Buffalo Bandits forward Mark Steenhuis has a little extra incentive to play well in the rest of the National Lacrosse League playoffs. His new son might like a shiny championship ring to use as a toy some day.

Steenhuis and wife Vanessa became the father of Reif last week. Mark will be the one with an extra-big smile Saturday night when the Bandits play the New York Titans in the East Division final. The game will be played at the Prudential Center in Newark, N. J. (7:30 p. m., live blogging at the Sports Ink blog at www.buffalonews.com.)

“It’s just great. We had another little boy, and everything’s worked out right,” Steenhuis said. “We couldn’t be happier.”

The lad can expect some lacrosse instruction in a few years.

“I’m going to try to teach him how to shoot both ways [unlike his dad, who shoots right],” Steenhuis said. “Everything is healthy, and he’ll be watching his [two] older brothers play [lacrosse] soon enough, so he’ll get into it.”

Reif’s arrival is part of what is turning into a memorable year for Dad. Steenhuis had 51 goals and 50 assists for 101 points this season. Those numbers were easily personal bests for the St. Catharines, Ont., native. The 51 goals tied him with teammate John Tavares for the National Lacrosse League’s top total, with only three of Steenhuis’ goals coming on the power play. Steenhuis’ 101 points were fourth in the league.

“It was OK,” he said. “There’s still a lot of things I need to improve on, and I think there were a lot of things I needed to take more advantage of. But I’m definitely happy with the season. I would have liked to have seen us in first place overall, but unfortunately we’re not so we’ll have to take it from here.”

Steenhuis has emerged as the focal point of the Bandits’ offense. He often controls the play by taking possession of the ball on left wing, and he’s something of a nightmare for opposing defenses to cover. Try to crowd him with a double-team, and he can make the pass to an open man. Sit back too much, and he’ll either unleash one of the most accurate shots in the league or head for the net.

He and Tavares worked extremely well together this season. If anything, the Bandits almost depended on the pair too often in critical situations. But considering their skill levels, that’s more than understandable.

“Mark is an incredible athlete,” Tavares said. “He’s one of the few guys that can create opportunities for himself. He can get to the net. He can score from outside. He provides so much for our team. I credit Mark for part of my longevity. Their top defensive guys aren’t covering me any more. That kind of leaves me open, because they have to concentrate on Mark. That opens the floor for me. I’m glad he’s on our team.”

As you’d expect, the feelings are mutual.

“I think [Tavares] will probably have chemistry with anybody, with what he does on the floor,” Steenhuis said. “He’s not too hard to play with. You can pretty much throw him the ball and he’s going to get you a goal. It’s been great for me.”

Bandits defenseman Billy Dee Smith often goes up against the league’s best offensive players during the season. He says playing against Steenhuis during Buffalo’s weekly practice sessions is the best training possible for those matchups.

“He’s probably the hardest guy [in the league] to cover one-on-one,” Smith said. “He has the outside shot, so you don’t want to give him a shot. Then if you play too tight on him, he’ll beat you down low. It’s tricky. You are damned if you do, damned if you don’t. You just have to hope the goalie comes up with a save when you need him to.”

Steenhuis had 31 of his goals in the first half of the season, when the Bandits went 7-1. He slowed down in the second half, scoring 20 goals as the Bandits only went 3-5 down the stretch. Therefore, he was happy to see his team play such a good all-around game against Boston in the first round of playoffs last week that included his four-goal performance.

“The whole second half of the season was not what we had in mind, especially coming off what we did in the beginning,” Steenhuis said. “That was a huge game. We were struggling before, trying to put a complete game together, especially the way our defense and goaltending played. It sort of brought us together. It’s a perfect time to do that.”

Now comes an even bigger test against a New York team that already has two wins against Steenhuis and the Bandits in 2009. If Buffalo hopes to defend its NLL championship, the road to the title game goes through New York.

“They played well and we didn’t play our best games,” Steenhuis said about the regular-season meetings. “I think we’re going to take a little bit of a grudge into the game. I think we’re a better team than what we showed against them. We definitely want to prove ourselves now.”