How on earth are we already in March?

Buffalo Bandits 9 – Saskatchewan Rush 7

The Rush got out to the majority of the possession early on, and that was not made any easier with an early penalty called against the Bandits 3 minutes in. Fortunately, the Buffalo penalty killers limited the Rush to a single shot on goal during that two minutes. While the Bandits offense got some additional time with the ball from there, the Rush would get the ball for their first possession out of the under 10, and Austin Shanks would find a cutting Josh Zawada for the opening goal of the game. A driving and diving Josh Bryne would tie the game back up at 1 with 6:33 to play in the quarter, and then Buffalo would take the lead thanks to a goal from Chase Fraser, but it would only last a single possession, as Zach Manns would take the ball to the cage to nod it up at 2. Manns would get a second goal minutes later, and then after the Rush got the ball back on the ensuing faceoff, Brock Haley found an open Mike Triolo in front to give the Rush a 4-2 lead that they would take into the end of the quarter.

Two penalties on Steve Priolo at the end of the quarter, one for a post-whistle cross-check and the other likely for whatever he said on his way to the box, gave the Rush a 4 minute powerplay to start the second. A pair of blocked and saved shots opened the extended penalty kill, but a transition trip on Tehoka Nanticoke sent the game to 5-on-3, and it was Manns stinging the far corner to push the lead to 5-2. Extended possession time for the Bandits killed the remainder of Priolo’s time in the box, and it would be Buffalo getting the next marquee chance of the game with a powerplay of their own, but their pair of shots were stopped by Frank Scigliano. Chase Fraser scored off an off-ball screen to make it 5-3, and the score would stay as such, with the fortune of a crease violation on a Jake Boudreau keeping the Rush from a sixth goal in the opening half.

It took almost half of the third quarter for another goal to be scored, and it was Josh Byrne finding a cutting Tehoka Nanticoke for his first goal of the night. A very familiar jab step and cut to the middle for an outside shot from Byrne tied the game at 5. Off a pair of screens, Nanticoke would get his second goal of the quarter with 1:28 to go, and the Bandits would have their first lead since 2-1.

Towards the end of the quarter, Buffalo had taken a penalty to give the Rush another powerplay, but an errant pass led to a turnover to close out the third. Only one of their four shots reached the net and it was turned away, as the Bandits had their fourth killed penalty of the game. While Manns would score first in the final quarter, the Bandits controlled the way the rest of the way both on and off the scoreboard. Dhane Smith to Josh Byrne to Kyle Buchanan gave the Bandits their lead back halfway through the quarter. Out of the under five, a misplayed pass was picked up by Justin Martin, who scooped up the loose ball and went coast-to-coast for his first goal since March 8, 2020. An empty net goal from Nick Weiss extended the lead to 9-6, and while Matt Hossack scored with 52.5 seconds left, the Bandits would kill off most of that remaining time with the assistance of one final save from Matt Vinc to ensure they’d stay atop the NLL standings with a 9-7 road win.

It was Josh Byrne leading the way with 2 goals and 4 assists, and while he was held without a goal, Dhane Smith distributed 5 assists. Chase Fraser and Tehoka Nanticoke each contributed with 2 goals, and Matt Vinc made 26 second half saves on the way to 42 on the night in the win — their fourth holding the opponent to under 10 goals and their first of the calendar year. While they were held under 10 themselves for the first time since December 29, 2023, the defense was in playoff form for a game that had early playoff vibes in both the leadup and the actual on-floor play.

Zach Manns was the lone bright spot for the Rush offense, scoring 4 times, while his teammates Brock Haley and Austin Shanks combined for 5 assists. The Rush did not have Robert Church for the game, who was out on the short term holdout list.

Rochester Knighthawks 14 – Albany FireWolves 7

Kyle Waters found Connor Fields unmarked off the bench three minutes in for the first goal of the game, and that would set the tone for the rest of the evening. A delayed penalty on their next possession gave Rochester the extra attacker, and after Ryan Lanchbury’s original shot was stopped, Thomas McConvey rebounded and sent a pass across the crease to Curtis Knight who found the back of the net. The Knighthawks continued to pepper the FireWolves with shots throughout the quarter albeit to no more goals in the middle third of the quarter, but Albany took a pair of penalties, including a 5 minute cross check on Zac Masson, and the Knighthawks capitalized with Fields feeding Ryan Smith amidst the PK unit. When the period came to a close, the 3-0 Knighthawks lead was padded by a 26-14 lead in shot attempts, 19-9 on goal.

The remaining minute of the major was killed off to open the second period, and the reward for Albany was their first goal of the game, an outside shot from Will Johansen. While their defense had settled in a bit from there, the Knighthawks would once again get back on the scoreboard next with an outside goal from Connor Fields and then a midrange goal from Ryan Smith. Some late-quarter shenanigans led to multiple penalties on both teams and an Albany man advantage where Dyson Williams finished through a screen to make it 5-2 Rochester at the half.

