Through their tough start to the season, the Riptide offense has slowly regained the form they expected this year, and in the second quarter of their trip to Banditland Friday Night, any doubts that remained that they had the ability to score with anyone almost all disappeared.

New York Riptide 15 – Buffalo Bandits 13

Connor Kearnan had his first net-front opportunity of the game ring off the crossbar, but the Riptide managed to score first right away on their next possession with a breakaway goal from former Bandit, Mitch Wilde. Buffalo was able to capitalize back with a pair of goals from Chase Fraser, including a behind-the-back addition to the highlight reel. After some scoreless back and forth followed by a Riptide penalty kill, New York was able to tie the game back up after some broken play and loose ball fighting led to Kiel Matisz feeding Stephen Keogh in front. After an errant pass in the Bandits zone gave the Riptide the ball back, Jeff Teat fed a rolling Reilly O’Connor for a go-ahead goal with 4:57 left in the first quarter. Josh Byrne was able to tie the quarter at 3 with 3:48 to go.

As they did in the first, the Riptide were able to score early in the quarter with a runner from Jeff Teat to take the lead back, but this time they were not quickly countered against. In fact, 1:13 later, Ron Jon forced a transition turnover and Teat fed Matisz to make it 5-3, and then Teat snuck another goal past Matt Vinc’s right leg 50 seconds later to make it 6-3. The Riptide won the ensuing faceoff, and that allowed Reilly O’Connor to feed Larson Sundown behind the net for a dunk to make it 7-3 with 11:47 left in the half. Cam Dunkerley stopped Buffalo’s best chance of the early second quarter to stop the run on the next possession, but a multiple shot possession and a delayed Bandit penalty later, Stephen Keogh parked in the middle of the Bandit zone and buried a 5th straight Riptide goal. Dylan Robinson let out some frustration amidst the goal celebration to give the Riptide a powerplay, and Teat was able to bury his third of the quarter, extend the score to 9-3 with 9:16 left in the half, and chase Vinc from a game for the first time since March 31, 2018 in his last season in Rochester. Steven Orleman, the former Riptide starter, made a save on the first shot he faced, but a couple possessions later, Keogh fed Connor Kearnan on his opposite side to make it 10-3. The Bandits took another penalty, but they were at last able to add to their goal total as Dhane Smith intercepted a Matisz pass and took it himself to the net for a transition shorthanded marker with 6:30 left in the half. It was the first Bandit goal in 12:18. Matisz redeemed himself in the final 10 seconds of the powerplay to make it a seven goal game again, but the Bandits were able to get a pair of goals to finish the half as Vinc returned to the cage for the final 5:03 of the second quarter. The first of the goals came from Josh Byrne attacking the net off of a screen from Brandon Robinson, and then Ian MacKay had the second of the two on a 3-on-2 transition tally.

Buffalo had an all important strong start to the second half, as Tehoka Nanticoke finished off a gritty possession with a pair of 50/50 loose ball recoveries with his first goal of the game 1:43 into the third frame. Chase Fraser went low-to-high from midrange 49 seconds later to complete his hat trick, and just like that, the Bandits had worked their way back within three. Keogh finished off a hat trick of his own with 11:06 left in the quarter, but from there the defenses had control of the rest of the third. A powerplay goal from Dhane Smith was the final addition to the scoreboard for the frame, with the Riptide maintaining their three goal lead at 12-9.

Josh Byrne fed Ian MacKay on a slip cut to the net to open scoring early in the fourth, and then at 4-on-4, Keogh got his 4th to allow the Riptide to keep steady. But slowly and surely, the Bandits were able to keep clawing closer. Nanticoke chased down and dunked a rebound off Kevin Brownell and into the net and got the fortune of the Riptide’s challenge attempt being disallowed due to too much time to throw the flag. Byrne got his third in partial transition with 5:53 to play, and then with just over 2 minutes to play, Chase Fraser swam past Jay Thorimbert and beat Dunkerley to tie the game up. However, the relief of the nodded up score didn’t last much longer. Thorimbert won the ensuing faceoff cleanly, and Jeff Teat and Reilly O’Connor played give and go with Teat crashing the net, beating Vinc over his shoulder, and giving the Riptide the lead back with 1:47 to play. New York called timeout after winning another faceoff and stalled clock with their possession, giving the Bandits the ball back with their first chance to go 6-on-5 where Dunkerley stopped Dhane Smith and then Chase Fraser’s rebound attempt. After John LaFontaine picked up the defensive rebound and flipped it into the far corner to kill the clock down to 30.7 seconds for and the Bandits called timeout.

