Buffalo Bandits 15 – Rochester Knighthawks 14

Rochester broke through first as Austin Hasen fed Ryan Smith on a give-and-go and Smith continued his proficient play against the Bandits with his first goal of the night. Buffalo, however, capitalized right away after the Bandits forced a tipped pass but the ball found an open Chase Fraser to tie the game. McConvey hit the crossbar on the next possession for Rochester, and the goalies exchanged saves through the middle of the quarter except Josh Byrne also getting a piece of the post. Chris Cloutier with a behind-the-back pass to Dhane Smith back door ended that scoreless segment to give Buffalo their first lead of the game. Cloutier continued to roll the highlight reel taking one out of his teammate Byrne’s playbook with the one-hander between the legs past Riley Hutchcraft to make it 3-1. Rochester took to the powerplay at the end of the opening quarter, but Buffalo managed the best chance of the 2 minutes as Smith was sneaking around on his opposite side taking a sprint to net and burying a pass from Fraser. The Bandits took a 4-1 lead into the opening intermission break.

The Knighthawks capitalized on their own loose ball off a broken play as Connor Fields prevented a turnover, pump faked, and beat Matt Vinc under the arm to make it 4-2. But the Bandits responded quickly again with Nick Weiss beating Hutchcraft from just to the left of the arena logo to make it 5-2. Ian MacKay took a penalty for clotheslining Ryan Smith that Fields immediately capitalized on for his second in a row, and again the Bandits got it back to three after Kyle Buchanan used a Knighthawks screen to bury his first of the night and then Dalton Sulver added a goal in transition, sending Doug Buchan into the game for a quick breather. Things didn’t get much easier for the Knighthawks as Connor Fields took a goalie interference penalty and Cloutier immediately scored to make it 8-3. Fields finished off the hat trick with 1:20 left in the half, and then out of the last possession timeout, Thomas McConvey scored from outside to cut the deficit to three into the halftime break.

Ryan Smith once again opened the half with a top-corner stinger to make it 8-6. Kyle Buchanan’s third of the game came to open the scoring for the Bandits in the second half as Riley Hutchcraft got most of the five-hole shot but not all of it. This time, however, it was Rochester with the quick turnaround as Ryan Lanchbury scored his first of the game on a feed from Smith. From there, Josh Byrne had his first pair of goals on the Knight with a runner for mid-range and then an outside look off a Dhane Smith pick to get the Bandits back up to an 11-7 lead. Rochester continued to keep pace as Smith scored low-to-low with 4:21 left in the quarter, but again the Bandits ensured that a comeback effort would be a big hurdle to overcome as Chase Fraser got some room to take the ball to the net and beat Hutchcraft for his second of the night, and the Bandits took a 12-8 lead into the fourth.

Rochester’s best offensive movement of the game came to open the third as Connor Fields fed Ryan Lanchbury back door and he found Ryan Smith on the opposite side of the crease for the extra pass to make it 12-9 29 seconds into the final frame, but again it was Byrne from outside to make it a four-goal game to complete the hat trick and then a couple of minutes later Buchanan scored from almost the same spot for his own hat trick to make it a five-goal game with 10:15 to play. Smith again paced the Knighthawks along with his fifth goal. Nick Weiss took Joe Post to the ground off a faceoff to put Rochester on the powerplay, where Connor Fields stole an outlet pass and took in a breakaway to make it 14-11. Kyle Waters scored on a rebound off a blocked shot to make it 14-12, and then on their next possession, Smith flipped to Ryan Lanchbury to cut it to a one-goal game for the first time since it was 2-1 Buffalo. However, once again, the Bandits kept on leading the pace as Dhane Smith fed Chris Cloutier for his third goal of the game with 3:36 left which was upheld despite a Mike Hasen crease challenge, as Cloutier didn’t step in the crease until after the ball entered the back of the net. Thomas McConvey hit the crossbar with under two minutes but the Knighthawks got the offensive rebound to start their first 6-on-5 attempt, and Dan Lomas got the ball in the middle of the floor and buried a backhand to cut it to a one-goal game. Buffalo got the faceoff but the Knighthawks’ defense got a stop with a 10-second differential between the shot and game clock to work with 6-on-5, where Justin Martin blocked a Thomas McConvey shot and the Bandits recovered the ball and called timeout with 10.3 left on the clock. The Bandits cleared across the midline and ran the clock out to ensure the 15-14 home victory.

