(Photo Credit: Mike Hetzell)

Buffalo Bandits 10 – Toronto Rock 8

Toronto had the odds against them with a lot of pressure to get off to a strong start to prove Game 1 was more a fluke than a trend, but it was once again the Bandits scoring first. Zack Belter forced a turnover behind the net three minutes into the game, and Dhane Smith fired from midrange to open the scoring. The Rock were fortunate to draw a penalty soon after to take some time away from the Bandits offense. They were stopped by Matt Vinc three times, giving Buffalo the kill, but Toronto would still score next, courtesy of Chris Boushy on the run with 7:12 to play in the opening quarter. After a TD Ierlan faceoff win, Dan Craig dunked in the go-ahead goal, with the Bandits taking another penalty in the meantime. Another penalty kill brought the quarter into the under 5 timeout, and out of the commercial, Tehoka Nanticoke curled in close with a Brandon Robinson screen and finished a pass from Josh Byrne to tie the game back up. With 3:11 left in the quarter, the Rock took a pair of coinciding penalties to put the Bandits up 5-on-3, and they were able to re-take the lead with the help of Kyle Buchanan.

Into the second, Nick Rose stood tall to kill off the remaining penalty time, and the Rock headed to the powerplay themselves after a boarding call against Brandon Robinson. The initial offerings from Chris Boushy were stopped but a Tom Schreiber rebound extended the possession for Corey Small to tie the game back up at 3. The stingy Rock defense re-introduced themselves to the playoffs from there, forcing 10 total turnovers and only 7 Bandit shots on goal in the second quarter. The back end was rewarded with the first Rock run of the series. Tyler Hendricks, who entered the lineup for an injured Zack Kearney, looked to have given the Rock the lead at the 6 minute mark but it was overturned with a successful crease challenge from John Tavares. But Toronto didn’t have to wait much longer for their next prime opportunities, with Ian MacKay getting called for a five minute cross-check on Dan Lintner off ball. Mark Matthews buried the go-ahead goal with 3:57 to go in the half, and then Schreiber made it 5-3 with 2:21 left. After another faceoff win for the Rock, Small had a free lane to the net and took it all the way for his second goal of the quarter, and the visitors went to the locker room doubling up the Bandits.

Dhane Smith scored on a pick-and-pop with Tehoka Nanticoke 3:17 into the second half, but the Nick Rose and the Rock’s defense remained solid. A near scare took place with just under 5 to play in the quarter, as Nanticoke and Rose collided during a crease dive and Rose didn’t get up right away while trying to work out his left leg which had buckled from the contact. He did stay in the game with the TV timeout giving him extra time to regroup. He saved the first shot he saw out of the break, and then his defense pushed the other way, with a cutting Chris Weier getting open in transition and capitalizing on a pass from Josh Jubenville to make it 7-4. The goal sparked the Rock’s offense for the remainder of the third, with six shot attempts across their next two possessions, but a Matt Vinc save point blank on Dan Lintner highlighted the ball staying out of the back of the net. Into the start of the fourth, A blocked shot by Phil Mazzuca led to a goal from Mark Matthews that snuck through the 5-hole of Matt Vinc, extending the lead to 8-4 with 13:28 to go.

Despite only winning 7 of 23 faceoffs on the night, Connor Farrell won what might have been the biggest faceoff of the night, as allowing the Bandits to get the next possession led to a bouncer from Chase Fraser to end Buffalo’s scoring drought and bring the game back to a three goal deficit only 33 seconds later. Nick Rose stopped the next Bandits offering after another faceoff faceoff win, but Buffalo got the ball right back after Steve Priolo broke up a Chris Corbeil pass to force a transition turnover. Tehoka Nanticoke spun and fired from in close to give the Bandits another goal, this time 56 seconds later. With 11:59 left, it was back to a two goal game. Vinc denied a rebound shot from Chris Boushy on the next possession, and Josh Byrne crossed over Brad Kri to open himself up for a shooting lane and another goal, this time 53 seconds later. After a couple of minutes for the goalies to exchange saves, a delayed penalty on Corey small from slashing Paul Dawson while he was holding a rebound put the Bandits back at 6-on-5, and a camped out Fraser got a pass from Byrne in the post and tied the game at 8. The crowd was at full energy, the offense had found their groove again after the middle quarters were a struggle, the defense continued to hold strong, it was only a matter of time until the inevitable. With just over 5:30 to play, Fraser got another look, picked up a screen from Nanticoke, put a jab step on Mazzuca, and completed the fourth quarter hat trick, running back up the floor to celebrate with his teammates who matched the frenzy of the 16,312 in the stands around them.

