Buffalo Bandits 15 – Rochester Knighthawks 7

The defenses shined to open up the first five minutes, but the Bandits turned defense into offense to strike first, as Matt Vinc sent a rebound up for a two on one with Dylan Robinson and Tehoka Nanticoke, and it was Nanticoke burying short side to give the Bandits their first goal and lead of the season. Nanticoke drew the first penalty of the game as well after getting his stick held by Dan Coates, and then Chad Tutton was baited into a dead ball foul after the initial possession of the powerplay. Riley Hutchcraft stopped two quick sticks on the ensuing possession, and Matt Gilray and Ian Llord blocked offerings on the next to allow the Knighthawks a big 5-on-3 kill. On the other side, Rochester’s offense fell victim to their own struggles, as only 5 of their 15 shot attempts in the opening frame hit the net, but with their defense standing tall through the slow start on the other end, the score remained 1-0 Bandits after 15.

Buffalo opened up the quarter with a delayed penalty, and the Knighthawks capitalized on the 6-on-5 with Thomas McConvey getting to the middle of the floor between the Bandits zone to beat Matt Vinc and tie the game. Josh Byrne went to the box for a delay of game after an over and back to set up Rochester’s first powerplay of the game, and while shots started hitting the net, but Matt Vinc stood tall stopping every offering. Back the other way after the penalty expired, Chris Cloutier got to the net and scored through traffic, but his path through the crease led to an automatic review where the conclusion was that he had landed in the crease before the ball crossed the goal line. With 8:06 left in the quarter, Josh Byrne finished off a cross-floor quick stick to break the tie, and then less than a minute later, Dhane Smith finished off an iso look on the run to make it 3-1, continuing to reward Matt Vinc who was continuing to turn away high quality shots from the Knighthawks as the quarter continued on. A shot from Smith off the post and off Hutchcraft and in with 3:23 left extended the lead to 4-1, and then with a delayed penalty on the board, an outside shot from Smith made its way through traffic and trickled past Hutchcraft after he got the initial piece of it, but the 30 second clock expired beforehand. Rochester killed off the penalty and got possession back for their final opportunity with a timeout on the floor. A 6 second differential between the shot and game clock kept the game 5-on-5, but the Bandits took a penalty despite the stop with 4.3 seconds left in the half, which carried into the halftime break, the score remaining 4-1.

A half-opening kill from Bandits set the tone for the third to open up as the second did, but it was Turner Evans scoring from outside for the first goal of the half, and then it was their defense’s turn to add a transition marker as Ryland Rees rebounded a miss with 9:27 to play, and then out of the TV timeout, Turner Evans, Thomas McConvey, and Ryan Lanchbury played tic-tac-toe for a quick stick to tie the game at 4. Buffalo went to the powerplay halfway through the quarter, but it was Rochester taking the 5-4 lead after Connor Fields swept one past Matt Vinc from an awkward angle for his first of the game. Josh Byrne tied the game on the possession after the powerplay expired to nod it back up at 5 with 5:16 to go, and then Chris Cloutier got his first of the game to put the Bandits back in the lead moments later. With the game at 4-on-4, Fields picked the top corner from outside to even it back up at 6. More penalties went on the board as the quarter went on, this time the Knighthawks having a powerplay, but it was the Bandits turn for a shorty as Ian MacKay got his first of the game with 31.1 left in the quarter.

And Buffalo allowed the snowball to gain speed in the fourth, starting with a Dhane Smith pick and roll with Kyle Buchanan to put the Bandits back up 2, and then with just under 10 to play, Tehoka Nanticoke did Tehoka Nanticoke things and scored through two defenders while falling over to make it 9-6. Some stellar reverse transition defense from Josh Byrne led to Smith’s third goal of the game to extend the lead to 10-6 before Ryan Lanchbury got back on the board to stop the Bandits run with 8:21 to play, but that would only be an intermission from offensive success of the Bandits as Chris Cloutier scored from midrange. Some more 4-on-4 action led to a second Smith to Buchanan goal to extend the lead to 5, and it then it was Buchanan again in his office circling the crease to make it 13-7. Dylan Robinson added an empty netter with 1:21 to play, and former Knighthawk captain Paul Dawson added one of his own to give the Bandits a 15-7 win in their opener.

After the game was tied at 6, the Bandits scored 9 of the final 10 goals across 16 minutes.

After not having a point on the first two Bandit goals, Dhane Smith registered a point on each of the next 11 for a 3 goal 8 assist night to lead the way, including primary assists on each of Kyle Buchanan’s 3 goals in the 4th quarter, as the 37 year old picked up on the timely goal scoring knack that has come in his time in orange and black. Josh Byrne added 2 goals and 3 assists while both Tehoka Nanticoke and Chris Cloutier had 2 goals, with Cloutier providing 10 loose balls as well. But the reason they were able to pull away with dagger after dagger goal in the fourth quarter was the work of the defense, which combined for 12 blocked shots, including 4 from Dylan Robinson (who also had a goal and 2 assists) and 3 from Cam Wyers. While the shot share ended up even, the first quarter limiting the Knighthawks to 5 shots on goal set the tone of having to climb back even with a strong defensive quarter on their end. And once they got the offense going again, Matt Vinc was there to the tune of 54 saves, 49 in the final 3 quarters alone. For a defense that had its struggles through points of the regular season last year, starting the new season with the same high intensity results on the other side of the scoreboard that they picked up during last year’s playoff run has to have John Tavares and Steve Dietrich confident in the place the unit is in to open a new year.

