Revenge Will Have to Wait

The Buffalo Bandits hosted the Colorado Mammoth in a title game rematch. Once again, the Bandits were defeated by the Mammoth, this time by a score of 8-13. It was more of the same from last year’s championship game. The offense could not find an easy way to the crease, the defense struggled against a physical offense, and new this year, Vinc had a bad game. There are a few positives from this game but mainly from results around the league.

This is the first time all season that the Bandits offense has been held to under 10 goals. Josh Byrne, Chris Cloutier and now Chase Fraser have all recently returned to the lineup. It is going to take a little bit of time for this unit to gel and find what works. In the last three games, they have not scored more than 10 goals. However, there is no reason to panic about this game or the recent performance from the offense. It is simply a matter of time before the offense falls back into place. The negative is that the Bandits do not have a lot of time or wiggle room at the top of the East standings. The offense needs to find its groove and find it fast.

The most disappointing element of this game was not getting the opportunity to see players like Brandon Robinson, Adam Bomberry and Kellen LeClair in the lineup. The Bandits went after these players, either in the offseason or via trade, for this type of game. I am not sure if they would have been able to make a big enough impact to overcome the poor team play but it would have been nice to see how they could have affected this game. Robinson was added to the lineup to create lanes for players like Byrne and Cloutier against Colorado’s physical defense. It would have been great to see what that might have looked like Saturday night if he was not injured.

I honestly wish there was more to talk about with this kind of loss. The team as a whole did not play well and it showed. The defense allowed Colorado inside too easily, the offense was forced to the outside and Vinc had an off night. As great as it would have been to knock off the defending champions, this is a game you throw away and start over next week. The Bandits have an incredible 10-3 record and thanks to division losses by the Toronto Rock and Rochester Knighthawks, they are still in first place in the East. Luckily for the Bandits, this type of game has only happened once this season.

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.     

Dillon Ward

Inside – 3

Outside – 5  

*3 of the goals were on the penalty kill        

Matt Vinc      

Inside – 5

Outside – 8

*2 of the goals were on the penalty kill     

Goal 1 – Zed Williams, good shot

Goal 2 – In tight goal, defense lost him

Goal 3 – Defense allowed Thompson to get to a prime location

Goal 4 – Far bounce shot, off Vinc and in, Vinc could have had it

Goal 5 – PP goal, almost a one timer, great shot

Goal 6 –McLaughlin with a good move to get inside

Goal 7 – PP goal, kind of a broken play, Wardle got inside

Goal 8 – Williams with a turn and fire, could have gone either way

Goal 9 – Outside shot, Vinc knows he missed that one

Goal 10 – Another outside shot Vinc knows he wanted

Goal 11 - Defense allowed McLaughlin to get in tight, tough to save, Vinc almost had it

Goal 12 – 5-hole quick shot, another one Vinc likely wants back

Goal 13 – Breakaway goal

5/13 on Vinc 

Vinc finished the game with only 32 saves and played arguably his worst game of the year. Last week he played his best game of the season, this game his worst. I expect a big bounce back performance against the Seals.   

Once again, the offense was held to the outside. Ward is a tough goalie to score against from the outside with how he stands at the top of the crease. The offense tried multiple quick stick shots but couldn’t find a consistent way inside near the crease.

Challenges 0

The Bandits did not challenge any plays in this game.

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 – 3-7 on the PP    

Halifax – 2-7 on the PP        

Chris Cloutier – Holding the Stick – Cloutier grabbed the Colorado player’s stick and took it from him – good call

Chris Cloutier – Body Checking – Cloutier had a solid blind side body check against a player who did not have the ball - good call

Bryce Sweeting – Cross Checking – This was a weak call. Sweeting had his back to the ref who made the call. It was a bit of a cross check but nothing more than what the players do all the time throughout the game – bad call 

Ian MacKay – Cross Checking – MacKay seemed frustrated with the initial cross-checking penalty and wanted to show Robinson what a real cross-check looked like – good call

Steve Priolo – Body Check – Priolo was trying to defend Byrne who was in the middle of a scrum and cross-checked a player off of the pile. He was then cross-checked in the back by Craig. I think both players should have gone but only Priolo got the call – half of a good call

Dhane Smith – Checking from Behind – Dhane clearly cross-checked the player in the back at the center of the field as he ran off – good call

Ian MacKay – Slashing – MacKay slashed the player in the leg, hopefully while going for the back of his stick, but he got mainly leg – good call

Bryce Sweeting – Spearing – From what sideline reporter Dave Buchanan said, the back-up goalie for Colorado was chirping all game long. From the video, it is quick and hard to see but it looked like Sweeting may hit the goalie's face with his stick. It didn’t look malicious or violent but it was intentional – good call

5.5/7 – good calls

The biggest issue I had with the refs in this game was calling 30 minutes worth of penalties, not including the fights, 5-minute spearing or the slashing call with three seconds to go. That is simply too high of an impact in a physical game. I understand they wanted to keep the game under control, but I thought they called too many penalties.