Vinc leaving NLL’s Knighthawks to play for Bandits
Peterborough Lakers goaltender Matt Vinc has signed a three-year deal to play for the Buffalo Bandits in the National Lacrosse League pro winter box lacrosse league.
Vinc, a St. Catharines native, is leaving the Rochester Knighthawks for their New York Thruway rivals the Bandits after playing in Rochester since 2011.
The deal is pending league approval.
Vinc, 36, has played for 13 seasons in the NLL. He’s a threetime NLL champion and the defending NLL Goaltender of the Year.
He holds the league’s all-time post-season records for minutes and saves and is the active leader in regular-season minutes and saves.
Vinc is a six-time NLL Goaltender of the Year (2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2018) and a seventime All-Pro, including six firstteam selections.
Vinc earlier played in the NLL with the New York/Orlando Titans and San Jose Stealth and has compiled a 98-81 regularseason record with a .782 career save percentage and a 10.87 goalsagainst average over 11 seasons.
In the post-season, he has registered a 19-10 record, a .779 save percentage and a 10.65 goalsagainst average.
A product of Canisius College, where he played defence, Vinc was selected by the San Jose Stealth in the first round (sixth overall) of the 2005 NLL Entry Draft.
The 6’1”, 212-pound Vinc joined the Lakers in 2014 and has helped them to several Mann Cups and MSL championships.
Vinc is a science teacher and field lacrosse coach at Denis Morris High School in St. Catharines.
He joins fellow Lakers Shawn Evans, Mark Steenhuis, Bryce Sweeting, Thomas Hoggarth, Matt Gilray and Nick Weiss on the Bandits lineup.