overall championship? It's a little less than half (17 out of 36).

5 - Buffalo Bandits - 1993, 1996, 2008, 2023, 2025

3 - Philadelphia Wings - 1989, 1995, 1998

3 - Toronto Rock - 1999, 2000, 2005

1 - Detroit Turbos - 1991

1 - Rochester Knighthawks - 2007

1 - Calgary Roughnecks - 2009

1 - Washington Stealth - 2010

1 - Georgia Swarm - 2017

1 - Saskatchewan Rush - 2018 

(2020 and 2021 seasons were not completed/held).

Updated on April 26, 2026 

Biggest Halftime Leads and Deficits in Bandits' Games (2010 to 2025-26)

Buffalo's fabulous start against Las Vegas in 2025 had me looking for a stat on whether the team had ever recorded such a one-sided first half. But it was nowhere to be found. So ... back to work. The list includes playoff games.

We start with the biggest halftime leads, and look what's on top:

No. - Opponent - Date - Final

 9 (11-2) - Las Vegas - 3/21/25 - W (13-10)

 8 (13-5) - Philadelphia - 1/18/25 - W (19-14)

 8 (11-3) - @Georgia - 1/11/20 - W (16-10) 

 8 (12-4) - Vancouver - 1/28/18 - W (16-10)

 8 (11-3) - Minnesota - 1/20/15 - W (15-12) 

 8 (12-4) - New England - 5/2/15 - W (20-15)

 7 (9-2) - Calgary - 4/13//24 - W (14-7) 

 7 (11-4) - @Toronto - 5/13/24 - W (17-8)

 7 (10-3) - @Philadelphia - 3/31/22 - W(17-12) 

 7 (11-4) - Georgia - 2/10/18 - W (18-9)

 7 (12-5) - @Georgia - 2/14/16 - W (21-14)

 Now, the biggest halftime deficits:

No. - Opponent - Date - Result

 8 (13-5) - @Rochester - 12/23/17 - L (21-11)

 8 (12-4) - @Colorado - 1/31/26 - L (20-9)

 7 (10-3) - New York - 4/9/22 - L (15-12)

 7 (11-4) - Rochester - 2/24/18 - L (17-10) 

 7 (10-3) - @Rochester - 3/10/12 - L (13-10)

 6 (11-5) - @Toronto - 4/1/23 - L (18-7)

 6 (10-4) - Halifax - 12/28/19 - L (15-10) 

 6 (9-3) - @Saskatchewan - 1/19/18 - W (16-15)

 6 (10-4) - @Rochester - 1/31/15 - L (17-11)

 5 (11-6) - New York - 1/29/24 - L (15-13)

 5 (5-0) - @Rochester - 2/8/14 - L (9-6)

 5 (9-4) - @Edmonton - 3/21/14 - L (14-5) 

 5 (10-5) - @Rochester - 5/17/14 - L (13-8)

 5 (7-2) - Rochester - 2/9/13 - L (15-7) 

 5 (9-4) - Edmonton - 3/23/13 - L (14-7)

 5 (10-5) - @Minnesota - 4/6/13 - L (21-7)

 5 (10-5) - @Minnesota - 1/28/13 - L (19-11)  

 5 (8-3) - @Calgary - 3/24/12 - L (17-6)

 Updated on April 23, 2026

The 2023-24 Season

It had all gone so easily for the Buffalo Bandits in the spring of 2023. The Bandits had been the best team in the National Lacrosse League for much of the season, and more or less proved it in the spring playoffs. When Buffalo fielded its best llineup, no opponent could match it. 

But the seasonal calendar turned after the team ended its championship drought that had extended back to 2008, as it always did. It didn't take long for everyone to realize that while the most of the roster was back, there were some subtle changes that had altered the composition of the team. 

For example, Ethan O’Connor had signed with Rochester. Faceoff specialist Max Adler couldn't juggle his schedule enough to return to the team. There were injuries at the start of the season that sidelined such players as Adam Bomberry and Bryce Sweeting. There were new faces around, such as young players like Cam Wyers and Zach Belter. Goalie Steven Orleman was picked up from New York in a complicated three-way trade with Saskatchewan that sent Nathaniel Kozevnikov to the Rush. 

