Entering last season, a myriad of injuries on the back end made things a little bit rocky to start the Buffalo Bandits quest to repeat as NLL Champions after getting the monkey off their backs in 2023. Now, hours away from their 2025 season opener in Rochester, the fruit of that rocky start has resulted in the opening night lineup, which is as healthy as it can get right now, turning out to be even more stable than it was a calendar year ago.

Starting on the defensive end, Bryce Sweeting’s injuries keep him sidelined as he was for all of last season, but Steve Dietrich told the Lacrosse Classified podcast that a return to the team by the start of the spring. Adam Bomberry, who missed a lot of last season with injury before making it back for the final 5 games of the regular season and the playoff push, has unofficially retired. But other than that, the group is back and probably the strongest it’s been during this whole run?

The core is still in tact, with 35 year old Steve Priolo entering his 15th season with the team as consistently productive as he’s been the whole time (also scored on 5 of his 6 shot attempts last season). 32 year old Nick Weiss entering his 10th season with the Bandits, and the productivity remains the same as well. Justin Martin and Matt Spanger, who both missed a handful of games last season with injury, are back for their 8th seasons in the league (Spanger’s 6th in Buffalo). After being thrown into the first because of the injuries last season, Cam Wyers and Zack Belter at 25 and 24 respectively are both experienced and established on their way to being studs in the league following being drafted in the first round of the 2022 draft and will be more than ready to accept the torch when the time comes, although Priolo and Weiss both seem like they don’t really intend on winding it down anytime soon. Rounding out the pure defenders is the newest guy on the block to Buffalo but the oldest member of the back end in Paul Dawson getting ready for season 18, coming off a playoff run after a deadline move from Colorado in which he was credited with 12 blocked shots in five games. Playing multiple seasons in Philadelphia and Boston before 10 combined seasons in Rochester had him not the favorite visiting player of Banditland, but as he pointed out during the parade back in June, it’s all love now and he’s not <Wolf of Wall Street Quoted> leaving.

The rest of the back door has the opportunity for some more flexibility, with Dylan Robinson and new trade acquisition Thomas Whitty (who has traded to Buffalo for Robinson’s brother Brandon) will primarily play out the back door. Ian MacKay’s role is going to once again vary from game to game it appears, as he’s listed officially in a transition role this year, but as we’ll see when we get to the forwards, he might be staying and playing a lot after stops. Rounding out that group is Sam La Roue, the 2020 second round pick who has appeared in 7 games across three seasons. Still not turning 23 until June, La Roue has primarily stepped in amidst injuries up front to the forward group, but to get him into more games this season, he will probably find himself playing more defense when he rotates in, which will simply let him be another 6’3″ tree in the forest of some of the combinations of defenders. Can’t forget about Connor Farrell either, as his 12 game box lacrosse debut turned him into a fan favorite as his Milkman identity from his PLL years with the Chrome was welcomed with open arms from Banditland; the 56.1% success on faceoffs didn’t hurt either. While he faced a tough draw in the playoffs with both TD Ierlan and Joe Nardella, he still hovered over 40% when prior, the team was being suffocated at the dot against the top draw men in the league. He’s fully embraced the box game, and who knows, maybe he gets a D shift or two this year to throw his 6’2, 240 body around some more.

In goal, what else is there to say? If anyone is still holding onto the thought that Matt Vinc isn’t the greatest goalie of all time, they’re simply wrong. While an 11.34 GAA and .782 SV% were his worst since joining the Bandits in 2019 (very similar numbers to his last 2 in Rochester), he humored the opposing shooters in the playoffs to the tune of an .842, which was his best not only in his now 5 championship winning playoff runs, but the best playoff lacrosse of his career. Of course he’s now 42, but, what, you’re going to choose now to doubt that he can still be among the best goalies in the game? Until after we see father time with our own eyes, it’s just not worth expecting a drop off, especially for how well he keeps in shape. The Bandits now have an answer to their backup position, as Devlin Shanahan moved on to sign with Ottawa (he’s since been traded to Georgia), meaning that Steven Orleman will be manning the gate this season. Still at only 25, Orleman is entering his 4th season in the league which includes his initiation by fire between the pipes with the 2022 and 2023 Riptide in which he floated to over a .750. Aside from 4:13 of quick relief against his former team on January 19th Orleman stopped 30 of the 36 shots he faced relieving Shanahan in Vancouver on March 1 and was the reason the Bandits were nearly able to come back from an 8-3 deficit in that game. He will be trusted in that backup role once again, while 20 year old Evan Constantopoulos, the team’s selection at the end of the second round in the 2023 draft, will serve as the practice goalie once again this year.

And that brings us to the offense. Minimal introductions here. After being selected 7th overall in September’s draft, BCJALL MVP Lukas Nielsen made the opening night roster out of camp as a 19 year old, and even if he doesn’t draw into games right away, has the best seat in the house to learn from the marquee teammates he has in the forward ranks. Other than him, you know these guys very well by now.

