Buffalo Bandits Win Season Opener

The Buffalo Bandits kicked off their title defense against the Rochester Knighthawks on Saturday. They were looking to avoid losing three straight season openers’ and did just that with a 15-7 victory. I was a bit worried headed into this game with Rochester already having played one game while the Bandits had the first week off. The offense took a long time to get going but the defense and Vinc looked like they were in mid-season form. 

By the time the game was over the Bandits had put 15 goals in the back of the net, but that is not how the game started. The Bandits scored four goals in the first half and had seven goals by the end of the third quarter. The shots were flying early and often. However, they were flying high and wide. The offense was passing well, moving well, but struggled to get shots on target. It wasn’t until an 8 goal fourth quarter that the offense really started to settle in. Dhane Smith led the team with 3 goals and 8 assists (on pace for 144) for 11 points (on pace for 198). Arguably the most interesting part of the Bandits first game was going to be how the left side of the offense looked. Ian MacKay stepped into Brandon Robinson’s vacated spot and had mixed results. MacKay finished the game with 1 goal and 2 assists for 3 points. He also took 11 shots, the highest number of shots he has taken since March 3rd, 2023, the last time he stepped into a full-time offensive role. MacKay has the talent to make an impact on offense for the Bandits this season, but at what cost. The Bandits put together a full team effort in this game for a seemingly easy victory, but we’ll see if the move to offense ends up costing the Bandits on defense at some point this season.  

Paul Dawson had his first season opener with the Buffalo Bandits and his presence continues to be felt, just like it was last year. He may not have had the flashiest stats in this game, but you can once again see the influence he has on the rest of the defensive unit. The Bandits had 11 caused turnovers compared to Rochester’s 9 and 12 blocked shots to Rochester’s 8. The Bandits were able to hold Connor Fields and Ryan Smith to a combined 2 goals and 1 assist. Rochester has one of the better offenses in the league and the Bandits held them in check. Not only did the defense perform well, but Matt Vinc looked like he was in playoff form. Last season Vinc struggled to start the year allowing a season high 17 goals in the Bandits first game. This year it was a different story. Vinc not only made a lot of saves with 54 but also made some big saves. That is what was missing last year. Vinc was making a lot of saves but when it came to breakaway or post to post saves, he wasn’t making them. In this game, he had at least two breakaway saves during key points in the game. Vinc finished with an incredible 88.5 save percentage.  

The Bandits opened their season with a statement win over the Rochester Knighthawks and avoided losing their season opener for the third straight year. The positives from this game were the defense, Vinc and the second half offense. The negatives, the offense struggled to start the game, and the power play can’t go 0-for-5 in the future. If the Bandits can find a way to build on this game, this team will be hard to beat all season long.   

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.          

Riley Hutchcraft 

Inside – 6 

Mid-Range - 6 

Outside – 1 

Transition - 1 

*0 of the goals were on the penalty kill      

*2 empty net goals  

Matt Vinc           

Inside – 3 

Mid-Range - 0 

Outside – 4 

Transition - 0 

*0 of the goals were on the penalty kill 

*1 of the goals was on a man-advantage situation 

Goal 1 – Man-advantage situation for Rochester on a delayed penalty. There was a great rebound off a shot that ended up leading to an in-tight opportunity for McConvey who buried the goal 

Goal 2 – Turner Evans had a nice look from the outside on a low shot. It may have beat Vinc through his 5-hole, possibly one he would like to have back 

Goal 3 – Byrne lost track of his man and the rebound of the shot allowing Rylan Rees a great opportunity in tight 

Goal 4 – Great passing by Rochester but the defense let Vinc down on this one 

Goal 5 – Shorthanded shot by Fields just sneaks through. This is one Vinc absolutely needs to have, and he knows it.  

Goal 6 – Fields had a little too much time and space in the middle of the Field and whipped in a great shot 

Goal 7 – Nice low shot from the outside. Belter could have been a little closer, but it was a nice shot.  

2/7 on Vinc      

1/7 on the defense    

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 – 0-5 on the PP         

Knighthawks – 0-4 on the PP         

Josh Byrne – Delay of Game – Not a good call. From the referee’s point of view, I believe he thought Byrne touched the ball or hit it out of the Rochester player’s stick which was not the case – bad call 

Matt Spanger – Body Check – This call could have gone either way. It was a bang bang play. Smith had just lost the ball on a failed shot and Matt lined him up for what seemed to be a legal check. Body checks are subject to a lot of judgement from the referee. It is not an easy call to judge, but I’ll call it 50/50 – goodish call 

Dhane Smith – Holding Stick – This call was kind of hard to tell. It was tricky to see if the stick was caught up in Dhane’s arms or if he truly held it. Either way, the Rochester player lost his stick and the call was made – good call 

Zach Belter – Boarding – This call was made off the screen of play, Belter did not seem to fight it much though, so we’ll say it was fair – good call 

Josh Byrne – Dead Ball Foul – Byrne was called for responding to a boarding hit by Lanchbury against Weiss, it was a good call and one I’ll take all day from Byrne – good call  

Tehoka Nanticoke – Unsportsmanlike Conduct – Tehoka does like to embellish his hits at times, but at the same time he gets hit in the head a lot. I am not sure how the refs can call both embellishment and a penalty for cross checking at the same time. It seems like it should be one or the other, not both but I’ll let it go – good call  

4.5/6 – good calls     

Credit where credit is due…it was a great call by the referees on the elbowing against Medeiros. Both him and Whitty went to the ground where a scuffle ensued. The refs could have given both players penalties, but they only gave one to Medeiros who deserved it. I thought the refs were a bit touchy at times but overall called a good game.