"(Steve Dietrich) and I have had this conversation many times," coach John Tavares said before the season. "You want to build a nice nucleus, and you want to add to it every year – one, two, three spots. You can always get better. You need a good mix of veterans and guys in their first, second, or third year. That’s the ideal combination. If you have too many young guys, they aren’t experienced. If you have too many older guys, they get content. So it’s nice to have a nice mix. It keeps everyone on their toes. It’s competitive, and you get the best results when you are pushed by teammates."

General managers of sports teams worry for a living, and Dietrich was no exception. "I worry that obviously there’s a bull’s-eye on us," he said. "Other teams have gotten better. A lot of things went our way last year. Teams are a lot closer to us than a lot of people think they are because of the scores. I worry about everyone catching up to us."

Dietrich didn't know how right he would be when he said that. The Bandits were about to embark on a season that would be anything but the proverbial cakewalk.

The season started on December 9 in Albany. For the second straight season, an opening-night matchup against the FireWolves proved empty. The Bandits gave up eight goals in the second period, and never recovered in a 17-13 loss. The game was their first look at rookie Alex Simmons of Albany, who had five goals in his NLL debut. They'd see more of him later. 

The next order of business was the initial home game of the season, which meant it was a night for banner-raising. The championship flag joined the others in the rafters of the KeyBank Center. A crowd of 17,200 turned out, a signal that the team' attendance would take a good-sized jump (+2,200) during the coming season. Then the Bandits took care of San Diego, 12-9. Josh Byrne had four goals and Dhane Smith had seven assists to lead the team in those categories. They started a trend that lasted through the end of the playoffs - the offense would be led by Byrne's scoring and Smith's passing. 

After a bye week, the Bandits had some defensive breakdowns during a fourth-quarter run by Georgia. The Swarm held on for a 9-8 victory. Buffalo rebounded on January 6 with a 12-8 win over Colorado in a rematch of the preceding season's Finals. A week later, the Bandits added a nice five-goal run in the fourth quarter to take control in a 15-13 win in Rochester. In between, the Bandits picked up Cory Highfield from Rochester for a second-round pick in 2024 and a third-round selection in 2025.

Still, the team wasn't firing on all cylinders. On January 19, the New York Riptide scored seven straight goals in the second quarter of a game in Buffalo. That was enough to lead to a 15-13 win over the Bandits.

“It’s just a little adversity, right?” Chase Fraser said. “It brings us closer together. It’s that dogfight in you. We’ll have to come out hot in the next two-thirds of the season.”

For a while, the loss seemed like a wake-up call. Buffalo went up to Hamilton and knocked off the powerful Toronto Rock, 16-14. That was followed by a 15-14 win over Rochester.  The Bandits were feeling good about themselves entering a February bye week - their last of the season. The game was noteworthy because Dhane Smith reached 1,000 career points.

“That’s a great accomplishment; Dhane’s a great player,” Tavares said. “I thought he had a great game. For me personally, I hated milestones. I always wanted to get it out of the way. I’m happy for him that he got his 1,000th and got it out of the way.”

That made the collapse of the team that much more surprising. On February 16, Buffalo had an 8-2 lead over Halifax. Somehow, the Thunderbirds erased that margin to take a 14-12 win. What was even worse was that Matt Vinc was injured in the game (finger) and would be out for a while. Vinc and his defense hadn't been top form during the course of the season, but the goalie's backups were relatively untested. 

That inexperience showed when the Bandits lost to visiting Albany, 13-10, on February 24. A week later, a trip to British Columbia proved fruitless, as lowly Vancouver registered 13-12 win. The Bandits were 5-6. If they didn't turn around their fortunes soon, there was a chance they might miss the playoffs. The NLL had altered its postseason structure, eliminating divisions and placing the top eight teams into brackets.  Simply qualifying for the playoffs was going to be a struggle. 

"When we are 5-6 in Vancouver, I wasn't expecting two (championships) in a row," Dietrich said. 

Vinc returned to the lineup on March 8 against Saskatchewan, and he was solid in a game that must be unique in the history of indoor lacrosse.It's been said that the sport is one filled with runs, yet no team ever led by more than one goal during the entire contest. Tehoka Nanticoke ended the suspense with an overtime goal, and Buffalo was back at .500. 

“I’ve got to give credit to our team for ending the three-game losing streak,” Tavares said. “We just couldn’t seem to pull away. But we stuck in there and battled. It was a nice to see a full, 60-minute game.”

That game also marked the debut of Connor Farrell, a faceoff specialist. The Bandits had not really replaced Adler in that role, and it was a trouble spot for the team until that point. Farrell proved to be an important addition, supplying his team with extra possessions for the rest of the season.

