Buffalo Bandits

Buffalo Bandits

Team logo
Division	Eastern
Founded	1991
Home arena	KeyBank Center
Based in	Buffalo, New York
Colors	Orange, Black, Purple
Head coach	Troy Cordingley
General manager	Steve Dietrich
Owner(s)	Terrence Pegula
Local media	WWKB, WGR, WGWE
Championships	1992, 1993, 1996, 2008
Division Championships	1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2016
PLPA representative	John Tavares
Website	www.bandits.com

The Buffalo Bandits are a professional Box lacrosse team in the National Lacrosse League (NLL)'s Eastern Division. They play at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York. The Bandits played in the Major Indoor Lacrosse League from 1992 to 1997, until the MILL turned into the NLL in 1998.

The Bandits are owned by Hockey Western New York LLC, a division of Pegula Sports and Entertainment led by Terry Pegula who also owns the Buffalo Sabres and the Buffalo Bills.

History

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^[1][2] 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.

Since 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 wouldn't be until 2008 that the Bandits would win their elusive fourth Championship, a 14-13 triumph over Portland.

As of 2016, Buffalo is the longest tenured team in the NLL, in terms of continuous years in their home city, at 25 seasons. (They are not the longest tenured franchise; the New England Black Wolves operate on the franchise of the Philadelphia Wings and the Colorado Mammoth were originally the Baltimore Thunder with previous stops as the Pittsburgh Crossefire in 2000 and Washington Power in 2001 & 2002.)

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.

NLL Hall of Fame members

• Les Bartley (class of 2006)
• Darris Kilgour, Tom Borrelli (class of 2007)
• Johnny Mouradian (class of 2008)
• Jim Veltman (class of 2009)
• Rich Kilgour (class of 2010)
• Steve Dietrich (class of 2012)
• Pat O'Toole (class of 2013)
• Tracey Kelusky (class of 2016)
• John Tavares (class of 2016)

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)

All-time record holders

• Most goals in a career - John Tavares (724 goals, 1991–present)
• Most assists in a career - John Tavares (823 assists, 1991–present)
• Most points in a career - John Tavares (1,547 points, 1991–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

All-time record

The 2008 NLL Championship Game at KeyBank Center on May 17, 2008

• All stats present and accounted for as of June 10, 2013

All-time team-by-team records

(active NLL franchises only)

Playoff results

All-time team-by-team playoff records

defunct franchises in italics

Head coaching history

Draft history

NLL Entry Draft

First Round Selections

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)

NLL Expansion Draft

• 1999 to Albany Attack: Troy Cordingley (3rd overall)
• 2001 to Calgary Roughnecks, New Jersey Storm, Vancouver Ravens & Columbus Landsharks:^[9] 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)

Retired numbers

The Bandits have four retired numbers, two of which are represented at the Arena in the rafters with the Championship banners.^{[10] [11]}

34 Thomas Gardner, western New York youth lacrosse organizer, number retired March 20, 1999
43 Darris Kilgour, F, 1992–1999, number retired March 25, 2001
16 Rich Kilgour, D, number retired April 16, 2011^[11]
11 John Tavares, F, number retired March 11, 2016

Equipment Manager- John Craig, February 2, 2012 (retired by the Bandits and given a ceremony)

Game broadcasts

Buffalo Bandits games can be heard on WWKB-AM 1520 out of Buffalo, with a simulcast on WGWE-FM 105.9, the Seneca nation's radio station in Little Valley. John Gurtler, former play-by-play man for the Buffalo Sabres, handles announcing duties, while former Bandit Randy Mearns handles color commentary. Home games are streamed live on NLL.com.

Footnotes and references

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Buffalo Bandits.

• Buffalo Bandits seasons
• Buffalo Bandits all-time roster

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