Buffalo Bandits 14 – Toronto Rock 12

As important as this game was for the Bandits, it may have been even bigger for the first place Toronto Rock, who have been atop the standings for most of the season but know that none of it matters if they can’t get past the Buffalo sized hurdle that has stopped their championship aspirations 3 seasons in a row. Chris Boushy buried the first goal of the game 25 seconds into the game to give Toronto a big early lead, and they continued the crucial hot start from there. About a minute later, Tom Schreiber caught Matt Vinc between steps with a low-to-low to make it 2-0. While it took Buffalo over three minutes for their first shot on goal, an early penalty didn’t stop the Bandits from getting their first goal of the game, as Ian MacKay sprung for a breakaway to make it 2-1. Buffalo killed the penalty, but Toronto scored next, as Josh Dawick got a shooting lane of a Brad Kri screen to make it 3-1 with 8:33 left in the quarter. Off of a Rock turnover leading to an over-and-back, the Bandits got back on the board in a partial transition with Tehoka Nanticoke being uncontested on the way to the net and sending a bouncer in front past Nick Rose. The exchanging of goals continued as Corey Small scored from outside with a screen in front of the net to make it 4-2, but the Bandits had the next answer once again with Dhane Smtih beating Rose over the shoulder on a drive to the net. Unfortunately for Smith, he collided with Rose after the shot was released, sending him to the penalty box for a two minute penalty, and Boushy got his second after rebounding his own miss. Trailing by 2 with under four minutes to go in the opening quarter, Buffalo took their first run of the game to neutralize the Rock’s start. Nanticoke scored his second of the quarter from midrange with 1:46 left in the quarter, and then another turnover led to another transition marker with MacKay feeding Dylan Robinson this time. Then in the final seconds, Chris Cloutier hit Smith with a quick stick to give Buffalo a 6-5 lead after 15.

While that quick start was negated, the Rock controlled the second quarter. During the possession after being stopped on the powerplay, Corey Small got to the middle of the floor to nod his second of the game. A second powerplay of the quarter was more successful, however, as a skip pass from Mark Matthews was finished off with a Chris Boushy quick stick with 5:06 left in the second. After Boushy completed the hat trick, Small did as well to push Toronto’s lead back up to two, taking advantage of the Bandits miscommunication to get to the net, and then after another Bandit penalty, Small’s 4th made the score 9-6 after the half, with Nick Rose making 13 saves in the second quarter for the 15 minute shutout.

Defenses controlled the way for the majority of the third quarter, with Nick Rose making another 12 saves and Matt Vinc making 11. The Rock started the new half by killing a penalty, and then they managed to kill two more over the course of the first five minutes. They drew a penalty of their own to negate the latter of the two, but the Bandits managed a kill off of that one as well. Scoring was finally opened in the quarter with 5:28 to go, as Josh Byrne scored his first of the game past the shoulder of Rose to make it 9-7. An illegal substitution put Toronto back on the man advantage, where Mark Matthews scored from his office at the top of the formation with 3:59 left in the quarter, but after Chris Boushy took a five minute penalty for cross-checking Ian MacKay from behind along the end boards, Buffalo scored the final goal of the quarter after a relentless possession which saw Dhane Smith immediately steal a Rock defensive rebound to keep possession and Tehoka Nanticoke rebounding a Josh Byrne shot and pump faking Rose to open up plenty of space up high to cut the deficit to 2 headed into the final frame.

Buffalo was unable to score during the remainder of the five minute penalty, but they did score in the seconds after the penalty expired, with Chase Fraser getting on the board for the first time on the night from close. Tehoka Nanticoke nearly tied the game minutes later on the one hander between the legs in transition, but he landed in the crease before the ball went in the net. Fortunately, Dhane Smith was able to score on the next Bandits possession, crossing over Sheldon Burns and leaving him in the dust to get to the net for his third goal of the game. The deadlock did not last long, as Chris Boushy scored once again off of the ensuing faceoff, rolling to the net off a Tom Schreiber behind the back pass, and then after another TD Ierlan faceoff win, Mark Matthews narrowly snuck an outside shot in off of Matt Vinc to put the Rock back up two. The two newest Bandits, Connor Farrell and Paul Dawson, gave the Bandits the next possession after a lengthy clamp battle at the faceoff dot, and Ian MacKay rebounded an attempt from Josh Byrne open in front to stop the Rock from a potential run halfway through the fourth quarter. After some more back and forth, Matt Vinc denied Justin Martin in front on a transition opportunity, and the Bandits went back the other way with Cam Wyers feeding Chris Cloutier for the game-tying marker with 5:30 to go. Buffalo was able to re-take the lead two minutes later, as Josh Byrne faked a step outside before going with full speed to the net for the go-ahead crease dive. Toronto got an empty net possession in the final 50 seconds, but Dawson blocked a shot from Corey Small and Steve Priolo intercepted a Mark Matthews pass after the offensive rebound, sending an outlet pass up to Nick Weiss for the empty netter, and the Bandits had their second win of the season against the Rock and their 8th in the last 9 tries.

