Bandits Sweep Season Series Against Halifax
The Buffalo Bandits defeated the Halifax Thunderbirds 10-9 in overtime this past Friday night. With that win, the Bandits swept the three game season series against Halifax. At the beginning of the year, Halifax was one of the teams I was most worried about this season. Despite their record, they are loaded with talent. It took the Bandits the entire game, in back-to-back weeks, to put them away. It is a massive series win for the Bandits.
It is impossible to start this article anywhere else except with the return of Josh Byrne and Chris Cloutier. I do not think anyone could have drawn up a better return for the duo. Byrne (3g, 6a) and Cloutier (4g, 1a) combined for seven goals and seven assists, in a game that the Bandits scored ten goals. They came out hungry and looking to make an immediate impact. It was easy to tell that they had missed playing the game. Accounting for seventy percent of the team’s goals, including the overtime-game winner, is a welcomed return.
The Halifax goaltender, Warren Hill, made many incredible saves to keep the Bandits from scoring any more than the ten they were able to get. The issue I have with the return of Byrne and Cloutier was the direction the offense took. It is hard to fault those two for anything in a game they had a large impact on. However, the Bandits were forced to the outside for too many of their offensive possessions. It reminded me of the championship series against the Colorado Mammoth. This is the type of game that Brandon Robinson’s presence was missed. The offense, despite scoring ten and likely could have had more, looked a little more out of sorts than we have seen in recent games. That is a shocking thing to say given what the offensive active roster has looked like for the past couple of months. It will take some time to integrate Byrne and Cloutier back in as a full offensive unit, but I hope this is not the strategy they use the rest of the season.
The defense and Matt Vinc once again played incredible. This game it was more Vinc than the defense, unlike last game, where it was more the defense than Vinc. Vinc played like a goalie who just won goaltender of the year last year. It was not only the amount of saves he made but also how incredible some of them were. He saved at least two clear cut breakaways. In this game, the defense allowed more in tight opportunities to the Thunderbirds than last week where they were able to keep them to the outside. Much of what I said last week holds true again this week. Holding Halifax to under ten goals is an impressive accomplishment for this team and shows how elite of a unit they can be.
Tehoka Nanticoke was a healthy scratch in this game, possibly a banged up healthy scratch but that is speculation. Either way, Nate K. (as he is known to this podcast) got another opportunity on the right side to see some action. In his second NLL game, he was finally rewarded with the first NLL goal of his career. Similar to the first game, he had ups and downs as expected for a rookie in his second game. The part of his game that stands out the most is his outside shot. He had a few great looks, including one that ricocheted hard off the pipe before he got his goal. He has shown a lot of potential in his first two games. With Fraser and Nanticoke likely coming back soon, it will be interesting to see how many more opportunities he is given this year. At the very least, I think he has shown he can be a solid depth player for this team.
Overtime in the NLL, in my opinion, is the scariest extra time to watch in sports. In football it is slow and not sudden death (with a field goal), hockey is fast paced but a low scoring game, soccer is long and not a golden goal, basketball is simply extra time. In the NLL any shot at any time can go in from anywhere. Every single overtime possession is terrifying, whether it is on offense or defense. Luckily, the Bandits have survived two overtime games this year, both at home. In the first overtime game against the Philadelphia Wings, the Bandits finished the game after their first possession. In this game, it took the Bandits until their second possession. Both wins came after the Bandits used their overtime timeout. I do not think I would be able to handle a game like the Rochester Knighthawks and New York Riptide played with the overtime goal coming with just 58 seconds remaining in overtime. Despite the victories, as exciting as they are, I hope for the sake of my heart they do not have anymore.
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.
Warren Hill
Inside – 3
Outside – 7
*3 of the goals was on the penalty kill
Matt Vinc
Inside – 3
Outside – 6
*2 of the goals were on the penalty kill
Goal 1 – 5 on 3 penalty kill, tough to keep that out
Goal 2 – Nice diving shot by Boushy on a good transition play by Halifax
Goal 3 – Quick Transition goal, had Vinc guessing and guessed wrong
Goal 4 – Great bounce shot by Staats
Goal 5 – Another impressive transition goal with great tic-tac-toe passing. Smith got caught getting off the field late
Goal 6 – Penalty kill goal, nice high far post shot by Fannell
Goal 7 – Long shot by Benesch, nice shot using the defender as a screen, Vinc probably wants that back
Goal 8 – Heck of a pass by Staats, quick shot by Fannell, not the best defense
Goal 9 – Even better pass by Jamieson, nice in tight goal by Boushy
1/9 on Vinc
Vinc finished the game with 48 saves and simply played amazing. The defense once again did their part but this game was more about Vinc than anything. He played arguably his best game of the season.
As I mentioned earlier, the offense was held to the outside for most of their goals. The offense ended with three inside goals, one on the power play and one by Byrne that I am not sure went in. It worked well enough in this game but I hope they find ways to mix it up a bit more next week.
Challenges 1-1
The first goal of the game for Halifax was challenged and successfully won. That overturned goal ended up being huge in the end considering the game ended up going to overtime.
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
Halifax – 2-4 on the PP
Josh Byrne – Checking From Behind – I thought this was a weak call. Byrne did shove the player from behind but I do not think it deserved anything more than Halifax being awarded possession – bad call
Bryce Sweeting – Cross Checking – Sweeting and Withers were both shoving each other after the play. Unfortunately, Sweeting got the better of the exchange and ended up checking Withers in the head as Withers was going to the ground – sadly a good call
Dylan Robinson – Cross Checking – I thought this was a weak call as well. Robinson did throw a cross check but the player ran through it and did not fall down, something that happens throughout the game lots of times without being called – bad call
Steve Priolo – Slashing – I think what happened on this play was that Priolo’s slash, that normally would not be called, caught the Halifax player’s facemask and that is what triggered the call – good call
2/4 – good calls
I thought the refs had a couple of weak cross checking calls but overall they let a lot go in this game for both teams. I thought Halifax took more advantage of the lack of calls but both teams got away with some things.