Regardless of regular season success over Buffalo, FireWolves wary of Bandits’ championship culture

ALBANY, N.Y. ( NEWS10 ) — With the National Lacrosse League finals set to get underway Friday, May 17, the Albany FireWolves sit two wins away from a dream finish to the storybook journey they’ve been on, going from a 3-15, last-place finish in the 2022-’23 campaign, to potentially a league championship.

Albany has its hands full in the finals with the defending champion Buffalo Bandits, who just knocked off the top-seeded Toronto Rock.

This matchup does favor the FireWolves on paper; they’ll start the series at home as the higher seed, and won both regular season matchups with the Bandits.

It’s been almost three months, though, since the last meeting between the two sides (Feb. 27), and head coach Glenn Clark knows his team is going up against a squad that thrives in these moments.

“They [Buffalo] remind me of a championship team,” said Clark. “A lot of times…championship-caliber teams that have done it for a long time, you know, the regular season [is a] sorting-out period. And I know they had some injuries and different things, but their path to here reminded me of a championship team; a team that knew how to do it, knew when to do it, and obviously knows how to play in the biggest games.”

But those regular season victories aren’t without their merits.

“I don’t think it gives us any advantage going in other than the fact that we know we can compete with them. Every game is its own little island, and its own little contest and battle. So, I think we’re in a good headspace…we’re playing well. We’ve had success lately, and especially at the most important time of the year.”

Game 1 at MVP Arena is set for 7:00 p.m. Friday; the series will shift to Buffalo Saturday for Game 2.

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