Budd Bailey referred to it as a perfect game in his game recap (Read Budd’s work always. He’s a legend.). The team echoed as well.

And as the team would tell you that it always does, the story starts between the pipes with what was another addendum to the GOAT-challenging resume that the 42 years young goaltender of the Buffalo Bandits is continuing to add to with no signs of slowing down early in the 2024-25 season.

Buffalo Bandits 13 – Rochester Knighthawks 6

After raising their championship banner, the smoke had yet to settle by the time that Dhane Smith opened the scoring 22 seconds into the game. Rochester killed a penalty early in the quarter, but the Bandits defense ensured that they would not be rewarded for the kill picking up where they left off not only in the first Buffalo-Rochester matchup but their second game of the season against Ottawa. Halfway through the quarter, Josh Byrne picked a corner from outside to make it 2-0, where the score would stay as the defense held up a shutout with 10 saves from Matt Vinc along the way, including a penalty kill of their own in which they forced a turnover and a wide shot while power-killing the rest of the time off the clock.

The second quarter began looking like the first matchup a couple weeks ago we strong defense and goaltending keeping the score down, but after Ian MacKay scored from outside off a pick-and-pop from Josh Byrne, the tide quickly changed, as Connor Farrell cleanly won the ensuing faceoff, leading to a transition goal from Byrne. Off a 3 shot 3 save possession for Rochester, Kyle Buchanan submitted the first highlight of the night with a no look behind the back flip that caught the near corner, and just like that with 8:49 to play in the second quarter, it was 5-0 Bandits, and Kevin Orleman was relieving Riley Hutchcraft. And then another faceoff win later courtesy of a kick back to Matt Vinc from Connor Farrell, Tehoka Nanticoke got his own rebound on a wide shot, and three pump fakes later, had three Knighthawks defenders and Orleman in a blender and fired home the 6th Bandits goal.

Rochester finally picked up their first goal of the game on the next possession on a midrange rip from Connor Fields, and then after a Bandit penalty, Ryan Smith beat Matt Vinc for the first time this season after being held scoreless in the first matchup. Rochester took the next penalty of the game, and Fields scored his second goal of the quarter while falling to the ground, but Buffalo was able to finish the man advantage with a goal to end the three goal run with Clay Scanlan’s first career goal. Rochester would enter halftime up a man, but a shot off the crossbar from Smith meant the score would stay 7-3 Buffalo at the half, and a quick peak at the scoresheet after 30 revealed another 18 saves for Matt Vinc in the quarter.

Curtis Knight finished off some good ball movement to give the Knighthawks another powerplay goal to open the second half, but a penalty on Turner Evans 2 minutes into the third quarter gave Buffalo their own powerplay, where Ian MacKay dunked and somehow kept his feet out of harm’s way to get the ball in the net to push the lead up to 8-4. With the Bandits killing a penalty midway through the quarter, their offense had extended possession time, and then Dhane Smith forced a turnover in reverse transition, and Chase Fraser capitalized with his first goal of the game. With about 5 minutes left in the quarter, Tehoka Nanticoke picked up his second goal of the game after spinning and scoring through traffic to make it 10-4. The quarter ended with a multiple shot possession giving the Bandits the extra attacker for the final possession, where Clay Scanlan got his second of the game after a tic-tac-toe passing setup from Kyle Buchanan and Josh Byrne. The shots continued to fly in the third quarter, as Riley Hutchcraft, back in the net, stopped 16 of the 20 shots on goal he faced, but of course the Rochester deficit was extended as Matt Vinc made another 11 saves.

Into the fourth, the game went to 4-on-4 after some extra-curriculars following Scanlan’s goal between Dylan Robinson and Brandon Slade, and then Buffalo went to 4-on-3 after a second Rochester penalty 10 seconds into the quarter, but Rochester held up with a kill while being a post away from a shot from Ryan Smith sneaking in. With the game continuing on at 11-4 because of the iron, Rochester got a powerplay chance of their own, but 6 saves from Matt Vinc across the two minutes kept the score as is into the under 10 timeout. On the other side of the break, Thomas McConvey finally broke through to make it 11-5, but Dhane Smith added his second goal of the night on Buffalo’s next set possession with a bouncer that found the top corner. The game went back to 4-on-4 again following the under 5 timeout, and Tehoka Nanticoke dunked in Buffalo’s final goal of a dominant banner night. Curtis Knight gave Rochester one more goal with 48 seconds left, and after some more extra-curriculars after a Chad Tutton follow through on a drive to the net hit Matt Vinc in the mask and caused him to fall awkwardly (he did finish the game, adding his 23rd save of the fourth quarter on top of it), Buffalo improved to 3-0 to close out the 2024 portion of their season with a 13-6 win.

