Bandits Were All Hat, No Cattle

The Buffalo Bandits lost a heartbreaker 11-12 in overtime against the Panther City Lacrosse Club (PCLC). It was the first meeting between these two teams in Panther City franchise history. It was a back-and-forth game before the Bandits took a two-goal lead after a four-goal run late in the fourth quarter. Panther City would go on to tie the game. The Bandits looked like they had the game winning goal with only 53 seconds remaining in the game. However, Panther City played spoiler scoring 33 seconds later with only 20 seconds left in the game. They would go on to win in overtime, despite the Bandits leading in most statistical categories.

The Bandits offense was flying around the field. Their passing was crisp and among the best I have seen all season. The issue they had was running into Nick Damude (11ga, 51sv). Damude is having a good season and may have played the best game of his career against the Bandits, including scoring a goalie goal. The offense was forced to try to pick corners and attempt perfect shots to get past Damude. This led to the Bandits hitting a lot of posts. They scored a variety of inside, mid-range and outside goals. A bit of everything was working at times, but overall Damude was too strong. The Bandits had a lot of second and third chance opportunities, winning the loose ball battle 81 to 62. This led to an impressive 62 shots on goal. The Bandits still have an issue with going on long goal scoring droughts throughout the game. If they can find a way to score a little more consistently, outside of big runs, they have a better chance to win these close games. My only real complaints about the offense were Dhane Smith (2g, 5a) shooting a bit too much and the secondary scoring not being there in this game. Smith shot the ball a team high 17 times and only scored twice. This was 6 shots higher than his previous season high of 11 shots in a game. I understand Chase Fraser was missing from the game. I am sure Smith felt a bit more pressure to shoot and score compared to normal, but that is a rough shooting percentage. Tehoka Nanticoke (1g, 3a), Chris Cloutier (1g, 3a), Ian MacKay (0g, 0a), Brandon Robinson (0g, 1a), and Kyle Buchanan (1g, 2a) all combined for just three goals. That is not good enough from the secondary scoring outside of Smith and Josh Byrne (5g, 2a).

The defense played well in this game. The defense as a unit still has some kinks they need to work out, but that will happen with the revolving door of a lineup. I am not sure how many times this season the defense has played back-to-back games with the same group of players. In this game, Adam Bomberry made his triumphant return to the lacrosse field. He had a great transition goal and from what I could tell, played well and finished healthy. However, that is once again another new face being added to the defense. If the defense can stay healthy and get some play time together, they can be a strong unit. I don’t want to go too far into it, but Ian MacKay played arguably his worst game of the season. He was absent on offense, struggled on defense and took a bad frustration penalty that led to a Panther City goal. MacKay has been a massive part of this team and the defense all season long. I am not worried about one bad game. The other aspect the defense struggled with was switch offs and double teaming at the wrong time. Many of the goals that Panther City scored were uncontested shots from the outside. This often happened because of a mistimed switch-off between two defenders or a double team down low that did not seem necessary. Overall, the defense played well. They were able to keep Panther City to the outside, did not allow many easy goals, and held them to 10 goals in regulation. At first glance, mainly because of the number of outside goals, Matt Vinc looked like he had a bad game. However, after taking an in-depth look at the goals allowed, there were only a couple that Vinc should have had.

I thought the Buffalo Bandits were the better team in this game. Like their early season loss to Georgia, they ran into a hot goalie on the wrong night. If the Bandits continue to play this way, they will win more often than not. They have a few things they need to tighten up, but they have every opportunity to win the next four games and head into the playoffs as a complete team.

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 Damude

Inside – 4

Mid-Range - 5

Outside – 2

*0 of the goals were on the penalty kill     

Matt Vinc          

Inside – 2

Mid-Range - 3

Outside – 6

*1 of the goals was on the penalty kill

1st goal – Little bit of a slow switch off by the defense but a nice shot by Malcolm as well

2nd goal – A quick pass and shot but from outside, I dont think Vinc or the defense was ready

3rd goal – A nice pick set by the offense allowed a free shot for the offense, again a low shot from outside, thought Vinc should have had it

4th goal – Empty net goal by Damude

5th goal – Another poor switch off by the defense allowed a wide-open great shot by Thompson

6th goal – Another quick outside shot on a defensive switch off, used Sulver as a screen

7th goal – Bandits defenders run into each other after a loose ball scramble and allow a quick inside shot

8th goal – Quick pass and quick inside shot, it was a nice play, poor communication from the defense

9th goal – Vinc may have been screened and it was well placed but not a good one to let in shorthanded

10th goal – PP goal – great pass, right past Wyers, and quick stick goal

11th goal – There was a lot of traffic in front of Vinc by the defense attempting to block the shot, however it also screens Vinc

12th goal – A great outside bounce shot and once again the defense was too slow to switch off and get to the shooter

3/12 on Vinc

3/12 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 – 0/3 on the PP

Panther City – 1/3 on the PP

Steve Priolo – Roughing – Both players were going at it a bit. This seemed like an early way to set the tempo with off-setting minors for roughing – good call

Tehoka Nanticoke – Cross Checking – I did not like this call. I thought at worst this was an illegal pick and a change of possession. It did not look bad enough to warrant a penalty – bad call

Nick Weiss – Slashing – This one was bad. Weiss got shoved from behind, not hard, he did not like it and took a baseball bat swing at the Panther City player’s leg – good call

Ian MacKay – Slashing – This is a tough call for MacKay. On one hand it is a slash, on the other, the ball was directly between the players legs when MacKay went to whack at it – good call

3/4 – good calls

The referees called a good game. They were relatively quiet and hands off. The game was not all that intense with this being the first meeting between these two teams. They were almost invisible, which is what you want to see.