Tucker’d the competition out.
With a 13-10 win over the Las Vegas Desert Dogs on Friday at KeyBank Center, the Buffalo Bandits clinched the inaugural Tucker Out Lymphoma Cup with a game to go, and clinched a playoff spot along with it.
The Bandits won their initial game against the FireWolves on Feb. 1, beating Albany 16-10 while wearing this year’s special Tucker Out Lymphoma jerseys.
BANDITS WIN!!!!#LetsGoBandits pic.twitter.com/57j1UjxMst
— Buffalo Bandits (@NLLBandits) February 2, 2025
Ahead of the Bandits’ first game of the cup, Bandits senior director of lacrosse operations Scott Loffler talked about the increased competitiveness that introducing the cup brought to these games, saying, “You want to win the first one.”
“It’s something that when you can have three teams involved in, I think it’s exciting, it puts more meaning on these games,” Loffler said. “All three teams and players on all three teams, they want to win this just as much as anything else and it means that much to them.”
Getting the Bandits players revved up for the competition wasn’t a difficult task, according to head coach John Tavares, because of what it symbolizes, the extra competitiveness baked into the cup and the hardware earned for besting Albany and Las Vegas.
“It kind of gives us that in-season championship to play for,” Tavares said. “The rights to support Tucker even more. It’s easy to bring the guys in and get the guys motivated on film night for these games.”
Buffalo was able to clinch the cup with a game remaining due to the FireWolves’ having only one point with a game left and no way to make up the three-point gap between them and the Bandits, even with a win on Saturday. Meanwhile, Las Vegas won its initial game of the competition but lost the last two, finishing with two points to the Bandits’ four (with a game to spare for Buffalo).
| RANK | TEAM | W | L | OTL | POINTS |
| 1 | Buffalo | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 2 | Las Vegas | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 3 | Albany | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
The Bandits will play Albany in their remaining game of the Tucker Out Lymphoma Cup on Saturday at MVP Arena in Albany with faceoff at 7 p.m. on CW23, ESPN+ and TSN+.
A win against Albany combined with losses by the Georgia Swarm and San Diego Seals would clinch a home game in the playoffs for the Bandits.