Hello all, remember me? I am going into my fourth season as the beat writer for the Buffalo Bandits. I have thought long and hard over the course of the last three seasons on how to keep a fresh, exciting style when writing about Buffalo, their games, etc. I am here to be a million percent honest with you all, I think I have run out of those ideas. The Bandits are back-to-back NLL Champions and everything that could be said, and should have been said, has been said. So now what?
The title of this season preview is short and sweet, and please don’t take it for laziness. It’s the truth. I’ve reverted back to the old acronym, “KISS”, Keep It Simple, Stupid. My title for this going into this upcoming season is, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Here’s why.
During an offseason, many teams look to sign more talent to improve their chances at hoisting the NLL Cup. That’s the name of the game, duh. This offseason featured some big splashes with the movement of some high caliber players, along with the relocation of some during the Panther City Dispersal Draft.
After week one of the NLL season, it’s proven that those big signings have already made a massive splash with their respective clubs. A ton of teams got A LOT scarier.
Then, there’s the Bandits. Can you say they got “better?” Maybe. However, it was a lot of resignings and the “same old” with the boys in the orange and black. If you look at their opening night roster from last year compared to this year, were there any additions of any big named guys? Not really. Sure, they may have lost a few such as Brandon Robinson, Dalton Sulver, Adam Bomberry, and Bryce Sweeting, who is still injured. But the core remained exactly the same, and why wouldn’t it? The Bandits have won back-to-back championships with the same core group of guys, not to mention they very easily could have won three, maybe four in-a-row at this point.
It’s an extremely scary thought that Dhane Smith and Josh Byrne, two of the league’s most prolific scorers, are with the team for many more years to come, along with both of them ranking in the top five in forwards going into this upcoming season. Allow me to remind you, that last season, they combined for an absurd 269 points.
Chris Cloutier is back, Chase Fraser is back, Tehoka still bulldozing his way through the middle. But how about the wiley veterans that everyone thought would hang them up at the end of their run last year? Paul Dawson, back. Kyle Buchanan, back. Last, but certainly not least, Matt Vinc, back. The simple fact that those three, who are in the latter portions of their careers, chose to come back to try for a three-peat (imagine?). That tells us everything we need to know about the comradery and the “family” that is the Buffalo Bandits.
Let me refresh your memory for a moment. The Bandits had one of the most historic runs in last season’s playoffs, kicking it off with a nail-biter of a win against the Georgia Swarm. Next, a two game sweep of the Toronto Rock, followed by a two game sweep of the Albany FireWolves in route to another championship. Point being, with a showing like that, on the grandest stage, why mess up the good juju?
Players are always going to move on and seek out better opportunities based on their own personal needs and desires. But, the fact remains the same, it is impossible to count out the Buffalo Bandits in any game, any season, and any championship prediction. With John Tavares at the helm, he keeps the boys humble and in check, with quotes like, “teams are going to come at us harder than any other team and try and knock us off from the top. We definitely tell the guys, nothing comes easy. You have to work for anything you get.”
With a leader like that, a core group of guys that have been to the mountaintop twice in-a-row now, and the entire city of Buffalo behind them, good luck trying to knock them off the top. Keep your big signings, your roster additions, Buffalo says, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