Dunkerley cleanly stopped the initial shot attempt from Chase Fraser out of the timeout with 16 seconds left. Brett Noseworthy sent the outlet pass up the floor to Mitch Marinier who got decked by Fraser and he recovered the loose ball with 9 seconds left, only to be laid out himself by Callum Jones. The rookie Jones scooped up the loose ball and sent the ball forward to Marinier to place in the empty netter with 2.6 left on the clock. Each of those final two hits may have had a case for a penalty for a high hit, but the officials let the game play out (aside from MacKay giving Callum Jones some rough and tumble after that final goal went in. As the final horn sounded, the Riptide had upset the Bandits at home on Tucker Out Lymphoma Night by a 15-13 score.

Jeff Teat exceeded 4 goals for the third straight game and added 6 assists to lead the Riptide in scoring with 10 points. Reilly O’Connor had a goal and 7 assists, and Kiel Matisz had 2 goals and 5 assists in a distributing game script for them. Stephen Keogh finished with 4 goals and an assist for his best game in his 4 game Riptide tenure. Despite reaching 13 goals allowed for the 5th time in 6 games, Cam Dunkerley made a season-high 47 saves in his second win of the year. He had a matching 47 saves in his trip to Buffalo last season as well.

For the Bandits, who have fallen to 3-3, Dhane Smith and Josh Byrne had a matching 7 points to lead the team in scoring, with Byrne tallying 3 goals to Smith’s 2, while Chase Fraser was right behind with 4 goals and 2 assists. For Matt Vinc, who became the first goalie to eclipse 10,000 career saves, he only managed 26 saves in the loss. Steven Orleman stopped 3 of the 5 shots he faced in 4:13 of relief in his first action with Buffalo.

Week 8 Around The League

San Diego Seals 14 – Albany FireWolves 7

The Seals traveled to Albany and became the first team to take down the 2023-24 FireWolves, opening up to a 7-1 lead in the first half. Doug Jamieson left the game at halftime with a lower body injury, and Justin Geddie was strong out of the gate in the third quarter, allowing his team to go on a four goal run to get back within one, but the Seals rattled off 5 goals in 5:24 to convincingly walk away with a road win. A 4 goal 3 assist game from Austin Staats led the way for the FireWolves, while Wes Berg had 2 goals and 5 assists to match the team-high in points. Curtis Dickson had 4 goals, and Dane Dobbie had a goal and 5 assists, while Chris Origlieri stopped 43 of 50 shots in the win. San Diego’s defense held Ethan Walker to a goal and 3 assists and Alex Simmons to a goal and 2 assists as part of the win as well. For Albany, Jamieson made 17 saves on 24 shots in his half, while Geddie had 28 saves on 34 shots. Jamieson is expected to return when they take on the Desert Dogs following their upcoming bye week.

Toronto Rock 12 – Georgia Swarm 9

Georgia was able to control the pace for most of the way, but Toronto had 5 of the 6 goals in the fourth quarter on their way to a 12-9 win which pushed their record to 5-0, placing them atop the standings with their undefeated record for the first time this season. Corey Small had 4 goals and 2 assists to lead the Rock, with Dan Craig adding 2 goals and 3 assists and Josh Dawick chipping in with a goal and 3 assists. Nick Rose exceeded an .800 save percentage for the 5th straight game and under 10 goals against for the 4th as part of his 38 save victory. Despite the losing effort, Lyle Thompson surpassed 300 goals with 3 goals and 3 assists to lead the Swarm. Andrew Kew chipped in with 2 goals and 2 assists.

