Buffalo Bandits facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Quick facts for kids
Buffalo Bandits

Sport	Box lacrosse
Founded	1992
League	National Lacrosse League
Conference	Eastern
Location	Buffalo, New York
Arena	KeyBank Center
Colors	Orange, Purple, Black, White
Owner	Terry Pegula
Head coach	John Tavares
General manager	Steve Dietrich
League titles	6 (1992, 1993, 1996, 2008, 2023, 2024)
Conference titles	2 (2022, 2023)
Division titles	8 (1993, 1994, 1996, 2006, 2008, 2011, 2016, 2019)
Local media	WNLO, WWKB, WGR
Retired numbers	4 (11, 16, 34, 43)
Current season

The Buffalo Bandits are a professional box lacrosse team of the National Lacrosse League (NLL). They play at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York. The Bandits played in the Major Indoor Lacrosse League from 1992 to 1997, then in its successor the NLL since 1998.

The Bandits are owned by Hockey Western New York LLC, led by Terry Pegula who also owns the Rochester Americans, Buffalo Sabres and the Buffalo Bills.

History

The Colorado Mammoth visit the Buffalo Bandits in Game 3 of the 2022 NLL Cup Finals

The Bandits played their first season in 1992. They played home games at Buffalo Memorial Auditorium sharing with the Buffalo Sabres until its closure in 1996.

The Bandits became the first expansion franchise in MILL/NLL history to win a championship in its first season. The Bandits repeated as champions in their second season, compiling the league's only perfect season to date that year, lost the championship game their third season and captured their third Championship in 1996, their fifth season. It was not until 1999, their eighth season, that the Bandits did not make the playoffs.

After their 1996 championship-winning season, the Bandits returned to the NLL Championship game on three separate occasions (1997, 2004, 2006) only to lose each time, including twice at home. It would not be until 2008 that the Bandits would win their elusive fourth championship, a 14–13 triumph over Portland. The Bandits would lose the finals three more times before securing their fifth championship in 2023. The Bandits won their fifth title against the Colorado Mammoth winning the third and final game of the three game series 13–4. The following year, the Bandits repeated as champions, winning their sixth title in a sweep of the Albany FireWolves. This ties them with Toronto for most league championships, which that their dominance against Toronto in the postseason has fueled the rivalry while also preventing Toronto from several championship appearances.

As of 2024, Buffalo is the longest tenured team in the NLL, in terms of continuous years in their home city, at 33 seasons.

Awards and honors

During the 2009 season, Mark Steenhuis set two league records for most assists (13) and points (17) in a single game. He was also selected to his fifth all-star game, second consecutive as a starter.

Year	Player	Award
1992	Derek Keenan	Rookie of the Year
1992	John Tavares	Championship Game MVP
1993	John Tavares	Championship Game MVP
1994	John Tavares	Most Valuable Player
1996	Pat O'Toole	Championship Game MVP
2000	John Tavares	Most Valuable Player
2001	John Tavares	Most Valuable Player
2003	Darris Kilgour	Coach of the Year
2003	Kurt Silcott	GM of the Year
2005	Steve Dietrich	Goaltender of the Year
2006	Steve Dietrich	Goaltender of the Year
2006	Steve Dietrich	Most Valuable Player
2007	Dave Zygaj	Executive of the Year
2008	Mark Steenhuis	Transition Player of the Year
2008	Mark Steenhuis	Champion's Cup MVP
2009	Billy Dee Smith	Defenesive Player of the Year
2009	Ken Montour	Goaltender of the Year
2016	Steve Dietrich	GM of the Year
2016	Dhane Smith	Most Valuable Player
2018	Craig England	Teammate of the Year
2019	Matt Vinc	Goaltender of the Year
	John Tavares/Rich Kilgour	Coach of the Year
	Steve Dietrich	GM of the Year
2022	Matt Vinc	Goaltender of the Year
	Steve Dietrich	GM of the Year
	Dhane Smith	Most Valuable Player
2023	Dhane Smith	NLL Finals MVP
2024	Josh Byrne	Offensive Player of the Year
		Most Valuable Player
		NLL Finals MVP

