Just over six months after capturing a historic third consecutive NLL Championship, the Bandits are back for the 2025-26 season opener against the Georgia Swarm on Saturday at KeyBank Center.
The banner raising ceremony is slated to start at 7:15 p.m. with the opening faceoff set for 7:30 p.m. All fans in attendance will receive a “2025 World Champions” mini banner.
The Bandits return key cogs to the last three titles in 2024-25 NLL leading scorers Dhane Smith, Josh Byrne, 2025 NLL Finals MVP Ian MacKay and goaltender Matt Vinc. A full season preview can be found here.
The Bandits also welcomed back Ryan Benesch, who spent four seasons in Buffalo, and former Bandits draft choice Mike Triolo – acquired via trade – who watched Buffalo secure the NLL championship in May with the Saskatchewan Rush. The team also added former Bandits and 2021-22 Defensive Player of the Year Mitch de Snoo in a trade with Phialdelphia earlier this week.
Smith said the returnees have embraced the newcomers and young pieces such as second-year forwards Clay Scanlan, Lukas Nielsen and rookies Coltrane Tyson (2025 second-round forward) and Waukiigan Shognosh (2025 first-round goaltender).
“I’ve been on this team for 13-plus years, and I went through the struggles before the great years these past few years,” Smith said. “I understand how hard it is to get to where we’ve been in the past few years. Every game is kind of a new game. Every team is trying to beat us obviously and we have to show up every night. It’s a challenge in itself. We have a new team, and we’re excited to see what we got.”
The Bandits went 6-3 at KeyBank Center last season en route to a 13-5 regular season record.
Here’s everything you need to know ahead of Banner Raising Night.
How to Watch
TV (Buffalo broadcast market): WIVB News 4
Streaming: ESPN+
Radio: WBEN 930 AM (Pregame show begins at 7 p.m.)
Mitch de Snoo joins the fold
Just three days before the Bandits kick off their new season, they acquired defenseman de Snoo from the Philadelphia Wings for a 2026 conditional first-round pick and a 2028 conditional second-round pick on Wednesday.
De Snoo is back in Banditland after spending five seasons in Buffalo where he recorded three seasons of at least 111 loose ball recoveries.
The 2022 NLL Defensive Player of the Year was second in the NLL with a career-high 205 loose ball recoveries last season.
De Snoo has 1214 loose ball recoveries in his nine-year career and his fifth in Bandits history with 102 forced turnovers.
Lineup notes
Buffalo officially added Benesch (who was re-signed to the practice squad earlier in the week) and de Snoo to the active roster on Thursday.
Evan Constantopoulos and Shognosh were placed on the practice squad in a corresponding move.
Downplaying the dynasty
Since being traded from Saskatchewan to Buffalo on Oct. 24, Triolo said the idea of a dynasty has been talked about once. It was simple chatter of a new banner being added to the KeyBank Center rafters.
Triolo said he’s felt the pressure to win as a newcomer but noted the Bandits culture of players like Smith, Bryne, MacKay and Kyle Buchanan have helped him get immersed in the offensive scheme.
Triolo’s 6-foot-8 frame provides a new element to an already high-powered Bandits offense and he brings playoff experience after reaching the 2025 NLL Finals with the Rush. MacKay said getting players like Triolo and Benesch involved largely happens by communicating about tendencies and developing that continuity on the floor.
MacKay said the group’s camaraderie off the floor has been strong through training camp, adding that the idea of a fourth consecutive championship is the ultimate goal but not a prevalent piece of the collective mentality.
“Whether it’s your first time trying to win, or you’re going for a three, four, five-peat, it just adds onto the to the pressure that you don’t really need,” MacKay said. “It’s a new group this year we have. We lost guys in free agency and retirement, and we brought guys in [through] free agency and the draft and everything.
“ … It’s trying to find consistency and gelling with one another and worrying about each game. And hopefully we can keep worrying about games until playoffs and the finals, but if you look too far ahead, you’re gonna get ahead of yourself.”
Scouting the Swarm
The Bandits faced off with the Swarm in the 2024-25 regular season finale; a contest that the latter won 14-11 in April.
The Swarm reached the NLL quarterfinals last season as the seventh seed and fell to Saskatchewan, 13-9.
The Swarm return four of their top six scorers from a season ago, including veteran Lyle Thompson who’s posted at least 87 points each of the last four seasons. Thompson tallied 42 goals and 51 assists last season, and Shayne Jackson finished second on the Swarm in scoring behind Thomspon with 75 points.
The Swarm roster is comprised of 16 first-round picks including three from the 2025 NLL Draft (Ben Trumble, Nolan Bryne and Jeremy Phoenix-Lefebvre). They return transition players Bryan Cole (33 G, 31 A in 2024-25) and Jordan MacIntosh who led the swarm with 128 loose ball recoveries.