A banker by day, a Buffalo Bandit by night

On weekdays, Ethan O’Connor works as a group leader in account services for M&T Bank.

During the National Lacrosse League season, he also wears uniform No. 37, playing defense for the Buffalo Bandits.

Until recently, only a small circle of O’Connor’s M&T co-workers knew about his sports career. That all changed when the Bandits won the championship.

And then his banking and lacrosse worlds finally merged when he brought the championship trophy to a lunchtime concert outside M&T’s headquarters.

Since player salaries in the National Indoor Lacrosse League are not as lucrative as in the NHL or NFL, many athletes such as O’Connor hold down full-time jobs in other fields. Several of O’Connor’s teammates are teachers. Some of his opponents are firefighters or police officers.

O’Connor has found M&T to be a good fit for his dual-career lifestyle, with accommodating bosses and flexible work hours.

“My managers have been really open, really supportive of my career with lacrosse,” said O’Connor, 32.

The Milton, Ontario, native was drafted into the NLL in 2013 and played for two other teams before he was traded to the Bandits prior to the 2019 season. By then, O’Connor was already living in the Buffalo area and working for M&T. He had requested the Georgia Swarm trade him to a team somewhere closer to home. He felt fortunate that Buffalo was his destination.

O’Connor played lacrosse at Hobart College and graduated with an economics degree. He saw banking as a path to a job directly out of school, and one that could accommodate a lacrosse player’s schedule.

“You know you have that 9-to-5 job, whereas working in medicine, you might be working all hours of the day,” he said. “You might be working shift work. I knew that I wanted to give myself the best opportunity to play lacrosse, and if I could help it, I didn’t want to put myself in a situation where I had to choose between…