Buffalo Bandits, NLL, lacrosse

[Alaska Darin]

 

[ComradeKayAdams]

If you’re a Bandits fan who needs your lacrosse itch scratched, consider this post to be your friendly reminder that the Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) season is happening right now. This is the outdoor/field/”American” version of the lacrosse game. Their regular season is already halfway done and will conclude in late August. The PLL playoffs will then run throughout September.

 

I like to think of the Chaos as Buffalo’s unofficial PLL team because 6 of our players (and most of our offense!) are on their roster: Dhane Smith, Josh Byrne, Chris Cloutier, Chase Fraser, Ian MacKay, and Max Adler. Dhane and Ian play midfield positions in this league, Max is strictly a faceoff specialist, and the other three continue their forward/attack roles. Also, Cam Wyers plays defense for the Archers team. He is our 13th overall pick from last year’s draft.

 

In NLL-related news: the free agency period begins at some point in August, the 2023 NLL Entry Draft will take place sometime in September, and the new NLL season will begin this December (apologies for the absence of specific dates, but I don’t see them posted anywhere online). Matt Vinc, Steve Priolo, Nick Weiss, Ethan O’Connor, Dhane Smith, and Kyle Buchanan are Buffalo’s unrestricted free agents. However, there is no reason to believe that any of the key pieces to our championship-defending team won’t return this season. The opportunity to build Buffalo’s second lacrosse dynasty should be a major selling point! So who stands in our way?? Well, possibly our arch-rivals in Toronto…the Rock just recently made a major trade with the Rush for Mark Matthews…

[ComradeKayAdams]

The 2024 NLL season is right around the corner! The regular season will begin on December 1 and run through April 21. Here is Buffalo’s full 18-game schedule:

 

<< no games on December 2 weekend >>

Away: December 9, Saturday, 7pm, at Albany FireWolves

HOME: December 16, Saturday, 7:30pm, San Diego Seals

<< no games on December 23 weekend >>

HOME: December 29, Friday, 7:30pm, Georgia Swarm

HOME: January 6, Saturday, 7:30pm, Colorado Mammoth

Away: January 13, Saturday, 7pm, at Rochester Knighthawks

HOME: January 19, Friday, 7:30pm, New York Riptide

Away: January 27, Saturday, 7pm, at Toronto Rock

HOME: February 3, Saturday, 7:30pm, Rochester Knighthawks

<< no games on February 10 weekend >>

Away: February 16, Friday, 6:30pm, at Halifax Thunderbirds

HOME: February 24, Saturday, 7:30pm, Albany FireWolves

Away: March 1, Friday, 10pm, at Vancouver Warriors

HOME: March 8, Friday, 7:30pm, Saskatchewan Rush

HOME: March 16, Saturday, 7pm, Toronto Rock

Away: March 22, Friday, 8pm, at Panther City Lacrosse Club

Away: March 30, Saturday, 1pm, at Philadelphia Wings

Away: April 5, Friday, 9pm, at Colorado Mammoth

HOME: April 13, Saturday, 7:30pm, Calgary Roughnecks

Away: April 20, Saturday, 10pm, at Las Vegas Desert Dogs

 

Note the absence of any weekend double-headers and the presence of 3 bye weeks, 7 Friday night games, 1 Saturday afternoon game, and 10 Saturday night games. Also note that the Bandits play Toronto twice, Rochester twice, Albany twice, Colorado twice, and then every other NLL team once. The only significant league change from last season is the elimination of divisions. The top 8 of 15 teams will still qualify for the playoffs, but playoff seeding will now be based simply on overall record.

 

TOTALLY RANDOM HISTORICAL ASIDES: This marks the sad end to the East Division versus West Division format that began in 2004, though pro lacrosse historians may recall that this is not the first time that the NLL has chosen to forgo division formats; it was also done during the first 4 seasons of the league’s existence (1987-1990) as well as between 1995-2001. Nostalgic Bandits fans may also fondly recall the National Division (1991-1994) which consisted of all the teams closest to the Canadian border, contrasted with the American Division of teams from the mid-Atlantic metropolitan region. These same nostalgic Bandits fans may also then remember the bizarre Central Division (2002-2003), which basically comprised the U.S. cities closest to the Canadian border (plus a stray Montreal franchise in 2002) sandwiched between the Canadian teams in a North Division and the mid-Atlantic metro region teams (plus a relocated Colorado franchise in 2003) in an East Division. Relatively new Bandits fans may even remember Buffalo’s short-lived North Division in 2020, which was basically a separated half of the larger (due to league expansion) East Division during that season which COVID prematurely ended.