Before the next game, Dietrich took an unexpected big swing at the trading deadline. He acquired veteran defenseman Paul Dawson in an exchange of draft choices. Giving up a pair of second-rounders seemed like a lot for a 38-year-old, but Dietrich thought he could be a difference-maker.

"I knew he would help on a man short," Dietrich said. "I knew he would be a presence in our room, a calming presense. Steve Priolo had taken so much on himself, and I thought Paul would take a little bit of pressure off him in the leadership role. Paul and Connor Farrell were big, plus getting Adam Bomberry back - it all solidified the back end. The offense is the offense; it's the best in the game. We just needed to get better defensively." 

“The last couple of years in this league, we’re struggled on a couple of teams that haven’t been great,” Dawson said. “As an athlete, all’s you want to do is have that chance to win. Coming here, I knew this team could do some damage, so I was super-excited. It was awesome. This is why you play games like this.”

Dawson helped right away. Buffalo knocked off Toronto again, this time by 14-12, and scored four straight goals at the end of the game to pull it out. It looked as if a sleeping giant had awakened. 

“We had to be on the right side of the emotional scale, and it felt like we were in the box early but we settled down and it showed,” Smith said. “We’re not the Bandits from last year, but we’re still a good team. We have to find our roles and fine a different way to win. We won those close games last year but lost them this year. We just have to keep building.”

But that good feeling only lasted for a game. The Bandits went to Texas and had a lead with only 53 seconds left on Nanticoke's goal. But Panther City tied the game with 10 seconds to go on a goal by ex-Bandit Callum Crawford, and won it in overtime. 

Therefore, the Bandits were 7-7 with four games left. Virtually every game had been close throughout the season until that point, and the team was 5-5 in games decided by one or two goals. In other words, Buffalo had to stop letting opponents from hanging around for so long and start crushing their hopes before the fourth quarter. Helping their task was the fact that Buffalo was scheduled to finish the season against four teams that - as it turned out - wouldn't make the playoffs. 

The homestretch started with a much needed 18-12 win in Philadelphia on March 30. Buffalo scored six straight goals in the fourth quarter to blow the game open. Then came a trip to Colorado, where Byrne scored the tying goal and Smith added the game-winner and clincher in a 13-11 victory. On April 13, Buffalo was far too good for Calgary in a 14-7 victory in the home finale. The win wrapped up a playoff spot.

“It’s been a long season, and a tough grind,” Byrne said. “I’m proud of our guys sticking with it. We could have folded, with a couple of losses in a row. But it feels like we’re starting to play our best ball.”

Finally, the Bandits simply outclassed Las Vegas in a 14-5 victory. It had been quite a closing stretch. Buffalo had won its last four games and six of its last seven to finish at 11-7 - losing a tiebreaker to Albany for third place. Byrne led the league in scoring with 135 points, and added 53 goals (third). Smith had a record 101 assists. The teammates combined for 269 points, demolishing the record for most points by two players on the same team.  

The regular-season numbers for Buffalo were similar to the previous season's. The Bandits’ averaged 13.2 goals per game in the regular season, a jump of 1.3 goals over 2022-23. But the defense was a bit more leaky, going from 10.6 to 11.8. The difference was about the same: this season’s +1.4 to last season’s 1.3.

The team did quite well in the league awards department. Byrne received his first Most Valuable Player trophy, and also was named the Offensive Player of the Year and a first-team all-NLL pick. Smith was a finalist for the MVP trophy, and made the NLL's second team. Ian MacKay also was a second-team all-NLL selection.

The Bandits felt better about themselves after the closing run, but the balance in the league meant no easy nights figured to be ahead. Buffalo drew Georgia in the opening round, and the Swarm already knew how to win in the KeyBank Center. This was a terrific game, filled with tension under the circumstances. The Bandits finally picked up some breathing room by taking an 8-5 lead. Yet Georgia scored four straight goals to retake the lead with 6:34 left regular. Kyle Buchanan came through to tie the score with 5:55 left. As the minutes ticked by from there, it was almost hard to breathe. Buffalo seemed to score a game-winning goal in the final moment, but Smith's shot crossed the line an instant too late. 

“It’s giving me a heart attack,” Tavares quipped.“It’s very fun, especially when you play in this building,”

But Byrne ended the suspense with a goal at 4:01 of overtime - the first overtime playoff goal scored by the Bandits at home in history. It also was the second overtime playoff goal in franchise history; the first was by Tavares in 1992, and it gave the Bandits their first championship. 

