MATT VOLZ

Editor in Chief

The NLL’s regular season comes to a close this weekend, and the Bandits are looking to extend the league’s longest win streak.

The three-time defending champions looked like anything but champions early in the season, as they limped to a 3-5 start.

Since then, they’ve won eight of nine games, including the last seven in a row.

Entering Week 21, Buffalo finds themselves tied with the Toronto Rock and Saskatchewan Rush for third in the NLL.

As explained in the previous article, all the Bandits need to do tonight is win to secure a home playoff game in the first round.

To do that, they’ll have to come out on top in their first ever trip to Oshawa.

The FireWolves have had a rough last few seasons after reaching the NLL Finals in 2024, back when they called Albany home.

The team went 7-11 last year before relocating to Oshawa, citing low attendance in the state capital.

It was rare for the team to see more than 4,500 fans in attendance for any given home game.

They didn’t reach that number in either of the first two games of their 2024 playoff run, a quarterfinal win over Halifax and a semifinal-clinching win over San Diego.

They hosted Game 1 of the NLL Finals against the Bandits, and they still only managed an attendance of just over 5,000 fans.

Many of them were Bandits fans, who took the drive on I-90 to watch their team take the first game of the series.

The FireWolves have not had a great first season in Oshawa, and they enter the season’s final week tied with Philadelphia for last place overall.

The season started in promising fashion, as their home opener in Oshawa resulted in an 8-7 win over the Toronto Rock.

But after the opening win, the FireWolves won just one of their next 11 games.

There have been a couple bright spots for Oshawa this season, most notably in the form of their two young scorers.

Alex Simmons, who just celebrated his 27th birthday last week, is enjoying a career-best season for the FireWolves.

That’s quite something for a player who has tallied 95 points or more in each season he’s played.

Now in his third season after being a top-five draft pick, Simmons enters the final week with 40 goals and 102 points, both personal bests for him.

He’s the franchise’s first 100-point scorer since 2022, when current Bandit Joe Resetarits racked up 111.

Along with Simmons, the FireWolves are led by fellow 27-year-old Tye Kurtz, who is having a stellar season of his own.

Like Simmons, Kurtz was a first-round pick of the FireWolves in 2022, and he was also a rookie on the 2024 NLL Finals team.

In his third season, Kurtz has scored a career-best 37 goals, ranking him in the top ten across the league.

Other notable players on Oshawa’s roster include Dyson Williams, son of former Bandit and current Las Vegas Desert Dogs coach Shaun Williams.

He’s also the brother of the late Tucker Williams, the namesake of the “Tucker Out Lymphoma Cup” that the Bandits, Desert Dogs and FireWolves started last season.

Dyson, the first overall pick of the 2023 draft, has recorded 20 goals and 47 points so far this season.

Ethan Walker, Dawson Theede and Taggart Clark are also solid contributors, so the FireWolves’ offense definitely isn’t one to overlook.

It’s also worth mentioning that former Bandit Ryan Benesch has found himself in Oshawa, and he’s tallied 13 points in just four games.

Another former Bandit, Emerson Clark, is part of an Oshawa defense that has struggled this season.

Goalie Doug Jamieson hasn’t had the best season, either. He’s allowed more than 11 goals per game, and his save percentage has dipped below 79%.

As a team, the FireWolves have given up the third-most goals of any team in the league, behind only the Desert Dogs and Knighthawks.

That bodes well for a Bandits offense that has played well as of late.

One of the biggest reasons for their recent success has been Josh Byrne’s resurgence.

Byrne didn’t have a very good first half of the season, and at one point he had a span of four games where he scored three total goals.

Over the last two months, though, Byrne has been back to his old self.

He has recorded at least seven points in each win throughout the current streak, and he enters tonight’s game looking for his third consecutive hat trick.

Matt Vinc has also been rock solid in net, despite the fact that he turns 44 in June.

Across the seven-game win streak, Vinc has arguably been a top-three goalie in the league, and his save percentage has been above 81% in each game.

At least for now, Vinc’s play is keeping Father Time on the shelf.

Throughout his illustrious career, he’s excelled in postseason play, and the Bandits are hoping that’ll be the case one more time.

Vinc hasn’t said whether or not he’ll be back next year, but it’s entirely possible that tonight marks the final regular season game of his career.

If he does retire at the end of the season, he’ll walk away as the undisputed greatest goalie in the history of the NLL.

His mind is focused on this season, however, as the Bandits gear up for a run at an unprecedented fourth straight championship.

They can put themselves in good shape to do that with a win in Oshawa tonight.

I think they do just that, ensuring themselves of an opening round matchup in Banditland.

Matt’s pick: Buffalo 14, Oshawa 8

Fans in the Buffalo market can catch tonight’s game on MSG or listen live on WWKB 1520 AM.

The game will also be viewable on ESPN+.

Faceoff for tonight’s game is set for 7 p.m.

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Stats for this story were provided by nllstats.com, a league-wide database run by NLL writer Graeme Perrow.

Check out his commentary on nllchatter.com as well as his updates on X (@GraemePerrow).