2023 Buffalo Bandits season

The Buffalo Bandits are a lacrosse team based in Buffalo, New York playing in the National Lacrosse League (NLL). The 2023 season was their 31st season in the NLL.

2023 Buffalo Bandits
NLL Champions
League	NLL
Division	1st East
2023 record	14-4
Home record	7-2
Road record	7-2
Goals for	215
Goals against	191
General Manager	Steve Dietrich
Coach	John Tavares
Captain	Steve Priolo
Alternate captains	Dhane Smith, Nick Weiss
Arena	KeyBank Center
Average attendance	14,731
← 2022 season 2024 season →

The Bandits won the Eastern Conference with a 14-4 record in the regular season, as well as first place overall, and home floor advantage throughout the playoffs. They beat the Rochester Knighthawks, 20-8, in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. The team would go on to sweep the Toronto Rock in two games in the Eastern Conference Finals, leading to a rematch against the Colorado Mammoth in the NLL Finals, in which Buffalo had fallen to in three games, in the 2022 season.

The Bandits went on to win Game 1 at home over the Mammoth, 14-13, and then lose Game 2, 16-10, on the road in Colorado. The Bandits went on to win the third and deciding game, 13-4, to win their first championship since 2008.^[1]

Regular season

 

Team captain Steve Priolo holds the NLL Cup

NLL Standings Reference:^[2]

East Conference

P	Team	GP	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	GF	GA	Diff	GF/GP	GA/GP
1	Buffalo Bandits – xyz	18	14	4	.778	0.0	7–2	7–2	215	191	+24	11.94	10.61
2	Toronto Rock – x	18	13	5	.722	1.0	8–1	5–4	234	164	+70	13.00	9.11
3	Halifax Thunderbirds – x	18	10	8	.556	4.0	5–4	5–4	238	210	+28	13.22	11.67
4	Rochester Knighthawks – x	18	10	8	.556	4.0	6–3	4–5	218	214	+4	12.11	11.89
5	Philadelphia Wings	18	9	9	.500	5.0	4–5	5–4	200	211	−11	11.11	11.72
6	Georgia Swarm	18	8	10	.444	6.0	3–6	5–4	219	207	+12	12.17	11.50
7	New York Riptide	18	5	13	.278	9.0	3–6	2–7	201	243	−42	11.17	13.50
8	Albany FireWolves	18	3	15	.167	11.0	0–9	3–6	167	233	−66	9.28	12.94

West Conference

P	Team	GP	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	GF	GA	Diff	GF/GP	GA/GP
1	San Diego Seals – xy	18	14	4	.778	0.0	7–2	7–2	240	193	+47	13.33	10.72
2	Calgary Roughnecks – x	18	13	5	.722	1.0	7–2	6–3	218	167	+51	12.11	9.28
3	Panther City Lacrosse Club – x	18	10	8	.556	4.0	6–3	4–5	204	193	+11	11.33	10.72
4	Colorado Mammoth – x	18	9	9	.500	5.0	7–2	2–7	190	208	−18	10.56	11.56
5	Saskatchewan Rush	18	8	10	.444	6.0	5–4	3–6	204	212	−8	11.33	11.78
6	Las Vegas Desert Dogs	18	5	13	.278	9.0	4–5	1–8	179	222	−43	9.94	12.33
7	Vancouver Warriors	18	4	14	.222	10.0	2–7	2–7	188	247	−59	10.44	13.72