NLL Hall of Fame members

Les Bartley, Head Coach, 2006
Darris Kilgour, Forward, 2007
John Mouradian, General Manager, 2008
Jim Veltman, Defense, 2009
Rich Kilgour, Transition, 2010
Steve Dietrich, Goaltender, 2012
Pat O'Toole, Goaltender, 2013
Tracey Kelusky, Forward, 2016
John Tavares, Forward, 2016
Pat McCready, Defense, 2021
Shawn Williams, Forward, 2021

NLL records

Single-game record holders

Most assists in a single game – Mark Steenhuis (13 assists, February 14, 2009)
Most points in a single game – Mark Steenhuis (17 points, February 14, 2009)

Season record holders

Most points in a single season – Dhane Smith (137 points, 2016)
Most goals in a single season – Dhane Smith (72 goals, 2016)
Most assists in a single season – Dhane Smith (101 assists, 2024)

All-time record holders

Most goals in a career – John Tavares (724 goals, 1991–2015)
Most assists in a career – John Tavares (823 assists, 1991–2015)
Most points in a career – John Tavares (1,547 points, 1991–2015)
Most saves in a career – Matt Vinc (8,299 saves 2005–Present)
Most wins in a career – Matt Vinc (119 wins 2005–Present)
Most minutes played – Matt Vinc (12,627:54 2005–Present)

NLL All-Star Game

2005: Kyle Couling, Mark Steenhuis, John Tavares*, Dan Teat
2006: Steve Dietrich, Mark Steenhuis, John Tavares*
2007: Pat McCready, Mark Steenhuis, John Tavares*
2008: Mark Steenhuis*, John Tavares*, Chris White
2009: Ken Montour*, Mark Steenhuis*, John Tavares, Roger Vyse, Chris White*
2011: Chris White, Mark Steenhuis, John Tavares, Brett Bucktooth
2012: Billy Dee Smith, Scott Self, Chris White, John Tavares, Mike Thompson

* – voted as starter

Current roster

Buffalo Bandits roster

Active (21-man) roster

Inactive roster

Coaches

Goaltenders

44 Steve Orleman 48 Matt Vinc

Defensemen

5 Cam Wyers 6 Paul Dawson 8 Dylan Robinson 15 Adam Bomberry 21 Justin Martin 23 Steve Priolo 53 Justin Robinson 77 Zack Belter

Forwards

1 Tehoka Nanticoke 2 Chris Cloutier 12 Sam La Roue 22 Josh Byrne 73 Brandon Robinson 91 Kyle Buchanan 92 Dhane Smith 95 Chase Fraser