The stat lines looked familiar for Buffalo once again, with Josh Byrne at the top of the list with 2 goals and 9 assists and Dhane Smith right behind with 2 goals and 6 assists, while Tehoka Nanticoke had a hat trick, and each of Ian MacKay and Clay Scanlan, who filled in for an injured Chris Cloutier, had 2 goals. On the defensive end, they were credited with 10 blocked shots, including 5 from Paul Dawson, and each of Nick Weiss and Steve Priolo had 9 loose balls. Call it a continuation of last season, a culmination of the journey to become two-time defending champions over the last 5 seasons, whatever you want — the Bandits are on a mission and making sure the league knows it’s their throne to take. And we haven’t even circled back to their goaltender yet.

Through 3 games, Matt Vinc has stopped 150 of the 170 shots he’s faced for an .882 save percentage and a 6.85 GAA. His 62 saves on 68 shots on goal were good for a .912, his third game over .900 in a calendar year and a half (.920 in Game 3 of the 2023 NLL finals, and .930 in Game 1 of last season’s semifinals against Toronto). It’s the second time reaching the 60 save plateau, with the first coming in Halifax on March 27, 2022, only in that game it was on 71 shots on goal faced. Their next opponent is a hobbled 0-4 Toronto team on January 10 that has 29 goals in those 4 games, so there’s a very good chance that this stretch continues at least another two weeks (with a bye this upcoming week).

And yes, he’s doing this at 42.

On the other side, while Buffalo will have played 3 games through the first 6 weeks of the season, Rochester will have not only played in all 6, but 4 of the last 5 games against teams that, at the time, had yet to lose. Even adding Vancouver in with a 2-1 record now, while teams are still a product of their opponents to an extent early in a season, one-third of their games will have been played after this upcoming weekend, with a 4-0 Georgia Swarm team the next in front of them with the aspirations to end a 4 game losing streak. A 1-4 record to close out 2024 is a tough pill to swallow for a team with postseason aspirations for a third straight season despite the profile of the teams they’ve faced to this point. One potential point of positive change could be in the form of adding Mike Sisselberger to the lineup, as the 24 year old and dispersal draft pickup will make his box lacrosse debut this upcoming weekend. He plays with Connor Fields for the Utah Archers in the PLL, where he has a lifetime faceoff win percentage of 61%.

In the game, Connor Fields had a point on 5 of the 6 goals with 2 goals and 3 assists while picking up 12 loose balls. Ryan Lanchbury had 4 assists but had all 7 of his shots on goal turned away by Vinc. The other heavy shooters in the game, Ryan Smith, who also had 12 loose balls, and Thomas McConvey, each had a goal and 2 assists, but on 27 total shots on goal between them. Curtis Knight also had 3 points with 2 goals and an assist. Outside of their “starting 5”, there were no other point getters in the game, as the Bandits neutralized the Knighthawks’ transition game.

Riley Hutchcraft, despite 12 goals allowed and getting pulled briefly, still finished with 43 saves on 55 shots on goal faced, good for a .781. With Rylan Hartley still nursing a game-by-game injury, Hutchcraft has done a starters job with a .792 through 5 games, up from a .756 last season.

Halifax Thunderbirds 13 – Albany FireWolves 9

The Thunderbirds finally broke through for their first win of the season in dramatic fashion, as they rattled off the final 10 goals of the game across the final 20 minutes of the game to erase a 9-3 deficit, with Drew Hutchison stopping all 12 shots that he faced in 20:58 after relieving Warren Hill, who stopped 28 of 37. Clarke Petterson led the way with 3 goals and 4 assists, while Randy Staats added a goal and contributed 6 assists. They also got 4 point efforts from Thomas Hoggarth with 2 goals and 2 assists and Jason Knox with a goal and 3 assists. For Albany, who dropped to 1-3, got 3 goals and an assist from Ethan Walker and 2 goals and 2 assists from Alex Simmons, while Doug Jamieson still finished with 55 saves as the Thunderbirds outshot the FireWolves 68-49 on goal, as Albany missed the net on 33 additional shot attempts.

