Fields, who spent the first two years of his NLL career in San Diego, requested a trade from the Seals after getting a new job that required he overlook a larger territory on the East Coast. Missing work every Friday to travel across the country was no longer feasible.
“They were great about it,” Fields said. “They asked, ‘Where would you want to go?’ and I said somewhere on the East Coast would be ideal, but somewhere within driving distance would be best-case scenario. Obviously, it worked out.”
Fields was officially traded at the start of the draft in August. He’s enjoying his best season yet, notching 67 points in the regular season and 10 so far in the playoffs.
“My family always went to my games growing up and in college as well,” Fields said. “San Diego and the Premier Lacrosse League were really the first times that they haven’t been at my games. It was really weird for me mentally. It helped a lot having them at all my games again.”
Fields and Brown understand the type of atmosphere they’ll be walking into during the NLL Finals. Both were in attendance as teenaged fans the last time the Bandits won a championship, when Buffalo defeated the Portland LumberJax in 2008.
“Seeing the environment at those games, and just seeing how crazy Banditland is in general but even more so in a championship series, is really exciting,” Fields said. “I can’t wait to see this weekend how Banditland is, how loud they are. They always give us a good boost.”
“One of the more mesmerizing goals that I’ve seen in my life was in that ’08 game,” Brown said. “Cory Bomberry shot a low-to-high near side. Whoever the goalie was kind of baited him there, and Cory just blew it right by him.”
Brown hopes he can now make the impact on the next generation that talents like Bomberry had on him. As a kid, he looked at the Native American players on the Bandits and felt validation, understanding that some day that could be him, too.
No matter who wins this year’s NLL Finals, Native American kids from Western New York will have a champion to look up to. On the other bench will be Zed Williams, Brown’s former teammate at Silver Creek High School.
“Zeddy and I are pretty active within our respective communities, him being from Cattaraugus and me being from Allegheny,” Brown said. “Looking back to providing an example to the next generation of ‘I can do that,’ I think this is a really cool time for our communities. Everybody wins because somebody from our home is going to win an NLL championship. It’s just another reason why all of this is pretty special.”
Brown, of course, hopes he’ll be the one lifting hardware this month. Just two wins stand between both hometown kids and the cherry on top of a dream come true.
“For field lacrosse, I always thought about college, a national championship,” Fields said. “But for box lacrosse, I always thought of playing for the Bandits. That was probably my biggest goal, and winning a championship for Buffalo.”