On the precipice of the first postseason matchup between the Buffalo Bandits and the Rochester Knighthawks in the Expansion Era of the Knighthawks, let’s take a trip down memory lane, starting in 1995.

Note: This is going to be as extensive as the internet allows. It can be wonky going through NLL history sometimes. Newspapers.com was a godsend.

1995

After the 1994 NLL season, the Detroit Turbos, who had been members of the Major Indoor Lacrosse League since 1989, folded due to attendance. At this time, the league-owned each team, and they announced in October of 1994 that the league would be expanding to Rochester under the operations of Amerks new president Steve Donner.

Rochester won the first two head-to-head matchups with the Bandits, first at The Aud on February 25 with a 13-8 victory where current Bandits GM Steve Dietrich made 53 saves, and then a much closer 12-11 victory at Blue Cross Arena on March 5, which catapulted the Knighthawks into the playoffs in their first season, where they made the playoffs and then made the championship where they fell in overtime to the Philadelphia Wings, who beat the Bandits in the semifinals.

1996

The Bandits beat the Knighthawks for the first time in their first matchup of 1996 by a score of 14-9 in Rochester on February 10, where the Bandits improved to 4-0 and the Knighthawks fell to 2-4. The Knighthawks rallied to win out their final four games and make the playoffs, including a 17-14 win at The Aud on March 16, which was the Bandits’ first loss of the season.

Playoff Matchup 1: April 6, 1996 Buffalo Bandits 18 – Rochester Knighthawks 10

A week before the last Sabres game at The Aud, the 7-2 Bandits opened the playoffs with a very decisive blowout victory over the Knighthawks to move to the championship where they won their third championship in their first 5 years over the Wings.

1997

The Bandits’ first game at Marine Midland Arena on January 5 was a high-scoring affair, with the Knighthawks spoiling the celebratory night with a 19-17 win in front of a new MILL attendance high of 18,595. The second leg on February 15 was also high scoring, but it was the Bandits coming up on top after trailing 11-4 in the first half. But that wasn’t it for the head-to-head that season

Playoff Matchup 2: April 12, 1997 Rochester Knighthawks 15 – Buffalo Bandits 12

Thirty second-half saves from Steve Dietrich helped the Knighthawks pull away in the second half to defeat the Bandits in Buffalo for the franchise’s first championship. Paul Gait, who went on to play for the expansion Syracuse Smash in 1998, led the Knighthawks with 4 goals and 4 assists. (Pt1) (Pt2)

1998

The home teams were victorious in both matchups in 1998, starting with a convincing Knighthawks 15-6 win on January 31 in what was the fewest number of goals that the Bandits had ever scored in a game to that point in their franchise history. Then on February 21 in Buffalo, John Tavares scored the game-winning goal with 29.8 seconds to go in overtime to even the season series. (Full game)

1999

In a season where Rochester went 8-4 while the Bandits were flipped at 4-8, the Knighthawks swept the season series, first with now Knighthawk Pat O’Toole, who the Bandits moved on from after signing Marty O’Neil in the offseason, stopping 40 shots in a 17-11 win on March 20. Then on April 3 in Rochester, the Knighthawks eliminated the Bandits from postseason contention for the first time in franchise history in a 15-13 win.

2000

A season split returned in 2000 as the Bandits won the opening matchup in Buffalo 18-14 on February 18. A month later, Rochester got their revenge with a 16-13 win, opening the game with a 7-1 first quarter. The Knighthawks finished 8-4 again, while the Bandits matched that record this time. With Toronto finishing 9-3, it meant the rubber match was going to open up the playoffs.

Playoff Matchup 3: April 21, 2000 Rochester Knighthawks 15 – Buffalo Bandits 11

John Grant Jr. scored 5 times and Pat O’Toole shut the door once again as the Knighthawks convincingly advanced to their 4th championship appearance and second in a row.

2001

The 2001 Knighthawks lost their first two and last two games, but they won the other 10, and since the Bandits played them in their third and fourth last games, it means it was a Rochester sweep. And it came in back-to-back weekends, with the Bandits winning a rare-at-this-point low-scoring affair in Buffalo by a 10-9 score with Curt Malawsky scoring the game-winner 9:01 into the fourth quarter on March 25, and then a 19-12 drubbing from Rochester on March 31.

2002

The winning ways continued for Rochester in 2002, part of a 12-4 season in the first 16-game slate in the NLL, doubling up the Bandits on January 5 22-11 in Buffalo, and completing the season sweep 12-7 on March 9.