Josh Byrne’s takeover in the third quarter paced him to 3 goals and 4 assists to lead the Bandits, while Chris Cloutier, Dhane Smith, and Chase Fraser each had 6 point games. Kyle Buchanan added 3 goals and an assist. Defensively, Ian MacKay, Cam Wyers, and Steve Priolo combined for 27 loose balls, and despite a fourth straight game where the Bandits gave up more than 13 goals, Matt Vinc made 50 saves for the third time this season (and the second time against Rochester). The Bandits get the weekend off before heading to Halifax for a Friday Night marquee matchup on the 16th. Their 5-3 record comes with the league lead in goals through 10 weeks with 104, but they one goal allowed short of the most in the league with 99.

While it was the fourth quarter that sunk the Knighthawks in the first matchup with the Bandits, it was the opening quarter that created a three-goal differential that was too much to overcome by the game’s end, although they did outshoot the Bandits by the game’s end 64-56. Ryan Smith once again had a sensational game against Buffalo with 5 goals and 6 assists for the first double-digit point total of his career. Connor Fields was close behind with 4 goals and 5 assists. While the secondary scoring was shut down in Halifax, they did manage to get 2 goals and 2 assists from Ryan Lanchbury and a goal and 2 assists from Dan Lomas, however, Thomas McConvey was only held to a goal, being snake bitten by iron multiple times along the way.

Week 10 in Review

Halifax Thunderbirds 15 – Philadelphia Wings 14

The encore to a wild 16-15 game earlier in the season was just as entertaining as a 5-goal run for the Thunderbirds to open up the second half was erased as Philadelphia scored three straight to take their first lead since the opening quarter with 4:29 left, only for Ryan Benesch to tie the game with 1:22 left and then Cody Jamieson scored the game winner 21 seconds into overtime to even the season series. Jamieson had his best game of the season with 3 goals and 2 assists and was joined with hat tricks from a seven-point night from Dawson Theede and six from Clarke Petterson. With Randy Staats out of the lineup, Aaron Woods made his NLL debut and had 2 goals and 4 assists of his own. Mitch Jones had a goal and 7 assists to lead the Wings with Joe Resetarits adding 2 goals and 4 assists and Ben McIntosh contributing 3 goals and 2 assists. Zach Higgins made 50 saves as the Thunderbirds outshot the Wings 65-46.

Georgia Swarm 12 – Vancouver Warriors 11

Georgia bounced back from their disappointing loss in Vancouver earlier in the season, but it wasn’t easy along the way despite leading the shot differential 51-38. They scored five straight across the middle quarters to break away 10-6, but Vancouver tied the game and eventually forced overtime. Andrew Kew beat Aaron Bold as the shot clock (literally) expired to improve the Swarm to 5-4. Kew led the Swarm with 4 goals and 4 assists. Seth Oakes had 5 goals and 2 assists and Lyle Thompson had a goal and 5 assists. Keegan Bal led the Warriors with 2 goals and 3 assists, while Adam Charalambides, Kevin Crowley, and Ryan Martel each had 4 points.

New York Riptide 11 – Calgary Roughnecks 10

The Riptide finished off the trifecta of one-goal games on Friday Night in the NLL (albeit the lone one in regulation) to even their record back up at 4-4. Jeff Teat’s 4 goals and 5 assists led the Riptide, with Kiel Matisz and Connor Kearnan each having a goal and 5 assists. Christian Del Bianco made 46 saves for the Roughnecks to keep them in the game, and Jesse King had 3 goals and 3 assists to lead the offense.

Toronto Rock 9 – Calgary Roughnecks 7

Calgary came up short in both games of their double home weekend as Toronto took care of business for a road win to improve them to a league-best 6-1 while dropping the Roughnecks to 2-5. Tom Schreiber had 2 goals and 4 assists and Corey Small added 2 goals and 3 assists, while Mark Matthews added 5 assists and Nick Rose turned aside 39 shots. Haiden Dickson led Calgary with 3 goals and an assist, which both Tanner Cook and Tyler Pace flipped.

