Buffalo Bandits Make the Rock Crumble
The Buffalo Bandits defeated the Toronto Rock 16 to 14 in a highly anticipated game this past Saturday. The Bandits started the game well taking an 8-4 lead into the half. The Rock did what they have been doing all season long and had a great comeback third quarter taking a 10-9 lead into the fourth quarter. The Bandits could have folded under the pressure, instead they kicked it into gear and took a commanding 16-10 lead with just over two minutes and thirty seconds left in the game. The ending got a bit shaky, but it was too little too late for Toronto.
This was a massive game for the Bandits for a lot of reasons. The Rock had everything in their favor headed into this game. They were the home team, undefeated, and alternate captain Tom Schreiber, leader of their offense, was playing in his first game all season. The Bandits on the other hand came into this game after losing a tough home game to the New York Riptide and were trying to stay above .500 on the season. The first half set the tone for the game. The Bandits have had a few rough starts this year that have put them in holes too tough to dig out of. Against the Rock, that is a luxury you cannot afford. It looked like the Bandits as a team understood this as they went into half time with an impressive 8-4 lead. However, the Rock stormed back in the third quarter and went into the fourth quarter with a 10-9 lead. The Bandits could have packed it in, let the Rock continue to roll and take off back to Buffalo with a 3-4 record being defeated by the leagues best team. Not a huge deal and most people would have been upset but not defeated by that result. However, the Bandits did not give up and came out of the game once again looking like one of the best teams in the league. It has been a bumpy start to the season, but defeating the undefeated Rock, the way they did, puts the Bandits right back on every team’s mind as the champions they are.
On offense, the Bandits were going to need a bit of a unique game plan to defeat the Rock. I am not saying the usual suspects weren’t going to be a major focus, but going into this game the Rock were averaging under 9 GAA per game. It was going to take effort, toughness, and support from depth scoring to put 14 goals past Nick Rose and that is exactly what they got. If you told me Josh Byrne (1g, 6a) would end with only one goal in the game, I would have assumed the Bandits lost. However, it was players like Steve Priolo (2g, 1a), who had three goals all last season, stepping up and scoring two goals in one quarter of this game. Brandon Robinson (2g, 0a) and Ian MacKay (2g, 0a) were the other depth scorers that stepped up in this game. As great as Chase Fraser’s (4g, 1a) goal was, I personally believe Brandon Robinson’s goal was more impressive. An off hand, one handed, fade away jumper over Nick Rose, I mean come on! Anyway, it was a complete team performance on offense. Even Dhane Smith (2g, 4a) who has been struggling a bit to score goals this season had two goals. Josh Byrne (1g, 6a) and Chris Cloutier (0g, 6a) may not have scored a lot of goals, but they contributed with plenty of assists. Chase Fraser is becoming more and more of a staple of this offense. In his last four games he has 12 goals and 6 assists. In his last two games he has 8 goals and 3 assists. Fraser has always been a strong part of this offense, but he is starting to cement himself as a go to threat. Fun fact, the Bandits offense has not scored under 12 goals in the last four games.
There were some good and bad things about the defense in this game. Overall, they played great. The defense was more consistently aggressive than we have seen in the past few games. I understand one can’t eliminate the four goals Toronto scored at the end of the game because they do count. However, if you do, the Bandits held Toronto to only ten goals. Cory Small (1g, 2a) was held to only one goal on four shots. His previous two games he had combined for eight goals. Tom Schreiber (2g, 4a) had a few magical assists and Chris Boushy (4g, 1a) had a couple of late goals but for the most part, outside of the four-goal end of game collapse, they were held in check. The defense did get burned a few times. There were a couple of goals where players were beat one on one or lost a player. That is going to happen. If it does not happen too often in a game, it’s okay. The bad thing was that the Bandits once again had a bad quarter. I do think it helped that it did not come in the first half, however, allowing six goals in the third quarter and letting Toronto climb back into the game was not good. If the Bandits can keep those bad quarters down to four goals or less, they will be in the win column a little more consistently.