First, let’s take a little time to separate ourselves from the preview and truly let it sink in that Dhane Smith had 33 goals and a record breaking 101 assist season last year and didn’t win MVP…because his best friend Josh Byrne did win it with 53 goals and 82 assists. We don’t have a standard to look to for how two teammates registering over 130 points in a season can be followed up on, but both guys are comfortably in their primes and back for another season of leading the helm of John Tavares’s offense.

Chris Cloutier and Chase Fraser both had career years in 2024 after injury riddled 2023 seasons, with Cloutier hitting the 30 goal plateau for the first time and Fraser saving his best lacrosse (after 31 goals in the regular season of his own) for an 11 goal playoff run, including being his usual spark plug self amidst the team’s bonkers run to close out Game 2 and eliminate the Rock in the semis for the 4th straight season. Now in his 4th season with the Bandits, 37 year old Kyle Buchanan returns for the three-peat quest, and while his assist totals slightly dropped off last season, he remained consistent putting the ball in the net with 23 goals, the most he’s registered in a season since 2019. And that does nothing to save Tehoka Nanticoke for last but not least. While he was unable to match his rookie year goal total of 32 once again last season, the 27 he did score in 16 games came on his lowest shots on goal number of his three season, and increased efficiency another year older will certainly aid him in another year as a fan favorite in Buffalo.

Outlook

While entering the season as the back-to-back champs with an established lineup that has been together for plenty of years now, the respect to trust them to be a powerhouse this season is earned, and with that is the caveat of not really pondering any potential weak spots in their game or obstacles to get there. No team in the NLL right now understands the grind of the NLL season better than Buffalo. Two years ago, they proved that they could finally get it done in their third finals appearance in a row. Last year, they overcame a myriad of injuries at different times in the season and a 5-6 record through 11 games and got hot when it mattered and went on another memory-filled run back to the top. While the “I” word always lurks, if that is the biggest question mark surrounding the team, the respect they’ve earned means we don’t have to analyze any implications from it, etc.

The biggest test for the 2025 Buffalo Bandits will be the fact that the 13 other teams in the league all got better this offseason, but all 13 teams have to come and take it from the Bandits if they want to spoil the cementing of a dynasty.

Season Opener: Tonight (December 7, 7:00pm) @ Rochester Knighthawks

As they did last season when they opened the season in Albany, the Bandits will start the season on the road with an immediate rivalry matchup with a hungry Knighthawks team coming off of win last weekend against the Desert Dogs. There is never a dull moment between these two teams, especially in the Rochester legs of this rivalry which consistently produces one of the best rivalry atmosphere matchups in sports right now. Buffalo won both matchups last season after a regular series split in 2022-23. Rochester will once again be with Rylan Hartley and Mitch Ogilvie due to injury.

Week 2’s Other Matchups

Friday December 6 – Colorado Mammoth (1-0) @ Las Vegas Desert Dogs (0-1) – 10:30 pm

The Desert Dogs return home for week 2 and break in their new home, the Lee’s Family Forum in Henderson, looking to replicate the success that they had on the strip against the Mammoth with wins in each of their two meetings in the desert with the Mammoth, who are coming off of a season-opening comeback win at home last weekend against Vancouver. (This game has not happened yet at the time of writing this)

Saturday December 7

Calgary Roughnecks @ Halifax Thunderbirds – 5:00 pm, TSN Game of the Week

Both teams are opening their seasons this weekend on the Atlantic coast. Calgary has won all three matchups with the Thunderbirds post-COVID, with the only win for the Thunderbirds coming back on January 25, 2020. While both teams will have some new (and old returning) faces in their lineups, the offensive stars in this all time matchup remain the stars of the current iterations of their team, as Jesse King has registered 5 goals and 16 assists in 3 games of the head to head, while Clarke Petterson has 8 goals and 5 assists across all 4 games. Halifax was also one of four teams who faced Cam MacLeod last season, as he relieved Nick Damude for 31:30 of Panther City’s trip to The Maritimes last season, stopping 20 of 23 shots faced.

Albany FireWolves (0-1) @ Toronto Rock (0-1) – 7:00 pm

If there was ever a time for the FireWolves to get their first all time win over the Rock (Toronto last lost to the New England Black Wolves on December 7, 2019, ironically enough), it would be this week, as Latrell Harris and Tom Schreiber join Challen Rogers, TD Ierlan, and Brad Kri as out for Saturday night’s matchup in Mississauga. While the 0-2 start to playoff stat isn’t as widely “important” as the NFL has established it to be, in a season where every week is weighted more heavily with stronger rosters across all 14 teams, falling to 0-2 is something that both teams will certainly be doing everything they can to avoid.

San Diego Seals (1-0) @ Georgia Swarm – 8:00 pm

After rallying last weekend in their season opener against the Philadelphia Wings, the new look Seals offense looks to stay hot as they travel to Metro Atlanta for the Swarm’s season opener. The Seals defeated the Swarm in their first trip to San Diego last season 12-11 on an overtime winner from Wes Berg. The only other meeting between these two teams, and the only other time Georgia has hosted, came on April 5, 2019, with the Swarm defeating the Seals 17-10.

(Photo Credit: Mike Hetzell)