Buffalo Bandits Hot Start Continues
The Buffalo Bandits went to Ottawa for the first time in over 20 years. It may have been a new place, but we saw a similar result to week one. The Bandits defeated the Ottawa Black Bears by a score of 18 to 7, building on their 15-7 win last week. The score may have been similar, but the way the Bandits won this game was a bit different.
On offense we saw Josh Byrne (2g, 8a) and Dhane Smith (2g, 7a) combine for 19 points. Chase Fraser (2g, 5a) had a quietly great game. We are used to Fraser creating highlight reel goals with an attitude. In this game, he performed at an elite level with great composure. Chris Cloutier (3g, 0a) had some incredible crease crash goals. Clay Scanlan played in his first game ever and finished with 3 assists, 3 loose balls and 0 shots. I thought he played well. He did a nice job being physical and pushing the Ottawa defense around. Scanlan and Kyle Buchanan (2g, 2a) teamed up on a loose ball to give the Bandits the ball back. This loose ball directly led to Dhane Smith scoring. It was great to see the hustle and effort from Scanlan. It is a tough ask to break into an offense that has played together as much as this team has. For his first NLL game, I thought he did a nice job holding his own.
The kind of game Ian MacKay (5g, 0a) had deserved its own paragraph. MacKay has never scored 5 goals in a single game in his career. Not only did he score 5 goals, he did it on 5 shots and in a variety of ways. MacKay put his ability on full display. His first goal was a slick loose ball pick-up between two defenders that led to a dunk goal from behind the net. His second goal was a great quick stick shot from the left side to beat Zach Higgins. His third goal was a transition goal with MacKay receiving a breakout pass in the defensive zone and taking it all the way, by himself, and scoring. His fourth goal came from a great pass by Fraser to MacKay behind the net for another dunk goal. Finally, his fifth goal came on another transition play, but this one was a 3 on 2 with MacKay finishing the play off. If all of that wasn’t enough, MacKay had one more great play to top off his great night. With the Bandits winning 17-7 late in the fourth quarter, MacKay fought an Ottawa defender in the crease for a loose ball. He was able to free the ball from the defender, Tehoka Nanticoke (1g, 3a) picked it up and scored. It is that kind of mentality that has helped lead this team to four straight championship appearances.
The defense did not put up the stats that they did in the previous week, but the result was the same. In game one, the Bandits defense had 77 loose balls, 12 caused turnovers and 12 blocked shots. In this game, the team had 65 loose balls, only 5 caused turnovers and only 4 blocked shots. Despite the statistics going down a bit, the team continued to play at an elite level. Jeff Teat had a team high 3 goals and 2 assists for the Black Bears. One of his goals came at the expense of a Bandits slip. The other two were nice plays. The Bandits have done a great job containing opposing top players for the first two weeks. Last week, Connor Fields and Ryan Smith combined for 2 goals and 1 assist. This week wasn’t quite as impressive, but the Bandits still did a nice job holding Jeff Teat and Jacob Dunbar to a combined 5 goals and 2 assists. A big part of this defense has been the continued success of Matt Vinc. Vinc finished the game with 34 saves on 41 shots for 7 goals against and an 82.9 save percentage. He is making the saves he needs to, but he is also making the big saves that were missing at the start of last season. The entire team appears to be in mid-season form right from the start. The Bandits lead the league in point differential with an incredible +19. The next highest is the Albany Firewolves at +9.
I let the special teams go last week. This week, we have more information to discuss. Against the Rochester Knighthawks the Bandits went 0-for-5 on the power play and 4-for-4 on the penalty kill. This week, the Bandits special teams flipped the script a bit and went 3-for-4 on the power play and 3-for-5 on the penalty kill. The Bandits power play looked deadly and efficient. The set plays were run to perfection and nearly impossible to stop. Even though they did not score in week one, the power play looked okay. This week, they connected and looked great. The penalty kill in week one was flawless. This week, it was not quite as good but still performed well.
The Bandits could not have started the season any better than they have. The offense has scored an average of 16.5 goals per game and is getting contributions across the team. The defense and Vinc have allowed an average of only 7 goals per game. They have done a great job stopping some of the biggest names in the NLL including Connor Fields (4th in scoring last season) and Jeff Teat (3rd in scoring last season). The Bandits are now headed for a week off, one they likely are not interested in taking, but they come back for their highly anticipated home opener and 2023-2024 championship banner raising.
Goaltender Breakdown
In this segment, I will breakdown how the goalies, offense and defense all performed on the goals in the game. How many were impressive goals, breakdowns in the defense or on the goalie.
Zach Higgins
Inside – 11
Mid-Range - 5
Outside – 2
Transition - 3
*3 goals were on the penalty kill
Matt Vinc
Inside – 2
Mid-Range - 3
Outside – 2
Transition - 1
*2 of the goals were on the penalty kill
Goal 1 – The defense had a slow switch to Dunbar who took a rocket of a shot over Vinc’s shoulder.
Goal 2 – A transition goal, the defense got out slowly allowing Ron John (great name) a free shot down the middle. He took a great twist shot and buried it.
Goal 3 – The defense again was confused or slow on a switch allowing the great Jeff Teat time and space to pick a great shot.
Goal 4 – Great movement by Ottawa to free Teat and a great shot by him
Goal 5 – PP goal – again good movement by Ottawa to get Dunbar a great look
Goal 6 – Teat was able to get free as Robinson fell on the slick turf and Teat buried it
Goal 7 – PP goal – bit of a scramble by the Bandits and Ottawa capitalized on the opportunity
0/7 on Vinc
2/7 on the defense
Challenges by the Bandits – 1/1
The Bandits challenged the no goal call on Ian MacKay’s fifth goal. The referees correctly overturned the call to be a goal. It was close but looked good.
Referee Corner
Like many of the fans out there, I find myself often questioning what the refs are doing on the field. From no goals and players being ejected, to calls that simply do not make sense. In this segment, I will attempt to use the rulebook and my best judgement to understand some hot topics from the previous game.
Bandits – 3-4 on the PP
Black Bears – 2-5 on the PP
Cam Wyers – Holding the Stick – I think they are being a bit too touchy cracking down on the holding the stick calls. Wyers got a bit tangled up with the Ottawa player, may have grabbed his stick but it was only for a split second, the stick wasn’t dropped, and the play wasn’t going to that player, bit touchy – bad call
Matt Spanger – Checking from Behind – another one that was a bit weak. Spanger went in for a two-handed loose ball push. I could have accepted a change of possession call, but it was not a cross check and didn’t seem deserving of a two-minute penalty – bad call
Steve Priolo – Slashing - Again, another missed call. The referee across the field called this penalty while the referee much closer to the play let it go. The closer ref saw that Priolo missed on his attempted slash, but the referee from across the field thought he saw a slash – bad call
Paul Dawson – Slashing – I am not sure when this penalty occurred, but it did not seem to be caught on camera. I will give the referee the benefit of the doubt and call it a penalty – good call
Nick Weiss – Unsportsmanlike Conduct/Game Misconduct – this also occurred off screen. I am not sure what happened for Weiss to get this kind of penalty, but we’ll give it to them I guess – good call
2/5 – good calls
I thought a lot of the calls in this game against the Bandits were a bit weak. Both teams ended with a similar amount of power play opportunities. If the referees are calling it equal for both teams, that is all we ask for.