This will be a first.
Brothers-in-law Billy Dee Smith and Mark Steenhuis will play against each other in an NLL game for the first time Saturday night after being Buffalo Bandits teammates for 15 years.
They’ve been opponents in Ontario’s summer league so it won’t be an entirely new experience, but with Smith, 35, and Steenhuis, 37, everything had been pointing toward the two finishing out their pro indoor careers as Bandits – until Smith signed with Rochester as an unrestricted free agent in September.
“I’ve never played against Mark or against Steve Priolo in winter ball,” Smith said. “The weirdest thing now will be not driving with them.”
They live in St. Catharines, Ontario, which is only a 45-minute drive to the Buffalo arena in which the Bandits play. Steenhuis played his first indoor pro season with a team in Columbus, Ohio, before a trade to the Bandits before the 2003 season, which was Smith’s rookie season. Priolo, 28, was added to the St. Catharines-Buffalo-St. Catharines commute in 2010.
Starting in 2003, “Mark drove for the first six years – I didn’t have my own car when I was 20 – and I drove after that,” Smith recalled.
They were always roommates on road trips.
“The travel was always fun, especially in our younger years,” Smith said. “We were causing havoc wherever we went. We grew up playing for the Buffalo Bandits.”
With Steenhuis playing out of Buffalo’s back end this season after many years up front, he won’t be the object of steady harassment from his brother-in-law defenseman.
“As soon as the whistle blows, it’ll be just another game and we’ll both do whatever it takes to help our teams win,” Smith said.
Both are in the NLL record book. Smith is the all-time penalty minutes leader, while Steenhuis is ninth in all-time, regular-season points. In 2009, he set single-game records for points, 17, and assists, 14, which still stand.
Smith got Steenhuis involved in lacrosse in the first place.
“Way back when, when he met my sister, he was a talented basketball player and a skateboarder. We gave Mark a stick and we’d play in the driveway.”
They were teammates on the 2001 St. Catharines junior team that won the Canadian championship. Steenhuis graduated and Smith played for two more years with Matt Vinc, the goalie he’ll suit up with Saturday in Rochester.
The highlight of all the years Smith and Steenhuis spent as Bandits was sharing in the 2008 championship triumph.
“The cool thing about that was getting to win it with John Tavares and Darris and Richie Kilgour, who were guys we grew up idolizing,” Smith said. “Being 35 now, looking back, I’m glad I did it with my brother Mark but also with some living legends.”
Smith’s first game with Rochester last weekend resulted in a big win over Calgary.
“It was awesome,” Smith said. “We’ve got a great group of guys and I’ve got a lot of friends on that team including Vino and Ian Llord who go back to my junior days and guys from the Six Nations Chiefs from summer ball. [Knighthawks owner-GM] Curt Styres is a class act. It’s been an easy transition.”
Styres had the team to his home for dinner on Dec. 13.
The Bandits beat Toronto in their season opener. Was Smith happy for his former teammates?
“It’s good to see those guys do well, as long as they don’t do too well,” he said.
If there is any animosity between them Saturday, it will be long gone by Monday when Mark, Vanessa and their six kids gather for Christmas dinner at the home of Billy Dee, his fiancée and his two children.
WEEK 3
SATURDAY
BUFFALO (1-0) at ROCHESTER (1-0), 7:30 p.m. ET
The Bandits opened with a 13-9 home win over Toronto on Dec. 8, while Rochester blasted visiting Calgary 17-6 on Dec. 9.
This is the first of four meetings. In three games last season, all in March, the Bandits won 13-9 at home and then lost two, 9-8 in overtime and 11-10, in Rochester.
NEW ENGLAND (1-0) at SASKATCHEWAN (1-0), 8:30 p.m. ET
The Black Wolves opened with a 13-11 home win over Georgia on Dec. 8, while Saskatchewan won 17-9 in Toronto last Saturday.
In the lone meeting last season, a Shawn Evans overtime goal gave the Black Wolves a 13-12 win in Saskatoon.
This will be the lone meeting this season and it will be out of the ordinary in that the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra brass section will perform before the game and at halftime.
GEORGIA (0-1) at COLORADO (1-0), 9 p.m.
The Swarm were swatted 13-11 at New England on Dec. 8, while the Mammoth won their opener 15-8 in Vancouver that same night.
This is the first of two. They’ll get together March 2 in Georgia. In two meetings last season, Colorado won 14-10 in Denver before Georgia triumphed 21-13 at home.
BYES: Calgary (1-1), Toronto (0-2), Vancouver (0-2).