Las Vegas Desert Dogs 9 – Albany FireWolves 6

Toronto’s additional breathing room in first place came alongside the Desert Dogs traveling east and shutting down the FireWolves in Albany, only allowing 3 goals in the final 3 quarters after trailing 3-0 after 15 minutes. There’s no better way to bounce back from getting shelled for 21 goals against in the previous week, as Landon Kells stopped 46 of the 52 shots he faced in the victory that improved the Desert Dogs to 3-4. Jack Hannah’s 2 goals and 3 assists were the game-high, and Casey Jackson added 2 goals and 2 assists. The trio of Ethan Walker, Nathan Grenon, and Alex Simmons had 3 points for Albany. Despite missing Doug Jamieson to injury, Justin Geddie made 45 saves.

Saskatchewan Rush 10 – Panther City 9

Joey Chestnut ate 110 donuts.

moving on, bolded font, next game, just kidding, etc.

The Rush found themselves on the fortunate side of a one-goal game this week, scoring the final two goals of the night for a 10-9 victory. Robert Church provided a game-high 4 goals and 4 assists, with Zach Manns and Ryan Keenan picking up 5 points each. Frank Scigliano picked up the win with 42 saves. Callum Crawford had 2 goals and 3 assists to lead Panther City, and Will Malcom had 3 goals and an assist.

San Diego Seals 16 – Colorado Mammoth 7

The series of close games came to a halt on a Sunday Funday in San Diego as a sock trick from Austin Staats highlighted an 11-0 run from the Seals which helped them cruise to a season sweep over the Mammoth, outshooting Colorado 61-40. Staats also had 3 assists for a 9-point afternoon, and Curtis Dickson had 3 goals and 7 assists to lead the Seals. Wes Berg pitched in 2 goals and 5 assists, which was matched by 4 goals and 3 assists from Dane Dobbie. Chris Origlieri’s 29 saves led the way for Mike Poulin to make 4 saves in a 3:38 relief effort to end the game in his first action since returning from last season’s retirement. For Colorado, Connor Kelly had 3 goals, and Eli McLaughlin had 3 assists, but no other Mammoth player exceeded 2 points.

Week 11 Preview

Georgia Swarm (5-4) @ Rochester Knighthawks (3-4) – Saturday, February 10, 7:00 pm

Rochester took all three games against the Swarm last season, including the third of those that clinched their first Expansion Era playoff appearance last season. Their matchups post-COVID have been chaotic and high scoring, which relatively points the advantage in favor of the Knighthawks game scripts this season, but Georgia adds onto the tough stretch of games for the Knighthawks. Needless to say, however, a win to snap a four-game losing streak would do much more to re-assure this team as a playoff contender. The Knighthawks are hosting their military appreciation game in their fourth home game of the season.

Las Vegas Desert Dogs (3-4) @ Halifax Thunderbirds (4-3) – Friday February 9, 6:30 pm

The Desert Dogs will travel further east this week after their win in Albany to take on a Thunderbirds team looking to keep their winning ways going with some home chowder and a beach night at the nest for their first-ever head-to-head matchup.

Colorado Mammoth (3-5) @ Panther City (3-4) – Friday, February 9, 9:00 pm

After the Mammoth took 2 of 3 matchups last season, they will travel to Fort Worth for their lone matchup this season with Panther City as both teams look for their 4th win. With 7 of the 8 teams currently in the playoff picture heralding from the former East, the winning team will look to stick around in the playoff picture and prove the Seals aren’t the only contenders from the former West.

Calgary Roughnecks (2-5) @ Toronto Rock (6-1) – Saturday February 10, 7:00 pm

The Roughnecks and Rock take their home-and-home to Hamilton, where Calgary’s need for a third win has only grown stronger but the opponent is just as if not more strong.

San Diego Seals (6-2) @ New York Riptide (4-4) – Saturday February 10, 7:30 pm

The Seals have already knocked off the hottest team in the NLL once in Albany, so with the Riptide having taken over that moniker after a pair of FireWolves losses, San Diego is ready again for the challenge. Each of the previous two matchups was also on Long Island, with the Seals winning each of them, the most recent of those coming December 3, 2022.

Saskatchewan Rush (2-4) @ Vancouver Warriors (2-6) – Saturday, February 10, 10:00 pm

After the Warriors shocked the Rush with late-game heroics in the Saskatoon leg of the season series, they will look for their second win against the Rush and their second home win of the season.

Photo Credit: Mike Hetzel/NLL