For the now 1-1 Rochester Knighthawks, how they respond from this game will be important for the direction of their season, as they managed to get back in the game even without score effects on the shot share before Buffalo took their run, but the 35 saves between the second and third quarter from Vinc limited a four goal run in the third quarter from putting Rochester in too comfortable a position offensively on the scoreboard. While Connor Fields salvaged 2 goals, and Ryan Lanchbury led the team with 2 goals and 2 assists, the biggest victim of the Bandits gameplan on defense ended up being Ryan Smith, who was limited to only a single assist in the point column. After 20 points between last season’s two matchups for Smith, 8 of his 18 shots missed the net, and all those on target were stopped. They also won’t have to wait too long for a second crack at the Bandits, as the home leg of this season’s head-to-head will come on December 28th in Buffalo, but it won’t get any easier with it being banner night in Banditland. Despite the struggles in the fourth quarter, Riley Hutchcraft was excellent in the first three quarters, finishing the game with a total of 47 saves once again in the starter’s net for an injured Rylan Hartley, whose early season injury status overcoming a lower body injury remains week-to-week (day-to-day if it wasn’t a weekend league).

Week 2 Around The League

Colorado Mammoth 15 – Las Vegas Desert Dogs 9

Similarly to the Bandits, the Colorado Mammoth used a late game run to pull away with a road victory, turning a 7-6 deficit in the middle of the third quarter into a 12-6 lead with under 6 to play. Ryan Lee continued his comeback tour with 3 goals and 4 assists, while Connor Kelly led the team with 2 goals and 6 assists. Eli McLaughlin and Zed Williams each had 3 goals and 3 assists, while Dillon Ward made 46 saves in the win. For the Desert Dogs, Jack Hannah had another strong game with 4 goals and 3 assists, and Jonathan Donville, while once again left off the goal sheet, still chipped in with 4 assists as he has continued to develop strong early season chemistry with Hannah on the right side of the Vegas offense.

Calgary Roughnecks 18 – Halifax Thunderbirds 17

The 60 minutes of mayhem game of the week came in The Maritimes, as runs galore took the stage. Runs of 4 and 5 for the Thunderbirds in the first quarter and a half gave the home team a 10-3 lead, but the Roughnecks scored 8 of the next 9 goals to tie the game at 11. While Halifax scored 5 of the next 7, Calgary scored the next 5 to go up 18-16 and hold off the final Thunderbird push to get a win in their season opener. In their return to their familiar crest, Dane Dobbie and Curtis Dickson each had 5 goals and 4 assists, while Jesse King distributed 8 assists and added two goals as the trio found themselves in the driver’s seat during their runs. Tanner Cook had 3 goals and 2 assists, and Brett McIntyre had a goals and 4 assists, while Justin Inacio took advantage of Jake Withers’s opening game suspension by winning 27 of 38 faceoffs. On the Thunderbirds side, Randy Staats and Clarke Petterson combined to distribute 15 total assists for 9 point efforts, while Thomas Hoggarth and Dawson Theede each had 4 goals and 2 assists, and Jason Knox had 3 goals and 2 assists. For Hoggarth, who played last season with Calgary, he hadn’t registered 4 goals in a game since his final regular season game with Rochester in 2023, and the 6 points was double what he had in a game for the Roughnecks last year as well, albeit in a loss against his former team.

Albany FireWolves 15 – Toronto Rock 4

Well then. The FireWolves did not wait to seize the opportunity in front of them with a banged up Rock team in their way, leading 6-1 at halftime and only doing more to extend the lead in the third and fourth quarter for a wire-to-wire no doubt victory in the Rock’s first game in their temporary home in Mississauga. Sam Firth had the scoring touch with 5 goals and an assist, while Travis Longboat found himself on the distributing side of the point total with a goal and 5 assists. Alex Simmons and Tye Kurtz each had 2 goals and an assist. Doug Jamieson stopped 43 of the 47 shots he faced, while Andrew Kidd registered his first save, finishing the game’s final 4:44. The lone bright spot for the Rock game in the form of 3 of the 4 goals out of the stick of Josh Dawick. When the Rock get healthy, they will certainly be back to their best form, but an 0-2 start is not where a 15-3 team from last season hoped they would be, still yet to exceed 10 total goals on the season.

