As I said before, the Bandits are good. And with their win against the Boston Blazers on Saturday night, advance to the East final against New York next Saturday.
It was a tight game, with Buffalo managing to edge their opponents by a score of 11-8 thanks to big goals at important times from several players. They had lost to Boston 13-12 only a few weeks prior, which makes the win even more impressive.
Fan-favorite Mark Steenhuis had another fantastic game thanks to his 4 goals, one of which being a Superman-style dive through the crease with a defender on his back early in the game. He also managed to score two late-game goals to help ice the game for the Bandits.
John Tavares continued to be a team leader, putting home two goals and four assists. One of his goals came shorthanded on a fast break when he put a laser by Blazers goaltender Anthony Cosmo. He also managed to score a huge goal when the game was deadlocked at 7-7.
You've probably heard how important good defense is when it comes to winning in sports. The Bandits D came up huge against Boston Saturday night. Goaltender Ken Montour stayed hot, turning away 47 of the 55 shots he faced, including several highlight-reel saves. In an 11-8 game, goaltending is an invaluable asset, and Boston just couldn't solve Montour to take the game.
The Bandits also received huge goals from Cory Bomberry and Mike Accursi.
Buffalo will travel to New York this Saturday to take on the Titans. The winner of the contest advances to the NLL Championship game and will face either the San Jose Stealth or the Calgary Roughnecks.
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It was a tight game, with Buffalo managing to edge their opponents by a score of 11-8 thanks to big goals at important times from several players. They had lost to Boston 13-12 only a few weeks prior, which makes the win even more impressive.
Fan-favorite Mark Steenhuis had another fantastic game thanks to his 4 goals, one of which being a Superman-style dive through the crease with a defender on his back early in the game. He also managed to score two late-game goals to help ice the game for the Bandits.
John Tavares continued to be a team leader, putting home two goals and four assists. One of his goals came shorthanded on a fast break when he put a laser by Blazers goaltender Anthony Cosmo. He also managed to score a huge goal when the game was deadlocked at 7-7.
You've probably heard how important good defense is when it comes to winning in sports. The Bandits D came up huge against Boston Saturday night. Goaltender Ken Montour stayed hot, turning away 47 of the 55 shots he faced, including several highlight-reel saves. In an 11-8 game, goaltending is an invaluable asset, and Boston just couldn't solve Montour to take the game.
The Bandits also received huge goals from Cory Bomberry and Mike Accursi.
Buffalo will travel to New York this Saturday to take on the Titans. The winner of the contest advances to the NLL Championship game and will face either the San Jose Stealth or the Calgary Roughnecks.
It still amazes me that the Bandits get so little publicity. They are such a good team and the are a BUFFALO team. So often we hear that negativity of how BAD the Buffalo teams are and very rarely see the POSITIVE and good things we have.
Thank you for publishing this and GO BANDITS!!!
Buffalo takes our sports teams for granted. We do not appreciate the rich diversity of college athletics like most college towns would. We do not appreciate the wealth of professional athletic teams, like the Bandits. We barely appreciate our major league teams like the Sabres and the Bills. We pay more attention to the Bills and Sabres, but still don't appreciate all that they bring to Buffalo.
Before you declare Buffalo as a "college town" with a "rich diversity of college athletics" You need to visit a real college town like Columbus Ohio or Austin Texas. Buffalo is absolutely not a college town. It is an economically depressed town with a few colleges in it. College sports in Buffalo are mediocre at best. The MAC and MAAC are not by any stretch of the imagination nationally respected conferences in either major college sport (football or basketball) The Bandits don't get much of publicity because lacrosse isn't a popular sport relative to football, baseball, basketball and ice hockey. People don't take the Bills or Sabres for granted. Fans should rightfully be upset with both franchises because neither owner has demonstrated any remote commitment to winning. People who think that Buffalo is such a great sports town have never actually been to a great sports town. Look at Boston. Multiple championships in every league, NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB. The sickening thing is that the Bruins owner is a Buffalonian. You can argue all you want. Buffalo is an average sports town at best. I am still a fan of our lovable losers as long as they are here. But I will always acknowledge that they are in fact losers until the prove otherwise.
Id call it a College town based on the fact there is a pretty big student population from serveral schools. We just have a lot more to do here than markets that are dominated by the blue chip programs. I for one am happy we arnt just a one trick pony like some of these other "college towns".
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Using Boston as a comparison just isnt fair. Its a market several times our size and major league pro sports tradition that goes back decades further than ours. As far as beantowns college teams BC is great in just about every sport they are involved in. Take away that school and things change quite a bit.
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As far as our "loveable losers" go, it is what it is. Of course I would like to see ownership of both teams dedicated to a long term winning culture instead of short term profits. I certainly am not going to think less of WNY as a sports town because a guy from Detroit and a guy from Rochester cant run a winning team. I also think its impressive that a metro area of our size can support two major pro teams, the Bandits, an emerging D1 football program, and four d1 hoop teams. That doesnt include all of the other parts of our schools athletic programs. Other than apathetic ownership Id say the local sports scene is above average compared to the rest of the US and superior compaired with metro areas of similar size.
Sounds like a good college and sports town to me.
I agree you can call it a college town from a demographic perspective. I was looking at it from a sports perspective. We have many teams to choose from, however the passion for college sports doesn't exist here nearly to the degree that it does in other cities. We are definitely as passionate about our pro teams as any other NFL or NHL city. I can't argue that. I think it is fair to compare Buffalo to Boston in this context. This context being management of franchise. Both the Bills and Sabres have the same salary cap as the Patriots and Bruins and function in the same leagues. They have the same opportunities to succeed or squander. I am a UB alum and season ticket holder for football. I support the team but am reluctant to call them "up and coming" following one winning season. Their success lies in the longevity of Coach Gill. I predict (and hope I am wrong) that the University will handle him the way the Bills handled Bill Polian...at some point they won't be willing to pay him his value and they will trade success for a lower salary. It is Buffalo tradition. At the end of day in any business, you need to pay top dollar for top leadership and and in Buffalo sports, no one has been willing to do that.