 

My prediction for the active roster is below, with the traditional breakdown of 2G, 10 D/T, and 7 F (how the Bandits acquired the player is described in parentheses):

 

G Matt Vinc (2018 free agency, Thunderbirds)

G Steven Orleman (2023 trade, Riptide)

D-L Justin Martin (2016 draft, #13 overall)

D-L Bryce Sweeting (2018 trade, Seals)

D-L Justin Robinson (2021 trade, Rush)

D-L Cam Wyers (2022 draft, #13 overall)

D-R Steve Priolo (2009 draft, #21 overall)

D-R Matt Spanger (2018 trade, FireWolves)

D-R Zach Belter (2022 draft, #19 overall)

T-L Ian MacKay (2018 draft, #4 overall)

T-L Max Adler (2022 free agency, PLL)

T-R Nick Weiss (2014 trade, Warriors)

F-L Josh Byrne (2017 draft, #1 overall)

F-L Chris Cloutier (2019 trade, Wings)

F-L Brad McCulley (2020 draft, #9 overall)

F-R Dhane Smith (2012 draft, #5 overall)

F-R Tehoka Nanticoke (2021 draft, #3 overall)

F-R Chase Fraser (2017 draft, #13 overall)

F-R Kyle Buchanan (2020 free agency, Seals)

 

The rest of the current roster is listed here as well, all of whom the Bandits will either cut during preseason or trade or place on various injured/hold-out lists or place on their practice squad:

 

G Devlin Shanahan (2018 draft, #43 overall)

G Doug Buchan (2019 trade, Wings)

G Evan Constantopoulos (2023 draft, #38 overall)

D-L Adam Bomberry (2023 trade, FireWolves)

D-L Alec Tulett (2020 trade, Rock)

D-L Duncan Carte (2023 draft, #82 overall)

D-L Devyn Mayea (2022 trade, Seals)

D-L Dylan Robinson (2022 draft, #14 overall)

D-R Carter McKenzie (2022 free agency, Roughnecks)

D-R Ryan Sharkey (2022 draft, #73 overall)

T-L Jake Rosa (2023 draft, #38 overall)

T-R Dalton Sulver (2020 draft, #76 overall)

T-R Frank Brown (2020 trade, Knighthawks)

T-R Austin Blumbergs (2022 draft, #88 overall)

F-L Brandon Robinson (2022 free agency, Thunderbirds)

F-L Justin Guterding (2020 trade, Wings)

F-L Kellen Pulera (2023 draft, #68 overall)

F-L Brian Wiles (2023 free agency, undrafted)

F-R Alex Kew (2023 free agency, Swarm)

F-R Dan Kritkausky (2023 free agency, undrafted)

F-R Christian Watts (2022 draft, #82 overall)

F-R Sam La Roue (2020 draft, #19 overall)

 

As you can see, our championship-defending squad from last season is returning almost entirely intact! The backup goaltender (Orleman) and two defensive depth players from last year’s draft (Wyers and Belter) are the only new additions I have in my 19-player active roster prediction. Future Hall of Famers, Matt Vinc (G) and “Great Dhane” Smith (F) and Josh Byrne (F), are all back. So are captain Steve Priolo (D) and assistant captain Nick Weiss (T). Current NLL Hall of Famers, Steve Dietrich (GM) and John Tavares (HC), are still in command.

 

The 2024 Bandits will have the chance to become a historically elite pro lacrosse team. They will be attempting to win consecutive titles for the ninth time in NLL history, a feat that only the 5 great lacrosse dynasties have accomplished (the Albany FireWolves of 1989-1990 and 1994-1995 back when they were known as the Philadelphia Wings, the Bandits of 1992-1993, the Rock of 1999-2000 and 2002-2003, the Halifax Thunderbirds of 2012-2014 back when they were known as the Rochester Knighthawks, and the Rush of 2015-2016). Furthermore, they will be attempting to tie the Toronto Rock and Albany FireWolves for the most franchise championships (6) in league history. I can think of no better lacrosse legacy than to be the team that restored the center of the lacrosse universe to the center of the Haudenosaunee lands (okay…geographically that would be Syracuse and Onondaga County…but spiritually speaking, we all know that the heart of upstate NY is the Queen City!).