2003

The Bandits ended the losing streak against Rochester on March 7 with a 12-10 win at home, but Rochester got their own home win on March 29 by an 18-9 score. Both teams finished 12-4, but since the Knighthawks won the tiebreaker, they got the bye in the 6-team playoff. Buffalo hosted Calgary and won 16-9, setting up:

Playoff Matchup 4: April 26, 2003 Rochester Knighthawks 16 – Buffalo Bandits 13

And once again, the Knighthawks came out on top to advance to another championship appearance (although losing once again to the Toronto Rock) with a 16-13 win.

2004

For the first time, the head-to-head schedule expanded to four matchups for the 16-game 2004 season. Buffalo got to open their season at home on January 3 at home against the Knighthawks and got some immediate relief from the bad taste in their mouth over the offseason. With a fortunate crease overturn going in their favor, the Bandits pulled out a 12-11 win. They got a second one-goal victory at home, 10-9 on February 6, with the Knighthawks missing John Grant Jr for this game. When the season series moved to Rochester for the final two meetings, the home team held court with free lacrosse being played at Blue Cross Arena. On February 28, Shawn Williams scored the game-winner in a 13-12 win, and then it was the same score on March 20 after a double overtime marker from Derek Malawsky. Both teams finished 8-8, with Rochester winning the tiebreaker once again settling into the 2-seed in the East, where the Bandits would come to town for the fifth and most important matchup of the year.

Playoff Matchup 5: April 17, 2004 Buffalo Bandits 13 – Rochester Knighthawks 9

For the first time since back in 1997, for those following along at home, the Bandits had defeated the Knighthawks at Blue Cross Arena. Trailing 9-7, the Bandits rallied off the final 6 goals of the season to advance to play Toronto in the semifinals, where they’d win to advance to the championship where they lost to Calgary.

2005 (Featuring Gamesheets!)

Shoutout to Graeme Perrow’s site, NLLstats.com, where he has compiled all the Gamesheets since 2005 and made a very accessible way to learn more about game information.

With the road demons past them, the Bandits once again beat the Knighthawks at Blue Cross Arena on February 19 with an 11-7 win that snapped a 5-game win streak for Rochester. A month later, the third time was the charm for the Knighthawks as they once again were able to defend their home floor, with Shawn Williams scoring an OT winner for a 12-11 win. In the Buffalo leg of the 3-game season series on April 1, the Bandits won 11-9. The edge in the head-to-head matchup gave the 11-5 Bandits the one-win advantage over the 10-6 Knighthawks, meaning that the next meeting will be in Buffalo for:

Playoff Matchup 6: April 23, 2005 Rochester Knighthawks 19 – Buffalo Bandits 14

Mike Accursi had 7 goals for the Knighthawks, and John Grant Jr. matched his 8 points as the Knighthawks got back in the playoff H2H win column with a 19-14 win in Buffalo to advance to the semis, where they lost to the eventual champion Rock.

2006

A 9-point night for John Grant Jr. was capped off with the OT winner as the Knighthawks opened another 3 regular season game series with a home victory on January 28. The second matchup on March 18 also went to overtime, but this time it was the Bandits getting the win courtesy of Kim Squire. A week later, back in Buffalo, the Bandits had some more wiggle room with an 18-13 win with a 7-goal performance from Mark Steenhuis. The Bandits finished 11-5 atop the East, while the Knighthawks went 9-7 to get the 2-seed. Buffalo beat Minnesota and Rochester beat Toronto in Round 1, so once again, we had a thruway matchup in the playoffs.

Playoff Matchup 7: April 29, 2006 Buffalo Bandits 15 – Rochester Knighthawks 10

On the eve of Game 5 of the Sabres-Flyers series, the Bandits started the winning weekend with a 15-10 home victory to advance to the finals. The goal sheet was balanced, but it was a combined 22 heavy-on-assist points from Cory Bomberry, Delby Powless, and Roger Vyse that led the Bandits’ attack.

2007

To add insult to there only being 2 regular season matchups this year for the Bandits and Knighthawks, the two matchups didn’t take place until a home-and-home to finish the regular season. And by that point, the Knighthawks came into the weekend having won 10 in a row. While “outmatched” the Bandits were on an 8-game win streak too after a 2-4 start. But it was Rochester taking both matchups, starting with a 14-10 win on April 13 and then heading back home to win 14-8 on April 14. Rochester handled Toronto in round 1, and Buffalo defended their home floor in the 2v3 matchup against the Swarm, setting up a fifth straight season with the rivals going at it in the playoffs.

Playoff Matchup 8: April 27, 2007 Rochester Knighthawks 14 – Buffalo Bandits 13

We enter the extremely blurry YouTube era of the rivalry, is Grant Jr. sent the Knighthawks into the finals with the overtime game-winner. Buffalo led 12-9 with 13 minutes to play, but the Knighthawks rattled off 4 straight goals to tie it, and then 31 seconds later, Mike Accursi gave the Knighthawks their first lead since it was 7-6. Delby Powless had scored to tie it back up 40 seconds later to force overtime. The Knighthawks went on to win their first championship in 10 years.

