Buffalo Bandits Repeat as Lacrosse Champions


The Buffalo Bandits enforced their dominance of the National Lacrosse League (NLL) with a 15-13 win over the Albany Firewolves to repeat as champions in front of over 19,000 fans.  This is their sixth overall title.  The Bandits have now tied the trophy counts of the Toronto Rock and Philadelphia Wings.

The Bandits used a huge third quarter to pull away from Albany, who had crawled back from a five-goal deficit in the first half to make it a one-goal game early in the third quarter. But Buffalo responded with the next five goals of the game.

Chase Fraser led Buffalo’s scoring attack with five goals and two assists. The Bandits got two goals apiece from Tehoka Nanticoke, Chris Cloutier, Brandon Robinson and Smith, who also added five assists to his career playoff tally, an NLL record 125. League MVP Josh Byrne had a goal and eight assists for a team-leading nine points. Matt Vinc made 36 saves.


Albany, which was 3-15 a year ago, fell short of becoming just the second team in NLL history (Detroit in 1991) to go from the worst record in the league to a title in a year. The FireWolves finished this season 14-9.

Buffalo finished fourth in the regular season then won an overtime game against Georgia before sweeping top-ranked Toronto in the semifinals.

2023-2024 Final Standings:
  1. Toronto Rock (15-3)
  2. San Diego Seals (13-5)
  3. Albany Firewolves (11-7)
  4. Buffalo Bandits (11-7)
  5. Georgia Swarm (10-8)
  6. Halifax Thunderbirds (10-8)
  7. Panther City Lacrosse Club (9-9)
  8. Rochester Knighthawks (8-10)
  9. New York Riptide (8-10)
  10. Saskatchewan Rush (8-10)
  11. Calgary Roughnecks (8-10)
  12. Vancouver Warriors (8-10)
  13. Philadelphia Wings (6-12)
  14. Las Vegas Desert Dogs (5-13)
  15. Colorado Mammoth (5-13)
Playoffs
Quarterfinals
Toronto 9, Rochester 6
Buffalo 10, Georgia 9 (ot)
San Diego 9, Panther City 8 (ot)
Albany 9, Halifax 3

Semifinals
Buffalo defeated Toronto 12-4, 10-8 (2-0)
Albany defeated San Diego 14-12, 13-10 (2-0)

Final
Buffalo defeated Albany 12-8, 15-13 (2-0)

Next season the New York Riptide will relocate to Ottawa.




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