Bandits make it a three-peat

By Budd Bailey

It was one of the greatest finishing kicks in the history of Buffalo sports, and in the history of indoor lacrosse.

The Buffalo Bandits played an absolutely perfect half when they needed it most. Not only did they score eight goals in the final 30 minutes of a once-close game, they allowed zero goals along the way. In other words, it was complete domination at the most critical time of the season.

“Honestly, there’s no better feeling,” Dhane Smith said.  

“The team got rolling, they fed off it, and it was nice to win a game where we didn’t have to rely on six-on-five or worry about getting penalties,” head coach John Tavares said. “We could relax for the last three or four minutes.”

The result was an historic 15-6 win over the Saskatchewan Rush in the KeyBank Center, and the reasons for that adjective are many. Buffalo took the series, two games to one. The Bandits won their third straight title in the National Lacrosse League, equaling the league record set by Rochester from 2012 to 2014 inclusive. It was the team’s seventh championship, breaking a tie with the Toronto Rock for the most in league history.  That’s means it’s seven titles for John Tavares – four as a player and three as a coach.

“It’s unbelievable,” said Ian MacKay, who picked up the Most Valuable Player award for the playoffs. “Obviously the goal every year is to win a championship. To do it for the third time (in a row) is unheard of. There’s only one other team to do it. To cement ourselves in history is an unbelievable feeling.”

There were many reasons why the Bandits won this particular game and this championship. The biggest one, though, was that the team has three surefire Hall of Famers on its roster. They all came through when it mattered.

On offense, Smith has been a constant throughout the season and his career. He came up with three goals and five assists in a typical performance. Josh Byrne went one better with four goals and five assists. Byrne’s production had been down so far in the playoffs, as he didn’t look as aggressive going to the net as usual – leading some to wonder if he was playing a little hurt. This time, he was a constant threat whenever he had the ball.

“I don’t know if Josh lost confidence in himself. We never lost confidence in him,” general manager Steve Dietrich said. “When the first one went in for him, we knew it was going to be a good night for him.”

The pair received some help from Chris Cloutier, fresh off the injured list. Cloutier had a hat trick to give the Saskatchewan defense something else to worry about.

“(Cloutier) was a question mark. As of yesterday, he wasn’t going to play. … Chris has been with the team for a long time, and last night in practice he showed he had improved on his injury quite a bit. The staff said he was at 75, 80 percent, so I just had a feeling that Chris was going to bury it today. He had a great game.”

MacKay added, “I’ve never seen anyone put so much work in like Cloutier did to get ready for this game. Whatever happened, he did everything he could to be ready, and he was good with whatever JT (Tavares) decided.”

Meanwhile, the third Hall of Famer showed why he is considered the greatest goalie in the sport’s history. Matt Vinc had allowed six goals in the first half. Usually he only takes off a couple of items of his equipment at halftime. This time, everything came off and everything came on. Vinc said he needed a reset.

It worked. Vinc didn’t let anyone on the Rush score for 30 minutes. Saskatchewan could have hung around town until Thursday, and Vinc wouldn’t have let the Rush score.

“He’s really good at reading situations, and that’s why he’s so good down the stretch,” Priolo said.

The second half was even sweeter for the Bandits because of what preceded it. Saskatchewan probably had the slight edge in play in the first two games, although each team picked up a win. The Rush managed to answer most of Buffalo’s runs along the way, and had one of their own at the end of Game Two to win.

It looked like more of the same in Game Three at the start. Saskatchewan once again scored in the first minute, and had three one-goal leads in the first quarter. Buffalo finally went on a run by scoring five goals in a row to take the lead. But the Rush answered with three goals of their own, seemingly signaling they were not going away.

“We thought we were ready for the moment,” Saskatchewan captain Ryan Keenan said. “We closed the gap, got to halftime, and it was good. But they’ve been here before, and they know how to close games.”

At the start of the second half, Chase Fraser had yet another highlight film of a goal (“He finds a way to put it in every time,” MacKay said), and the Bandits were off. They were up 13-6 after three quarters. That left the sellout crowd of 19,070 with little to do but cheer when the Bandits scooped up an offensive rebound, so they could move 30 seconds closer to the game’s end.

“The leadership group stepped up and said, ‘We’re not losing tonight,” general manager Steve Dietrich said.

When the final buzzer finally sounded, it was easy to wonder if the fans were celebrating the team’s Last Dance. The nucleus has been together for quite a while, and the result has been a glorious run that has included five straight trips to the finals. But Kyle Buchanan (37), Paul Dawson (39) and Vinc (42) are getting on in years.

Meanwhile, the usual business issues might change the roster as well. For example, Cloutier is scheduled to be a free agent this summer, and might want to see if he could find a team where he’d be the main offensive threat. That’s not going to happen here. A new collective bargaining agreement with different salary cap rules might force Dietrich to break up the band somewhat.

“Every team in this league got better, with the team folding and the draft picks,” Dietrich said. “We knew we were behind the eight-ball to start. These guys are so determined. Nobody talked about the ‘Last Dance,’ but it’s always in the back of your mind. Our goalie is 42. You hope he’s got five more (years). As long as he’s here we can go on this ride, we can continue.”

All of that will work itself out in the future. It was a night to celebrate the present. Eventually, with the day-to-day tasks of playing the games in the rear-view mirror, this team will realize that it capped a great run of unprecedented success with a breathtaking display of skill and determination.

“That core group that we’ve had since 2019 – they just won’t accept losing,” Dietrich said.

“It’s been in the back of your mind that we have the same squad here, and the opportunity for it (a three-peat),” Steve Priolo said. “But it wasn’t real until the horn went off.”

Enjoy it – you may not see their likes again.

(Follow Budd on X.com via @WDX2BB)