Ottawa Black Bears 12 – Toronto Rock 11

The Black Bears didn’t have as extended a comeback or as far of a path to overcome to secure a comeback victory later on Saturday night, but they did score 4 times in the final 6 minutes to get their first franchise victory in the month of December and finish off a season sweep of the Rock by a score of 12-11. Jeff Teat led the way with the first two of the four goals and an assist on the game tying goal from Kiel Matisz (1G 1A) on his way to a 3 goal 4 assist night, while Jacob Dunbar continued his strong start to the season with 4 goals and 2 assists. Zach Higgins had 42 saves in the win for the now 2-1 Black Bears. For Toronto, Josh Dawick had 4 goals and 3 assists, Mark Matthews added a goal and 5 assists, and Chris Boushy had 3 goals and 2 assists, but it wasn’t enough, as mentioned above, the Rock are now 0-4 with the defending champs looking their way in their next game. The team is starting to turn the corner positively on the injury report, as Chris Corbeil returned to the lineup for this game and chipped in with 5 loose balls and a caused turnover, but their playoff, let alone championship, aspirations are fading away quickly.

Philadelphia Wings 12 – Saskatchewan Rush 11 F/OT

Two quick goals from Mike Triolo, another from Zach Manns, and a fourth quarter shutout from Frank Scigliano forced overtime for the third time in the Rush’s early season, but it was the Wings getting the game winner with goal from Holden Cattoni 1:35 into the extra frame. Cattoni had 5 goals and an assist, while Mitch Jones had 2 goals and 7 assists and Brennan O’Neill had 2 goals and 6 assists in a dominant game from the left side of the Wings offense. Joe Resetarits added a goal and 4 assists to lead the right side. For the Rush, who dropped their first game of the season, Triolo had 4 goals and an assist, while the other 7 goals were spread across seven different scorers.

Vancouver Warriors 14 – Calgary Roughnecks 10

Curt Malawsky’s return to Calgary came with his 100th career coaching win as the cherry on top, as his Warriors handled business on the road and led most of the way. Kevin Crowley led the Warriors with 5 goals and 3 assists, while Keegan Bal had a goal and 5 assists and Riley Loewen and Jonathan Peshko each had a goal and 3 assists. Curtis Dickson led the Roughnecks with 4 goals and 2 assists, and Jesse King had a goal and 5 assists.

Georgia Swarm 13 – Colorado Mammoth 12

With more late game heroics from Andrew Kew (2G 3A), the Swarm joined the Bandits atop the NLL standings with a 13-12 win on a Sunday afternoon in Denver. Lyle Thompson and Brendan Bomberry each had 2 goals and 4 assists, while Shayne Jackson added a goal and 5 assists. Joey Cupido opened the scoring in his return to Colorado for the first time as a road player. For the now 3-2 Mammoth, Connor Kelly and Will Malcom each had 5 points, and Dillon Ward made 44 saves despite the loss.

Week 6 Preview

Only three games this week, all on Saturday.

Rochester Knighthawks (1-4) @ Georgia Swarm (4-0) – 7:30 pm

The stakes have been listed out for Rochester in their only matchup with the Swarm this upcoming season, but it was a trip to Duluth last year where they got the first of their two wins in the final weekend last season to make the playoffs, and they have won 4 of the last 5 matchups with Georgia between the last two seasons, so anything is still possible for this Week 6 matchup.

Las Vegas Desert Dogs (0-4) @ Albany FireWolves (1-3) – 7:00 pm

On the 10 year anniversary of the tragic death of Tucker Williams, the Albany FireWolves, Las Vegas Desert Dogs, and Buffalo Bandits announced a Tucker Out Lymphoma Cup to help further celebrate the legacy of Tucker Out Lymphoma games, started by the Buffalo Bandits the spring prior to Tucker’s death in 2014 while Shawn Williams while still playing with the Bandits. The first of four games will take place in Albany as Dyson Williams will face the team coached by his dad for the first time. The road team won each of last season’s two matchups.

The FireWolves put together a documentary on Dyson Williams and his path to becoming the first overall pick in the 2023 draft and playing lacrosse in honor of Tucker that I would highly recommend watching.

The FireWolves also announced they have signed Callum Crawford, and he will be in the lineup this weekend. Crawford played two and a half seasons with the New England Black Wolves between 2018 and 2020, being traded from Buffalo for Shawn Evans in the middle of the 2018 season. He was an MVP candidate in each of 2019 and 2020, putting up 109 in 16 games in 2019 and 76 in 11 games in the COVID-shortened 2020 season.

Ottawa Black Bears (2-1) @ San Diego Seals (2-2) – 10:00 pm

Two teams that have only lost to the remaining two undefeated teams, the Seals will be hosting the former Riptide for the first time in an early-season game with some marquee stakes in the context of how each team has started their season. The Riptide defeated the Seals 10-8 last season.

Photo Credit: National Lacrosse League