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They’ve come so close, been so teased and left their broken hearts swimming in pools of sweat and, sometimes, blood.

Tonight, though, it’s different in Buffalo. Tonight, the Bandits are celebrating and those same hearts that were broken in the past are now spraying champagne and smiling hugely. For tonight, the Buffalo Bandits are the National Lacrosse League champions, having won the Champion’s Cup with a 14-13 victory over the Portland LumberJax in front of 18,690 at HSBC Arena.

“To get this monkey off our back, it’s really great,” said Bandits coach Darris Kilgour.

Just how did the Bandits do it? Keep reading and you’re gonna find out.

It didn’t take long for the Bandits to get on the board. John Tavares scored the game’s first goal just 22 seconds and the Bandits led the rest of the way. Not that they played like it. Portland wouldn’t let ‘em. The LumberJax came into Buffalo tabbed by many as the underdog. But, someone forgot to tell them.

For just about every goal the Bandits put in, the Jax had an answer. The Bandits led by three goals four different times, but they still had to sweat it out at the end. Leads of 6-3, 9-6, 12-9 and 13-10 were but fleeting moments and a big reason for that was the rhythm of the Portland offense. Dan Dawson led the Jax with three goals and six assists, and Ryan Powell added two goals and six assists.

“We came up with a gameplan and just picked and popped,” said Dawson. “We look for the double and then feed the ball to the far side for a good look.”

That’s what kept Portland in the game, along with the play of goalie Matt Disher, who wasn’t even going to be the starter until coach Derek Keenan made the decision during the morning shootaround.

Disher finished with 27 saves, 14 of them coming in the second half. But as Kilgour said, in talking about his own goalie in Mike Thompson: it’s not how many saves you make, it’s when you make them.

There’s no doubt that every one of Thompson’s 34 saves were huge, but none huger than the one he made with about 1 second left in regulation when Portland had six attackers on the floor. That’s the save that in the frenzy of the rebound, saved the game and kicked off the celebration.

“They might have been a wee bit better than us,” said Keenan. “But not by a lot. We had a lot of chances, especially late when the score was 13-12. But we just couldn’t finish. We did everything right on that last possession. (Pete) Jacobs got a great look from 10-15 feet away, but Thompson just made a great save.”

Tavares, who had two goals and two assists, admits nerves crept in late.

“Yeah, I did get a little nervous but our back door and Thompson deserve a lot of credit,” he said.

The nerves were in part due to the defensive makeup. D-stud Chris White left the game early with an ankle injury and didn’t return. That forced Buffalo to shuffle its deck, not something you really wanna be doing on the fly — of the championship game.

“We had one less player out there,” said Mark Steenhuis, who finished with five goals and an assist to earn MVP honors. “But they worked it out.”

“This is huge,” said Tavares. “It means a lot to our team and to Buffalo.”

How much? Well, think back to 2006. Buffalo remembers well that collapse against Denver, and so it came as no surprise that Kilgour on Friday mentioned the chance his team has at redemption. To show who the real Bandits are.

So tonight, the real Bandits are the real champions of the National Lacrosse League.

Who’s house?

That’s right. It’s the Bandits’ house. And it comes furnished with the fourth championship trophy in franchise history.

• Official NLL box score: NLL.com

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