Dinner Bell!
Like the Buffalo Bills, whose motto is “Everybody Eats,” the Bandits seem to be following suit, stemming from their two massive victories in the last two weeks.
While the Bills have been averaging 31.8 points a game, the Bandits are joining in on the action by averaging 16.5 goals!
Again, last Friday’s 18-7 win over the Ottawa Black Bears was a testament on both sides of the floor. Matt Vinc and the defense performed masterfully, and nine players scored on offense.
Ian MacKay feasted Friday night with five goals on five shots, Josh Byrne eclipsed the 500-point mark with a 2+8 finish, and Dhane Smith went 2+7 and leads the NLL in scoring with 20 points.
Chase Fraser was 2+5, Chris Cloutier 3+0, Kyle Buchanan 2+2, Tehoka Nanticoke 1+3, and Nick Weiss 1+2. There was plenty on the table for rookie Clay Scanlan to record his first NLL point while assisting on three goals.
Every player on the game roster scooped at least one loose ball, including Weiss with 12 and Thomas Whitty with nine. Goaltender Matt Vinc made 34 saves and is #1 in the NLL with an .860 save percentage going into this week’s games. The Bandits are +19 in goals for and goals against. Cudos to backup goaltender Steve Orleman for playing the game’s last five minutes, shutting down the Black Bears with five big saves!
Since the Bandits were 5-6 in the dark mist of last season, their record is 13-1.
Not so fast
Now, into what I will call the Christmas bye-week, not to be a grinch, how do they stay focused and prep for their home opener and Banner Raising Night on December 28?
“It’s easy to get overconfident about the success that we’ve had,” said Bandits head coach John Tavares.
“My goal this year is to keep the guys level-headed and remind them what they have to do each week. Every game will be new; no matter what you’ve done in the past, you have to earn everything to get victory.”
And what about the coach who has won two NLL and Mann Cup Championships back-to-back?
“It’s really easy. I think forward and never look back. I think what’s next in the next game and being your best in preparing the guys to perform at their highest level. That’s my job to keep them focused and keep them understanding the next game is their biggest game.”
That December 28 game can’t come soon enough. Did I write the Bandits are on a bye-week?
Hometown Kid
Kyle Buchanan returned to the Ottawa area, where he grew up in Nepean. He was a forerunner of playing the game and remembered his roots fondly.
“The lacrosse game in Ottawa has come a long way. I was just one of the first guys to be fortunate enough to take this game to the pro level, and it’s amazing to see how far it has come -and it was exciting to see familiar faces in the stands,” said Buchanan.
Noteworthy for Buchanan, who scored his 600th career point last week, is that the 12-year pro paced the NLL with the least amount of turnovers last season with just 12. Considering the average is 65, that’s impressive.
“When I do have the ball, I just try and take care of it, whether you pick up a loose ball and get it out safely, and that is my focus: turn the ball over less is a good thing,” Buchanan said.
Former Bandit Reflects
Former Bandits player and now Black Bears assistant coach Jason Crosbie was a guest on our radio pregame show last Friday night. After asking him questions about his Black Bear team, I asked him what it takes to be a top player in the NLL.
“Offensively, it’s so dynamic, and the defenses are so athletic now; you have to be very cerebral the way you play now. You can’t be like a guy who hangs out, comes around, picks, and shoots like back in the old days. You need to be able to follow patterns,” said Crosbie, who played with the Bandits from 2003 to 2007.
“It’s chess now, so you must be able to play it. Checkers is no longer any good. It’s chess because the defensive guys are so athletic and so good at recovering and firing out. It’s a faster game, and the brain must be much quicker to play. It’s pretty awesome watching it from the bench, and I just played this game eight years ago, and holy-moly, it’s pretty cool to watch and fun to coach.”
I am the Stat Man
Talk about a man dedicated to his craft. Graeme Perrow, a longtime writer for Inside Lacrosse and now author of the popular NLL Fact of the Day and NLL Chatter on the social platform X, there is a significant addition to his repertoire: nllstats.com
As a senior software developer, Perrow has worked with databases for almost 30 years and eight years with Javascript, so his current work experience has helped develop the free and easy-to-navigate site.
Graeme was my guest on last Friday night’s Halftime Report via the Nissan Hotline.
What started 10 years ago by writing a stat-based column, Perrow created his own database to keep track of NLL stats. This database helped him with his articles and the NLL Fact of the Day, which he runs on X.
But the statistics were only available to him on his computer.
“I tried for a number of years to think of a way to get it on the internet where anybody can use it and access it, but I was never able to do that until 2022,” said Perrow, who dedicates his own time to keep the site fresh following NLL games played.
“I finally came up with a way that would be relatively fast and still give everybody access to everything. And it worked really well.”
Navigating nllstats.com is easy. The home page has the current NLL standings with all the trimmings, and the left-hand column has menu items that cover virtually everything about players and teams, including historical teams.
“If you’re interested in a particular player, you can go to one page, and it will have everything you’ll want to know about him,” said Perrow.
For example, Kyle Buchanan’s stats show all the teams he has played for, the number of goals he has scored each year, assists, points, etc.
“I can aggregate that kind of data and make available who has assisted the most on a teammate’s goals, totals per quarter, and how he’s fared against other teams.
“Even with players like John Tavares or Ryan Benesch, who have been around for a long time, sometimes that can be really interesting, and they are there for everybody.”
Get to know more about this game and the players on nllstats.com. It helps the game grow.
Yep, everybody eats.
And have a wonderful holiday season!