The duo of Dhane Smith and Josh Byrne led the way with 7 points each — 3 goals and 4 assists from Smith and 2 goals and 5 assists from Byrne. Chris Cloutier and Nick Weiss each had a goal and 3 assists, while Chase Fraser and Ian MacKay each had 2 goals and an assist. Matt Vinc had 46 saves in the win to get the Bandits to 7-6 and back up to 5th in the standings after the week that was. The trio of Corey Small, Mark Matthews, and Tom Schreiber had 6 points for Toronto, with Chris Boushy scoring 4 goals and Dan Craig chipping in with 4 assists. Nick Rose made 41 saves.

Rochester Knighthawks 11 – Albany FireWolves 10

After a team record 12 assists last week, Ryan Lanchbury wasted no time getting himself in the goal column this week, slipping a screen to get to the front of the net for a goal 21 seconds in. Albany was able to capitalize more quickly than they did the week before in Rochester, as Tye Kurtz came in as the last man off the bench in the set offense to fire in an outside shot. Kyle Waters finished off a transition pass from Thomas Whitty to retake the lead, but Alex Simmons had a counter from the restraining line to tie the game at 2. From there, a two minute slashing penalty to Anthony Joaquim put the Knighthawks on the first powerplay of the game, where Connor Fields pump faked and fired his first goal of the game. And then on the next possession, Turner Evans played pick-and-roll with Matt Gilray, who spun and beat Doug Jamieson over the shoulder for the first two goal lead of the game. Fields would add a second powerplay goal with 2:04 left in the quarter to give the Knighthawks a 5-2 lead after one.

And the scoring would continue into the second quarter for the Knighthawks. Ryan Lanchbury added another pair of goals, starting with a dunk and the looking off a roll and firing from outside to make it 7-2 5 minutes into the second. Out of the under ten timeout, Rochester got a stop and came back the other way where Ryan Smith scored on the run to make it 8-2 with 8:47 left in the half. Albany was able to add two before the break, with Tye Kurtz scoring from midrange and then Ethan Walker adding a powerplay goal with 1:50 to go to cut the deficit to 8-4 at the half.

Mitch Ogilvie scored in transition to open scoring in the second half, but Albany would counter with their first extended run of the home-and-home series. A stray flip pass led to an open loose ball and break for Patrick Kaschalk who capitalized on the breakaway, and then on a delayed penalty, Travis Longboat got on the board for the first time, rebounding an Ethan Walker shot. Another delayed penalty put the FireWolves at 6-on-5 again, and Walker scored from the wide angle. A powerplay in the final three minutes gave the Knighthawks their best chance to halt the run, but it was Albany adding one more in transition, thanks to Kaschalk feeding Sam Firth on a 2-on-1 for the quick stick to make it 9-8. The Knighthawks did score on the powerplay on the ensuing possession, with Thomas McConvey scoring his first goal of the game with 1:25 left in the quarter to make the score 10-8.

Albany took another penalty at the end of the third quarter, and Connor Fields completed the hat trick to push the lead back up to three. Riley Hutchcraft and Doug Jamieson both had excellent fourth quarters, neutralizing the offenses for the majority of the final frame. It took until the final three minutes for another goal to find the back of the net, and it was Alex Simmons scoring on a bouncer from his opposite side to get the FireWolves back within two. Joe Nardella won the ensuing faceoff to ensure a back-to-back possession, where Marshall Powless scored on a bouncer of his own to get Albany back within one. However, that would be the closest that they could get. Albany lost their advantage of winning a second straight faceoff to an illegal screen, and then on their first attempt with the extra attacker, Mitch Ogilvie blocked and rebounded an offering from Tye Kurtz and called timeout with 1:08 on the clock. With 7 on the shot clock, Fields put everything he had into a shot from way outside to force a long rebound and picked up an offensive rebound for a fresh 30. Fields continued to improvise, leading to a flip pass to an open Thomas McConvey in front to either add an insurance goal or force another fresh 30, but his offering barely missed Jamieson’s padding and bounced out of play, giving Albany one more chance with 17 seconds. Hutchcraft stopped Kurtz on an over the top shot and fired the ball down the floor to kill off the final 5 seconds and preserve a third straight win for the now 6-6 Knighthawks, sweeping the 10 win FireWolves and now accounting for half of their four losses.

