The Adverse Roads That Led To 5

Losing in two finals bookending the COVID shutdown and then pulling through on their third straight go at it is certainly the run away storyline league-wide for the 2023 Buffalo Bandits, but all the way up and down the organization, the accomplishment of overcoming adversity along the way and then joining as a group here for the 2022-23 season makes this 5th franchise championship the most special.

Of course this all starts with Tehoka Nanticoke’s journey from Bandit ball boy to champion.

And yes I wrote about this after Game 1 last year, highlighting his personal journey to the Bandits, but the road for the organization to be the perfect landing spot for the now 25 year old shares the same culmination story, especially now that they stand atop the lacrosse world.

The team’s drop off following their 2016 loss in the finals to the Rush, as well as the retirement of Anthony Cosmo, put the Bandits in unfamiliar territory with back to back season sitting out in the playoffs. But those two seasons going there way brought them Josh Byrne and then Ian MacKay in the draft, giving the team a young core to pair with Dhane Smith who won MVP that 2016 season. They were able to add even further to that core trading for Chris Cloutier after his rookie season as the number 2 overall pick had a rocky start on an expansion Philadelphia Wings roster where the fit wasn’t right. Headed into the end of the decade, the defensive core was still in tact and the offense had strengthened. The last thing they needed was a goalie.

The current era of Bandits lacrosse wouldn’t have happened without Matt Vinc, and Matt Vinc to the Bandits may not have happened without a number of things lining up alongside it. The 2018 Rochester Knighthawks were coming off of a trip to the finals of their own, also losing to the Rush. Their road there doesn’t happen without Vinc outdueling Mike Poulin in a 9-8 Eastern Final victory in Georgia. But Vinc was a UFA in the summer of 2018, and the rumblings were starting that summer that the Knighthawks team that he spent 8 years and three championships with would be moving to the Maritimes. Not wanting to make 9 trips to Nova Scotia per year, and wanting to continue to play close to home so that his St. Catharines residing young family could continue to see his legendary career into its later years. A championship window opened because of Matt Vinc. The championship window is continuing past this 2023 championship because the now 41 year old goaltender is signed on for two more years. There will be a time after Matt Vinc, but that is a future problem. Rings are the goal right now.

If the Bandits didn’t win Game 3 of the 2023 Finals, and the team entered December with 4 finals losses in the last 6 completed seasons, legacy would be the talk of the town. All of the highs to get to the final dance would be shadowed with the clouds of the champagne going to the other locker room. But for legends of the game Steve Dietrich and John Tavares at the helm, a defensive group led by Steve Priolo and Nick Weiss since that 2016 run that has consistently been solid despite not receiving the top accolades, an offensive group dominating year in and year out with two MVP level leaders, it would start to be a definition — that it wasn’t enough. Is it fair? Probably not, but it simply doesn’t matter — because they did get there, and now it’s immortalized in the rafters among the four other teams that did it before them. As the league continues to grow, it may only get tougher and tougher, but nothing will take away from 2023.

San Diego Seals (1-0) @ Buffalo Bandits (0-1) – 7:30 – ESPN+ and WNLO

As last season’s duel would suggest, Saturday Night’s home opener is going to be another battle against the Seals. Unlike those 2019 and 2022 Bandits teams, the Seals handful of playoff appearances to open up their existence in the league ended in disappointing playoff performances, with the 2023 team’s star power being stunned in the closing seconds of the first round against the eventual West champion Colorado Mammoth.

The big names return up front, headed by their trio of 100 point getters in 2022-23 in Wes Berg, Dane Dobbie, and Curtis Dickson, along with Austin Staats who looks to join them in that 100 point plateau entering his fifth season in the league. The departure of Kevin Crowley allows Tre Leclaire to mix in more on the right side, and Kyle Jackson returns to the league after sitting out the 2022-23 season after taking a new lacrosse director job at Avon Old Farms High School in Connecticut. Chris Origlieri takes the full reigns of the starters net with the trade of Frank Scigliano to Saskatchewan, as the still only 20 year old (turns 21 on the 19th) enters what is already his third season of NLL play. The biggest change for the Seals roster makeup aside from the retirement of Brodie Merril is the addition of Trevor Baptiste, who was traded from Philly to San Diego to accomodate his move to Colorado, easing his travel. Baptiste opened his Seals tenure with a 74% clip at the faceoff dot in his first game with the club. If nothing else, that will be the biggest X-Factor headed into Saturday’s game, with Max Adler still on the protected player list and the team combining for only 29.4% of the faceoffs in their opening game with the FireWolves.

This will be the second all time trip for the Seals to Buffalo, losing to the Bandits in their 2019-20 opener by a score of 13-10. The only Seals forwards from that game that will be playing in this one will be Berg and, while it will be for the Bandits this time, Kyle Buchanan.

Saskatchewan Rush (0-2) @ Las Vegas Desert Dogs (1-1) – Friday December 15, 10:00pm (ESPN+) – (I’m writing this Friday Morning. You will be reading this Saturday Morning) While the Sabres face the Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena, the Desert Dogs will be looking for their first home victory of the season at Michelob Ultra Arena when they face the Rush, who took both games in last season’s matchup.

Albany FireWolves (2-0) @ Philadelphia Wings (1-1) – Saturday December 16, 1:00pm (ESPN+) – The news didn’t get better for the Wings this week. Blaze Riorden was officially placed on IR after leaving Saturday’s game with an upper body injury, and the Wings reported the timetable as 4-6 weeks. They also provided an update on the status of Holden Cattoni’s upper body injury, as he will be out another 3-4 weeks. Curtis Romanchych will join Mitch Jones and Taite Cattoni on the left side, as the Wings will likely go right-side heavy up front. Their home opener will see them looking to halt the red hot 2-0 FireWolves coming off their upset win over the Bandits. The Wings won each of the two matchups last season.

Halifax Thunderbirds (1-0) @ New York Riptide (0-1) – Saturday December 16, 7:30pm (ESPN+) – The Thunderbirds will get Randy Staats back in the lineup for his one on Long Island, giving Halifax their full artillery after a dominant opening weekend victory over the Rush. The Riptide look to avoid dropping to 0-2 and are still looking for their first all time win in their seventh try against the Thunderbirds, which includes having lost all three matchups last season.

Georgia Swarm (1-0) @ Vancouver Warriors (0-1) – Saturday December 16, 10:00 (ESPN+ and TSN Game of the Week) – The quest for their first win of the season doesn’t get easier this week for the Warriors, as they face a Swarm team that handled the Mammoth fairly easily last weekend. This will be the first time the two teams faceoff since pre-pandemic, with the last matchup being February 29, 2020. The Swarm have not lost to Vancouver (Stealth and Warriors) since they still played in Minnesota, being 6-0 since moving to Georgia, with that last loss to the then Stealth coming February 28, 2015.