Buffalo Bandits Struck Down by the Thunderbirds
The Buffalo Bandits lost an important game to the Halifax Thunderbirds by a score of 12-14. This game really illustrated the difference between unified standings and former standings. The Bandits had an opportunity to move all the way up to third place but instead found themselves falling to sixth. The Bandits also lost the only game of the year against the Thunderbirds losing the season ending tiebreaker.
The offense played great, at first. The Bandits took a commanding 8-2 lead with 5:52 left in the first half. That lead would shrink to 8-5 by half time. It took Halifax until 11:26 left in the fourth quarter to take their first lead but a big part of that was the offense not producing in the second half. The Thunderbirds made a goalie change from Warren Hill (7ga, 14sv) to rookie Drew Hutchison (5ga, 22sv) and it stumped the Bandits offense. After a strong start against Hill the Bandits offense appeared to back off and stop trying to get to the dirty areas as they struggled to score against Hutchison. I also do not agree with Emerson Clark being in the lineup. I have nothing against Clark as a player, but I am not sure he adds much to the Bandits offense. Especially compared to what Carter McKenzie can add to the back end. Clark is a minor role player but any shifts he takes are less opportunities for the rest of the lefties on offense.
The defense continues to struggle, a lot. I am not sure what the problem is but something with the defense needs to change. The Bandits have not allowed less than 13 goals in the last five games. That is an alarming and concerning stat. The Bandits are missing a few players but as a unit they cannot seem to put a full game together. Like the offense, the defense played a good first half. Even allowing five goals in the first half was not bad. The second half everything fell apart. From the end of the second quarter through the third quarter the Thunderbirds outscored the Bandits 7-1. However, the Bandits still had a chance to win late in the game. The Bandits offense was able to tie the game 12-12 with 4:43 left in the game. The defense allowed the Thunderbirds to score two goals in just over 30 seconds after the Bandits scored essentially ending the game for the Bandits. It was this moment where the Bandits had a chance to regain the momentum if the defense could put together a few strong shifts to give the offense a chance to take a late lead. The defense needs to figure it out. Whether it is a lineup change or something else they need to stop teams from scoring and the Albany Firewolves will not make it any easier.
Not winning a single faceoff can be depressing. Other than not winning late game crucial faceoffs I do not believe this is why the Bandits lost the game. Another area, outside but also including the defense, that you can look at is the Bandits special teams. The power play unit had another chance at a 5-on-3 opportunity and once again could not cash in. They ended the game going only 1-for-4 on the power play. The penalty kill was not any better allowing the Thunderbirds to score on 4-of-6 chances. If the power play scores on one more of their opportunities and the penalty kill kills off one more chance this game could have looked a lot different.
The Bandits dropped a high scoring game against a good team. The two biggest concerns are the Bandits playing a full 60-minutes and the defense finding a way to step it up. Luckily for the Bandits Halifax dropped their game on Sunday. If the Bandits can find some vengeance against the Firewolves in their upcoming game the standings will look a little bit nicer than they do right now. The Bandits are still in a playoff position, and I am not hitting any panic alarms…just yet. They need to string some wings together and start dominating teams like the champions they are.
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
Mid-Range - 1
Outside – 3
Transition -
*1 of the goals was on the penalty kill
Drew Hutchison
Inside – 3
Mid-Range - 0
Outside – 2
Transition - 2
*1 of the goals was on the penalty kill
Matt Vinc
Inside – 7
Mid-Range - 5
Outside – 2
*4 of the goals was on the penalty kill
1st goal – Great play by Benesch to get around the defender and finish with a great shot
2nd goal – Theede is a big boy who used his power to get an inside shot, just squeaked through Vinc
3rd goal – PP goal – Shanks walked in an unloaded a great shot on a 5v3
4th goal – Defense allowed Petterson to get inside
5th goal – Great pass and great finish in tight
6th goal – Thought Vinc should have had this one, mid-range shot from dead center
7th goal – PP goal – Shanks found the short side again on the power play, Vinc could have had it
8th goal – Terrible defense, allowed Theede to get in tight
9th goal – PP goal – another mid-range power play goal for Halifax, not sure what was going on with this, again not a great goal to allow for Vinc
10th goal – Far shot, Vinc seemed upset with the defense, not sure if he was screened on the play
11th goal – Defense once again allowed Halifax to get inside
12th goal – PP goal – again bad defense on the penalty kill
13th goal – Arguably the worst defense of the night allowed Halifax to get wide open in front
14th goal – Once again the defense allowed a quick shot right in front of Vinc
3/14 on Vinc
6/14 on the defense
Challenges by the Bandits – 0/1
The Bandits challenged a close crease crashing goal by the Thunderbirds but lost the challenge. It was a close call but I believe the correct call.
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 – 1-4 on the PP
Rochester – 4-6 on the PP
Matt Spanger – Cross Checking – Spanger was not thrilled with Bell throwing a tough pick and delivered a cross check in retaliation – good call
Cam Wyers – Cross Checking – Wyers cross check ended up going a bit high on the player – good call
Chase Fraser – Slashing – it looked like an accidental high stick that was called a slash. It also looked like Bell embellished a little bit but he would be called on a high stick against Fraser right after this – goodish call
Dhane Smith – Body Checking – This was a heavy blind side pick, once again against Bell which is interesting – good call
Steve Priolo – Elbowing – I don’t think this was the right call, I think they meant to call this a holding? If that is the case I would agree – good call
Steve Priolo – Roughing – After Theede got past Priolo on the same holding play Priolo drove him into the ground in the crease – good call
Ian MacKay – Dead Ball Foul – On the same play as the previous two fouls, Theede was upset with Priolo and was doing some shoving. MacKay defended his captain and did some shoving of his own – good call
Dylan Robinson – Unsportsmanlike Conduct – I do not agree with the referee’s calling embellishment and a foul on the same play, does not make sense. It should be one or the other. Robinson and Withers were fighting since the face off but the foul is slightly off screen so it is hard to tell if it was the correct call or not – bad call
Nick Weiss – Cross Checking – this was an quite a soft call, I do not agree – bad call
No One – Illegal Substitution – The illegal substitution was off the screen from what I could tell so I am not sure if the call was correct or not. I do not really agree with illegal substitution calls that have no bearing on the play. It seemed to be the last defender out for the Bandits that was the issue. At that point there in no advantage and both the defense and offense are set up in the zone. The referee also raised his arm before the two-minute mark, but the Bandits did not get possession until after the two-minute mark. A penalty shot was called because there was less than two minutes remaining in the game. If that is truly how the rule is set up, in my opinion, that is dumb – bad call
6.5/10 – good calls
I thought the referees policed this game a little much. There were weak calls on both sides of the field a combined 17 calls in the game. Most of these calls came in the third quarter. I am not sure if they wan
ted to make sure the game did not get out of hand or what but it was a little much.