[Taro T]

Bandits raising the banner at home vs San Diego tonight.  

 

Ceremony starts at 7PM and it's supposed to be on ESPN+.

 

Game is scheduled for 7:30PM.  

 

No friggin' idea what they're going to do for 30 minutes.

[ComradeKayAdams]

On 12/16/2023 at 6:06 PM, Taro T said:

Bandits raising the banner at home vs San Diego tonight.  

 

Ceremony starts at 7PM and it's supposed to be on ESPN+.

 

Game is scheduled for 7:30PM.  

 

No friggin' idea what they're going to do for 30 minutes.

 

Yes, the new season is underway!! Time to update the thread:

 

So unfortunately, the Bandits lost the December 9 season opener, 17-13, in Albany. The defense was disorganized and rusty in that game. Remember, though, that the Bandits lost last season’s home opener to this same FireWolves team and then proceeded to win 19 of the next 23 games to win the championship.

 

The weekend before last, the Bandits then proceeded to win their banner-raising home opener, 12-9, against a very good San Diego Seals team. The defense was obviously much better in that one. The announced attendance number of 17,200 for this game remains the largest of any NLL game so far this season.

 

Buffalo’s next game is this Friday night, December 29, 7:30pm, at home, against the Georgia Swarm.

 

This season’s box scores show Coach Tavares going with 2 goalies, 9 defenders/transition players, and 8 forwards instead of the more standard 2/10/7 lineup. I believe this is because Brandon Robinson has been taking on more defensive responsibilities, in the absence of several key lefty defenders due to injury (Bryce Sweeting, Justin Robinson, and Adam Bomberry). The box scores also show Ian MacKay and Chase Fraser taking faceoffs (poorly) while last year’s face-off-get-off specialist, Max Adler, remains unavailable due to work commitments. I mention these seemingly trivial roster observations because they could develop into bigger issues as the season progresses. Something for us to monitor before the trade deadline…

 

In random online lacrosse media news, I was recently looking through several preseason power rankings. Buffalo, San Diego, and Toronto were consistently among the top 3 ranked teams with Buffalo the most popular choice for number 1 overall. Interesting dark horse championship candidates included Calgary, Georgia, and (not surprisingly) Colorado. I also saw player rankings that consistently ranked Buffalo’s Dhane Smith, Josh Byrne, Ian MacKay, Nick Weiss, Steve Priolo, and Matt Vinc among the top 50 NLL players of 2024. IL Indoor had Great Dhane ranked as the number 1 overall lacrosse player, ahead of the New York Riptide’s Jeff Teat!

 

And in pro field lacrosse news, the PLL (Premier Lacrosse League) has finally transitioned to a home city format. The 8 franchises are now reorganized as the following:

 

Boston Cannons

New York Atlas

Philadelphia Waterdogs

Maryland Whipsnakes

Carolina Chaos

Denver Outlaws

Utah Archers

California Redwoods

 

I figured that I should mention this because the bulk of Buffalo’s offense (Dhane Smith, Josh Byrne, Chris Cloutier, and Chase Fraser…plus Ian MacKay…plus Max Adler) play for the Chaos (now in Charlotte, North Carolina) during the summer.

[Ann]

 

[Taro T]

Bandits are finally getting healthy and found a replacement for Adler at the faceoff dot.

 

They've won their last 2 games (against 2 of the weaker teams this year, but they've lost to several of them earlier this season which is a big part of why they're on the cusp) and will likely make the playoffs and could sneak as high as the 4 seed getting a home game to start the playoffs.

 

If things stay the way they were prior to their win last night in Colorado they'd be the 6 seed and have to go to Albany.  Not good as the Firewolves have had the Bandits # last year and this.  They'd be much better off getting to 4/5 and playing Halifax (or possibly Georgia) or falling to 7 or 8 travelling to San Diego or Hamilton.  (Don't care that the Rock THINK they're from TO, they play their home games in Hamilton which is NOT a part of the suburbs like Orchard Park is.  It would be like the Bandits playing in Ra-cha-cha but still calling themselves the Buffalo Bandits.)

