When coach John Tavares assessed last season following the Buffalo Bandits’ third consecutive championship, he diagnosed an area of improvement for 2025-26: be better in transition.
With an experienced defensive group – further bolstered by the addition of 10-year NLL veteran Mitch de Snoo – creating opportunities for Buffalo’s dynamic offense and shutting down opponents are key ingredients for the Bandits’ success. It’s a mixture that has made Buffalo one of the best shutdown teams in the NLL.
The Bandits will have to showcase their elevated transition game as they face the high-powered Halifax Thunderbirds offense on Saturday at KeyBank Center at 7 p.m.
De Snoo didn’t have time to make a single practice with the Bandits after being acquired from Philadelphia in the days before the opener, but still had a clear message from Tavares.
“I talked to Mitch before the game about having the green light in transition,” Tavares said.
De Snoo’s ankle-breaking to set up a Josh Byrne transition goal in the 15-11 win over Georgia embodied that approach. It was also symbolized by the performance of transition player Nick Weiss who had three assists and 10 loose ball recoveries.
Weiss has been known as a talented two-way player over his 12 NLL seasons headlined by 974 loose ball recoveries and 174 created turnovers. Weiss was credited by Tavares as a player who can help in transition both offensively and defensively and said it’s an aspect of his game that goes unnoticed.
“I love the energy he brings,” Tavares said. “He’s a great, steady defenseman, he plays the game hard and he has a lot of skill. He does display that in transition at times where he has a great swim move and he has a scoring touch as well. … When Nick’s in transition, he seems to be having fun. I like what he offers our team, great leader on and off the floor.”
“It’s not like he forces transition. He just enjoys running in transition. … Between him, [Steve] Priolo, Robinson and de Snoo, those guys pushing the ball up the floor potentially will give us more opportunities in transition. Nick [Weiss] is a great defender, but you never hear people talk about him being much of a transition player, but he’s actually really good at it.”
A key piece to getting out in transition and allowing the offense to maximize odd-man rushes is having the ability to create turnovers, get key saves and shut down an opponent’s top offensive players. This was done masterfully by defenseman Cam Wyers who had the assignment of storied Georgia scorer Lyle Thompson and held him scoreless.
Wyers and the Buffalo defense is set to face a set of 100-point scorers from a year ago in Randy Staats – who had four goals and five assists against the Bandits last year – and Clarke Petterson who dominated the score sheet in Buffalo’s 15-12 win over the Thunderbirds a season ago.
Tavares talked specifically about Staats and Cody Jamieson who headline a veteran Halifax offense that scored the second most goals in the NLL last season. In order to match that offense, it’ll be on Buffalo’s defense to ignite the transition game and shut down the Thunderbirds’ offensive threats.
“They’re a triple threat,” Tavares said of Staats and Jamieson. “They’re great passers, great shooters and they get inside and score as well. With those two, and they have some athletic guys around them, they have a good mix of players. They definitely can put the ball in the net and last year at home they caused us fits defensively. Especially Randy, he was drawing two guys and if we didn’t double him, then he took advantage. … They create some problems for any defense, but hopefully we can get to the game plan and minimize their opportunities and give us a chance to win the game.”
Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the Bandits’ clash with the Thunderbirds.
How to Watch
TV (Buffalo broadcast market): CW
Streaming: ESPN+
Radio: WWKB 1520 AM
Lineup Notes (Updated 3:15 p.m.)
Transition player Kiel Matisz was added to the active roster from injured reserve and defenseman Taylor Dooley was placed on the practice squad.
Matisz – who could make his season debut Saturday against Halifax – was acquired from the Vancouver Warriors in March and had eight points in seven regular season games with the Bandits following the trade last season.
The Bandits active roster remains at 21 with four practice squad players and three on injured reserve: Matt Spanger, Zack Belter and Coltrane Tyson. Spanger and Belter were on the KeyBank Center floor for shootaround Saturday morning. The latter however, left and did not return.
Tyson was on the floor but not an active participant.
All eyes stage center
Two of the top faceoff players in the NLL will go toe-to-toe on Saturday as Jake Withers – who led the NLL in 2024-25 with 299 faceoff wins – will battle with Bandits transition player Connor Farrell.
In the Thunderbirds’ dominant 11-2 season opening win over the Oshawa FireWolves, Withers went 15-for-17 (88.2%) at the faceoff dot while Farrell went 26-for-31 (83.9%) against the Swarm.
The battle waged in the faceoff dot could prove critical after last year’s matchup was tied 12-12 in the fourth quarter with less than seven minutes to play.
Withers won 22 of 31 faceoffs in their battle last year and Farrell said he’s in a better place physically this year with the improved health of his shoulder. The latter shared he watches more film on the officials to study timing than his faceoff opponent and said the players around him who scoop up loose balls are key to his success.
“I watch a lot of film on the refs, so I try to study their cadences a little bit,” Farrell said following the season opener. “I had a good feeling … I felt in a good rhythm. We were talking a lot, me and the guys on the restraining lines. We had a good little thing going on, all of us.”
Scouting the Thunderbirds
Halifax heads to Buffalo after a record-setting 11-2 win over Oshawa as goaltender Warren Hill matched Bandits netminder Matt Vinc (2015) and Bob Watson (1999) for allowing the fewest goals in a game.
Hill – who didn’t play against the Bandits last season – made 49 saves on 51 shots and didn’t allow a goal for the final 46:40 after Oshawa took a 2-1 lead in the first quarter.
“I don’t think that guy gets enough credit,” Tavares said. “He’s a phenomenal goaltender. I’m glad we didn’t play them last weekend. He’s coming into Buffalo on a hot streak, and we’re just gonna have to find ways to beat him. We have to create some opportunities both inside and out and when you get that chance hopefully our players can take advantage of it.”
Graeme Hossack (a finalist for the 2025 NLL Defensive Player of the Year), last year’s leading goal scorer Dawson Theede and NLL Transition Player of the Year finalist Ryan Terefenko are all back for the Thunderbirds who reached the NLL Semifinals in 2024-25.
However, forward Thomas Hoggarth – who scored a career-high 31 goals last season – was placed on injured reserve on Tuesday and will be out for Saturday’s game.