If you ran into the newest Buffalo Bandit, Ron John, during the week, it’d probably be on a lacrosse field. In fact, the former Ottawa Black Bear was coaching when he learned of the March 10 trade.
John serves as an assistant coach for both Lake Shore High School and the Seneca War Chiefs, a Junior B box lacrosse team. With the latter, he coaches alongside former Bandit Darris Kilgour.
Bandits.com caught up with the Angola, N.Y. native to discuss the trade, his reuniting with close friend Tehoka Nanticoke and playing Fortnite.
How did you learn you’d become a Buffalo Bandit?
It was funny. We were doing preseason practice for high school lacrosse and I was in the middle of practice, so I hadn’t checked my phone. In between the drill, I went to check my watch and I saw that I had missed calls from my GM at Ottawa. I knew it was deadline day, so it couldn’t have been great. So, I waited another drill, got my emotions collected and called him back, and that’s when he said, ‘Hey, this is what’s happening, this is what we wanted, this is how it went down.’ And then he ended the call with, ‘I think you’re going to fit in, and we sent you to Buffalo.’
A big mix of emotions there, so it was pretty crazy to deal with, but I think what made it easy was that I was in the middle of practice. So, I was able to bring everyone in. I talked to them about it. Talked to them about how getting traded away sucks and all that, with all the friends and family you make through the years. I ended it off with them and told them that I was going to Buffalo, and the eruption of joy that came from those guys just made me feel a whole lot better. So, that day was pretty cool. That part of it made it a whole lot better for me to feel more comfortable with it. And the mix of emotions of getting traded away, and missing all your friends and old teammates, and then going home to Buffalo, it was indescribable.
You coach high school lacrosse around the area, but what’s it like being here full time?
It’s unreal. I lived here this whole time, through my NLL career, so I’ve been able to catch games. Even as a fan, I just went to watch my buddies play. But yeah, I mean, it’s unreal. There’s no place like Banditland, and I think these first two home games for me have been the settling-in point of all the nerves. To get my name called out and run out there, all that stuff is unreal. It’s so crazy to be a part of.
You grew up attending Bandits games. How has it been playing alongside guys you watched and being coached by a legend of the game in John Tavares?
Just to start with JT – growing up watching him and seeing how long his career was and how successful he was, I’ve always had him as one of my top players. Even my dad has had him as one of his favorite players growing up, or even as the years have gone on. So, it’s just a full circle moment. I’ve always had this respect and admiration for John Tavares. Now, that respect from being a player for him just makes it even better. [I’m] willing to do whatever he says, because you know as a player, he’s done it, he knows it, he studies it and he continues to progress, and that’s one of the greatest feelings for me. I just need to do what I can to make the team successful and make them happy.
Then, with my teammates like Dhane (Smith), (Steve) Priolo, those guys have been here for a while, right? So, I think just being able to see them and be in the locker room with them, and how open they are to explaining things to us and helping me out, it’s so good. It’s so awesome, and it’s just more or less a dream come true. And for me, not that it’s a job, but once we get into it, I have a job to do. I have a role to fill, and that’s how it is for me.
You played with Tehoka Nanticoke at Albany and then the World Box Lacrosse Championship last summer. How has it been playing with him again?
Oh yeah, that’s my brother. We lived together for three years at UAlbany. We’ve been playing together for years. I love him. I love to hang out with him. I love to go see him. I’m always chatting him up. I always see him on Snapchat and vice versa. It was like that before as well, but now, being able to bring that bond right back together and be teammates again, you don’t get that too often, so you take it every day and just embrace it. I think we started off playing midget nationals in Ontario back in 2012, so that was our first time playing together. We played club growing up together. We went to Israel together, Albany together, and there have been many times that I’ve gotten to play with him. It’s just so good to be back at home and have my brother right there with me.
Other players discussed adding new faces in the locker room – they try to make it effortless. What’s it been like as the new guy in the room?
It’s been awesome. The older guys do a great job opening their arms and explaining how things work – the way things move around here – and then coming down to the X’s and O’s part of it as well. Everyone’s good at explaining things, with how JT wants it to be done and how players play and how chemistry goes. It’s been awesome. I credit a lot of it to the older guys: Dhane, Priolo, (Nick) Weiss. [Kyle Buchanan’s] been awesome. Josh (Byrne). A lot of those guys. When you have the guys at the top coming down and saying, ‘Hey, this is what’s up and we’re glad you’re here,’ and all this stuff, it just makes for a much better experience for me being the new guy.
What do you like to do outside of lacrosse?
I’d say coaching is the obvious answer there, but I think outside of that, just hanging out with my fam, hanging out with my friends. And then if I’m at home, I’ll play some video games. I like playing Fortnite. I’ve been playing since the start, 2017, 2018. So, I’ve been playing for a while now. A lot of my friends who used to play came back and started playing again.
If you could watch only one TV show or movie for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Yeah, that’s a good one. It’s funny because I don’t watch TV too much. If anything, I’ll toss the news on every once in a while. I’ll toss Netflix on once in a while. I like the crime shows – the murder crime shows, the murder mysteries. I’d say the only few TV shows that I’ve really fully watched in full would be The Office and Peaky Blinders. I’ve watched a couple of those on Netflix, like Squid Game. Money Heist is good. If I had to choose one, it’d probably be Peaky Blinders; I like Tommy Shelby.