Previously on The Bandits
After losing to the Calgary Roughnecks the week before at home, the Bandits turned the tables on the road Saturday night, posting one of their best performances as a team with an 11-6 victory.
“Especially after losing the way we did in the fourth quarter at home against Calgary, so it’s nice to come back as a redemption game. It’s a mirror image of what we did with San Diego. Big win for the boys,” said Bandits head coach John Tavares on the radio post-game show Saturday night from Calgary.
The Bandits’ record now is 10-2 on the season.
Vno and the Backline
Goaltender Matt Vinc was outstanding. The eight-time goaltender of the year posted a .880 save percentage by turning aside 44 Calgary shots.
The defense turned in a classic textbook performance by following its principles of not letting opponents shoot over the top, forcing them down the wall, and opening on specific picks.
And they blocked 17 Roughnecks shots, seven of them by league-leading Paul Dawson (now with 35) and five by Cam Wyers (16 overall).
It was precisely what GM and defensive coordinator Steve Dietrich has preached all season: “Execution, effort, and desire.”
Tavares followed suit with praise.
“Our defense was very, very good. When it broke down, Matt stood on his head. Calgary was having a hard time getting good looks at us.
“I thought Nick Weiss was unbelievable on defense, and in the one play, Clay Scanlan ran down a player with the ball – that’s contagious on the bench,” said Tavares.
Such a talented offense with a touch of Tehoka
The offense, too, took advantage of their opportunities and put the ball in the net, many of them spectacular, including Tehoka Nanticoke on his rebound from a previous shot.
“I have one job; the opposing defense has theirs, and I’m always going to put pressure on the defense and do my best and make them feel uncomfortable, putting them in situations they are not ready for, and I can capitalize on that. I don’t think about what I’m doing before it happens. The ball gets in my stick, and I have one goal: Put the ball in the net.”
And that he did Saturday night in his style – never an ugly goal, from the former first-rounder who started playing the game since he could hold a stick in his hand with his brother teaching him what he knows about the game.
But he is all about the Bandits.
“We have an unbelievable group here, starting with Dhane and Josh; they want to win, and that trickles down; we all just want to win, which makes us so good as a family.
“We have one goal, and it doesn’t matter what it takes; everybody has to do their job and try to get that dub.”
Breaking Great
It was only fitting for one of the newest members of the Bandits team, Kiel Matisz, to score the Bandits’ first goal on his first shift and his first shot.
“He has a big, strong body and great hands, and he demonstrated that with a far-side bounce shot in transition. He is a welcome addition to our team with size, experience, and a touch around the net,” Tavares said.
The 12th-year former first-rounder of 2012 by then Minnesota, who was on the 2017 NLL Championship Swarm team, was humbled on the radio post-game show Saturday night.
“Happy to be a piece of the puzzle. I’ve got some work to do on the defensive end, but the veteran group back there was helping me out, taking it stride by stride, shift by shift, and stacking it up as a group,” said Matisz, who has 657 career points.
Pick-n-Roll for all
In what is considered the best week in sports with the NCAA basketball tournament’s initial rounds, the Bandits will be a good escape from anxiety over your brackets by playing back-to-back this weekend.
First, Friday night at home against the Las Vegas Desert Dogs (7:30 pm) and Saturday night in Albany against the Firewolves (7 pm). Get up and go to KeyBank Center Friday night, and you can watch on CW23 at home Saturday night—or drive to MVP Arena.
“I take the back-to-backs as a challenge as a team and test our depth,” noted Tavares.
A win Friday night for the Bandits would give them enough points to win the inaugural Tucker Out Lymphoma Cup, a competition between Vegas, Albany, and Buffalo. The Bandits and Desert Dogs have two points each.
Ted Talk
National Lacrosse League play-by-play voice on TSN, Teddy Jenner, joined me Saturday night on the halftime report via the Nissan hotline with his thoughts on the remaining schedule of NLL games, confirming my ask; the best is yet to come.
“We’re experiencing playoff lacrosse every weekend because the league is so tightly packed from third to eleventh place, with only a few games separating the teams. That means every game carries much more significance,” said Jenner.
“Then consider the tiebreakers and head-to-head matchups that could come into play; no one wants to lose a game right now, and we’re starting to see that desperation from teams, which has led to some incredible lacrosse.”
And your dark horse, Teddy, who will rise and be a contender?
“This might not be what Buffalo Bandit fans want to read, but the fact that the Colorado Mammoth won in Philadelphia last Saturday without Eli McLaughlin and Zed Williams, the way that team is playing right now, I would not count them out.
“Pat Coyle (Mammoth head coach) has this team playing incredible lacrosse, a turnaround from last year when they were one of the worst teams in the league. They understand what it takes to win at the end of the year, and the fact that they are doing it now without Zed and Eli makes them a very scary team.”
Teddy also remarked on the strong play of the Rochester Knighthawks (8-7), who are currently on a four-game winning streak and in seventh place heading into NLL week 17.
Radio Free Bandits and TV
Television coverage of Friday night’s game in Buffalo will be on CW23, ESPN+, TSN+, and NLL+. The broadcast time is 7:30 pm.
Steve Bermel will join me in the booth, while Dave Buchanan will be between the benches.
Radio coverage will be on 1520 AM and audacy.com, and the pregame show will start at 7 pm.
From the MVP arena, radio coverage will be on 1520 AM and audacy.com on Saturday night. The pregame show will start at 6:30 pm. Television coverage will be on CW23, ESPN+, TSN+, and NLL+. Freeze your TV at the start of the faceoff, and let me catch up on the radio call by announcing “faceoff.”