Buffalo Heats Up Against Toronto

The Buffalo Bandits took care of business against the Toronto Rock winning 11-8. The Bandits may have started their season a week late but it looks like they are back on track. Going to Ontario and beating a very talented Rock team is no easy feat. Both teams were coming off tough losses looking for revenge. We do not even need to mention the history from last season’s Eastern Conference Finals. These two teams do not like each other and it showed on Saturday night.  

 The biggest change I was looking for was with the offense. The Rock are known to have one of the best defenses in the entire league including a top five goalie. Finding a way to get past them while attempting to make adjustments from week one was not going to be easy. However, the Bandits found themselves quickly out to a 3-0 lead. The Bandits immediately tried something they struggled with last week, attacking the crease. Dhane Smith got in close for the first goal of the game. Nanticoke continued his physical style of play also scoring in tight. The offense as a whole looked more physical. Eight of the Bandits eleven goals came from in front of the net. A combination of elite passing and physical play allowed them to get inside against a tough defense.  

 A part of the game that was not a surprise, to some of us, was the bounce back of former goalie of the year Matt Vinc. Vinc may be forty years old but he played like a twenty-five year old while saving fifty-two shots including a shut out third quarter. As I said in the preview article, Vinc does not often have bad back-to-back games. It’s nice when he can prove me right. Vinc was rock solid allowing only eight goals while Toronto had no consistent answer for him. Three of the Rock’s eight goals were on the man advantage, take those out and Vinc only allowed five even strength goals.  

 The defense played better as a unit with Steve Priolo back in the lineup. In his first action of the year, Priolo led the team with nine loose balls. The defense looked more organized and it was shown with the number of blocked shots they had. The NLL stats page is not one hundred percent accurate right now and I think the Bandits had more blocked shots than it is claiming but either way the defense made it tough on the Rock to find open lanes. The Rock only had one goal that was close to the crease, which came with one minute left in the game and the goalie pulled. The biggest loss in this game may have been the injury to Dylan Robinson. In the first two games of his career, he was making a positive impact on the team. If he is out for an extended period, it will be a bit of a blow to the defense.  

 This was a massive victory for the Bandits. It may only be the second game of the season but knocking the Rock down to 1-2 while the Bandits get in the win column was big. The Bandits were able to match the physicality and intensity that the Rock brought. The Bandits are a team hoping to be tougher than they were last year. This is the start we were looking for last week. It may be a week late but it is better late than never.  

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.   

Holding the stick was called twice in the game against the Bandits so let us look at it.  

The Play

Bryce Sweeting was holding the opponents stick. Byrne was also called for the same infraction later in the game.  

The Call

Holding stick 

The Rule  

Rule 71: HOLDING - Any player who impedes the progress of any player by using his arms, legs, or hands (with or without the ball). Body position, as outlined above, shall apply in assessing all holding infractions. 

71.2 HOLDING AN OPPONENT’S STICK - A player is not permitted to hold an opponent’s stick. 

I went back and watched the play for Sweeting and it was an obvious grab of the stick and the correct call. The same goes for the call on Byrne. Both players clearly grabbed the opponents stick with Byrne even taking it from the player.