As Toronto got their next possession with the goal of scoring going from an insurance option to an act of desperation to keep their season alive, Challen Rogers stood behind the net and fed a cutting Dan Craig for a good look, but the Bandits captain Priolo stepped in and redirected the shot with his stick. Nick Weiss rebounded and flipped to Priolo who flipped to Byrne, who jogged to the restraining line before hitting the accelerator to sprint past three Rock defenders with the help of a Chris Cloutier screen and attacked the net to make it 10-8 with 4:45 to go. Another good look for Toronto led to another save from Matt Vinc to signal the final TV timeout, allowing another opportunity for it to truly let the crowd soak in what they had just seen, which included what looked like an exception for the offense turning into another day-after trip for discounted Moe’s.

The Rock’s last marquee chance to erase the run came with a powerplay with 3:30 to play but Mark Matthews and Dan Craig’s shots on the man advantage were stopped easily by Matt Vinc. Another save on a desperation long range attempt from Tom Schreiber brought the game into the final minute. Toronto called their timeout with 44.8 seconds to go after Dhane Smith almost added more insurance on a drive but was stopped by Rose up high. Corey Small had a shot blocked by Steve Priolo, and Buffalo took the ball back after Dan Craig had sent the stick out of the hands of Cam Wyers. Buffalo killed time off with Nick Weiss having an empty net attempt blocked. The Rock got the ball back with 17.5 on the clock, with Mitch de Snoo sending an outlet to Chris Corbeil who had a streaking Chris Boushy, but one more time, Matt Vinc turned away the comeback hopes with a shoulder save. A Nanticoke penalty shot was stopped by Rose after the Rock were penalized for an illegal substitution with their net empty, but the cherry was already on top.

A 10-8 win with 6 unanswered goals to close out the game gave the Bandits not only their 7th straight win over Toronto and 10 of the last 11, 8th straight win against the Rock in the playoffs dating back a decade, and the series sweep clincher, but also a berth in their 4th consecutive NLL Finals.

Josh Byrne had 2 goals and 4 primary assists in the fourth quarter after being held to a single assist through three quarters. Chase Fraser scored all three of his goals as part of that run as well. Dhane Smith had 2 goals and 4 assists to provide the leadership on the offense in the early quarters, and Tehoka Nanticoke finished with 2 goals and 2 assists as well. With the late flurry of stops in the closing minute, Matt Vinc finished with 50 saves for the second straight game.

I had said it to preview the series, but the Rock know that their season was going to come down to how they performed against the Bandits when the time came, and once again, there was a new stunning end at the hands of the orange and black. At 15-3 and a league dominating defense, once again you’re just going to have to run it back next season with the load that your roster has (which also includes the #2 overall pick in the draft because of the Rob Hellyer trade and their own pick as well which will probably be 13th overall). Mark Matthews had 2 goals and 3 assists with Tom Schreiber matching the point total with a goal and 4 assists. Corey Small and Chris Boushy each had 3 points, and Nick Rose made 36 saves with the Rock outshooting the Bandits 58-46 despite the 27 shots off by Toronto.

Albany FireWolves 13 – San Diego Seals 10

Tre Lecaire and Austin Staats scored back-to-back goals to put the Seals up 2-0 in the first three minutes, but the FireWolves re-gained the control of the game that they had for the majority of game 1 from there, scoring three straight goals to finish out the first quarter and then erasing a second goal from Leclaire with three more goals. San Diego finished the half strong and tied the game to open the third, but another three straight goals for Albany pushed the game back up to 9-6. The Seals never got it closer to 2 the rest of the way with 6 penalties against members of their offense preventing the comeback train from getting rolling, and a Colton Watkinson empty netter put the icing on the cake for the FireWolves first trip to the NLL Finals with a 13-10 win and a 2-0 series sweep.

The rookies led the way as they have all season for the FireWolves with Tye Kurtz leading the way with 3 goals and 6 assists and Alex Simmons coming off a 10 point night on Friday with 3 goals and 4 assists. Ethan Walker added 2 goals and 4 assists, and Travis Longboat had a hat trick that included 2 of the 3 goals after the game was re-tied at 6. Doug Jamieson was the wall in the back with 51 save performance, including 19 in the fourth quarter. On the San Diego side, Curtis Dickson and Tre Leclaire had 2 goals and 3 assists each to lead the offense, and Dane Dobbie had 2 goals and 2 assists. Austin Staats finished with 4 goals but finished with 24 penalty minutes with a major penalty in the third and 15 minutes of end of game majors as the face of the frustration for a team that has come up short of their finals aspirations for a third straight season.

So the NLL Finals will be a showdown for The 90. The preview will come Friday, with games 1 and 2 on May 17 in Albany and May 18 in Buffalo and then the potential game 3 on May 24th back in Albany. It’s going to be an extremely intriguing matchup.