We’re officially one month out from the start of the 2022-23 NLL season, during which the Buffalo Bandits will return on a quest to defend their Eastern Division crown and look to avenge last season’s loss in the third and deciding game of the NLL Finals.

With lacrosse still not a full-time profession for most NLL players, the Bandits roster found themselves scattered across North America playing across several leagues.

Another Chaotic Summer

The Bandits have probably the most unique situation in summer lacrosse, as their offensive core plays together year-round, spending their summers together with the Chaos of the Premier Lacrosse League, winning the PLL Championship in 2021.

The Chaos started the season 0-3 while the PLL and NLL schedules overlapped in June, with the Bandits players of course playing in the NLL Finals. The Bandit-brigade’s return did not directly “turn the season around”, however, as the team only won 2 of their final 7 games and finished with a 2-8 record. Fortunately, however, their win in Minnesota on July 2 against the Cannons turned out to be the difference between a playoff appearance for the Chaos and a playoff-less season for the 1-9 Cannons.

In the 2020 PLL Bubble, the Chaos lost all 4 regular season games before advancing to the championship, where they lost to the Whipsnakes. In 2021, the Chaos were the 6-seed after a 4-5 regular season and not only advanced to the Championship once again, but avenged the previous season’s loss and won the championship rematch against the Whipsnakes.

The underdog experience continued in 2022. After stunning the 2-seeded Chrome in the first round with an 11-3 victory, the Chaos were able to once again advance to the championship with a 9-7 victory over Archers. All they had to do was win one more game to win back-to-back championships, and this time, the one-seeded Whipsnakes were defeated in the semifinals by the Waterdogs, so it would be a new championship game foe for the Chaos. Well, not all of the Chaos…

As if once in a summer wasn’t enough, Dillon Ward stood between the Bandits on the Chaos and had a chance at a championship. The Chaos opened the game up 4-1, but the Waterdogs scored the next four goals to take a 5-4 lead. Josh Byrne tied the game a minute and 41 seconds later, which was the score entering the half, but the Waterdogs scored the first four goals of the third quarter and never again squandered the lead on the way to an 11-9 win, with Dillon Ward making 13 saves on 20 shots faced (one Chaos goal was a 2 pointer to get to 9 #Math).

Team	Player	Regular Season Stats	Playoff Stats
Chaos	Dhane Smith	7 GP, 6G 17A, 4 GB	3 GP, 2G 3A, 3 GB
Chaos	Josh Byrne	7 GP, 15G 5A, 9 GB	3 GP, 6G 4A, 5 GB
Chaos	Chris Cloutier	6 GP, 9G 5A, 11 GB	3 GP, 4G 1A, 3 GB
Chaos	Chase Fraser	7 GP, 12G 1A, 15 GB	3 GP, 2G, 1 GB
Chaos	Ian MacKay	5 GP, 1 GB	3 GP, 1 GB
Chaos	Max Adler	4 GP, 1A, 20 GB, 42% FOW% (39-92)	3 GP, 17 GB, 56% FOW% (33-59)

Major Series Lacrosse

On the Bandits side, the big story for the Peterborough Lakers was the emergence of Doug Buchan as the Lakers starting goaltender while Matt Vinc was recovering from an injury sustained amidst the Bandits’ playoff run. Buchan and Vinc shared the pipes for the MSL playoffs and Mann Cup. The Lakers defeated the John Tavares-coached Six Nations Chiefs in the MSL Final series in 6 games.

Team	Player	Regular Season Stats	Playoff Stats
Peterborough Lakers	Bryce Sweeting	5 GP, 1A	17 GP, 4A
Peterborough Lakers	Jordan Stouros	9 GP, 2A	6 GP
Peterborough Lakers	Doug Buchan	7 GP, 4-1, 8.10 GAA, 0.820 SV%	13 GP, 6-0, 10.20 GAA, 0.834 SV%
Peterborough Lakers	Matt Vinc	3 GP (Backup in each)	15 GP, 5-3, 11.35 GAA, 0.800 SV%
Six Nations Chiefs	Dalton Sulver	5 GP, 3G 2A	10 GP , 6G, 1A
Six Nations Chiefs	Frank Brown	1 GP, 1G	1 GP
Coburg Kodiaks	Brandon Robinson	3 GP, 2G 7A	0 GP
Coburg Kodiaks	Marcus Minnichiello	1 GP	0 GP

Out west in the Western Lacrosse Association, the Langley Thunder defeated the Nanimo Timbermen in the finals to advance to their first Mann Cup since 2012. Bandits third-string goalie Devlin Shanahan appeared in 6 games for the Timbermen, splitting time with Charles Claxton, and put up strong numbers in his first stint of Senior A lacrosse to help lead the team to that WLA final series as the starter in the playoffs.

Team	Player	Regular Season Stats	Playoff Stats
Langley Thunder	Thomas Vaesen	9 GP, 9G 14A	0 GP
Langley Thunder	Colin Munro	15 GP, 5G 11A	5 GP, 6A
Langley Thunder	Sam La Roue	4 GP, 2G 1A	0 GP
Nanimo Timbermen	Devlin Shanahan	6 GP, 5-1, 9.17 GAA, 0.802 SV%	8 GP, 5-3, 8.47 GAA, 0.823 SV%
Victoria Shamrocks	Brad McCulley	12 GP, 17G 8A	6 GP, 9G 6A
Victoria Shamrocks	Steve Priolo	8 GP, 3G 6A	6 GP, 1G 1A

Photo Credit: Premier Lacrosse League