After being down 9-8 midway through the fourth quarter, the Buffalo Bandits came together as a team and rallied back against the New England Black Wolves to come away with the 10-9 victory in their opening preseason game of the 2015 NLL season against the New England Black Wolves Saturday night at the First Niagara Center. Aaron Wilson led the Bandits to their first preseason victory of the year and was the recipient of the game’s first star honor as he recorded six points on two goals and four assists.
Wilson had a very tumultuous 2014 NLL season last year as he was starting to gain some serious momentum with 13 points in eight games before he was sidelined the rest of the season due to injuries. Yesterday, it was really nice to see Wilson bounce back with authority and helped bring back fond memories of his playing time in Minnesota during the 2010 season when he recorded 89 points.
When asked about his outstanding performance against the Black Wolves, (especially coming back from an injury plagued season) Wilson was very pleased with the results. “I played the whole game so it was nice to get out there,” Wilson said. “This year I’m healthy and feeling great so I just got to be myself and play my game. We got a lot of talent here so the sky’s the limit.”
Another fan of Wilson’s work against the Black Wolves was head coach Troy Cordingley. Regarding Wilson’s ability yesterday to find the open man, Cordingley stated that “I thought he had a good game. He knows he’s battling for a spot and sometimes cream rises to the top.”
Besides Aaron Wilson, forward Jerome Thompson and incoming forward Dhane Smith also had themselves an incredible game this evening against the Black Wolves. Thompson played the entire 60 minutes and recorded five points (2G, 3a), including the game winning goal. Smith (in his first game of the year at forward rather than transition) only played during the first half and recorded three points (1G, 2A).
While the recent additions to the Bandits offense may have taken center stage during the preseason, the battle for the backup goaltender position has also begun to heat up as well.
Dave Diruscio and Rance Vigneux both received equal evaluating time from the Bandits coaching staff as Diruscio started the first half of the game while Vigneux started in the second. When all was said and done, Diruscio made 17 saves on 23 shots over the first half while Vigneux recorded 15 saves on 18 shots during the second half.
During the 2014 season, the Bandits were a true Jekyll and Hyde type of team. One night you could face a very fierce and difficult 8-2 style of team or you would be facing the unsure and less confident 0-8 style of team.
When the Black Wolves were finally on the floor and faced the Bandits yesterday, they saw a little of both and no one was unhappy about that as head coach Cordingley.
“First half I thought we weren’t aggressive enough. I thought we were waiting for things to happen instead of making things happen. I thought they controlled the play in the first half. The second half I thought we won the little battles and did the things that make you successful in this league.”
Buffalo came charging out of the gates early when Jay Thorimbert scooped up the loose ball turnover from New England and went coast to coast before letting it rip on Black Wolves goaltender Evan Kirk to give the Bandits the early one-nothing lead 2:30 into the game.
Before the Bandits had any real time to celebrate their first goal of the preseason, the Black Wolves pulled ahead 3-1 by going on a three goal run over the next three minutes when Brent Adams, first round draft selection Mark Cockerton and Kevin Buchanan each put one past Diruscio. The Bandits were unable to respond at all due to their uneven play through the rest of the opening quarter and the score remained 3-1 after the first.
Down two goals, Buffalo made sure to respond quickly in the second when new Bandit acquisition Jerome Thompson received a stellar pass from Aaron Wilson to score his first preseason goal of the year with the Buffalo Bandits.
Thompson seemed excited that the Bandits were looking at him to possibly play a pivotal role in the offense with “It just felt natural out there. I’ve always been a ball carrying type of player. They wanted me to both carry and set picks inside and I’ve been trying to work at that.”
Even though the preseason scrimmages are still an active competition for each and every roster position, things can always take a turn for the worse in terms of injuries at a moments notice. With the Black Wolves up 5-2 midway through the second quarter, Bandits forward Jamie Rooney was on the receiving end of a vicious head check from Black Wolves defender Bill O’Brien. Rooney immediately dropped to the floor in serious pain, missing four teeth and did not return.
The Bandits used the energy and time assessed in the major penalty to O’Brien as the catalyst to rally the team together and exact some major revenge against the Black Wolves where it hurts them the most, the scoreboard.
Buffalo responded by going on a four goal run with scores from Smith, Bandits first round draft pick Brandon Goodwin, Ryan Benesch and Steve Priolo over a six minute stretch to take back the lead. During that four goal run, Wilson stepped to the forefront as a general on the floor as he assisted on three of the four goals.
Not wanting to let the Bandits end the first half of the scrimmage with a one goal lead, Black Wolves forward Brett Bucktooth got the last laugh as he blazed an upper right hand corner shot past Diruscio’s shoulder with :23 second left in the half to tie the game up at 6-6 heading into halftime.
Heading into the second half of the game, the Bandits and Black Wolves pulled scrimmage starters Diruscio and Kirk and placed in Vigneux and Chris Collins.
While the first half was all about the offense, for the second half it was the defense and especially the goaltending that were the positions that shone through the most. Chris Collins played lights out ball in the third as he turned away all of the Bandits 14 shots on goal. Vigneux also had himself an incredible third quarter as he stopped eight of nine shots with the lone Black Wolves goal allowed at 5:39 by Kevin Crowley.
“I felt really cold after watching the first half,” said Vigneux. “It took a while to get warmed up, but once I got in, started making a few saves, get that first one off your back, it feels good to get the blood flowing. I made a few good ones and just kept the momentum going.”
For the fourth quarter it truly was a tug of war to the end until one team would finally relent. For every goal that the Bandits would score to tie the game up, the Black Wolves would always find a way to answer back and retain the lead. During the fourth, the Bandits received goals from Corey Fowler, Tyler Ferreira and Wilson while the Black Wolves received them from Pat Saunders and Matt Crough. With 2:22 left in the game, Thompson streaked past the final Black Wolves defender and caught a deep bomb of a pass from Andrew Watt and rocketed his shot past Collins for the game-winning goal.
Looking forward to their last two scrimmages against the Black Wolves and Colorado Mammoth next week, Cordingley knows that they did well but it’s just not going to cut it in this league. He stated “We have to be smarter. There was decision making out there right now that is not going to cut it. We have to be patient with the ball offensively and defensively we’ve just got to make better decisions, especially in transition. We just have to put the nose to the grindstone and keep doing the things that make us successful.”
Hopefully the team will learn from their mistakes yesterday and be able to capitalize on January 2nd when they face the Black Wolves at the Mohegan Sun Arena for their season opener.
