A big thank you to “GetBenched” on YouTube for the video, and following detailed description…
The 1992 epic at the Spectrum between the then 2 time MILL Champions, the Philadelphia Wings and in their first season, the Buffalo Bandits.
Longtime Bandits’ star Jim Veltman would later claim this was the greatest game he ever played in or witnessed. I don’t think anything can touch this game’s intensity or the crowd heat. You certainly never see pro lax playoff games with crowds like this today.
Your hosts are John Horton, using his wrestling alias, Craig Johnson and longtime voice of the MILL, Leif Elsmo.
The Bandits started their inaugural season 0-3 before going undefeated the rest of the way. In fact they would not lose another game until mid season in 1994. They were among the first MILL teams to really go all in with Canadian lax veterans with older, experienced stars like Derek Keenan and Alexander the Great, Darris Kilgour and goaltender Bill Gerrie.
They also had 2 rookies that would define the franchise for the next decade; Jim Veltman and 20 year old John Tavares, who would wear the black and orange of Buffalo through the 2015 season, retiring in the summer arguably the greatest player in MILL/NLL history. Their coach, through 1997, the late Les Bartley
The Wings had an interesting lineup in 1992 with many familiar names from their 1980s teams such as Rob Shek, Chris Flynn, Paul French, Tony Resch, Dallas Eliuk, Scott Gabrielson, coach Dave Evans, and in his last game as a Wing, #2 John Tucker.
This game is historic because it is the first MILL/NLL final to be decided by overtime. There really isn’t much more I can say about this game, you need to see this one for yourself. Be warned, the audio is pretty harsh so you may want to turn your volume down low for this one.
Sit back, relax, and enjoy this MILL Championship game in it’s entirety.
Gary Groob has been involved with Lacrosse for the majority of his life, whether playing, coaching, or covering the sport for the media.
An avid fan, with a real drive about helping to “grow the game”, Gary became part of podcasts about the game in 2010. Through the podcasts, Mr. Groob was given an opportunity to write about lacrosse, and the rest as they say, is history.
Through many miles (flying and driving) Gary has made inroads with the National Lacrosse League, Major Series Lacrosse League, the Ontario Lacrosse Association, as well as the Arena Lacrosse League, covering the leagues, their teams, and players, working for, and in concert with all of them.
In the year 2020, Mr. Groob was made the media person for the Arena Lacrosse League, voted onto the board of directors of the Brampton Excelsiors Lacrosse Club, as well as being made administrator of the Lacrosse page “Global Lacrosse” with a membership of 9000 members in over 90 Countries. Gary was also made an administrator of Lacrosse History Past Present and Future in 2022.
Mr. Groob co-hosts a weekly Lacrosse show on Spanglish Sports World, and ZingoTV channel 250, as well as writes a weekly lacrosse column for La Portada Canada News (both in print, and online).
Gary also hosts a Lacrosse talk show and podcast for The Edge of Philly Sports Network, seen live Sunday nights at 9pm (ET), and archived on the Edge of Philly YouTube page, as well as Spotify.
Mr. Groob’s other sports interests include Hockey, Football, Boxing, Wrestling, and Baseball, competing competitively in Boxing and Wrestling for many years.
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