While the Rochester offense was stifled in comparison to their 37 goals in the previous two games, their 11 goal performance with a 61-50 advantage in shots on goal were enough for the victory thanks to Riley Hutchcraft’s 40 saves and the Knighthawks defense forcing a combined 15 blocked shots, led by 4 from Ethan O’Connor and 3 from Ryland Rees. Ryan Lanchbury led the offense with a 5 point game, registering 3 goals and 2 assists. Connor Fields had 3 goals and an assist, while Ryan Smith had a goal and 3 assists. In their returns to the lineup for the first time since December, Turner Evans had 4 assists, and Dan Coates blocked two shots, caused a turnover, and picked up 5 loose balls. Their 6-6 record places them in 7th in the standings through 12 games.

Albany dropped to third in the standings since they do not own the tiebreaker with San Diego, but still maintain a 10-4 record and are still only a game back of the Rock with a remaining matchup between the two teams in a couple weeks. Doug Jamieson bounced back from his struggles the week before off the bench with 50 saves. Ethan Walker and Alex Simmons each had 2 goals and 5 assists to lead the Albany offense, and Tye Kurtz had 2 goals and an assist.

Also of note, Rylan Hartley put the pads on in warmups and took some early shots. It’s the first time he’s been seen in between the pipes since suffering his concussion on December 23. Hartley is still unlikely to return to the lineup this season, but it’s promising to see the 25 year old taking shots on his way to a recovery.

Week 16 Around The League

Halifax Thunderbirds 13 – Panther City 9

A 10-2 first half was enough to pace the Thunderbirds to a 4 goal victory at home over Panther City. The righties took the bulk of the production this week, as Clarke Petterson had 3 goals and 3 assists, Austin Shanks had 3 goals and 2 assists, and Aaron Woods had a goal and 3 assists. Ryan Benesch also added a goal and 3 assists. Jonathan Donville led Panther City with 3 goals and 2 assists, and Will Malcom had 4 assists despite being goalless with 12 shots on goal. Tony Malcom added a goal and 2 assists out of transition. Cam MacLeod made 20 saves on 23 shots on goal to give Panther City a chance at staying in the game.

San Diego Seals 7 – Calgary Roughnecks 6

San Diego got off to a 4-0 start before the goalies stood on their heads on their way to a 7-6 Seals victory. Austin Staats led the Seals with 2 goals and 2 assists, while Curtis Dickson, Wes Berg, and Dane Dobbie combined for 2 goals and 6 assists in their former stomping grounds. Tyler Pace had a goal and 2 assists, while Jesse King and Tanner Cook each had 2 goals. Christian Del Bianco made 54 saves despite the loss, including 17 saves in the fourth quarter alone.

Vancouver Warriors 13 – Las Vegas Desert Dogs 12

Casey Jackson had 8 goals, including four straight in the second quarter, but it was not enough for Vegas as Adam Charalambides’s goal with 27 seconds left pushed Vancouver over the top for their first back-to-back home wins since February 2022. Charalambides finished with 4 goals and 4 assists, and Keegan Bal led the Warriors with 3 goals and 6 assists. Ryan Martel added 4 goals. Aden Walsh made 37 wins to improve to 2-2 since taking over the starting role for Vancouver, and Tyrell Hamer-Jackson won 19 of 29 faceoffs in his season debut. The assists on Jackson’s goals came primarily from 4 from Zack Greer, 5 for Rob Hellyer, and 4 from Jack Hannah. Greer, Hannah, and Dylan Watson were the other Desert Dog forwards with goals, joined by Connor Kirst. Each team is 4-9 after this result, joined by Colorado in a three-way tie at the bottom of the standings.

