About 1200 days ago, the Buffalo Bandits were stunned in the third game of the 2022 NLL Finals by the Colorado Mammoth. With the pandemic in between, they had now lost in back-to-back Finals, and joined with another finals loss in 2016, they remained stifled at 4 franchise titles.

All these days later, they’re beginning their quest for a fourth consecutive title, which has never been done in the history of professional lacrosse.

Yesterday, we looked at the competition that is looking to shut down the thought of that historic feat, but this era of Bandits lacrosse has seen the orange and black atop the mountain with everyone else climbing upward to catch them. And until we see otherwise, that’s the situation they find themselves at opening faceoff.

Defense

The story of their offseason up until this week was in the form of departures, but it was a defensive addition in the final hours before Thanksgiving that stole the spotlight.

Buffalo acquires Mitch de Snoo from the Philadelphia Wings in exchange for a conditional 2026 First Round Pick and a conditional 2028 Second Round Pick

The 33 year old doctor’s services were rented out to the Philadelphia Wings at the trade deadline last season, but due to his work restrictions, that setup was not going to be sustainable for 9 home games plus the road schedule, so despite having the franchise tag placed, he was going to have to holdout unless he could play closer to the GTA, and it was his old friends in Buffalo completing the phone call.

de Snoo was drafted in the 2nd round, 13th overall, in the 2015 draft by the Calgary Roughnecks but he was traded in December of that year to the Bandits in exchange for Brandon Goodwin. He caused 26 turnovers and picked up 98 loose balls in his 16 game rookie year as part of the team’s finals run that year. In 78 games across 5 seasons with the Bandits, he had 58 points on 13 goals and 45 assists, picked up 558 loose balls, and caused 102 turnover. In July 2020, the Toronto Rock traded for his services. While Brock Sorensen and Alec Tulett never played for the Bandits after being in the package that went back the other way, the 2022 first round pick they acquired turned into Cam Wyers 13th overall.

While with Toronto, de Snoo played 56 games, scored 32 goals, assisted on another 41, picked up 560 loose balls, caused 113 turnovers, and blocked 64 shots (which became an official stat in 2021-22). With the Wings in 7 post-deadline games, he picked up another 96 loose balls and caused another 14 turnovers. His efforts in his first season with the Rock were enough to be awarded the Defensive Player of the Year award.

The opening in the roster came following the retirement of Justin Martin. In the theme of 13th overall picks, he was also drafted that that selection in the 2016 draft.

Not a bad substitution to be the only change on the back end from one year to the next.

The veteran trio of Steve Priolo, Nick Weiss, and Paul Dawson are all back for another year, joined with Wyers, Zack Belter, Dylan Robinson, and Thomas Whitty who in a blink of an eye have become veterans in their own right during this dynastic run. Trade deadline acquisition Ron John returns in a transition role, as is finals MVP Ian MacKay. Connor Farrell is back to take the team’s faceoffs.

On the injury front, Matt Spanger is still recovering from his season-ending injury last season, and Kiel Matisz will join him on injured reserve to start the season. Matisz played both forward and defense after being acquired at the trade deadline with John.

Other than the season-opening injuries, the other challenge for the defense to start the new season is a rule change that may or may not (it was) been inspired by them, as delay of game penalties will now be called if a defender blocks a shot while in the crease (excluding dunk attempts). A team as good at soaking shots as they are will be able to adapt, but it is one more thing to remember early on.

Offense

It was one of the biggest head-turning stories of the truncated NLL offseason, especially for those who may not have been ready for the start of free agency to commence after the extended CBA negotiations finally came to an end, but the fact of the matter is that Chase Fraser and Chris Cloutier are now Las Vegas Desert Dogs.

As long as Dhane Smith and Josh Byrne continue to perform at their league-dominating, with both coming off 134 point seasons in 2025, the nucleus is in place on John Tavares’s offense. While Fraser and Cloutier did combine for 43 goals last year, the team will maintain the services of 34 goal scorer Kyle Buchanan, and while he may not play as much offense as he did last season, Ian MacKay (37 goals) can always move up when called upon.