Vancouver Warriors 11 – Saskatchewan Rush 9

Saskatchewan came out to a 7-3 lead in the first half, but the Warriors flipped the script and rebounded for the final 6 unanswered goals in the fourth quarter as part of an 11-9 road victory. Adam Charalambides had his first 4 goals game and added 3 assists for a team-high 7 points, while Keegan Bal had 3 goals and 2 assists and Kevin Crowley had 2 goals and 2 assists. Aaron Bold got the win in his former stomping grounds with 38 saves. Robert Church (2G 3A) and Zach Manns (1G 4A) shared the Rush lead in points with 5, and Frank Scigliano once again was strong with 40 saves, but it was not enough as the Rush dropped to the bottom of the standings at 1-4 and are now the lone NLL team with 1 win.

Colorado Mammoth 13 – Calgary Roughnecks 10

And the reason why the Rush are the lone remaining team with 1 win left is because the Mammoth were finally able to bounce back and record their second win of the season with a three goal win over their rivals from Calgary. The left side of the Mammoth’s offense had a stellar night with Eli McLaughlin leading the team with 2 goals and 4 assists, Connor Robinson adding 6 assists, and Chris Wardle netting a goal with 4 assists. Connor Kelly had 4 goals to lead the right side, and Dillon Ward made 37 saves in the win. Jesse King and Tyler Pace were held scoreless, but they combined for 11 assists. Thomas Hoggarth registered his first hat trick with the Roughnecks, and Tanner Cook had 2 goals and 2 assists.

Week 9 Preview but First…

The Bandits announced that Josh Byrne signed a 5 year extension this week. While midseason contract extensions don’t happen too frequently, they Bandits have their dynamic star duo locked up for the next half decade.

And just in time for a massive matchup too.

Buffalo Bandits (3-3) @ Toronto Rock (5-0) – Saturday January 27, 7:00pm, ESPN+, WNLO

So it’s not going to get easier for the Bandits this week rebounding from their loss this past week, but if their 10 matchups since in the last two calendar years didn’t make it obvious, there is no telling what is going to happen with the Buffalo and Toronto rivalry. There is also increasing likelihood that the Rock will be getting Tom Schreiber back from injury this week, as he was upgraded to questionable for the first time this season last week.

Rochester Knighthawks (3-2) @ Halifax Thunderbirds (2-3) – Saturday January 27, 6:00pm, ESPN+

Rivalry weekend in Western New York will also be taking its way to the Maritimes as the Knighthawks will be taking on the Thunderbirds for the first of two matchups on the season. While the two teams split last season’s head-to-head, the Knighthawks have yet to win in Halifax.

Colorado Mammoth (2-4) @ Vancouver Warriors (2-4) – Friday January 26, 10:00pm, TSN Game of the Week, ESPN+

After the Mammoth’s wild comeback in the first of two matchups with them and the Warriors this season, the Warriors will have a second chance to finish the job and pick up their first back-to-back wins since last March.

Georgia Swarm (4-3) @ New York Riptide (2-4) – Saturday January 27, 7:30pm, ESPN+, MSG (Market-dependent)

The Swarm look to bounce back from their loss in Hamilton, while the Riptide look for their own first back-to-back wins, also for the first time since last March. The Riptide were victorious in the first meeting these two teams had back in January 2020, but the Swarm have won each of the rest of the six all time head-to-head matchups.

San Diego Seals (4-2) @ Philadelphia Wings (2-3) – Saturday January 27, 7:30pm, ESPN+

The Wings have been off since January 7th due to their cancelled game two weekends ago and a bye week this past week. They are currently residing in the 8 seed in the unified standings, but they’ll probably need to win this week to stay in the top 8 with the league filled with 2 win teams in the middle of the pack. While the two teams didn’t play last season, San Diego has won two of the three matchups all time against their expansion siblings, including a 9-8 win in the first round back in 2022. It will be the first time the Seals make the trip to Philadelphia.

Panther City (2-3) @ Las Vegas Desert Dogs (2-3) – Saturday January 27, 10:00, ESPN+

After the Vegas’s last second heroics that led to an overtime victory in December, Panther City will get their chance to play road spoilers in the final of two matchups between them and the Desert Dogs to finish out the Week 9 schedule. The winner will climb to 3-3, and with the packed middle of the standings, falling too far below .500 will make it harder and harder for those teams to make their way into the top 8.

Photo Credit: NLL