Transition

4 Ian MacKay 20 Nick Weiss 41 Connor Farrell

Practice Squad

7 Emerson Clark 27 Dalton Sulver 46 Evan Constantopoulos 88 Cory Highfield

Injured Reserve

25 Matt Spanger 83 Frank Brown

Holdout

30 Devlin Shanahan

Protected list

6 Max Adler

Unable to play

94 Bryce Sweeting

Head Coach

John Tavares

Legend

* Suspended list
(C) Captain
(A) Alternate captain

Roster updated 2024-5-7
NLL Transactions

All-time record

Season	Division/Conference	W–L	Finish	Home	Road	GF	GA	Coach	Playoffs
1992	National	5–3	2nd	2–2	3–1	161	125	Bob McCready / Les Bartley	Champions
1993	National	8–0	1st	4–0	4–0	143	108	Les Bartley	Champions
1994	National	6–2	1st	3–1	3–1	121	99	Les Bartley	Lost final
1995		3–5	4th	2–2	1–3	109	108	Les Bartley	Lost semi-final
1996		8–2	1st	3–2	5–0	173	127	Les Bartley	Champions
1997		6–4	3rd	3–2	3–2	158	153	Les Bartley	Lost final
1998		6–6	4th	4–2	2–4	166	171	Les Wakeling	Lost semi-final
1999		4–8	6th	1–5	3–3	158	177	Les Wakeling	Did not qualify
2000		8–4	2nd	5–1	3–3	202	194	Ted Sawicki	Lost semi-final
2001		8–6	5th	4–3	4–3	248	218	Ted Sawicki	Did not qualify
2002	Central	8–8	4th	4–4	4–4	210	215	Ted Sawicki / Frank Neilson	Did not qualify
2003	Central	12–4	2nd	8–0	4–4	231	188	Darris Kilgour	Lost division final
2004	Eastern	8–8	3rd	4–4	4–4	205	198	Darris Kilgour	Lost final
2005	Eastern	11–5	2nd	5–3	6–2	217	183	Darris Kilgour	Lost division semi-final
2006	Eastern	11–5	1st	6–2	5–3	193	167	Darris Kilgour	Lost final
2007	Eastern	10–6	2nd	6–2	4–4	207	188	Darris Kilgour	Lost division final
2008	Eastern	10–6	1st	7–2	3–4	203	174	Darris Kilgour	Champions
2009	Eastern	10–6	2nd	5–3	5–3	223	170	Darris Kilgour	Lost division final
2010	Eastern	8–8	3rd	4–4	4–4	169	170	Darris Kilgour	Lost division semi-final
2011	Eastern	10–6	1st	4–4	6–2	169	159	Darris Kilgour	Lost division final
2012	Eastern	7–9	4th	4–4	3–5	198	204	Darris Kilgour	Lost division semi-final
2013	Eastern	6–10	4th	2–6	4–4	171	211	Darris Kilgour	Did not qualify
2014	Eastern	8–10	3rd	6–3	2–7	190	200	Troy Cordingley	Lost division final
2015	Eastern	11–7	3rd	7–2	4–5	236	208	Troy Cordingley	Lost division semi-final
2016	Eastern	13–5	1st	8–1	5–4	251	214	Troy Cordingley	Lost Finals
2017	Eastern	6–12	5th	3–6	3–6	226	251	Troy Cordingley	Did not qualify
2018	Eastern	8–10	5th	4–5	4–5	232	240	Troy Cordingley	Did not qualify
2019	Eastern	14–4	1st	7–2	7–2	244	186	John Tavares, Rich Kilgour	Lost Finals
2020	North	7–4	T-2nd	4–2	3–2	130	118	John Tavares	No playoffs held
2021	Eastern	Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic
2022	Eastern	14–4	1st	7–2	7–2	247	185	John Tavares	Lost Finals
2023	Eastern	14–4	1st	7–2	7–2	215	191	John Tavares	Champions
2024	Unified	11–7	4th	6–3	5–4	237	212	John Tavares	Champions
Total	32 seasons	279–188		149–86	130–102	6,240	5,713
Playoff Totals	25 Appearances	40–24		30–10	10–14	820	723	6 Championships

All-time team-by-team records

(active NLL franchises only)

		Home				Road				Overall
Team		GP	W	L	PCT	GP	W	L	PCT	GP	W	L	PCT
Albany FireWolves		3	1	2	.333	3	2	1	.667	6	3	3	.500
	as New England Black Wolves	5	3	2	.600	5	2	3	.400	10	5	5	.500
	as Philadelphia Wings	27	15	12	.555	24	11	13	.458	51	26	25	.509
Calgary Roughnecks		7	6	1	.857	9	4	5	.444	16	10	6	.625
Colorado Mammoth		12	7	5	.583	9	3	6	.333	25	10	11	.476
	as Washington Power	2	1	1	.500	2	2	0	1.000	4	3	1	.750
	as Pittsburgh CrosseFire	0	0	0	—	1	0	1	.000	1	0	1	.000
	as Baltimore Thunder	8	6	2	.750	5	4	1	.800	13	10	3	.769
Georgia Swarm		8	3	5	.375	8	6	2	.750	16	9	7	.563
	as Minnesota Swarm	14	12	2	.857	11	7	4	.636	25	19	6	.760
Halifax Thunderbirds		5	4	1	.800	4	2	2	.500	9	6	3	.667
	as Rochester Knighthawks	32	16	16	.500	37	13	24	.351	69	29	40	.420
Las Vegas Desert Dogs		0	0	0	—	1	1	0	1.000	1	1	0	1.000
Ottawa Black Bears		0	0	0	—	0	0	0	—	0	0	0	—
	as New York Riptide	3	1	2	.333	2	2	0	1.000	5	3	2	.625
Philadelphia Wings		4	3	1	.750	5	5	0	1.000	9	8	1	.889
Rochester Knighthawks		4	4	0	1.000	4	3	1	.750	8	7	1	.875
San Diego Seals		2	2	0	1.000	2	2	0	1.000	4	4	0	1.000
Saskatchewan Rush		3	1	2	.333	3	3	0	1.000	6	4	2	.667
	as Edmonton Rush	2	1	1	.500	4	1	3	.250	6	2	4	.333
Toronto Rock		36	18	18	.500	31	13	18	.419	67	31	36	.463
	as Ontario Raiders	1	1	0	1.000	1	0	1	.000	2	1	1	.500
Vancouver Warriors		1	1	0	1.000	2	1	1	.500	3	2	1	.667
	as Vancouver Stealth	4	3	1	.750	4	3	1	.750	8	6	2	.750
	as Washington Stealth	2	0	2	.000	3	2	1	.667	5	2	3	.400
	as San Jose Stealth	1	1	0	1.000	1	1	0	1.000	2	2	0	1.000
	as Albany Attack	4	3	1	.750	4	3	1	.750	8	6	2	.750
Total		190	113	77	.595	181	96	85	.530	375	209	166	.557

