For a league record seventh time, the Buffalo Bandits opened their season with the raising of a championship banner. The back-to-back-to-back National Lacrosse League Champions hit their home floor Saturday night in front of a sellout crowd and welcomed in the Georgia Swarm. Like the two years prior, Buffalo celebrated the newly hoisted banner with a win, this time beating Georgia 15-11.
Georgia did not waste any time silencing the crowd as Shayne Jackson fired a shot from just inside the restraining line just 30 seconds into the game. Buffalo punched right back as Dhane Smith got on the board with a laser of his own. Jackson got his second, and then Buffalo proceeded to go on a four-goal run. Scorers in that run were Mitch de Snoo, Ryan Benesch, Steve Priolo, and Smith, his second. No, you haven’t time traveled back to 2017 when those four all played for the Bandits. Rest assured, it is in fact, 2025. Georgia got two back right away, one from Kason Tarbell and the other from Kaleb Benedict on the power play. The see-saw battle continued. 5-4 Buffalo after one.
For those, like me, who keep tabs on obscure sports statistics and details, it had been 3,137 days since Benesch scored a goal in a Bandits uniform. As for de Snoo, it was approximately 1,800 days since his last goal as a Bandit.
Jackson led off the second the same way he did the first, with his third goal of the game. Once again, Buffalo answered with multiple (this time two-straight), one from Tehoka Nanticoke as he went coast-to-coast, and the other from Josh Byrne after a sick feed from de Snoo that spanned three quarters of the field. Ben Trumble and Smith traded goals and then it was the Swarm who went on a two-goal run to end the frame. The first from Bryan Cole and the other from Benedict, who was doing jumping jacks in front of the crease because he was so wide open. 8-8 at the break.
“It’s amazing, it’s a privilege to be able to play this game,” said de Snoo at halftime about being back in Buffalo. “I’m really glad to be back here competing again. There was some disagreement between the union and the league about how it (his contract situation) would be handled, I’m really glad the trade went through, and I could be here for the start of the season.”
The start of the third quarter featured a first, just 45 seconds in. Nolan Byrne of the Swarm flew across the crease and buried a shot for his first career NLL goal. Unfortunately, that’d be the only goal for Georgia the rest of the frame, as Buffalo’s defense shut down transition, all the while tacking on four more goals. Scorers in that Buffalo run were Ian MacKay twice, Byrne, and Nanticoke. 12-9 Buffalo after three. Nanticoke’s goal was as easy as they came, as a mishandle from Shanahan led to a scoop and score from TN1. That goal was also the 100th of his career.
The “I don’t know if I’ve ever seen that before” moment of the game came to you in the third quarter as MacKay came flying around the back of the Georgia net. Goaltender Brett Dobson met him with a “how are ya” courtesy of a cross-check to Mickey’s throat. After some discussion, it was deemed a five-minute penalty. Dobson then proceeded to go take a seat in the penalty box for the duration of the penalty, and on came backup goaltender Devlin Shanahan (former Bandit). KeyBank Center erupted and everyone’s phones came out to record what felt like this very rare moment (mine included).
To the fourth quarter we went and stop me if you’ve heard (or read) this before. Jackson opened the scoring with a goal under a minute into the frame, that being his fourth. Smith answered right back with his fourth as well, which was shorthanded. Jordan MacIntosh got his first, but once again, that’d be it for the Swarm scoring the rest of the way. Kyle Buchanan got his first with under five minutes to go and Dylan Robinson sealed the deal with an empty netter. Another successful banner raising evening for the Bandits.
Players of the game for Buffalo were Smith (4+4), Byrne (2+4), and Nanticoke (2+1). The ageless Matt Vinc was as stellar as we remember, especially in the second half. He made 32 saves on 43 shots. Another gold star goes out to faceoff man Connor Farrell as he went an impressive 26 of 31 at the dot. For Georgia, Jackson (4+2), Benedict (2+3), and Cole (1+2) led the way. Dobson had his shining moments in the 54:58 of game play, stopping 39 of 52. Shanahan was stellar in his momentary relief, stopping six of seven during the penalty.
“It’s a great night celebrating the banner”, said John Tavares. “They came out with some fire in their belly. I thought we did a good job of focusing on the game.”
“It feels like it hasn’t kicked in yet”, said Smith regarding the raising of the banner. “We cherish the moment, but it’s hard to switch to play the game.”
Smith was all smiles when reminiscing about the past, specifically playing with de Snoo and Benesch. “It’s amazing to see them full circle. I was telling de Snoo that I’m still doing the routines that we used to do. We still have that connection.”
Another guy that was all smiles was Farrell. No, seriously, he laughed throughout the entire press conference. “All the hard work from last year, we had to celebrate that a little bit in the beginning. But we had to get right back into it and focus on the game right after. I had a lot of guys helping me out, getting loose balls.”
Buffalo looks to build on the opening night win. They have some time to rest up before their next game. Buffalo welcomes Halifax to town on December 13th for a 7pm faceoff. Georgia has a new look team and will continue to build chemistry. Their next crack at it is also on December 13th as they welcome Oshawa. Faceoff in that one is 7:30pm.
