It Ends in Banditland!
I will be the first to admit it…I wanted a game 3. I wanted the Buffalo Bandits season to go to a game 3 for 1 reason and 1 reason only. Win the whole dang thing in Banditland. Talk about a storybook ending to an incredible season. Now, I know the risks. Losing the title game at home would be devastating. A 3rd straight final ending in defeat but the thrill of winning the trophy on their home floor in front of the crazies in black and orange was too appealing to ignore. This team has so many similarities to the team that was in the last NLL finals in the 2018/2019 season. 13 players (Kevin Brownell, Josh Byrne, Chris Cloutier, Chase Fraser, Ian MacKay, Justin Martin, Ethan O’Connor, Steve Priolo, Dhane Smith, Matt Spanger, Bryce Sweeting, Matt Vinc and Nick Weiss) were on that finals team. You’ve got the same Head Coach in John Tavares. Both teams finished the season 14-4. Both teams finished 1st in the league. 18/19 team scored 244 goals in the regular season and allowed 186. This team scored 247 and allowed 185. The one big difference between the team then and the team now? This is the team that is focused and ready to win that 5th title for Banditland.
The playoffs have been anything but a cake walk. Drawing Albany with Ryan Benesch and Joe Resetarits was not the matchup I wanted but a 10-5 win got the job done and it set up a showdown between the top 2 teams in the league. Toronto V Buffalo in an epic Eastern Conference Finals classic. Game 1 was one of, if not the greatest lacrosse game that has ever been played. 18-17 win at home in a game that had everything. It had runs, incredible goals, and a last second shot off the post to seal the victory. Game 2 could not live up to the hype of game 1 right? Wrong. It was a much lower scoring game but the drama was even higher. What we all thought were 2 goals in the final 46 seconds turned out to be an overturned goal that was .1 second too late.
The Western Conference went to a game 3. Colorado vs San Diego with the Mammoth coming out of it victorious. This set up a Mammoth/Bandits final. A rematch from the 2006 finals that saw the Mammoth take it. Both teams with title droughts. Colorado sitting at 16 years without a title, Buffalo at 14. One team is going to see that drought end and the other is going to add another year onto it. Game 1 was another instant classic. Bandits jumped out to an early 5-1 lead only to see the Mammoth cut it to 9-8 at half. Mammoth would tie it up 12-12 with just 2:19 left into the 4th quarter. It would go back and forth until Ian MacKay picked up the loose ball off a shot clock violation and hit Nick Weiss in stride who stuck it under Dillon Wards left arm for the 15-14 game winner to take round 1 of the best of 3. Game 2 was out in Denver. Another 5 goal run for the Bandits saw them take a 6-4 lead into half time. 30 minutes away from breaking that drought, Buchanan would pick up the bounce off the boards from a wide Josh Byrne shot and stick it home to give the Bandits the 8-6 lead just 46 seconds into the 4th. 14:14 left before they break the drought. Then that 5 minute and 40 second stretch happened that saw the Mammoth go on their own 5 goal run for their first lead since mid-way through the 2nd quarter. That was enough to give them the 11-8 win and force a game 3.
Game 3. Saturday night. Everything is on the line for this team. Win and etch your name into NLL history. Lose and become the next Bandits team to come up short. Zed Williams this series has been the Bandits’ kryptonite. 8 goals, 7 assists for 15 points on 25 shots including 17 loose balls. Conner Robinson has been nothing short of a laser beam, scoring from distance on shots that have eyes. Brett McIntyre has come out of nowhere with his 5 goal, 6 assists, 11 point finals after having just 1/2/3 in the prior series combined. Dillon Ward has played great after a rougher 4 games in the playoffs. Game 2 saw him allow just 2 second half goals on 20 shots. That’s a 90% save percentage. In fact this has been the norm for him all playoffs. He makes those half time adjustments and has stopped 120 of 147 shots which is good for 81.6% in the second half of games.
If you looked on paper and saw these 2 teams you’d think Bandits have the clear advantage. 13.72 Goals per game for the Bandits in the regular season compared to 10.89 for the Mammoth. 10.28 Goals allowed in the regular season per game compared to 11 for Colorado. Colorado is down Ryan Lee and his 34/85/119 season and Eli McLaughlin and his 20/21/41 playoffs out for game 2. Colorado is up against the Bandits and their top 5 goal scorers who each had 30 goal seasons. All 7 Forwards had over 50 points in the regular season. Matty Vinc and his goalie of the year type season. But that’s why you play these games.
This is the 3rd attempt at this title with the Bandits for Dhane Smith, Kevin Brownell, Steve Priolo, and Nick Weiss. This team has 6 players in Dhane Smith, Josh Byrne, Chris Cloutier, Chase Fraser, Ian MacKay, and Max Adler from PLL’s Chaos that won that title last September. This is their time. This is the Bandits’ time. The Buffalo Bandits have a chance Saturday night to finally remove that awful taste of 2016 and 2019 out of everyone’s mouth. Banditland. This is your moment. This is the moment we have been waiting 5,145 days for. The time when that title is brought back to Buffalo and we raise that banner to the rafters. I said it to start off this article, I wanted a game 3. I wanted that title won in Banditland. The atmosphere on Saturday at 8pm is going to be electric. It is going to be chaotic. It is going to be an experience you will tell your children about one day. So this is the call to every single fan out there. Bring it. Pack Key Bank Center to the max. Make them turn people away. I want that place louder than the 2005-2007 Sabres Seasons. Be louder than you have ever been before. If that person next to you usually has their butt glued to their seat, you get them up and yelling. When the moment happens and that trophy is raised to you all out there, create an environment that we won’t want to leave. This is our team, this is our city, and that will be our title.