Buffalo Bandits Fall in Season Opener
The Buffalo Bandits dropped the season opener to the Albany Firewolves 13-17. There is good news and there is bad news. The good news, last year the Bandits lost their season opener against the Albany Firewolves and went on to win the NLL Cup. The bad news, the Bandits looked bad. Not many aspects of their first game looked good, but luckily, it is only game one.
Matt Vinc and the defense seemed a step behind all game. We mentioned heading into this matchup that the Albany offense is young and fast and it showed. Vinc allowed many uncharacteristic goals. There were times he was a little slow to shift over, did not hug the post quite enough, and let a long shot get past him. It was one of his worst performances since joining the Bandits. However, he is known to bounce back quite well after a poor performance. The defense on the other hand is a little concerning. This unit is a little different from when we saw them last year. Adam Bomberry is likely out at least three months and Bryce Sweeting is done for the year. In their place, Dylan and Justin Robinson are returning from injury, as well as the addition of rookie Cam Wyers. Dalton Sulver also got the start in this game creating another wrinkle to the defensive cohesion. Simply put, the players have not had a lot of time to play together. There seemed to be miscommunication errors throughout the game. They also appeared to be slower than the Firewolves who played the week before and came out running. With the shoulder injury to Justin Robinson it will be interesting to see if Carter McKenzie gets the call or if rookie Zach Belter is ready to make his Bandits debut. Either way, the defense and Vinc need to get back on track in a hurry.
There were aspects of the offense that looked promising. For starters, they did score thirteen goals. In most games, especially with Vinc between the pipes, that is enough to earn you a victory. I thought the left side of the offense looked particularly impressive. Chris Cloutier (4g, 1a), Josh Byrne (2g, 7a), and Brandon Robinson (2g, 1a) accounted for eight of the teams 13 goals. If you add in Ian MacKay (1g, 2a) as well, it brings the lefty side of attack up to nine goals for the night. The left side of the offense did a great job playing off each other while creating space and opportunities to score. On the right side of the offense, Dhane Smith (1g, 5a), Chase Fraser (1g, 1a) and Tehoka Nanticoke (2g, 2a) all had great individual efforts to get themselves on the stat sheet. Dhane did a nice job spreading the ball around but the right side of the offense needs to find ways to work together to score. Last year, there were a few times Dhane and Tehoka worked the pick and roll to perfection. They need to find that once again while not losing their ability to score on their own as well.
The Bandits head into their home opener with a 0-1 record. I cannot wait for the highly anticipated banner raising. However, once the banner is raised and the opening whistle blows, the Bandits better be ready to get this season back on track. Last year was fun, raising the banner will be incredible, but it is time to look forward and start defending the title.
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.
Doug Jamieson
Inside – 8
Outside – 5 – 1 extra man, 1 transition breakawayish by MacKay
*1 goal was on the penalty kill, 1 was with an extra man on a delayed penalty
Matt Vinc
Inside – 8
Outside – 9
*2 of the goals were on the penalty kill
Goal 1 – PP goal, good movement by Albany
Goal 2 – PP goal with .1 seconds left in the first quarter, Vinc should have had this. Very tough angle shot, Vinc did not get over to hug the post fast enough
Goal 3 – Long shot goal, thought Vinc should have had
Goal 4 – Bad defense by Fraser allowed the Albany forward to walk in, nice high shot
Goal 5 – Fast passing goal, defense looked slow, allowed offense to get in close
Goal 6 – Long shot, should have had it
Goal 7 – Bad defense, left a few players open, bad angle shot though, Vinc could have had it
Goal 8 – Defense gave up on the play (1 second left on the shot clock), quick shot from a pass, something Vinc normally saves
Goal 9 – Long shot, nothing special, should have had it
Goal 10 – Mid range high shot, should have had it
Goal 11 – Long bounce shot, Vinc may have been screened by his defense
Goal 12 – Vinc pulled off the post for no reason giving enough space for the goal
Goal 13 – In close bounce goal in transition
Goal 14 – Another transition goal, nice twisting shot
Goal 15 – Defense stood and watched a rebound go right to the offense on the crease
Goal 16 – Long shot, gotta have it
Goal 17 – Long shot, gotta have it
8/17 on Vinc
6/17 on the defense
Vinc finished the game with only 32 saves. I thought this was one of the worst performances we have seen from Vinc in a Bandits jersey. However, I think he will have no problem bouncing back next game. The defense may take a few weeks to gel. I hope that they come together sooner than later.
The offense had flashes of brilliance and other times looked a bit lost. They seemed to settle for outside shots far too often with not many of them converting to goals. However, thirteen goals is a good start for a healthy offense.
Challenges by the Bandits - 0
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 – 1-3 on the PP
Halifax – 2-6 on the PP
Cam Wyers – Holding – This was a fair call. Wyers grabbed hold of the Albany attacker as he ran past him in front of the net – good call
Nick Weiss – Cross Checking – This one was a little tough for Weiss. It looked like he was shoved from behind which caused his cross check to go higher than he initially intended. From the ref’s point of view, it looked like an illegal crosscheck – good call
Josh Byrne – Fighting – It was hard to see what happened but this seems to be the wrong call on the stat sheet. Byrne chased down an Albany player, shoved him from behind into the boards but not directly. The video is tough to see but it appeared to be, at worse, a two-minute minor. I am not sure why he was given a five minute major, especially one for fighting – bad call
Dhane Smith – Roughing – Dhane was retaliating after Josh Byrne took a soft crosscheck from behind. It looked like Byrne embellished it just a bit but Dhane stepped in to defend his teammate. The refs missed the initial hit on Byrne and saw Dhane simply go after the Albany players. Honestly, I believe it was the correct call – good call
Chase Fraser – Fighting/Instigating? – The stat sheet and what happened in the game do not seem to be lining up. I am not sure what the official call was. On the stat sheet, it has Fraser with a two-minute roughing penalty. In the game, it looks like he was given a five-minute major for something. The two-minute roughing I can accept, I am not sure why he was given a five-minute major. It looked like both he and Kaschalk were in a scrum and began fighting each other. The only thing I can think is that they gave Fraser a five-minute major for instigating but that seems questionable – not sure if it was good or bad, not sure what the official call was
Josh Byrne – Cross Checking – I think Byrne was a marked man at this point. He was involved in back-to-back scrums and I think the refs were watching him closely. This was not an illegal crosscheck – bad call
3.5/6 – good calls
I thought the refs had a couple of bad calls in this game. A few of the calls were hard to decipher because the post-game stat sheet and what appeared to happen in the game were different, therefore it was tough to judge. The Bandits settled down after the first quarter and the refs weren’t heard from much after that.