[MothersMilk]

[Taro T]

23 hours ago, MothersMilk said:

 

They're getting healthy at the right time.  The additions of Ferrell and Dawson along with the Robinsons and Martin getting healthy have made them much more defensively responsible than they'd been earlier in the year.

 

Don't know that they'll be able to repeat, but can't see anybody (except maybe Albany, they have really matched up well against the Bandits last year and this) wanting to face them.

[ComradeKayAdams]

Important Announcement: The NLL playoffs begin next weekend!! The Bandits will host the Georgia Swarm in the first round on Saturday night (7pm, April 27, KeyBank Center). This will be a revenge game because the Swarm beat the Bandits in Buffalo, 9-8, back in Week 5.

 

Regular Season Summary: Despite a difficult season marred with injuries throughout the defense, the Bandits were able to put together a nice 4-game win streak and a 6-1 run at the end to finish 11-7. As Taro T mentioned above, the late additions of Connor Farrell to replace Max Adler and Paul Dawson to replace Matt Spanger have helped tremendously. The youthful Cam Wyers and Zack Belter have begun to settle into their defensive roles. Buffalo’s league-best offense (13.2 goals per game) kept the rest of the team alive, even as their sixth-worst defense (11.8 goals per game) at one point went 8 straight games of giving up at least 13 goals. The Bandits will now be the fourth playoff seed, behind only Toronto (15-3) and San Diego (13-5) and Albany (11-7).

 

Individual Accolades: “Great” Dhane Smith just set a new NLL season assists record (101), breaking his old record of 96 from last season! Both Dhane (134 points) and Josh Byrne (135 points) fell a tiny bit short of Dhane’s NLL season points record of 137, from back in 2016. The closely contested NLL MVP Award race will probably come down to these two plus Jeff Teat (shout-out to Cornell University). While Dhane (33 G + 101 A) is the league’s best passer and Josh (53 G + 82 A) might be the best finisher and most clutch goal scorer, Jeff Teat (58 G + 72 A) has been a virtual one-man show on the Riptide. In addition to each other, Dhane and Josh have been supported with one of the best secondary forward groups in recent pro lacrosse memory: Chase Fraser (31 G + 26 A), Chris Cloutier (30 G + 38 A), Tehoka Nanticoke (27 G + 16 A), and Kyle Buchanan (23 G + 24 A).

 

Anticipated Active Roster for the Playoffs:

 

G (2): Matt Vinc, Steven Orleman

D-L (2): Justin Martin, Adam Bomberry

D-R (2): Steve Priolo, Paul Dawson

DM-L (2): Justin Robinson, Cam Wyers

DM-R (2): Nick Weiss, Zack Belter

FOGO (1): Connor Farrell

FM-L (1): Ian MacKay

FM-R (1): Dhane Smith

F-L (3): Josh Byrne, Chris Cloutier, Brandon Robinson

F-R (3): Chase Fraser, Tehoka Nanticoke, Kyle Buchanan

 

Reserve Lists (14): G Devlin Shanahan, G Evan Constantopoulos, D Emerson Clark, D Devyn Mayea, D Dylan Robinson, D Matt Spanger, D Bryce Sweeting, M Cory Highfield, M Frank Brown, M Jake Rosa, M Dalton Sulver, FOGO Max Adler, F Kellen Pulera, F Sam La Roue

 

Attendance Note: The Bandits averaged a league-leading 16,975 fans for their 9 regular season home games. This 89% capacity average was better than that for our woeful 2023-24 Sabres…

 

2024 NLL Draft Update: The Bandits possess the first round picks of the Rochester Knighthawks and the New York Riptide (soon to be the Ottawa Black Bears for next season), as well as their own first round pick plus the second round pick of the Vancouver Warriors. So not only does this mean that the Bandits will have four picks within the top 20, but that they may get as high as the third overall pick if the Knighthawks lose to the Philadelphia Wings this afternoon!

 

EDIT: Corrected the start time for Buffalo’s first round playoff game. Rochester won today and made the playoffs, so the Bandits will have picks #7, #8-15 (Rochester), #8-15 (Buffalo), and #19 in the 2024 NLL Draft. By winning today, Rochester also knocked the Riptide out of the playoffs, which will likely decrease Jeff Teat’s chances of winning the NLL MVP Award. Dhane Smith did finish outside the top 25 in goals this year, so I’m now leaning towards Josh Byrne winning the award because he finished first in points and was the only player to finish top 3 in points, assists, and goals. Toronto’s goalie, Nick Rose, should also be in this conversation because his stats (81.2 save %, 9.18 GAA, 15 wins) are comparable with last year’s MVP, Christian Del Bianco of Calgary (81.0 save %, 9.28 GAA, 13 wins).