Playoff results

Season	Game	Visiting	Home
1992	Division Semifinal	Boston Blazers 16	Buffalo Bandits 22
	Division Final	Buffalo Bandits 19	Detroit Turbos 16
	Championship	Buffalo Bandits 11	Philadelphia Wings 10 (OT)
1993	Division Final	Boston Blazers 10	Buffalo Bandits 12
1993	Championship	Philadelphia Wings 12	Buffalo Bandits 13
1994	Division Final	Detroit Turbos 10	Buffalo Bandits 16
1994	Championship	Philadelphia Wings 26	Buffalo Bandits 15
1995	Semifinals	Philadelphia Wings 19	Buffalo Bandits 16
1996	Semifinals	Rochester Knighthawks 10	Buffalo Bandits 18
1996	Championship	Philadelphia Wings 10	Buffalo Bandits 15
1997	Semifinals	New York Saints 10	Buffalo Bandits 19
1997	Championship	Rochester Knighthawks 15	Buffalo Bandits 12
1998	Semifinals	Buffalo Bandits 12	Philadelphia Wings 17
2000	Semifinals	Rochester Knighthawks 15	Buffalo Bandits 11
2003	Quarterfinals	Calgary Roughnecks 9	Buffalo Bandits 16
2003	Semifinals	Buffalo Bandits 13	Rochester Knighthawks 16
2004	Division Semifinal	Buffalo Bandits 13	Rochester Knighthawks 9
	Division Final	Buffalo Bandits 19	Toronto Rock 10
	Championship	Buffalo Bandits 11	Calgary Roughnecks 14
2005	Division Semifinal	Rochester Knighthawks 17	Buffalo Bandits 16
2006	Division Semifinal	Buffalo Bandits 11	Minnesota Swarm 10
	Division Final	Buffalo Bandits 15	Rochester Knighthawks 10
	Championship	Colorado Mammoth 16	Buffalo Bandits 9
2007	Division Semifinal	Minnesota Swarm 8	Buffalo Bandits 14
2007	Division Final	Buffalo Bandits 13	Rochester Knighthawks 14 (OT)
2008	Division Semifinal	Philadelphia Wings 12	Buffalo Bandits 14
	Division Final	New York Titans 12	Buffalo Bandits 19
	Championship	Portland LumberJax 13	Buffalo Bandits 14
2009	Division Semifinal	Boston Blazers 8	Buffalo Bandits 11
2009	Division Final	Buffalo Bandits 3	New York Titans 9
2010	Division Semifinal	Buffalo Bandits 11	Toronto Rock 13
2011	Division Semifinal	Boston Blazers 10	Buffalo Bandits 11
2011	Division Final	Buffalo Bandits 11	Toronto Rock 12
2012	Division Semifinal	Buffalo Bandits 6	Toronto Rock 7
2014	Division Semifinal	Buffalo Bandits 15	Toronto Rock 13
	Division Final 1	Rochester Knighthawks 8	Buffalo Bandits 12
	Division Final 2	Buffalo Bandits 8	Rochester Knighthawks 13
	Division Final 3	Buffalo Bandits 1	Rochester Knighthawks 2
2015	Division Semifinal	Buffalo Bandits 11	Rochester Knighthawks 14
2016	Division Final 1	Buffalo Bandits 15	New England Black Wolves 10
	Division Final 2	New England Black Wolves 15	Buffalo Bandits 20
	Championship 1	Buffalo Bandits 9	Saskatchewan Rush 11
	Championship 2	Saskatchewan Rush 11	Buffalo Bandits 10
2019	Division Semifinal	New England Black Wolves 6	Buffalo Bandits 13
	Division Final	Toronto Rock 8	Buffalo Bandits 12
	Championship 1	Calgary Roughnecks 10	Buffalo Bandits 7
	Championship 2	Buffalo Bandits 13	Calgary Roughnecks 14
2022	Conference Semifinal	Albany Firewolves 5	Buffalo Bandits 10
	Conference Final 1	Toronto Rock 17	Buffalo Bandits 18
	Conference Final 2	Buffalo Bandits 10	Toronto Rock 9
	Championship 1	Colorado Mammoth 14	Buffalo Bandits 15
	Championship 2	Buffalo Bandits 8	Colorado Mammoth 11
	Championship 3	Colorado Mammoth 10	Buffalo Bandits 8
2023	Conference Semifinal	Rochester Knighthawks 8	Buffalo Bandits 20
	Conference Final 1	Toronto Rock 5	Buffalo Bandits 14
	Conference Final 2	Buffalo Bandits 17	Toronto Rock 8
	Championship 1	Colorado Mammoth 12	Buffalo Bandits 13
	Championship 2	Buffalo Bandits 10	Colorado Mammoth 16
	Championship 3	Colorado Mammoth 4	Buffalo Bandits 13
2024	Quarterfinals	Georgia Swarm 9	Buffalo Bandits 10 OT
	Semi Final 1	Buffalo Bandits 12	Toronto Rock 4
	Semi Final 2	Toronto Rock 8	Buffalo Bandits 12
	Championship 1	Buffalo Bandits 12	Albany FireWolves 8
	Championship 2	Albany FireWolves 13	Buffalo Bandits 15

