Zack Belter’s NLL title with the Bandits, a victory for WNY

Just change the names and routes and you get the idea. You remember where the alley regularly hosted the Stanley Cup and the NBA Finals. Sometimes in the same day. Where the ping pong table was your focal point of the basement, not the washer and dryer.

Paul Belter and I were aligned from fourth grade and ultimately through college. He may still be agitated at me from the smack on the head of his old buffalo-style Bills helmet standing at a football game a long time ago (my line: he was the only one wearing a helmet, so it was a target!)

Eric Belter was the little brother, the slightly younger parasite who wanted in on the action. He’s also in his 50s now, like the rest of us. A teacher. Belters were and are Bills and Sabers fans. And now one of my favorite families growing up can boast of producing an honest-to-goodness Buffalo champion.

Zack Belter, 24, is Eric’s son and was a rookie defender for the Bandits this season, winning a National Lacrosse League title last weekend in his first season as a professional. Full disclosure: I had no idea he was on the team until I put the deciding game against Albany on TV to check the score and hear his name and that of “the local kid » pronounced by the commentators.

(You may know that I’m a little busy in the winter after hockey.)

Belter was a first-round pick of the Bandits, No. 19 overall, in 2022 out of St. Bonaventure, where he played for original Bandit Randy Mearns. He was All-Western New York in hockey and lacrosse at Niagara-Wheatfield and was inducted into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame last November.

He’s 6-foot-5 and 230 pounds and isn’t there to score. In 13 games between the regular season and the playoffs, he had one assist and recovered 26 loose balls. He’s on the team to be physical, to free up space along the boards and in front of veteran guard Matt Vinc.

Belter has spent much of his life in the stands at KeyBank Center watching the team, as recently as the 2023 championship. But to be a part of it now, running down the tunnel and ultimately hoisting the trophy?

“It’s been amazing and I’ve learned so much,” he said last week. “The great thing about this organization is that everyone is so hungry. The day after we won the rally – the day after – the guys and the coaches were like, “Hey, let’s do it again.” Not even 24 hours after the match to win this one. Each guy goes his own way, throughout the summer, indoor lacrosse, outdoor lacrosse. Work really hard so we can come back in the fall and be up and running.

Belter made the Bandits’ roster in late February after tearing ankle ligaments last August in a Senior B summer championship game and missing training camp. He stayed in the lineup for good after a rough first night playing like it was another game.

“(Teammate side) Dalton Sulver told me in warmups, ‘Hey, first game at Banditland. Just control your breathing, because your heart rate will increase,” Belter recalls. “He was great. He said, ‘Just keep your mind between the boards and control your breathing and at the end of the day it’s just another lacrosse game.’ But it was so funny. That goes crazy We make these big goal runs or make defensive stops, you love hearing how loud it gets with the fans. Their energy can suck the life out of the other team.

Belter, Cam Wyers and Dylan Robinson were all selected in the first round of the ’22 draft to bolster the defense. Paul Dawson, 38, was a huge trade acquisition that strengthened the “D” this season.

Belter said it was amazing to play with big-name Bandits like Vinc, Dawson and Steve Priolo on defense and the duo of Dhane Smith and Josh Byrne up front.

“You watch them for years and it’s super cool to learn and compete. Definitely surreal,” he said. “We have so many great players on our team. Not only learning from them in practice, but also having to compete with them and cover all of our offensive players, I felt comfortable. When practice is this fast and you’re facing such a competent offense, you’re like, “Okay, the game could be just a little easier.” I can slow it down.

Eric Belter, naturally, was excited to see his son in the lineup. Then things got real as the Bandits bounced back from a 5-6 start in another playoff run.

“I told him, ‘You have to take advantage of this now,’” Eric Belter said. “I reminded him that there are guys who have been playing professional sports for over a decade who don’t even feel a championship. He wanted to deliver for the city, for his friends and family. It was a bit of everything.

“What always impresses me about him is that he always has something to prove. He’s still fueled by people who think he won’t make it. He said, ‘I’m not waiting to break through the lineup.’ If people think I can’t do it, I’ll make sure I do.’

Zack Belter is an assistant lacrosse coach at SUNY-Morrisville and will play in the summer league in Whitby, Ontario. He is also set to play for Team USA at the World Box Lacrosse Championships in September in Utica.

“It’s a lot of lacrosse, but I love it,” he said. “There’s nothing else I’d rather do.”

Soon it will be time to defend the Bandits title.

“Everyone spends their whole summer wondering how to eliminate the bandits? Every team gives you their best,” he said. “It’s a big league. Each team is so well coached and has excellent players that there are no off nights.

Great job, kid. Athleticism and work ethic are all about you. But the old neighborhood also gives me an idea where some of this competitiveness comes from.