2017 Buffalo Bandits season

2017 Buffalo Bandits
League	NLL
Division	5th East
2017 record	6–12
Home record	3–6
Road record	3–6
Goals for	226
Goals against	251
General Manager	Steve Dietrich
Coach	Troy Cordingley
Captain	Billy Dee Smith
Arena	KeyBank Center
Average attendance	15,148
Team leaders
Goals	Ryan Benesch (33)
Assists	Dhane Smith (51)
Points	Dhane Smith (81)
Penalties in minutes	Mitch de Snoo (42)
Loose Balls	Steve Priolo (131)
Wins	Anthony Cosmo (5)
Goals against average	Anthony Cosmo (13.58)
← 2016 season 2018 season →

The Buffalo Bandits are a lacrosse team based in Buffalo, New York playing in the National Lacrosse League (NLL). The 2017 season was their 26th season in the NLL.

Buffalo took a massive step back in 2017, after falling in the Championship to Saskatchewan in 2016. The Bandits began the season by losing five of their first six games, but followed up with a three-game win streak to keep their playoff hopes alive at midseason. However, Buffalo would only win two more games for the rest of the season, with the team going on two separate three-game losing streaks in the back half of the regular season.

Buffalo finished with a 6–12 record, which remains their worst record in franchise history as of 2026. This is also the most recent season where the Bandits finished with the worst record in the NLL.

Regular season

Final standings

Reference:

East Division

P	Team	GP	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	GF	GA	Diff	GF/GP	GA/GP
1	Georgia Swarm – xyz	18	13	5	.722	0.0	7–2	6–3	266	213	+53	14.78	11.83
2	Toronto Rock – x	18	9	9	.500	4.0	4–5	5–4	219	200	+19	12.17	11.11
3	New England Black Wolves – x	18	8	10	.444	5.0	5–4	3–6	220	244	−24	12.22	13.56
4	Rochester Knighthawks	18	7	11	.389	6.0	4–5	3–6	175	209	−34	9.72	11.61
5	Buffalo Bandits	18	6	12	.333	7.0	3–6	3–6	226	251	−25	12.56	13.94

West Division

P	Team	GP	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	GF	GA	Diff	GF/GP	GA/GP
1	Saskatchewan Rush – xy	18	12	6	.667	0.0	8–1	4–5	231	212	+19	12.83	11.78
2	Vancouver Stealth – x	18	9	9	.500	3.0	4–5	5–4	218	221	−3	12.11	12.28
3	Colorado Mammoth – x	18	9	9	.500	3.0	5–4	4–5	202	199	+3	11.22	11.06
4	Calgary Roughnecks	18	8	10	.444	4.0	5–4	3–6	212	220	−8	11.78	12.22

x: Clinched playoff berth; c: Clinched playoff berth by crossing over to another division; y: Clinched division; z: Clinched best regular season record; GP: Games Played
W: Wins; L: Losses; GB: Games back; PCT: Win percentage; Home: Record at Home; Road: Record on the Road; GF: Goals scored; GA: Goals allowed
Differential: Difference between goals scored and allowed; GF/GP: Average number of goals scored per game; GA/GP: Average number of goals allowed per game

Game log

Reference:

Game	Date	Opponent	Location	Score	OT	Attendance	Record
1	December 30, 2016	Colorado Mammoth	KeyBank Center	L 8–12		14,268	0–1
2	January 14, 2017	Georgia Swarm	KeyBank Center	L 14–18		14,268	0–2
3	January 21, 2017	Vancouver Stealth	KeyBank Center	W 21–15		12,903	1–2
4	January 28, 2017	@ New England Black Wolves	Mohegan Sun Arena	L 12–13		7,074	1–3
5	February 3, 2017	@ Toronto Rock	Air Canada Centre	L 10–18		8,314	1–4
6	February 17, 2017	New England Black Wolves	KeyBank Center	L 11–14		13,813	1–5
7	February 19, 2017	@ New England Black Wolves	Mohegan Sun Arena	W 16–15	OT	5,381	2–5
8	February 25, 2017	Toronto Rock	KeyBank Center	W 15–12		14,803	3–5
9	March 3, 2017	Rochester Knighthawks	KeyBank Center	W 13–9		14,475	4–5
10	March 4, 2017	@ Rochester Knighthawks	Blue Cross Arena	L 8–9	OT	6,102	4–6
11	March 17, 2017	@ Vancouver Stealth	Langley Events Centre	W 15–11		2,853	5–6
12	March 25, 2017	@ Rochester Knighthawks	Blue Cross Arena	L 10–11		8,765	5–7
13	April 1, 2017	Saskatchewan Rush	KeyBank Center	L 14–17		16,419	5–8
14	April 8, 2017	@ Calgary Roughnecks	Scotiabank Saddledome	L 8–13		10,855	5–9
15	April 14, 2017	@ Toronto Rock	Air Canada Centre	W 13–8		12,113	6–9
16	April 15, 2017	@ Georgia Swarm	Infinite Energy Arena	L 16–17		3,528	6–10
17	April 22, 2017	Georgia Swarm	KeyBank Center	L 7–20		16,833	6–11
18	April 29, 2017	Toronto Rock	KeyBank Center	L 15–19		18,417	6–12

Roster

2017 Buffalo Bandits roster
Active (21-man) roster				Inactive roster		Coaches
Goaltenders 44 Anthony Cosmo 65 Davide DiRuscio Defensemen 12 Mitch de Snoo 23 Steve Priolo (A)  3 Billy Dee Smith (C)  5 Adam Will		Forwards 17 Ryan Benesch 19 Chad Culp 21 Tyler Ferreira 93 Anthony Malcom 92 Dhane Smith  9 Mark Steenhuis 36 Daryl Veltman Transition 13 David Brock (A)  8 Kevin Brownell 66 Alex Kedoh Hill 24 Mitch Jones 75 Jay Thorimbert 22 Andrew Watt 20 Nick Weiss		Injured reserve 15 Matthew Bennett 55 Mitch Wilde		Head coach {{{Head Coach}}} Legend * Suspended list (C) Captain (A) Alternate captain Roster updated 2016-01-04 NLL Transactions

Entry Draft

The 2016 NLL Entry Draft took place on September 26, 2016. The Bandits made the following selections:

Round	Overall	Player	College/Club
2	13	Justin Martin
2	18	Kevin Orleman
3	31	TJ Sanders
4	39	Bryce Brochu
5	47	Drake Smith
6	52	Logan Holmes

Player stats

Reference:

Player	GP	G	A	Pts	LB	PIM
Dhane Smith	14	30	51	81	63	8
Mitch Jones	18	31	38	69	93	2
Ryan Benesch	14	33	35	68	62	7
Mark Steenhuis	18	24	43	67	67	32
Brad Self	12	13	23	36	75	4
Alexander-Kedoh-Hill	14	12	20	32	85	22
Tony Malcom	9	12	19	31	29	0
Craig England	12	17	7	24	23	6
Pat Saunders	10	17	6	23	25	2
Steve Priolo	18	7	15	22	131	27
Totals		226	334	560	1,310	311

Goaltenders

Player	GP	MIN	W	L	GA	Sv%	GAA
Anthony Cosmo	18	583:01	5	6	132	.768	13.58
Davide DiRuscio	18	498:23	1	6	116	.746	13.97
Totals		1,081:24	6	12	248	.758	13.76

See also

• 2017 NLL season

External links

• 2017 Buffalo Bandits at nllstats.com