Edited April 22 by ComradeKayAdams

[Taro T]

Bandits hosting the Georgia Swarm in the Quarter Finals right now on ESPNU.

 

Bandits on a 6-1 run their last 7 games.  Lost 9-8 to Georgia at the end of December.

[Taro T]

What a game!

 

Adam Bomberry's cousin got Georgia on the board 26 seconds into the game and then MacKay evened it up on a fast break off a shot from Lyle Thompson that hit the post.

 

Georgia went back up 2-1 shortly after that and then more than 15 minutes later Weiss tied it on another break, this one off a 2-on-1 from MacKay again.

 

The game stayed within one until the 3rd when the Bandits got 3 straight to go up 8-5, but Georgia answered with 4 of their own to take the lead again.  Kyle Buchanon tied it at 9 and then Josh Byrne in reality scored his 5th of the night, but the ref didn't see the ball go in the net and there was a bit of a kerfuffle that the timekeeper was watching and he didn't see Tavares throw the red flag in time to challenge.

 

The Great Dhane Smith thought for the 2nd time of the night that he'd scored, this time just before time expired, but the ball was still about 4' outside the goal when the clock read 0.0.  So, off to OT we went.

 

Teams traded great chances and fluky turnovers for nearly 4 minutes before the ball finally got to Josh Byrne and this time he didn't have it just trickle out of his stick; unlike his 1st 2 touches in OT.  10-9.  (So, he DID score the 10th Bandit goal after all; just he got credit for it about 8 minutes after he should've.)

 

Guess what Hamilton, your worst nightmare is about to happen.  The Bandits are coming to town on a 7-1 run.

 

LET's GO BAN-DIT!!!!!!!

[Taro T]

Semi-finals for this coming weekend are set.

 

Hamilton and Buffalo are the one semifinal with San Diego and Albany the other.

 

Buffalo and San Diego both needed OT for their W's over Georgia and Panther City (Fort Worth) respectively.  While Hamilton held Ra-cha-cha to only 5 goals and Albany strangled the original Kin-ig-hit Hawks (aka Halifax) to only 3 goals.

 

Should be 2 great series.

 

Let's go BAN-DITS!!!!

[Taro T]

On 4/27/2024 at 10:05 PM, Taro T said:

What a game!

 

Adam Bomberry's cousin got Georgia on the board 26 seconds into the game and then MacKay evened it up on a fast break off a shot from Lyle Thompson that hit the post.

 

Georgia went back up 2-1 shortly after that and then more than 15 minutes later Weiss tied it on another break, this one off a 2-on-1 from MacKay again.

 

The game stayed within one until the 3rd when the Bandits got 3 straight to go up 8-5, but Georgia answered with 4 of their own to take the lead again.  Kyle Buchanon tied it at 9 and then Josh Byrne in reality scored his 5th of the night, but the ref didn't see the ball go in the net and there was a bit of a kerfuffle that the timekeeper was watching and he didn't see Tavares throw the red flag in time to challenge.

 

The Great Dhane Smith thought for the 2nd time of the night that he'd scored, this time just before time expired, but the ball was still about 4' outside the goal when the clock read 0.0.  So, off to OT we went.

 

Teams traded great chances and fluky turnovers for nearly 4 minutes before the ball finally got to Josh Byrne and this time he didn't have it just trickle out of his stick; unlike his 1st 2 touches in OT.  10-9.  (So, he DID score the 10th Bandit goal after all; just he got credit for it about 8 minutes after he should've.)

 

Guess what Hamilton, your worst nightmare is about to happen.  The Bandits are coming to town on a 7-1 run.

 

LET's GO BAN-DIT!!!!!!!

 

Uh, make that, you have to go into Banditland with the Bandits on an 8-1 run after getting your bippy thumped in Hamilton 12-4.

 

That nightmare just began.

 

Game 2 is in Banditland on Sunday at 5:30 on ESPNU.

 

Let's Go BAN-DITS!!!!