Chris Vale, Beat Writer Buffalo Bandits
Lacrosse is Awesome
The Buffalo Bandits (1-2) were looking to defeat the Toronto Rock (1-2) for the second time this season to get back on track with the “W”. The first time the teams met December 8, 2017 on Bandits home turf, they would defeat the Rock 13-9. Toronto was looking for their first win of the season after loses to both Bandits and the Rush. The 9,398 Rock fans who headed to the Air Canada Centre would not be disappointed. Unfortunately for the Bandits, the Rock weren’t going down without a fight and oddly enough in each of the two contests, Buffalo would score 13 goals. Final Score: Toronto 20—Buffalo 13.
Very early in the game Buffalo made a goalie switch pulling Alex Buque after giving up seven goals in exchange for newly acquired Zach Higgins. Higgins saw his first NLL game action last night after about year off after playing the first game of last season with Calgary. During his NLL sabbatical, he went on to win an Arena Lacrosse League championship with the Oshawa Outlaws; and played this past summer in the MSL for Brooklin Redmen. The goalie switch was a good move as Higgins had 33 saves, giving up 12 goals and seemed to give the Bandits a spark at first. Buffalo forward Craig England decided to light a spark of his own dropping the gloves and going head-to-head with Rock defenseman Billy Hostrawser. This started the penalty burst with both getting nailed with five-minute “fighting majors” at 13:43 and it all went down from there. The last 75 seconds of the first quarter was riddled with penalties as tempers flared. Toronto got hit with one “fighting major”; three “roughing”; and one “holding”. The Bandits were quite active themselves with one “fighting major”; and four “roughing” calls.
The Bandits made some solid moves on offense at times Dhane Smith
had his third and fourth goals of the season; Callum Crawford was impressive once again this season scoring a hat-trick. Mark Steenhuis scored twice in transition with his third being called back. But still we still see a Buffalo defense that needs a lot of work giving up 41 goals over the past two games.
Toronto had a rough start to the season coming into the game (0-2). Adam Jones has continued to be successful in his first year with the Rock, tonight a nine-point game (4G, 5A). Tom Schreiber last year’s rookie of the year notched a hat-trick, one without the bucket; and dished out four assists. Rob Hellyer notched seven points for the Rock (3G, 4A). We’d see rookie lefty forward Dan Craig scored his first NLL. In transition play the Rock got a boost from Sheldon Burns who they obtained in a trade with New England. Sheldon played solid defense while netting his first goal as a member of the Rock squad. Challen Rogers returning to the floor after an off-season shoulder surgery would also score in his season debut. In net Nick Rose made 39 saves. Final Score: Toronto 20—Buffalo 13.
Amazingly the Rock would have a total of 20 penalty minutes on seven infractions; and the Bandits would have 15 penalty minutes on six infractions. When you see the penalty minutes each team racked up, both were statistically on a man-up situation for a full quarter.
UP NEXT:
Both teams play again on Saturday January 6, 2018 when the Toronto Rock (1-2) look to keep their winning ways alive in 2018 when they head to Langley Events Centre to face the Vancouver Stealth (0-3) who are looking for their first win. Buffalo (1-2) will host the Calgary Roughnecks (1-2) at Key Bank Center.
Chris Vale, Beat Writer Buffalo Bandits
Lacrosse is Awesome