Buffalo advanced to next round against a familiar foe, Toronto. The Rock hadn't beaten Buffalo in a playoff series since 2012, but Toronto did have home-field advantage in semifinals. That edge was less than decisive, thanks to a smothering defense. Buffalo didn't even give up a goal in the 39 minutes of the game. By the second half, the Rock could barely get a shot on goal at times. It led to an easy 12-4 Buffalo victory. Vinc set a team playoff record that night with a save percentage of .930. If you guessed that Dawson had become a major contributor to the team's success, you'd be right.

“When (general manager Steve Dietrich) and I were exploring some possibilities about who he had in mind at the trade deadline, the easy fit was Paul because of our relationship,” Vinc said. “I don’t think there’s anyone in the league like him. The comfort level is there, and ultimately so is the trust. I trust what he’s going to do on the floor. I trust what he’s going to say in the locker room. I thought it would be a good fit. And it’s not just a good fit on the man-down (unit); it’s a good fit everywhere. The leadership is being shown. He’s been a captain on our teams. He’s hungry and ready.”

Game Two - two nights later - figtured to be tougher, and it was. Toronto played more than 45 minutes of great defense of its own, and had an 8-4 lead with about 13 minutes left to play. The Bandits responded with one of the great comebacks in team history. They scored the next six goals - three of them by Chase Fraser - to win by a score of 10-8.

“It was the weirdest shift of events I’ve ever been a part of,” Smith said. “Every goal was bang-bang-bang. It felt like a movie.” 

That left the final as the Bandits and FireWolves had an unlikely meeting for the NLL championship. There was some silly arguing about which team was the "favorite," as if that matters. But while Buffalo was the defending champion, Albany had the home-field advantage in the best-of-three series and had beaten the Bandits twice in the regular season. But that was before Buffalo's defensive "transformation." 

After an even and loose first period, the Bandits tightened up their game from there. They spotted Albany a 6-5 lead at halftime, and then scored seven of the nine goals registered in the second half for a 12-8 victory. Smith had 11 points while Byrne had nine. Vinc stopped 37 of 45 shots for a save percentage of .822 - well into elite territory.

The teams traveled by bus to Buffalo, as the second game of the series was scheduled for the next night in the KeyBank Center. No one was too sure about how the quick turnaround might affect the players, but everyone was sure the building would be packed (19,070) and they would be ready for the occasion. Electric can be a cliche to describe the atmosphere, but it applied on this night. 

The good feelings built starting with the very first goal. Buchanan took a pass while cutting through slot and scored on a one-timed, behind-the-back, short-handed goal. Buffalo never trailed in the game, but could only trade a few runs with the FireWolves through the first 33 minutes. Then the Bandits got rolling, five straight goals to take a 14-8 lead. Fraser had three of this goals to bring his game-total to five, tying an NLL record. 

It felt like the game was over, and is probably was. Still, Albany scored the game's final four goals to cut the lead to 14-12. The FireWolves never gave up, and it would have been easy to do so. The final goal came with eight seconds left, just before the crowd was ready to uncork its biggest celebration of the season. But eventually, MacKay found himself with the ball near the Bandits' goal and time about to expire. It was the second straight year for him to lead a championship celebration in that way. 

Byrne was named the MVP of the playoffs to put one more trophy in his place for the season, although a good case could have been made for Smith or Vinc. Smith bacame the league's all-time leader in assist in playoff games, breaking Tavares' record. It was championship number six for the Bandits, and the second time they had won back-to-back titles (1992, 1993).  

“I always think the most recent one is my favorite one,” Tavares said his sixth ring - his second as a coach. “After a few days or months pass by, you always think back to the first one in ’92. But they are all special in different ways. Being 5-6 made this special. … Last year we were dominant. I think where we came from during the year makes this special.”

“Winning last year, there was a target on our back,” MacKay said. “The storm we had this year – it’s not that no one had a chance, because the parity in the league in incredible. Look at the Albany team. They had three wins last year, and they’re in the Finals. … I think after this, there will be a bigger target on our back. We’ll enjoy it, celebrate it. I’m happy for everyone.”

In other words, after a down-and-up season, the Bandits again finished with a big target on their backs going into summer vacation. They wouldn't have had it any other way.