2008

The NLL was much kinder with scheduling this year, opening up the season with a home-and-home instead of waiting until the end of the season for the rivalry matchup. The season opened up in Buffalo with the Knighthawks playing spoilers once again by a 12-9 score on January 11. The next day, the Bandits played spoilers with a 14-9 win in Rochester, giving the Knighthawks their first loss after a 16-game win streak. We got a rubber match on April 12, with the Knighthawks getting a home win 11-6. They, however, missed the playoffs for the first time in franchise history at 8-8, meaning we wouldn’t get a 6th straight playoff matchup between them and the Bandits, who of course went on to get a championship victory of their own.

2009

The defending champs opened up the 2009 campaign with a 5-0 start, but no win was bigger than the third of those when they demolished the Knighthawks 23-6 on January 16 (More grainy youtube). Rochester got their revenge at home on March 15 with Shawn Evans scoring the game-winner in overtime to win 15-14. Then on April 10 back in Buffalo, it was a much more modest 13-9 victory for the Bandits to win the season series.

2010

The two teams faced off the first two weeks of the season, and the Knighthawks took both matchups. The Knighthawks doubled up the Bandits in the first leg on January 9 with a 10-5 home win featuring the return of John Grant Jr. after missing the 2009 season recovering from a torn ACL. Then on January 16, they got a 13-11 win in Buffalo, part of an 0-4 start to the year for the Bandits. Then on March 27, the Bandits avoided getting swept with a 14-7 win in Rochester.

2011

A sold-out crowd in Buffalo saw the Bandits open the season series with an 11-8 win on March 5, and then they won the lone road leg on April 9 by a closer 9-8 matchup, with Mark Steenhuis scoring in the final minute to break the 8-8 tie. Then on April 23, the Knighthawks avoided the sweep with a 15-9 win in Buffalo.

2012

The playoff matchup void continues into 2012, but the season series remains contested. On January 21, the Bandits beat the Knighthawks 12-9. On March 10 again in Rochester, the Knighthawks scored 9 of 10 in the middle quarters to lead them to a 13-10 win to even the series before the Bandits won the rubber match 14-9. Rochester got the last laugh on the year, though, as they went on to win a championship.

2013

The Bandits spoiled the banner night for the Knighthawks on January 19 with a 14-13 win where Chad Culp tied the game with 1:55 to play and then Tracey Kelusky won the game with 12 seconds left. Buffalo went on to win the second matchup 10-6 on February 16. Rochester won their road leg 10-9 on April 20. The Bandits missed the playoffs at 6-10, while the Knighthawks went back-to-back in the finals.

2014

A 4-game H2H slate returned in 2014, with the Bandits getting a win in the first of the four matchups, 11-10 on January 25. Rochester got a nice bounce-back win at home on February 8, which was the lone blemish in a Bandits stretch of 8 wins in 9 weeks. However, after the 8-2 start, the Bandits would lose out to end the regular season, meaning of course that the Knighthawks won the final two meetings on April 19 thanks to 45 saves on 49 SOG from Matt Vinc in an 8-4 win and April 26 with a much higher scoring 16-14 win in Buffalo. The 14-4 Knighthawks got a first-round bye, while the Bandits did get in the playoffs despite an 8-10 record. Buffalo defeated Toronto to advance to the East Final, where they’d take on the Knighthawks in a famous format.

Playoff Matchup 9: Knighthawks win series 2-1

Game 1: May 10, 2014 Buffalo Bandits 12 – Rochester Knighthawks 8 (Highlights)

The series opened up with a classic game of runs. After back-to-back goals from Mark Steenhuis, the Knighthawks rattled off four straight goals only for the Bandits to counter with 4 of their own to go up 6-4, only for the Knighthawks to score three straight to lead 7-6 after 3. Dhane Smith and Cory Vitarelli exchanged goals to open the fourth quarter, but then the Bandits made the final run with the final 5 goals over 4 minutes to pull away with the win.

Game 2 (and more): May 17, 2014 Rochester Knighthawks 13 – Buffalo Bandits 8

Buffalo went up 3-1 but the Knighthawks erased that and more, finishing the first half with a 10-5 lead, and they held onto the lead the rest of the way, setting up the 10-minute minigame to decide the series (2014 was a different time). The score was tied after 10 minutes, meaning the next goal would win, and it was Vitarelli sending the Knighthawks to what would be the three-peat-clinching championship series.

