The 2025 NLL season is over. Congratulations to the Buffalo Bandits, who became the second team in NLL history to win three straight Championships with an impressive 15–6 victory over the Saskatchewan Rush.

My prediction for game three of the finals was not entirely wrong, but mostly; I said last week that I’d expect it to be “a low-scoring, close, exciting game that’s down to the wire”. Well, it was exciting, anyway.

SSK @ BUF, Game 3

We all expected a hard fought game with some excellent goaltending and defense. As I said, I also expected it to be low scoring and close, which it wasn’t. Well, there were only 21 goals so I guess it was low-scoring from that point of view.

Frank Scigliano was good but not as good as he has been this season but despite the final score, I certainly wouldn’t pin the loss on Frank. Saskatchewan’s defense was solid but Buffalo’s offensive players were able to get themselves open time and time again and it was just too much for the Rush. There are very few defenses in NLL history who could have contained the Bandits in that game. Remember at the beginning of the season when the Bandits won seven straight and we all wondered if anyone could stop them? That was the Bandits team that showed up to game three.

Passing and ball movement were amazing. Dhane and Josh (we may soon have to start talking about “Dhane and Josh and Ian”) were typical Dhane and Josh, Buchanan was Buchanan, MacKay was MacKay. In addition, Chris Cloutier had a strong game, and the transition was strong as well (three assists from Weiss plus Wyers with 1+1, and Matisz, Robinson, and Vinc with an assist each). And to top it off, Chase Fraser had a Chase Fraser goal (see below).

At the other end, Matt Vinc was as good as he’s ever been, and that’s saying something. This was only the third playoff game in NLL history that featured no goals by the losing team in the second half. The defense in front of Vinc was strong as usual, blocking shots like it’s fun and frustrating the Rush shooters for most of the night but particularly in the second half.

Saskatchewan defender Jake Boudreau famously said before the game that “It’s not like anyone in the crowd is going to come set a pick on us”, implying that the fans in Banditland wouldn’t be much of a factor. It’s probably true that the Buffalo fans wouldn’t have much of an effect on the Rush, but what he didn’t consider is that they would have an effect on the Bandits. When it’s that loud and 19,000+ fans are screaming for you, that’s one of those home-floor advantages and “intangibles” that you can’t measure but is unquestionably real. And huge kudos to the Bandits social media team for coming up with this amazing picture.

This game kind of reminded me of Albany from last year – a young team that had a great year, but were just outmatched in the finals. The Rush certainly didn’t looked outmatched at any point in the playoffs – until game three. Once Buffalo got on a roll, it was over.

Matt Vinc

Matt Vinc is now the only NLL player to have won three straight Championships twice in his career. The only other player in any North American team sport to do that is Michael Jordan, and Vinc is the only one to do it with different teams. I don’t know if he’s decided whether he will play next year or retire, and the only reason anyone suggests that he might retire is the fact that he will be 43 years old next month. He doesn’t play like he’s close to retirement.

But if he decides to hang ’em up, I can’t think of many better ways to do it than finishing your career with 34 minutes of shutout ball and your sixth Championship. Bob Watson won the Championship and the Championship Game MVP in 2011 right before he retired, and Vinc’s accomplishment is right up there with Watson’s. And if he doesn’t decide to hang ’em up, well, four Championships in a row is not out of the question.

Josh Byrne

Byrne was good throughout the playoffs but it seemed that something was off or missing. He only had three goals until game three when he had four. There were moments earlier in the finals where he could have taken a shot but chose to pass instead, or plowed through defenders and dive across the crease but decided not to. He just wasn’t playing like Josh Byrne. Perhaps he was slightly injured but decided to play through it, and then found he wasn’t quite able to be his normal self. But even if he was playing at 2/3 of his normal self, 2/3 of Josh Byrne is still better than most. In game three, it looked like Byrne was back at 100%.

Chase Fraser

As Ashley Docking (I think) reported during the game, Chase Fraser actually practices those crazy one-handed or behind-the-back or between the legs (or some combination thereof) shots that we frequently see him make. I’m not one for most of those inspirational “you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take” type of quotes, but one that I do like is anonymous: “Don’t practice until you get it right, practice until you can’t get it wrong.” That’s what it looks like Fraser has done.

We’ve all seen John Grant, Jr. and Tracey Kelusky and many others score amazing behind-the-back goals, and Mark Matthews makes behind-the-back passes so fluidly that I wonder if he’s more accurate behind the back than with a normal pass. But those guys practice those things until they become second nature, which is why they’re so good at it. If you practice one-handed-backhanded-underhanded shots often enough, you will get good at them. Chase Fraser is really good at them.

Not Awesome

No more NLL games for six months

Enjoy your summer, everyone!