Georgia Swarm 13 – San Diego Seals 12 F/OT

The final game of the weekend proved to be the best game of the weekend. While it didn’t have the chaos of Roughnecks and Thunderbirds, the back and forth affair in Duluth saw neither team lead by more than 3 on the way to a tie game at 11 after 3 quarters, and then Brett Dobson and Chris Origlieri put on a show in the fourth only allowing a goal apiece as the game went to overtime. And once again for the Swarm, it was who else but Andrew Kew, breaking the deadlock from outside 2:55 into the extra frame to give Georgia a win in their season opener. The Swarm got a strong game from Lyle Thompson to lead the way with 4 goals and 2 assists. Kew had 2 goals and 2 assists, while Bryan Cole and Brendan Bomberry combined for 7 assists in four point efforts of their own. Dobson picked up 41 saves on the winning end of the goalie duel. The newest Seals once again led the way offensively despite the loss, as Rob Hellyer had 3 goals and 3 assists, Ryan Benesch (and Wes Berg) had 2 goals and 2 assists, and Ben McIntosh had a goal and 3 assists. Zach Currier had 3 assists as well to go along with 11 loose balls.

Week 3

Every team finds themselves in action in Week 3 with 7 games on the docket spread and staggered nicely across Friday and Saturday

Friday December 13

Buffalo Bandits (1-0) @ Ottawa Black Bears (1-0) – 7:00 pm – TSN Game of the Week, WNLO

A pretty interesting second opponent of the season for the Bandits considering how their defense took the show this past weekend, as the Riptide showed multiple times during their tenure in the league that they had answers to put up points against Buffalo, including winning last season’s lone matchup 15-13 in Buffalo. Coming off an 11-5 win over the Rock in their opener, the Black Bears have a chance to repeat last season’s success against the Bandits in what could be a very impressive resume of December wins to start their time in Ottawa.

Rochester Knighthawks (1-1) @ Vancouver Warriors (0-1) – 10:00 pm

There is a lot of buzz building in Vancouver for the Warriors home opener after their run of 6 wins in their final 8 games featured a 4-0 record at Rogers Arena, and the Warriors will certainly be looking to put their season opening second half collapse behind them with the home crowd on their side, but the Knighthawks will be just as hungry in their first road game of the season to get back above .500 in their third game of the season. Last year, the Knighthawks defeated the Warriors 13-11 at home two days before Christmas. And in the favorite fun fact of the weekend, this is the first time the Rochester Knighthawks will be playing a game in Vancouver since the original franchise played the Vancouver Stealth on February 13, 2016. The four Vancouver vs Rochester matchups since (2017, 2019, 2020, 2024) have all been at Blue Cross Arena, so this game is definitely a win for the new schedule format alongside the unified standings, giving guys like Ryland Rees and Taylor Jensen their first chance to play in their native BC as pros.

Colorado Mammoth (2-0) @ San Diego Seals (1-1) – 10:30 pm

Another early test for both teams, the Mammoth could make a massive statement to the league if they can improve to 3-0 on the road in San Diego, who will be aiming to avoid a second loss in a row. After the Mammoth eliminated the Seals in the playoffs in 2022 and 2023, it was San Diego the upper hand in both head-to-head matchups last season, although this will be the only time these two teams will face each other in the regular season this year after 17 combined matchups across the last 5 seasons.

Saturday December 14

Las Vegas Desert Dogs (0-2) @ Philadelphia Wings (0-1) – 6:00 pm

A big game for the Desert Dogs to avoid dropping to 0-3 in the very competitive unified stands, it’s an even bigger statement game for the Wings, who make their first appearance at Wells Fargo Center on the year after only one win on their home floor last year. The Wings have won the head-to-head matchup in each of Vegas’s two seasons in the league, which includes a 10-8 win last February. These two teams will complete a home-and-home next weekend in the desert as well.

Calgary Roughnecks (1-0) @ Albany FireWolves (1-1) – 7:00 pm

In the first ever matchup between the Roughnecks and FireWolves last season, it was Calgary protecting their home floor with an overtime win. Now this weekend, the Roughnecks make their first ever trip to Albany (their lone all time matchup with the Albany Attack was also in Calgary in 2002) with sights on improving off of an emotional win this past weekend.

Toronto Rock (0-2) @ Georgia Swarm (1-0) – 7:30 pm

Back home for a second consecutive week, the Swarm have a great opportunity in front of them to get another early season win with the injury statuses of the Rock’s core of players on IR still in question. The Rock have won the last 4 head-to-head matchups dating back to April 2022, including a 12-9 win in Toronto last January. The teams will battle in Ontario on February 22 as well.

Halifax Thunderbirds (0-1) @ Saskatchewan Rush (1-0) – 8:00 pm

After their legendary first matchup in February of 2020 where the Rush spoiled a heroic Thunderbird comeback, Halifax has won all four matchups since and must do so again to avoid dropping to 0-2 against a Rush team that had off in week 2 coming off their overtime win in their season opener, with the OT winner coming from former Thunderbird Austin Shanks. A 2-0 start for the Rush with a win in their home opener would also be pretty big towards their high internal expectations to take a step forward this season into the top 8.

(Photo Credit: Micheline Veluvolu)