A multi-shot possession opened the second half for Rochester, finished off with a trailing Thomas McConvey firing from outside. About a minute and a half later, Ryland Rees took an open lane to the net for a transition goal to extend the lead to 7-2, but it would be Albany who finally found some success throughout the rest of the frame. An illegal substitution led to Sam Firth scoring on a rebound on the powerplay, and then Colton Watkinson read a cross-floor pass, deflected it, and sent the other way for a breakaway goal just as the seven minute mark of the quarter passed. Dyson Williams got his second of the game on a 3-on-2 in transition, and with 6:12 left in the quarter, it was all of a sudden back to a 2 goal game. Two possessions later, Rochester did halt the run, as Curtis Knight played give and go with Ryan Lanchbury, and the veteran bounced the ball into the net before the brain could process the ball entering and exiting his stick. A save from Doug Jamieson on a Connor Fields breakaway with 3:57 to play in the quarter would be the final marquee scoring chance of the quarter. Rochester took a penalty in the final minute that was added upon with a questionable trip called on a forechecking Ryan Smith, and Albany would get a 5-on-3 to open the fourth quarter.

And it was Alex Simmons getting his first of the night on that 5-on-3 on the first possession of the fourth quarter. After another faceoff win from Joe Nardella, an outside bouncer from Dyson Williams made it a one goal game for the first time since 1-0 and 14:00 still for Glenn Clark’s crew to play with. But the Knighthawks offense had that same amount of time to push back themselves, especially Ryan Lanchbury. The third year forward got his first goal of the game with 12:35 to play, and then two possessions later, he picked the far corner to quickly make it 10-7. A FireWolves penalty further stunned their comeback efforts, and the Knighthawks took advantage with Ryan Smith rebounding his own miss and beating Jamieson over the shoulder. Special teams continued, this time with a Rochester penalty that was killed off, and then another major penalty on Albany led to another goal from Smith, this time from the point. While Albany looked to have a 2-on-1 off the ensuing faceoff, Ryland Rees forced a turnover to bring the game into the under five timeout. When the game returned to play, a 5 shot possession was finished off with a crease dive from Graydon Hogg to extend the lead back up to 13-7. A Jake Piseno empty net goal pushed the lead to 7, and they would hold onto that for a 14-7 home win.

The Knighthawks defense limited the FireWolves to zero 5-on-5 goals in their set offense, which was a big part in their ability to prevent more than one Albany run on the evening, with Rylan Hartley making 36 saves in the win. Offensively, Ryan Smith had 4 goals and 3 assists, while Connor Fields added 2 goals and 5 assists. Ryan Lanchbury had 2 goals and 4 assists, and Thomas McConvey had 4 assists of his own in addition to a goal.

Despite the loss, Doug Jamieson stopped 50 shots. Dyson Williams had 3 goals and an assist, while Alex Simmons had a goal and 3 assists.

Week 14 Review

Georgia Swarm 15 – Ottawa Black Bears 9

After their first quarter 5-0 run was immediately negated in the second quarter, the Swarm scored 10 of the final 12 goals to run away with a road win in Ottawa to improve to 7-4. Lyle Thompson and Andrew Kew each had 3 goals and 3 assists, with Shayne Jackson scoring twice and distributing 4 assists. Seth Oakes returned to the lineup and scored three times as well, while Brett Dobson got the win with 41 saves. Jeff Teat led Ottawa with 4 goals and 3 assists.

Colorado Mammoth 11 – Calgary Roughnecks 8

The Mammoth gave Nick Rose’s new team a rude welcome to their home floor, outshooting the Roughnecks 22-11 on goal to the tune of a 5-0 opening quarter. The rest of the way was fairly even, but the damage had been done, as Colorado bounced back and improved to 7-5 with an 11-8 win. Eli McLaughlin scored two of his 4 goals in that opening quarter, and Ryan Lee led the team with 2 goals and 5 assists, while Dillon Ward out-dueled his Team Canada teammate with 49 saves. Rose managed 45 in the other crease. Tanner Cook led the Roughnecks with 3 goals and 2 assists, while each of Curtis Dickson and Tyler Pace had 2 goals and 2 assists.

Halifax Thunderbirds 9 – Las Vegas Desert Dogs 5

Defense got it done again, and the Thunderbirds have now won 5 in a row with the 9-5 win in their first trip to Henderson. Cole Kirst and Clarke Petterson each had a goal and 2 assists, with Randy Staats adding 3 assists. Warren Hill had three separate quarters with 11 saves as part of 41 on the night. ForVegas, Holden Cattoni had 2 goals and an assist in his first game with his new team. Jonathan Donville (1G 1A) and Jack Hannah (2A) were the other two members of the Desert Dogs with multi-point efforts. Landon Kells stopped 51 saves despite the loss, including 18 in the first quarter.