(Follow Budd on X.com via @WDX2BB)

MVPs of the NLL's Playoffs

Ever try to find a list of the league's most valuable players during the playoffs. It doesn't exist anywhere. It's another tiny reason why I miss the league's media guide, which died a while back. 

So for everyone's future reference, here it is:

2025 - Ian MacKay, Buffalo Bandits

2024 - Josh Byrne, Buffalo Bandits

2023 - Dhane Smith, Buffalo Bandits

2022 - Dillon Ward, Colorado Mammoth

2019 - Dane Dobbie, Calgary Roughnecks

2018 - Jeff Shattler, Saskatchewan Rush

2017 - Lyle Thompson, Georgia Swarm

2016 - Aaron Bold, Saskatchewan Rush

2015 - Matt Matthews, Saskatchewan Rush

2014 - Dan Dawson, Rochester Knighthawks

2013 - Cody Jamieson, Rochester Knighthawks

2012 - Cody Jamieson, Rochester Knighthawks

2011 - Bob Watson, Toronto Rock

2010 - Lewis Ratcliff, Washington Stealth

2009 - Josh Sanderson, Calgary Roughnecks

2008 - Mark Steenhuis, Buffalo Bandits

2007 - John Grant Jr., Rochester Knighthawks

2006 - Gavin Prout, Colorado Mammoth

2005 - Colin Doyle, Toronto Rock

2004 - Curtis Palidwor, Calgary Roughnecks

2003 - Bob Watson, Toronto Rock

2002 - Colin Doyle, Toronto Rock

2001 - Dallas Eliuk, Philadelphia Wings

2000 - Dan Stroup, Toronto Rock

1999 - Colin Doyle, Toronto Rock

1998 - Dallas Eliuk, Philadelphia Wings

1997 - Steve Dietrich, Rochester Knighthawks

1996 - Pat O'Toole - Buffalo Bandits

1995 - Gary Gait, Philadelphia Wings

1994 - Paul Gait, Philadelphia Wings

1993 - John Tavares, Buffalo Bandits

1992 - John Tavares, Buffalo Bandits

1991 - Gary Gait, Detroit Turbos

1990 - Brad Kotz, Phliadelphia Wings

1989 - John Tucker, Philadelphia Wings

1988 - Larry Quinn and Jeff Goldberg, New Jersey Saints

1987 - Buzz Sheain, Baltimore Thunder

(Follow Budd on X.com via @WDX2BB)

Bandits' Margin of Result by Year

I received a note on X.com from a fan who said all of the close games early in 2023-24 were killing him. 

I went to work. And he was on to something. 

Here's a list of the average margin of victory in a Bandits' regular-season game by year. The Bandits were headed to a record in terms of smallest average margin in their games. But then, things went "wrong." Buffalo won games by six, seven and nine goals down the stretch. Still, the average margin was the smallest since 2010, and that was by a margin of less than a tenth of a goal (2.944 to 2.938).

The 2025-26 season was almost a copy of the 2022-23 season. The leaders are in bold; some other years are on the same line to save printing space. 

