MATT VOLZ
Editor in Chief
The matchup is set.
For the fifth consecutive season, the Buffalo Bandits are headed to the NLL Finals.
They’re only the third team in league history to do so, following the original Philadelphia Wings from 1992 to 1996 and the Toronto Rock from 1999 to 2003.
The Bandits are two wins away from a third straight championship, something only the Rochester Knighthawks from 2012 to 2014 have ever done.
They enter the finals as a juggernaut who has only suffered one loss in the last two postseasons combined.
Every discussion around the Bandits usually starts with star forwards Josh Byrne and Dhane Smith, for good reason.
Byrne and Smith each put up 134 points in the regular season, more than anyone else in the NLL.
Smith’s 102 assists were the most ever in a single season, breaking his own record of 101 that he set last year.
In fact, Smith holds each of the top four seasons in terms of assists in NLL history, as he recorded 94 in 2022 and 96 in 2023.
Byrne also displayed an ability to pass the ball, as his 90 assists were good for fifth on the all-time single-season list.
In the playoffs, they’ve still put up offense, with each player recording 11 points across three games.
However, the goal scoring hasn’t been there as much, especially for Byrne who has just one goal.
Those two haven’t had to do it alone, though, thanks in large part to an offensive outburst from one of their transition players.
Entering the 2025 season, Ian MacKay was a skilled transition player who could contribute offensively.
Drafted fourth overall by the Bandits in 2018, MacKay’s best offensive season came in 2023, when he recorded 19 goals and 19 assists for 38 points.
This season, he has filled the net more than everyone else on the team except for Byrne, sniping 37 goals.
In the playoffs, he’s elevated his game even more.
MacKay is averaging a hat trick per game, with nine goals across Buffalo’s three playoff games.
Chase Fraser has also found the back of the net in the postseason, adding four goals.
But the primary reason why the Bandits are in this spot is not the offense.
Rather, it’s been the goaltending of Matt Vinc.
Vinc, who turns 43 in June, has put together a season on par with his best years from across his illustrious career.
Like MacKay, Vinc has played at an even higher level in the playoffs.
In three games, he’s only allowed 16 goals, highlighted by Buffalo’s quarterfinal game in which he only allowed four.
Vinc is no stranger to postseason success, either.
He holds the all-time playoff records for wins, saves, minutes played and games played.
He was also Rochester’s goalie when they won three straight titles.
As good as he has been, Vinc has also gotten some help from his defense.
The Bandits play a defensive game centered around blocking shots and covering the front of the net.
That’s easy to do when you have the NLL’s all-time leader in blocked shots, Paul Dawson.
Vinc and the defense shined again in game one of the semifinals, holding the Vancouver Warriors to just three goals in a 9-3 win.
Vancouver’s offense responded in game two, but Buffalo came back from a third quarter deficit to win, 11-9.
With a seemingly loaded core, the Bandits seem primed to add another banner to the KeyBank Center rafters.
Standing in their way is the team that finished right behind Buffalo in the regular season standings, the Saskatchewan Rush.
The Rush are back in the NLL Finals for the first time since their 2018 championship season, when they beat Rochester in three games to capture the title.
Like Buffalo, the Rush can certainly score, as they had three 30-goal scorers in the regular season in Zach Manns, Austin Shanks and Robert Church.
Although they lack the MVP-caliber talent the Bandits have in Byrne and Smith, the Rush had four players crack the 70-point mark, including all three aforementioned scorers and forward Ryan Keenan.
Saskatchewan has also thrived on strong goaltending, as veteran netminder Frank Scigliano put together one of the top seasons of any goalie in the league.
Throughout his 13-year career, Scigliano has been known as a goalie who excels in the regular season but sometimes struggles in the playoffs.
That hasn’t been the case this time.
In three games, Scigliano has allowed 25 goals and stopped 83.2% of the shots he’s faced.
The Rush began their postseason run with a 13-9 win over the Georgia Swarm in the quarterfinal game.
In the semifinals, they faced the third-place Halifax Thunderbirds. Saskatchewan, as the higher seed, decided to go on the road for game one so they could host both game two and a hypothetical game three.
They didn’t need a third game.
The Rush went to Halifax and dominated the Thunderbirds in game one, taking home a 16-7 victory.
Game two in Saskatoon went to overtime, where Shanks played the hero and sent the Rush to the NLL Finals with a power play goal.
Shanks has scored 10 goals so far in the playoffs, leading the league.
The Bandits and Rush do have some history, although they don’t play often.
Back on March 1, the two teams matched up in Saskatoon. In a back and forth game, the Bandits came away with a 9-7 win.
They’ve also seen each other in the NLL Finals before.
In 2016, Buffalo’s 25th anniversary season was spoiled by the Rush, who swept them in the best-of-three series.
Some of the same players remain on the Bandits, including Smith who scored an NLL-record 72 goals that year.
This time, it’s Buffalo who has home-field advantage, and the series will begin in Banditland at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, May 16.
Before the game, fans can gather for a Party in the Plaza outside KeyBank Center starting at 5:30 p.m.
The series will shift to Canada for game two, which will get started at 8 p.m. on Sunday, May 18.
If a winner-take-all third game is needed, that will be played at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 24.
I’d like to add that Friday, May 23 is my birthday, and I’d very much like to receive another championship as a present from the Bandits.
We’ll see if I’m blowing out my candles as the confetti falls.
