Reinforcements for the Buffalo Bandits have arrived as they get ready to defend their

National Lacrosse League championship.

Brett Bucktooth was in the lineup in the regular season finale after missing the first 15

games with a shoulder injury. Now he and his teammates are set to face the Boston Blazers in the first round of the playoffs in HSBC Arena on Saturday night.

Bucktooth finds himself in an odd situation. He's no stranger to the team, since he was on

last year's championship roster. But he's been on the outside looking in for almost the entire

season. When Bucktooth was activated, Cody Jacobs was placed on the holdout list.

"I think I do a little feel bad for taking somebody's spot," Bucktooth said. "I would feel

the same way if the shoe was on the other foot. Things happen like this in professional

sports. These guys have a lot of loyalty to Darris [Kilgour, the team's coach and general

manager], and Darris has a lot of loyalty to those who put in 15 hard weeks. . . . For me to

come in and take a spot, well, injuries happen. We don't have control over it, but they

happen."

John Tavares was happy to see his old teammate back in the lineup.

"I'm a big Brett Bucktooth fan," he said. "He's going to be productive. He's a good

athlete, good goal-scorer. He's shifty out there. He played on the defensive end, so he didn't

get many opportunities on offense. . . . I was really happy to see him. He adds a lot to our

team."

Bucktooth's return is something of an unexpected bonus. His offseason shoulder injury was a

bad one, worse than he thought at first.

"It was kind of a freak fall," he said. "I hurt it in an indoor tournament last September.

I fell directly on my shoulder. I had another player on my back when I fell down, so that

added extra weight to my shoulder. I continued playing for a couple of more weeks with it. It

got to the point where I knew there was something seriously wrong. I couldn't even drive. I

figured I had to go to the doctor. They did an MRI, and surgery soon followed."

The damage was relatively severe, and no one was counting on him to return to the active

roster in 2009.

"The first week after the surgery was very hard for me; little things like trying to tie my

shoelaces, trying to wash my hair, were very difficult," Bucktooth said. "By the time of the

second and third month [of recovering time] came around, I started throwing it around and got

loosened up. The strength was coming back. That was about mid-February. I started to have full

motion. . . . I surprised a lot of the doctors and trainers. It was just hard work during

therapy."

Still, it's always difficult for a professional athlete to sit and watch his teammates, and

Bucktooth was no exception.

"I came to the [Bandits] games when I could," he said. "I'd watch the offense and defense

play. I worked with Darris for the past few years so I kind of know his expectations."

About a month ago, Bucktooth started to practice with the team during its weekly sessions

in Ontario. The Bandits hadn't had a lot of roster turnover since last year, so the former

Syracuse University standout didn't have much of a problem fitting in.

"Thankfully, I wasn't traded to a new team," he said with a smile. "I've played with most

of these guys for a couple of years. I played with them in the summer leagues. I knew a lot of

them, so the chemistry was still there. My timing was a bit off. With time and practice, that

will come together."

Bucktooth made his return when the Bandits played the Blazers at home on April 18. While he

contributed with a goal and two assists, he wasn't happy about the loss that cost the Bandits

the division title.

"I was happy with my conditioning, being able to run the full game the way I wanted to,"

Bucktooth said. "As far as my own personal contributions, I thought they were decent but we

still came out with a loss. That's the biggest thing to deal with."

By a quirk of fate, the Bandits come right back against the Blazers to open the playoffs.

It shouldn't take Buffalo much time to get up to speed on Boston's tendencies as the teams

play to decide who will advance to the division finals.

"I think anytime you play an opponent during the year, you get to know them a little bit.

That is an advantage to me, because it was my first game," the 26-year-old said. "I get to see

them a second time. It's going to be beneficial for me, and I look forward to playing them in

the playoffs."

"No one was happy about a loss, especially with the way we lost. But this is a whole new

season. Anything can happen. We're going to right the ship."