Year - Total/Games - Avg. Margin - Top Blowout - OT Games

2025-26 - 64/18 - 3.55 - 11 goals - 3 OTG

2024-25 - 71/18 - 3.94 - 11 goals - 2 OTG

2023-24 - 53/18 - 2.94 - 9 goals - 2 OTG

2022-23 - 64/18 - 3.55 - 11 goals - 4 OTG

2021-22 - 80/18 - 4.44 - 12 goals - 2 OTG

2019-20 - 36/11 - 3.27 - 7 goals - 2 OTG

2018-19 - 90/18 - 5.00 - 11 goals - 3 OTG

2017-18 - 92/18 - 5.11 - 13 goals - 2 OTG

2016-17 - 71/18 - 3.94 - 13 goals - 2 OTG

2016 - 67/18 - 3.72 - 7 goals - 2 OTG

2014-15 - 68/18 - 3.77 - 9 goals - 3 OTG

2013-14 - 60/18 - 3.33 - 11 goals- 2 OTG

2013 -  68/16 - 4.25 - 14 goals - 1 OTG; 2012 - 72/16 - 4.50 - 11 goals - 2 OTG 

2011 - 48/16 - 3.00 - 9 goals - 2 OTG ;2010 - 47/16 - 2.94 - 7 goals - 3 OTG

2009 - 73/16 - 4.56 - 17 goals - 3 OTG; 2008 - 63/16 - 3.94 - 9 goals - 2 OTG

2007 - 61/16 - 3.81 - 10 goals - 2 OTG; 2006 - 46/16 - 2.88 - 10 goals - 2 OTG

2005 - 66/16 - 4.13 - 11 goals - 1 OTG; 2004 - 45/16 - 2.81 - 8 goals - 3 OTG

2003 - 79/16 - 4.94 - 14 goals - 0 OTG; 2002 - 46/16 - 2.88 - 11 goals - 2 OTG

2001 - 76/14 - 5.43 - 13 goals - 1 OTG; 2000 - 48/12 - 4.00 - 11 goals - 1 OTG

1999 - 27/12 - 2.25 - 7 goals - 2 OTG

1998 - 47/12 - 3.91 - 9 goals - 1 OTG; 1997 - 31/10 - 3.10 - 8 goals - 1 OTG

1996 - 55/10 - 5.50 - 22 goals - 0 OTG; 1995 - 35/8 - 4.38 - 11 goals - 1 OTG

1994 - 38/8 - 4.75 - 8 goals- 0 OTG; 1993 - 35/8 - 4.38 - 10 goals - 1 OTG;

1992 - 62/8 - 7.75 - 13 goals - 0 OTG

Updated on April 26, 2026

Bandits' Blown Leads and Comebacks (2015 to 2025-26)

The Bandits had an 8-2 lead in Halifax on February 16, 2024, but still lost by a score of 14-12.

Ouch.

This begs the question ... have the Bandits ever had a six-goal lead and lost the regular-season game before? It's going to take a little research to go back to the start of records, but at least I've started it. In case of multiple leads of the same margin, I've taken the last one.

Lead (Score) - Opponent - Date - Final

6 (8-2) - @Halifax - 12/16/24 - 14-12

5 (11-6) @Rochester - 2/21/15 - 13-12o

4 (5-1) - Toronto - 4/30/22 - 10-7 

4 (5-1) - Toronto - 12/21/18 - 17-12

4 (8-4) - Georgia - 2/20/16 - 19-15 

3 (8-5) - @Rochester - 1/20/23 - 15-12

3 (4-1) - Colorado - 3/18/23 - 13-8 

3 (6-3) - @Colorado - 6/11/22 - 11-9

3 (3-0) - Vancouver - 1/13/18 - 11-10o

3 (7-4) - Halifax - 12/13/25 - 9-8

3 (7-4) - @Saskatchewan - 3/28/26 - 8-7 

3 (8-5) - Rochester - 2/14/15 - 15-10 

Looking at the team's best comebacks might be more gratifying for its fans:

Lead - Opponent - Date - Final

7 (12-5) - @Saskatchewan - 1/19/18 - 16-15o

5 (5-0) - @Toronto - 2-14-25 - 13-12

5 (6-1) - @Toronto - 4/14/17  - 13-8

4 (5-1) - Rochester - 2/4/23 - 13-10

4 (6-2) - @Philadelphia - 1/27/23 - 13-9

4 (8-4) - Philadelphia - 2/18/23 - 13-12o

4 (6-2) - @Philadelphia - 3/8/19 - 12-11o 

4 (4-0) - Toronto - 3/23/19 - 8-6

4 (8-4) - @San Diego - 3/21/26 - 9-8

4 (11-7) - Toronto - 3/13/15 - 15-12 

o - Indicates overtime game

Updated through April 28, 2026

Biggest Difference in Goals Scored by Halves (2006 to 2025-26)

On January 13, 2024, the Bandits and Knighthawks piled up 20 goals in the first half. Then, in the second half, they only combined for eight. It was sort of like watching a different sport. 

Is that a big difference as these things go? I needed to find out. Let's go back a ways and see how it compares (overtime does not count in the second half), and it turns out you have to go back to 2016 to find a bigger difference:

No. (1st - 2nd) - Opponent - Date

13 (7-20) - Vancouver - 3/25/16

12 (17-5) - @Rochester - 12/7/24

12 (20- 8) - @Rochester - 1/13/24

12 (18-6) - Philadelphia - 4/7/12

11 (20-9) - @ New England - 4/26/15 

11 (22-11) - Philadelphia - 3/1/08

11 (21-10) - @Minnesota - 3/4/07 

10 (10-20) - Rochester - 1/31/20 

10 (10-20) - @New England - 2/19/17

10 (8-18) - @Calgary - 2/8/08 

10 (5-15) - @Rochester - 1/28/06 

Updated on April 26, 2026

Longest Wait for First Goal in Bandits' game (2005 to 2025-26)

When a team doesn't score in the first few minutes of a game, its fans can get anxious. After all, the average total of goals in an NLL game is probably around 22. Besides, no team wants to be the first to be shut out - as unlikely as that is.The thought to check the history came up during the Colorado game on 1/6/24. Sure enough, it was an impressive time.