Deals!

After staying put at the deadline last season, Dan Carey threw his hat into the ring this week with a buyer deal, sending the team’s 2027 third round pick and 2026 sixth round pick to Vancouver to acquire the services of Brad McCulley. Readers of this website would be familiar with the 28 year old Victoria native, who had 14 goals and 25 assists across 23 games with the Buffalo Bandits between 2022 and 2024, also adding 3 goals and 3 assists in 6 games on the left side of the Bandit offense during their 2023 finals run. After being traded to the Warriors last spring, McCulley had 6 goals and 11 assists in 13 games. He has been placed on the evaluation list from the holdout list, where he had been in Vancouver, usually used for work commitments. With Brandon Robinson still on the protected player list, seemingly not playing this season, McCulley will give the Knighthawks another look that they intended on having this season with another big body on the left side to open up space for Connor Fields, Thomas McConvey, and Graydon Hogg depending on which looks the Knighthawks go with up front in their remaining games.

There have been two other moves in the league since last Tuesday’s wild day of trades. On Saturday, the FireWolves added another body to their lefty offense, acquiring Kyle Jackson from San Diego for a 2026 second round pick and a 2025 fourth round pick. Jackson coaches at Avon Old Farms School in Connecticut, so a little bit of geographical help for him with this move, while San Diego can use the move to add field lacrosse standout, Pat Kavanagh, to their active roster. The other move of the week say the Mammoth add TJ Comizio to their defensive arsenal, sending the Swarm a 2026 third round pick. With Zed Williams being ruled out for the season with an achilles injury this week, the Mammoth are expected to not be done with trades either.

The trade deadline is Monday, March 10.

Week 15 Preview

Rochester Knighthawks (6-7) @ Las Vegas Desert Dogs (3-9) – Friday March 7, 10:30 pm

Starting the season with a 14-12 home victory, the Knighthawks head to Vegas for their second matchup with the Desert Dogs this season looking for a season sweep and their first win in Southern Nevada. While goaltender Landon Kells has played well in his last two starts, the offense for the Desert Dogs has struggled of late, which could suggest a game script similar to that of last weekends game against the FireWolves for Rochester, but in a league where things can change week by week, getting back to 7-7 on the season is certainly not guaranteed.

Calgary Roughnecks (6-6) @ Buffalo Bandits (9-1) – Saturday March 8, 6:30 pm, TSN

As different as some things seem, others feel very familiar. While the Bandits and Roughnecks have only played twice since their 2019 finals matchup, Nick Rose has seen the Bandits twice already this season as part of his more than dozen matchups with them across that stretch. Note the game start at 6:30 with the national broadcast in Canada.

Toronto Rock (3-8) @ Halifax Thunderbirds (7-4) – Friday March 7, 6:30 pm, TSN

Halifax and Toronto have had plenty of memorable matchups in the last 3 seasons, but this weekend’s matchup in The Maritimes will have a different vibe to it with the Rock in the middle of a changing roster following last week’s marquee trades and the deadline not taking place until Monday. Considering the Rock have won 6 of the last 7 meetings, the Thunderbirds have to be very confident that they can win their 8th in 9 to keep pace with the Swarm and chase of the Rush.

Vancouver Warriors (5-6) @ San Diego Seals (5-6) – Friday March 7, 10:30 pm

After matching bye weeks last weekend, the Seals and Warriors start the March To May with what could be single game that propels one of the two teams to the playoffs and the other on the outside looking in. Since the Warriors won the first head-to-head matchup at home back on January 10th to improve to 3-1, they have lost 5 of their last 7 games, and while they have two games with Toronto and Albany still on the schedule, the Swarm and a trip to play the Bandits are still looking on the horizon. Meanwhile for the Seals, they’re a couple weeks away from a 4 game road trip that could make things complicated for them if they were to drop this week’s affair.

Albany FireWolves (3-9) @ Philadelphia Wings (5-6) – Saturday March 8, 7:00 pm

Ready to show off their new defensive pieces in Chris Corbeil, Mitch de Snoo, and Shane Simpson, the Wings return home for the first time in a month where there eyes set on snapping a four game losing streak to return to .500. Part of that losing streak was due to the efforts of the FireWolves, who got their third win of the season in their home leg of this season’s head-to-head matchup back on February 22.

Saskatchewan Rush (9-3) @ Georgia Swarm (7-4) – Saturday March 8, 7:30 pm

The Swarm have won every matchup with the Rush since 2018, all but one at home, and continuing that winning streak would certainly put the league on notice that they should be in the conversation with their partners from the 2017 finals in contender conversations. We’ll see if Robert Church returns this week for the Rush — his services may be the X factor to keep up with Georgia’s offense’s groove of late.

(Credit: Steve Hiscock)