In the greater context of the world, yesterday’s first game of the NLL East Division Final series did not have the weight of coverage and impact of America’s attention in the aftermath of Saturday’s mass shooting at the Jefferson Street Tops. The NLL finds itself in the second-tier of North American sports leagues, so it’s not a case where America was turning to sports in the aftermath of tragedy in a city, like the NYC teams in 2001 or the Bruins and Red Sox 2013 runs, but in the lacrosse world, Sunday’s game represented the healing origins of the sport.

The term Medicine Game goes back to the origins of the sport and is engrained in the indigenous ancestral culture. The game was handed down from the Creator and was believed to have healing power as part of a celebration of the Creator and the sacred gifts of nature. You can find other stories regarding the origins of the Medicine Game online, including here, and I also encourage you all to take a listen to this podcast from the early days of the pandemic to hear how this medicinal power of lacrosse is still a part of the sport, from backyard wall ball to a fully organized game.

Medicine game in full effect for BanditLand #OneBuffalo 🧡 https://t.co/wC5MhE1ixb

— TN1 (@Tehoka1) May 15, 2022

Before we get to the game recap, Dhane Smith has a few initiatives in motion to support the victims’ families from Saturday’s mass shooting. A handful of other players in the lacrosse community have already committed to matching Dhane on this as well.

When the final whistle blew, the Buffalo Bandits had reached the finish line after a daunting and almost tiring to watch 60-minute sprint with an 18-17 victory over the Toronto Rock to go up 1-0 in the best-of-three series. Treat yourself to the highlights while you read through, as a treat.

Runs: (Told you) Once again, we got some massive runs from the Bandits’ offense to pace their relentless offense. After the two teams exchanged four goals in the first 2:24, the Bandits scored back-to-back goals at the 6:25 and 6:57 marks to go up 4-2 and then went up 5-2 about 11 minutes in. Usually, these runs are what give the Bandits legroom on their way to the wire for wins, but Toronto had another trick up their sleeves in this one: runs of their own. Toronto scored the next 5 goals, starting at the 13:46 mark of the first quarter and then 4 more goals up to the 6:32 mark of the second quarter to go up 7-5. You’ll never guess how the Bandits responded: two goals in 53 seconds to tie the game at 7 and then three more goals in a minute to go up 10-7 at the 13:05 mark. Toronto cut the deficit to 2 with less than 2 seconds in the half for a 10-8 halftime score.

*Takes a water break*

The Bandits scored on their first possession of the 3rd quarter and added a second goal at the 5:18 mark to go up 4, which ended up being the largest lead either team took in the game. That’s because less than 2 minutes later, the Rock put up goals on back-to-back possessions and then added another 4 to go up 14-12 2:38 into the fourth quarter. The Bandits took the lead with the final run of the game with 5 straight goals from the 3:34 mark of the fourth to the 7:13 mark to go up 17-14. Toronto cut the deficit to 1 with the next two goals, but Dhane Smith scored with 1:56 left to make it 18-16.

Tom Schreiber scored with 11 seconds left to cut it to 1, and then Toronto won the ensuing faceoff, but Rob Hellyer’s game-ending shot bounced off the post and then the horn sounded with the Bandits on top.

Best on Best: The stars on offense showed up on both teams and put up star-level production. In an emotional game for each, Dhane Smith and Josh Byrne, who have each been at the forefront of pro lacrosse’s diversity initiatives, each put up dominant double-digit point totals – Byrne with 4 goals and 7 assists and Smith with 3 goals and 7 assists. They each played exactly how you’d expect stars to play in the playoffs. Chris Cloutier (3G 2A), Connor Fields (2G 2A), and Chase Fraser (2G 2A) had multi-goal and multi-assist games to round out the complimentary scoring for the Bandits

Tom Schreiber was once again the catalyst for the Rock and finished with a team-high 8 points (3G 5A). The rest of the Rock’s offense was not far behind. The Rock’s offense spent a good amount of the game setting up outside shots through traffic, which in part led to a 4 goal game from Zach Manns, who like Dan Craig, who had 2 goals and 4 assists of his own, finds himself playmaking and shooting from the perimeter on the left side. Rob Hellyer (2G 3A) and Challen Rogers (3G 2A) had 5 points each within this game plan, as did Justin Scott. The 24-year-old rookie had 2 goals and 3 assists in only his 6th game of the season. While Dan Dawson was left out of the goal column, he finished with 4 assists.

Little Noise: No, this isn’t about the 10,258 who packed into KeyBank Center on Sunday. It has to do with Steve Priolo’s holding the stick penalty in the first quarter. Okay, it’s not about the penalty itself, but it was the only penalty of the game. Yeah, that’s right; a Buffalo-Toronto game had 2 penalty minutes the whole night. But now in hindsight, that’s a good thing because it doesn’t cloud the other analysis postgame, as 58 of the 60 minutes were 5-on-5.

Stat Comparison	Buffalo Bandits	Toronto Rock
Goals	18 (51.4%)	17 (48.6%)
Shots on Goal	51 (46.8%)	58 (53.2%)
Total Shot Attempts	68 (45.3%)	82 (54.7%)
Recorded Loose Balls	67 (39.4%)	103 (60.6%)
Recorded Turnovers	16 (51.6%)	15 (48.4%)
Faceoff Wins	11 (28.9%)	27 (71.1%)

Key to Game 2 – Run it back: Outside of both goalies certainly thinking that they can play a lot better, I don’t think either team will be looking to make too many adjustments for game 2. The Bandits will want to decrease their shots against or at least narrow the deficit, but this has been how most of their games have gone this season. I’ll give the Rock the edge since the game is in Hamilton, but I’m expecting more very competitive lacrosse.

The game will be at 7:00 on Saturday Night (May 21) at FirstOntario Centre in Hamilton on ESPN+ and TSN Direct. It will likely also be broadcasted on a TSN network but that is expected to be announced later in the week. The San Diego Seals and Colorado Mammoth will play the second game of their series at 9:30 from Ball Arena in Denver, where the Mammoth lead 1-0.