Philadelphia Wings 13 – Georgia Swarm 8

In a substantial difference from their usual one goal games, the Wings controlled the way with a 13-8 win in Duluth to stick around in the playoff race. While Georgia outshot Philadelphia 84-69, including 52-41 on goal, they were stopped 44 times from Zach Higgins. Mitch Jones had 4 goals and 5 assists to lead the Wings, with Joe Resetarits and Holden Cattoni each had 6 assists. Ben McIntosh and Blaze Riorden each had 2 goals and 3 assists. For Georgia, who fell to 6th in the standings at 8-7, were led on offense from 4 goals and 2 assists from Shayne Jackson. Brendan Bomberry had 2 goals and 2 assists.

Saskatchewan Rush 17 – New York Riptide 15

The Rush eclipsed 15 goals for the third straight game with a 17-15 win over the Riptide, passing them in the standings with both teams still in the mix at 9th and 10th. Scoring was well distributed for the Rush, with Ryan Keenan leading with 2 goals and 5 assists. Robert Church, Zach Manns, and Jake Boudreau each had 5 points and multigoal games. The Riptide got back within 2 after trailing 14-8 after 3, but couldn’t get over the hump. Jeff Teat led them with 4 goals and 4 assists while Reilly O’Connor and Larson Sundown each had 6 points.

Week 17 Preview

Buffalo Bandits (7-6) @ Panther City (6-7) – Friday March 22, 8:00 pm

Two teams that certainly came into the season expecting to not be hovering a game above and below .500 this late into the season, Buffalo takes their first trip to Fort Worth to take on a Panther City team that has also had their fair share of ups and downs this season. Panther City could be getting former Bandit Callum Crawford back from injury, but he remains questionable having missed the team’s last two games.

Rochester Knighthawks (6-6) @ Colorado Mammoth (4-9) – Saturday March 23, 9:00 pm

The last time that the Knighthawks faced the Mammoth was the last NLL game before the COVID shutdown, so this trip will certainly be more of a homecoming feel for Dan Carey, who was the GM of the Mammoth before taking the position with the expansion Knighthawks in 2019. A win would put the Knighthawks at 7-6 with their fourth win in a row and have them above .500 for the first time since January 27. It will also be the first time this season that the Knighthawks have not had a runner on the injury report, with Turner Evans and Dan Coates being active last week.

Albany FireWolves (10-4) @ Calgary Roughnecks (5-8) – Friday March 22, 9:00 pm

Albany travels to Calgary for the first time for the first meeting between the FireWolves and Roughnecks, where Calgary will look to snap a three game winning streak and keep their playoff aspirations alive. The last time that the Black Wolves played the roughnecks was January 12, 2019, and the last trip to Calgary was April 8, 2018, both wins by the Black Wolves.

Halifax Thunderbirds (8-6) @ Toronto Rock (11-3) – Saturday March 23, 7:00 pm

The Rock host another chapter in their rivalry with the Thunderbirds. After clinching last weekend despite the loss and winning the Halifax leg of the matchup, the Rock look to get one step closer to clinching a home playoff game in the first round. Halifax maintains a hold of the fourth seed, which would also give them a home playoff game as opposed to a potential third straight first round trip to Hamilton.

Vancouver Warriors (4-9) @ Philadelphia Wings (5-7) – Saturday March 23, 7:00 pm

In their quest to re-enter the playoff picture, a home matchup against the Warriors could be another step in the right direction, especially while aiming for a second home win on the year. With Panther in 8th at 6-7 right now, a win might even jump them into the top 8.

Saskatchewan Rush (5-6) @ New York Riptide (6-8) – Saturday March 23, 7:30 pm

The second leg of the home and home will take place at Nassau on Saturday Night, with the 9th and 10th place teams aim to keep pace in the race. With games in hand, improving to 6-6 would put the young Rush in control of their destiny on a four game road trip before finishing out the season with three straight at Sasktel Centre.

Las Vegas Desert Dogs (4-9) @ San Diego Seals (10-4) – Saturday March 23, 10:00 pm

After winning the first matchup 10-8 on January 12, the Desert Dogs will travel to San Diego looking to cap off a sweep of the rival Seals, who will be in position to clinch a playoff berth with a win.

Saskatchewan Rush (5-6) @ Georgia Swarm (8-7) – Sunday March 24, 5:30 pm

The Rush will finish out their two-game weekend as part of a stretch of 5 games in 3 weeks in Duluth to take on the Swarm. Georgia has won 6 of the 8 all time matchups, including their sweep in the 2017 finals and a 13-9 victory last season.

Photo Credit: Mike Hetzel/NLL