The special teams still have me worried a bit. The penalty kill put up a great effort only allowing one goal on four opportunities. The power play, on paper, looks fine. They were able to score three goals on six opportunities against a struggling Rock penalty kill. In most cases shooting fifty percent on the power play is a good thing. However, the Bandits once again could not score on a full 5v3 opportunity. These chances should be almost automatic for an offense with this much talent. After the 5v3 had finished the Bandits continued a five-minute major power play. They would only get one goal, an almost lucky one, on this opportunity. Even though the Bandits only scored one goal on these chances, it was a major turning point in the game killing the momentum the Rock had built headed into the fourth quarter. The Bandits have struggled with 5v3 and five-minute major power play opportunities, both of which should produce goals for this team. It is not something to panic about just yet, but it needs to be corrected.
The Bandits went into this game with a 3-3 record. I was not ready to hit the panic button on their season just yet. However, if the Bandits had lost this game by a few goals, some doubt about this season would have crept into my mind. Should they have made more moves in the off-season? Is the defense too injured to perform well? Does this team have what it takes to repeat as champions? Luckily, most of those questions were answered in this game. A game that the Toronto Rock, arguably the best team in the league, had everything going for them, including a revenge narrative against their bitter rivals. The Bandits went to Hamilton, got the job done and looked good doing it. They put the league on notice and are primed to go on a big winning streak to climb up the standings.
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.
Nick Rose
Inside – 8
Mid-Range - 3
Outside – 3
Transition - 1
*3 goals were on the penalty kill
*2 empty net goals
Matt Vinc
Inside – 8
Mid-Range - 3
Outside – 3
Transition - 2
*1 of the goals was on the penalty kill
Goal 1 – Not very good defense but a great shot on the finish by Craig
Goal 2 – Another great shot, teams are picking upper corners on Vinc, not much you can do
Goal 3 – Two big saves by Vinc but Lintner scored on the third
Goal 4 – Well executed play, 6v5 coming off the timeout
Goal 5 – 2v1 off a faceoff scramble, nice breakaway goal
Goal 6 – Bad angle shot by Mathews, Vinc came off the post just a bit, need to make that save
Goal 7 – PP goal – great quick stick goal, Vinc almost had it
Goal 8 – J. Robinson was concerned about the pass and was burned by Lintner. Vinc went for the hit on the crease dive instead of the save, terrible by both
Goal 9 – Dunk goal, bad defense, left him open, great designed play by the Rock out of a timeout
Goal 10 – Long shot that just snuck by Vinc, gotta have it
Goal 11 – Defense played soft and lost a couple of players allowing an in tight opportunity
Goal 12 – Good play by the Rock but again, soft defense
Goal 13 – Long shot by Schreiber, Vinc should have had it
Goal 14 – See previous description
3/14 on Vinc
4/14 on the defense
Challenges by the Bandits – 0/1
The Bandits challenged a no goal call against Chris Cloutier. It was a close call, but I believe no goal was correct. Cloutier’s one foot appeared on the line before he dove for the goal.
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 – 3-6 on the PP
Rock – 1-4 on the PP
Steve Priolo – Illegal Cross Check – Priolo stepped up and cross checked a Rock player from behind. It seems that this foul is getting called tighter this year than in previous years – good call
Chase Fraser – Roughing – In the middle of a loose ball scrum Fraser ripped the helmet off Mitch de Snoo– good call
Dhane Smith – Body Checking – This was a big open field body check by Smith on de Snoo. The only thing I really saw wrong with this hit was the fact that it might have been a little high, simply because Smith is a taller player. It looked like a pretty clean hit overall – goodish call
Emerson Clark – Unsportsmanlike Conduct – I have no idea. If you listen closely you can hear in game announcer call a delay of game but the play never stopped. The only thing I can possibly see is the fact that Clark ran through the crease and continued running down the Toronto player but that is it. Clark did slap his stick when he got to the bench, hard to tell if he was upset he missed his opportunity or upset about the penalty – no idea, very confused
2.5/4 – good calls
For the most part the referees were fine in this game. There were a few missed calls here and there but the impact on the game was minimal and that is what we are hoping for from the refs.