2015

The three matchups in 2015 were played over four weeks, and Rochester took all 3 chaotically. First, on January 31, they played a back-and-forth affair that with the Knighthawks erasing an 11-10 deficit with 7 straight goals in the fourth quarter to win decisively. Then in Buffalo on February 14, it was deja vu with the Knighthawks scoring the final 6 goals after trailing 10-9 in the third quarter to win 15-10. Back in Rochester on February 21, it was the Bandits using a 6-0 to go up 11-6, but apparently, that’s just where the Knighthawks wanted them, as after Dhane Smith scored 1:49 into the fourth quarter to make it 12-8, the Knighthawks rallied with 4 goals to force overtime, where Cody Jamieson finished off a natural hat trick 3 minutes into the extra frame to complete the sweep.

Playoff Matchup 10: May 8, 2015 Rochester Knighthawks 14 – Buffalo Bandits 11

Rochester finished 12-6 at second in the East while the Bandits were 11-7 in third, setting up a fourth matchup to open up the 2015 playoffs in Rochester. This time, however, the Knighthawks led for all but the first 1:36 and headed to the East Final with a 14-11 win, where the Rock beat them to prevent the 4-peat.

This would be the final playoff matchup, as the two teams did not make the same postseason in the remaining seasons before the original Knighthawks moved to Halifax. Rochester advanced in 7 of the 10 playoff matchups when all was said and done.

2016

On their way to a 13-5 record atop the East, the Bandits got revenge and swept the three-game series with the Knighthawks in 2016. Retiring John Tavares’s #11 on March 11, the Bandits got a 13-10 victory. In the second matchup on April 9, Buffalo saw a 12-8 lead disappear with a 4-0 Rochester run, but it was the Bandits at long last getting the last laugh with transition goals from Kevin Brownell and Steve Priolo to get the 14-12 win. The Bandits finished off the season series with a 15-13 win on April 23 in another barn-burning fourth quarter with the Bandits erasing a 9-8 deficit with 6 straight goals and then holding off a 4-0 run from the Knighthawks with Dhane Smith putting the empty netter in with 6 seconds to go. As part of his record-breaking season, Smith had over 5 points in all three meetings.

2017

With Cody Jamieson tearing his ACL on opening night in 2017, it became a lost season for the Knighthawks, but they still managed to win the season series over the Bandits, who also missed the playoffs. This was the first and only time that both franchises have been absent from postseason play. The Bandits won their home leg 13-9 on March 3, and then Dan Dawson scored the game-winner in overtime the next night with a 9-8 final in Rochester. The rubber match on March 25 did not go to overtime, but the Knighthawks won 11-10 after Brad Gillies broke the tie with 2:05 to play.

2018

This would end up the most recent 4-game season between the Bandits and Knighthawks, starting with Rochester walloping the Bandits 21-11 at home on December 23. And 11-point night from Dhane Smith led to a 16-14 Bandits victory on February 3 to wrap up the Rochester portion of the schedule. Three weeks later, Rochester opened up the game on a 7-0 run on their way to a decisive 17-10 win. This brings us to the last game of the season on April 28, where the 8-9 Bandits faced the 9-8 Knighthawks in a winner clinch scenario. A 5-0 third-quarter run put the Knighthawks up 14-9. Buffalo got it back to 14-13 before Kyle Jackson fired the empty netter to put the Knighthawks in the playoffs, where they’d reach the finals again before losing in three games to the Saskatchewan Rush.

2019

After signing Matt Vinc away from Rochester in the offseason, the Bandits got their first “Thank goodness we signed this guy” moment on January 5, as the Bandits got 55 saves from Vinc in a 13-4 win over the Knighthawks to open the 2019 season head-to-head. Rochester got their revenge, chasing Vinc in an 18-13 home win on January 26, but it was the Bandits taking the rubber match in Rochester with a 16-9 win on February 22.

2020

The new Knighthawks only got one crack at the Bandits in 2020 before the COVID shutdown, taking them to the ropes only for Chris Cloutier to tie the game with 8 seconds left and Corey Small to win it for the Bandits in overtime 16-15 on January 31.

2022

Buffalo got the season sweep over Rochester coming out of the COVID hiatus. They first spoiled the Knighthawks’ home opener on December 11, erasing a 7-6 fourth-quarter deficit with a 6-0 run on their way to a 12-8 win. On February 5 in Buffalo, the Bandits used a 5-1 first quarter to carry them through to an 11-8 win, and then they finished off the sweep in Rochester on February 26 with a 14-8 win, with Matt Vinc making 48, 38, and 52 saves respectively over the three matchups.

2023

Hey, we got our own recaps now!

January 20: Knighthawks Make The Final Run, Defeat The Bandits To Defend Home Turf

February 4: A 7-1 Third Quarter For The Bandits Secures A Season Split With The Knighthawks

Photo Credit: Micheline V/ Rochester Knighthawks