Game log

Game	Date	Opponent	Location	Score	OT	Attendance	Record
1	December 3, 2022	Albany FireWolves	KeyBank Center	L 10–11		11,493	0–1
2	December 17, 2022	@ Toronto Rock	FirstOntario Centre	W 11–8		7,730	1–1
3	December 30, 2022	Halifax Thunderbirds	KeyBank Center	W 18–13		14,040	2–1
4	January 7, 2023	@ Georgia Swarm	Gas South Arena	W 18–9		8,304	3–1
5	January 14, 2023	Georgia Swarm	KeyBank Center	W 11–9		14,189	4–1
6	January 20, 2023	@ Rochester Knighthawks	Blue Cross Arena	L 12–15		6,948	4–2
7	January 27, 2023	@ Philadelphia Wings (2018–)	Wells Fargo Center (Philadelphia)	W 13–9		7,768	5–2
8	January 28, 2023	@ New York Riptide	Nassau Coliseum	W 16–10		4,990	6–2
9	February 4, 2023	Rochester Knighthawks	KeyBank Center	W 13–10		14,923	7–2
10	February 18, 2023	Philadelphia Wings (2018–)	KeyBank Center	W 13–12	OT	14,632	8–2
11	March 3, 2023	@ Halifax Thunderbirds	Scotiabank Centre	W 10–9		6,724	9–2
12	March 10, 2023	Halifax Thunderbirds	KeyBank Center	W 10–9	OT	14,896	10–2
13	March 18, 2023	Colorado Mammoth	KeyBank Center	L 8–13		15,496	10–3
14	March 25, 2023	@ San Diego Seals	Pechanga Arena	W 7–6	OT	4,388	11–3
15	April 1, 2023	@ Toronto Rock	FirstOntario Centre	L 7–18		13,127	11–4
16	April 15, 2023	New York Riptide	KeyBank Center	W 11–10	OT	16,051	12–4
17	April 22, 2023	Toronto Rock	KeyBank Center	W 11–10		16,861	13–4
18	April 29, 2023	@ Albany FireWolves	Times Union Center	W 16–10		3,558	14–4

Playoffs

Game	Date	Opponent	Location	Score	OT	Attendance	Record
Eastern Conference Quarterfinals	May 6, 2023	Rochester Knighthawks	KeyBank Center	W 20–8		14,794	1–0
Eastern Conference Finals (Game 1)	May 12, 2023	Toronto Rock	KeyBank Center	W 14–5		11,510	2–0
Eastern Conference Finals (Game 2)	May 13, 2023	@ Toronto Rock	FirstOntario Centre	W 17–8		8,304	3–0
NLL Finals (Game 1)	May 27, 2023	Colorado Mammoth	KeyBank Center	W 13–12		14,260	4–0
NLL Finals (Game 2)	May 29, 2023	@ Colorado Mammoth	Ball Arena	L 10–16		10,686	4–1
NLL Finals (Game 3)	June 3, 2023	Colorado Mammoth	KeyBank Center	W 13–4		18,296	5–1

Roster

 

Public address announcer Chris Swenson leads the championship rally for Bandits on June 15, 2023

Buffalo Bandits roster view talk edit
Active (21-man) roster				Inactive roster		Coaches
Goaltenders 30   Devlin Shanahan 48   Matt Vinc Defensemen 8   Dylan Robinson 15   Adam Bomberry 21   Justin Martin 23   Steve Priolo (C) 25   Matt Spanger 37   Ethan O'Connor 53   Justin Robinson 94   Bryce Sweeting		Forwards 1   Tehoka Nanticoke 2   Chris Cloutier 10   Brad McCulley 12   Sam La Roue 22   Josh Byrne 73   Brandon Robinson 91   Kyle Buchanan 92   Dhane Smith (A) 95   Chase Fraser Transition 4   Ian MacKay 6   Max Adler 20   Nick Weiss (A) 27   Dalton Sulver		Practice Squad 29   Carter McKenzie 44   Nathaniel Kozevnikov 70   Joel Tayler Holdout   Alec Tulett 5   Devyn Mayea 57   Doug Buchan 64   Greg Harnett Protected list   Justin Guterding Unable to play 83   Frank Brown		Head Coach John Tavares Assistant Coaches Steve Dietrich Anthony Cosmo Eric Vinc Equipment Manager Ted Cordingley Legend * Suspended list (C) Captain (A) Alternate captain Roster updated 2022-02-11 NLL Transactions

Entry Draft

The 2022 NLL Entry Draft took place on September 10, 2022.^[3] The Bandits made the following selections:

Round	Overall	Player	College/Club
1	13	Cam Wyers	Toronto Beaches – Loyola University
1	14	Dylan Robinson	Toronto Beaches
1	19	Zach Belter	Niagara Thunderhawks – St. Bonaventure
4	73	Ryan Sharkey	UCBLL Rapids – Canisius College/UMass
5	82	Christian Watts	UCBLL Rapids – Siena College
5	88	Austin Blumbergs	UCBLL Rapids – St. Bonaventure University

References

1. "Buffalo Bandits Get Over The Hump, Win First NLL Cup Since 2008 And Fifth in Franchise History". NLL.com. National Lacrosse League. June 3, 2023. Retrieved June 9, 2023.
2. "Standings". National Lacrosse League.
3. "2022 NLL ENTRY DRAFT LIVE RESULTS". NLL.com. September 10, 2022. Retrieved November 12, 2023.

External links

• 2023 Buffalo Bandits at nllstats.com