But it was passed on May 3, 2024, as the Bandits didn't give up a goal to Toronto until the third quarter ... of a playoff game, no less.

Let's see how long the wait for the first goal can be. Here is the Bandits' list; both include playoff games:

Time - Opponent - Date - Goalie

38:39 - @Rochester - 2/8/14 - Vinc

25:17 - @Oshawa - 4/18/26 - Vinc

24:19 - @Calgary - 418/17 - Scigliano

23:59 - @New York - 5/9/09 - Vinc - (Playoff game)

22:17 - Toronto - 1/10/14 - Rose

20:51 - @Rochester - 3/4/17 - Vinc

20:36 - @Colorado - 1/31/26 - Ward

20:12 - Rochester - 2/24/18 - Vinc

19:52 - Albany - 2/18/22 - Jamieson

18:56 - @Saskatchewan - 1/19/18 - Kirk

 And here's how long opponents had to wait:

Time - Opponent - Date - Goalie

39:04 - Toronto - 5/3/24 - Vinc - (Playoff game)

24:41 - Colorado - 1/6/24 - Vinc

24:40 - Colorado - 3/15/14 - Cosmo

23:16 - Rochester - 1/25/14 - Cosmo

23:00 - Calgary - 4/13/24 - Vinc

22:32 - Rochester - 4/29/06 - Dietrich

22:24 - Colorado - 3/9/13 - Cosmo

22:08 - Rochester - 12/28/24 - Vinc

20:52 - @San Diego - 3/25/23 - Vinc

20:43 - @Toronto - 5/1/10 - Thompson (Playoff game) 

Updated on April 28, 2026

Longest Wait for a Two-Goal Lead in a Bandits Game (from 2005)

Admittedly, this is a silly record. But, it was a slightly silly game in the mathematical sense.

On December 29, 2023, the Georgia Swarm scored a goal to take the lead. The Buffalo Bandits eventually answered. Buffalo took a 2-1 lead and lost it. Georgia had the lead at 3-2, 4-3 and 5-4.

No team in that Swarm-Bandits game had a two-goal lead until the fourth quarter. Is that very long? Let's check by time. I've gone back to 2006, and that game was second only to a 2006 matchup in terms of time elapsed. Then, the 3/8/24 game with Saskatchewan never did have a two-goal lead, including more than five minutes of overtime. Remarkable. 

Nothing new in 2025-26, although we did come within a couple of minutes of cracking the top 10 once. 

Time - Opponents - Date

65:22 - Saskatchewan at Buffalo - 3/8/24

50:47 - Toronto at Buffalo - 3/11/06

47:50 - Georgia at Buffalo - 12/29/23

45:37 - Buffalo at Albany - 5/17/24 (playoffs)

44:51 - Philadelphia at Buffalo - 1/27/12

44:50 - Calgary at Buffalo - 5/18/19 (playoffs) 

39:17 - Minnesota at Buffalo - 3/8/08 

35:42 - Georgia at Buffalo - 2/27/24 (playoffs)

32:57 - Toronto at Buffalo - 3/26/05

31:32 - Albany at Buffalo - 5/7/22 (playoffs) 

Updated through April 28, 2026

The 2022-23 Season

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. 

A best-of-one series is always dangerous, but the Bandits took the drama out of the first round matchup with Rochester very quickly. Buffalo pulled ahead early, and then had a 12-4 edge in the second half. The final score was 20-8, and it really wasn't that close. Smith had 10 points and Byrne had nine, but four others had at last four points. One of them was MacKay, who played a brilliant game on transition. His steal that turned into a breakaway that turned into a goal in the third quarter gave the Bandits a ton of momentum.

 

“I thought he was one of our best if not the best player today,” Tavares said about MacKay. “He played 200 feet – played defense, was on the power play, great on five-on-five. We definitely want to get transition opportunities, and Mickey created some. When we ask him to play offense, he’s played great. When we ask him to play defense, he’s played great.”

 

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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