All-time team-by-team playoff records

(Active NLL franchises only)

	Home				Road				Overall
Team	GP	W	L	PCT	GP	W	L	PCT	GP	W	L	PCT
Albany FireWolves	2	2	0	1.000	1	1	0	1.000	3	3	0	1.000
Calgary Roughnecks	1	1	1	.500	2	0	2	.000	3	1	2	.333
Colorado Mammoth	5	3	2	.600	2	0	2	.000	7	3	4	.429
Georgia Swarm	1	1	0	1.000	0	0	0	—	1	1	0	1.000
Rochester Knighthawks	1	1	0	1.000	0	0	0	—	1	1	0	1.000
Saskatchewan Rush	1	0	1	.000	1	0	1	.000	2	0	2	.000
Toronto Rock	5	4	1	.800	7	5	2	.714	12	9	3	.750
Total	16	12	4	.750	13	6	7	.462	29	18	11	.621

Head coaching history

#	Name	Term	Regular Season				Playoffs
#	Name	Term	GC	W	L	W%	GC	W	L	W%
1	Bob McCready	1992	3	0	3	.000	—	—	—	—
2	Les Bartley	1992–1997	49	36	13	.735	12	9	3	.750
3	Les Wakeling	1998–1999	24	10	14	.417	1	0	1	.000
4	Ted Sawicki	2000–2002	35	21	14	.600	1	0	1	.000
5	Frank Neilson	2002	7	3	4	.429	—	—	—	—
6	Darris Kilgour	2003–2013	176	103	73	.585	20	11	9	.550
7	Troy Cordingley	2014–2018	90	46	44	.511	9	4	5	.444
8	John Tavares, Rich Kilgour	2019	18	14	4	.778	3	2	1	.666
9	John Tavares	2020–	65	46	19	.708	17	14	3	.824