The roster shuffling is going to offer the greatest chance of growth for Tehoka Nanticoke, who while not as highlight-seeking as Fraser is as capable of making the 19,000+ in Banditland drop their jaws with their offense when given the opportunity. He had 18 goals and 15 assists last season; those numbers should jump up with a chance for more touches and more powerplay shifts.

On the right side, Ryan Benesch returns to Buffalo for his 20th season in the NLL. His first stint in Buffalo took place between 2014 and 2017, where he played 67 games and scored 152 goals and added 199 assists. His 55 goals in 2015 were his career high, as were his 58 assists that season. After those 4 years in Buffalo, he played a season and a half in Colorado before being traded to Rochester in 2019, went with the team to Halifax in 2020, was selected in the Panther City expansion draft before being traded to Albany, went back to Halifax for two seasons, and then played last season in San Diego, where he had 27 goals and 39 assists in 16 games. Now 40 years old, the 2006 first overall pick is hoping his swan song in the league will give him his first championship ring.

The roster shuffling will also provide opportunities for Clay Scanlan and Lukas Nielsen in their second seasons in the NLL. Scanlan had 9 goals in 11 games, playing primarily in the games that Chris Cloutier missed due to injury last season. While Nielsen only appeared in 2 games, the 20 year old has quite the goal scoring pedigree from his junior career.

To round out the offense is a pair of giants, as the Bandits added 6’8″ righty Mike Triolo from Saskatchewan to play a power forward game, and 6’5″ lefty Coltrane Tyson was drafted 21st overall, although he will start the season on injured reserve.

Goaltending

The more things change the more they stay the same. While some palms got sweaty as the calendar progressed closer and closer to training camp, Matt Vinc will be back in between the pipes for his 20th season. His numbers happened to improve from 11.34 to 10.71 GAA and .782 to .791 save percentage from 2024 to 2025, although both seasons were below the performances of 2022 and 2023. But that’s just being picky. The Rush looked to have stopped a generational stretch of playoff games to open the postseason, but right on cue, he was there to shut the door in the deciding game and host the championship player pile in his crease for a third straight season.

Steve Orleman will be back as the backup this season, while 21 year old Evan Constantopoulos will return to the third string role on the practice roster. He will be joined in that role by Waukiigan Shognosh, the 18 year old netminder drafted 14th overall in this past draft. Succession planning is on the mind of Steve Dietrich, but as long as 48 is playing, it’s going to be his net as long as he so chooses. Dietrich’s playing career extended across 18 seasons, for those who were wondering.

Schedule Quirks

In year 3 of the unified standings, the Bandits will play the Saskatchewan Rush, Rochester Knighthawks, Halifax Thunderbirds, Vancouver Warriors, and Colorado Mammoth twice. Their home-only matchups will be Georgia tonight and then the Las Vegas Desert Dogs, Ottawa Black Bears and Philadelphia Wings, while the road-only matchups will be trips to Calgary, Oshawa, San Diego, and Toronto.

They only have one back-to-back weekend this season, which will take place on February 27 (Home vs Saskatchewan) and 28 (Away vs Toronto).

Outlook

It’s an easy one this year. Until we see otherwise, the Bandits have earned the right to be given the assumption that no matter the state of the other teams in the league, they will be in contention for a 4th straight title. Now all that’s left to do is play the games.

It starts tonight at KeyBank Center against the Georgia Swarm. In their 7 championship seasons, they have only lost “banner night” one time, back in 1997. Wins in their ceremonious home openers the last two seasons have come against the San Diego Seals in 2023 and the Rochester Knighthawks in 2024.

Channel 4 will broadcast the game in the Buffalo market. Those outside the market can watch the game on ESPN+ in the US, TSN+ in Canada, or NLL+ anywhere outside the US. NLL+ will carry the banner ceremony to all viewers before the game.