Draft history

NLL Entry Draft

First Round Selections

1991: Darris Kilgour (1st overall)
1992: Tom Marechek (6th overall)
1993: Gil Nieuwendyk (6th overall)
1994: Rodd Squire (5th overall)
1995: Jason Luke (3rd overall)
1996: Mike Murray (6th overall)
1997: Casey Zaph (7th overall) & Marty O'Brien (8th overall)
1998: Matt Disher (7th overall)
1999: None
2000: Ryan Powell (2nd overall)
2001: None
2002: Billy Dee Smith (3rd overall)
2003: A.J. Shannon (6th overall)
2004: Delby Powless (1st overall)
2005: Jeff Shattler (10th overall)
2006: Brett Bucktooth (3rd overall)
2007: None

2008: None
2009: Kyle Clancy (10th overall)
2010: Travis Irving (9th overall)
2011: None
2012: Dhane Smith (5th overall)
2013: None
2014: Brandon Goodwin (9th overall)
2015: None
2016: None
2017: Josh Byrne (1st overall)
2018: Matt Gilray (3rd overall) & Ian MacKay (4th overall)
2019: Brent Noseworthy (12th overall)
2020: Brad McCulley (9th overall)
2021: Tehoka Nanticoke (3rd overall) & Thomas Vaesen (14th overall)
2022: Cam Wyers (13th overall), Dylan Robinson (14th overall), Zach Belter (19th overall)
2023: None

NLL Dispersal Draft

2002 from Montreal Express: Aime Caines (6th overall); Kelly Sullivan (18th overall)
2003 from Ottawa Rebel: Jason Clark (9th overall); Marc Landriault (20th overall); Mike Hamilton (31st overall)
2004 from Vancouver Ravens: Curt Malawsky (9th overall); Declined to pick (18th overall)
2005 from Anaheim Storm: Traded to Arizona (9th overall)
2007 from Arizona Sting & Boston Blazers: Craig Conn, Arizona (10th overall); Brian Croswell, Boston (15th overall); Joe Smith, Arizona (34th overall)
2008 from Arizona Sting: Greg Hinman (13th overall)
2008 from Chicago Shamrox: Cody Jacobs (12th overall); Cory Stringer (21st overall)
2009 from Portland LumberJax: Jamison Koesterer (9th overall)
2010 from Orlando Titians: Jesse Guerin (16th overall) & Matt Brown (26th overall)
2011 from Boston Blazers: Kevin Buchanan (6th overall) & Damon Edwards (15th overall)

NLL Expansion Draft

1999 to Albany Attack: Troy Cordingley (3rd overall)
2001 to Calgary Roughnecks, New Jersey Storm, Vancouver Ravens & Columbus Landsharks: Rich Catton, Vancouver (3rd overall); Phil Wetherup, Columbus (4th overall); Andy Duden, Columbus (10th overall); Peter Talmo, New Jersey (21st overall)
2004 to Minnesota Swarm: Jason Clark (N/A overall)
2005 to Portland Lumberjax & Edmonton Rush: Mike Hominuck, Portland (1st overall); Thomas Montour, Portland (13th overall)
2006 to Chicago Shamrox & New York Titans: Bryan Kazarian, Chicago (13th overall); Jon Harasym, Portland (15th overall)
2007 to Boston Blazers: Brendan Thenhaus (7th overall)
2008 to Boston Blazers: Kyle Laverty (4th overall)
2018 to San Diego Seals & Philadelphia Wings: Vaughn Harris (15th overall); Davide DiRuscio (17th overall)
2019 to Rochester Knighthawks & New York Riptide: Shawn Evans (1st overall); Jordan Durston (2nd overall)
2021 to Panther City Lacrosse Club: Liam Patten (8th overall)
2022 to Las Vegas Desert Dogs: Connor Fields (2nd overall)

Retired numbers

The Bandits have four retired numbers, three of which are represented at the Arena in the rafters with the Championship banners.

34 Thomas Gardner, western New York youth lacrosse organizer, March 20, 1999
43 Darris Kilgour, F, March 25, 2001
16 Rich Kilgour, D, April 16, 2011
11 John Tavares, F, March 11, 2016

Game broadcasts

Buffalo Bandits games can be heard on Buffalo's Entercom stations, either WGR 550 AM or WWKB 1520 AM. John Gurtler, former play-by-play man for the Buffalo Sabres, handles announcing duties, while former Bandit Randy Mearns handles color commentary.

All games are broadcast on ESPN+. Select games can be found nationally on ESPN Linear Networks, and locally (to the Buffalo Market) on WNLO CW23.