Down three goals in the third quarter, the Buffalo Bandits (6-5) unleashed a furious fourth quarter rally to emerge victorious with the 15-12 win against the Eastern Division leading Toronto Rock (9-2) Friday night in front of 12,903 fans at the First Niagara Center.
Buffalo concluded the contest on a four goal run to clinch their second consecutive victory and gained some serious ground in the Eastern Division race. With the victory this evening against Toronto, the Bandits are currently one game behind the second place Rochester Knighthawks and three games behind the Rock.
Leading the way for the Bandits this evening was the stellar play of Ryan Benesch. Benesch led all scorers this evening with nine points (4G, 5A) on his way to being named the third star of the game by the media. Benesch scored the first goal of the game for the Bandits and helped set the pace for the crazy scoring shootout to come.
Also assisting Benesch this evening in their victory against the Rock was Mark Steenhuis with seven points (2G and 5A), Dhane Smith with five points (2G, 3A), Bandits goaltender Anthony Cosmo with his career high five points (5A) and transitional standout Alex Kedoh Hill with four points (4G).
After the game, Alex Kedoh Hill addressed the media on how the Bandits had to step up their game and rally come together as a unit to get the victory against their Eastern Division rivals with “This was a big game. We had a lot of fire built up from losing to them last time. Tonight we knew that we had to make a statement that we’re the real deal and we’re not going anywhere.”
Leading the offense for the Rock tonight was the league leader in scoring Rob Hellyer. Hellyer earned eight points (2G, 6A) while teammates Stephan Leblanc picked up six points (2G, 4A) and currently second in the league in scoring Josh Sanderson as he tallied five points (2G, 3A).
With only one minute off the clock in the first quarter, Bandits forward Ryan Benesch set the tone for the game early with his first goal of the evening.
After the Bandits were on the receiving end of two costly penalties (holding, too many men) Rock forward Stephan Leblanc used their five on three power play advantage to rip an upper left shoulder shot past Bandits goaltender Anthony Cosmo to tie the game up at one goal apiece before the first media timeout.
Penalty troubles also seemed to find their way to the side of the Rock as well midway through the first quarter when they were called for a delay of game penalty that helped aid the Bandits with a power play goal of their own from Benesch that gave the lead back to them at 2-1. Toronto managed to stay in step with the Bandits through the rest of the first and regained the lead with less than five minutes to go in the first with tallies from Hellyer and Sanderson.
Looking to leave the first quarter on a high note against the Rock, the Bandits were able to get a two goal run of their own to finish the first quarter with a breakaway goal from Mitch Wilde as he received the pass from Cosmo and a laser of a shot from Bandits captain John Tavares that trickled past Rock starting goaltender Nick Rose with less than two seconds remaining on the clock.
Buffalo Bandits head coach Troy Cordingley talked about the incredible job the transition game came through especially in the first quarter and excelled through the rest of the game with “We’re a fast team out of our own end and we need to continue to do that. If we can chip in one, two or three transition goals a game we’ll be fine.”
Just like he did to open the scoring in the first quarter, Benesch yet again got the ball rolling for the Bandits just 30 seconds into the second quarter when he received the two-on-one pass from transition specialist David Brock.
Not wanting to let the control of the game slip through their fingers, the Rock came together as a unit and proved why they are the best in the East by going on a four goal run to end the first half. The Bandits got into penalty trouble yet again midway through the second quarter with a holding call and an unsportsmanlike conduct call that the Rock used to score two power play goals from Brett Hickey and Brodie Merrill while also tacking on another two goals from Sanderson and Kevin Ross to complete the four goal rally. Without a doubt the rally by the Rock definitely left a bad taste in the Bandits mouth heading into halftime now being down two goals.
“They moved the ball up the floor well and our offense really got off the floor well but you have to give credit where credit is due,” said Bandits assistant captain Steve Priolo. “Their O guys get off the floor very quick and we were pushing the ball and looking for the second or third guy off the bench and it was always covered because of how hard their offense got off the floor.”
After receiving a spirited pep talk and a readjustment of strategy from head coach John Lovell at halftime, the Rock came blazing out of the gates in the third quarter and looked to put the Bandits away early.
The Rock began the quarter with a three goal lead when Rock forward Kasey Beirnes able to slip a low rocket shot past Cosmo. Buffalo’s 20 minute scoring drought (last goal was :30 into the second quarter) came to an end when the Bandits scored two quick goals from Kedoh Hill and Smith at the six minute mark of the third quarter to cut the Rock lead down to one goal at 8-7.
The penalty issues that the Bandits faced in the first and second really came ahead in the third and nearly cost them the game. Midway through the third the Bandits were assessed a tripping call at 8:10 and less than a minute later they were dealt the dreaded five minute major high sticking penalty from Kedoh Hill. With the Bandits down two men, the Rock began to smell blood in the water and went on a three goal power play frenzy with help from Ross, Leblanc and Merrill that gave them the 11-7 lead with less than five minutes to go in the third.
After being assessed the five minute major penalty, Kedoh Hill knew in his heart that he needed to just let it go and move forward. “I was really down because they have one of the best power play units in the league. Once they scored I knew that I had to play even harder and get ready for the next shift.”
In this league, two goals at times can be very difficult to come back from but not wanting to end the third with a four goal deficit, Benesch helped pull the Bandits together for one more run that resulted in a goal that helped to cut the Rock lead to 11-8 heading into the fourth.
When Kedoh Hill said that he would work even harder to make up for the three goal deficit that was caused by his high sticking major, he truly was a man of his word.
For the first five minutes of the fourth quarter it truly was the Alexander Kedoh Hill show. Kedoh Hill truly worked every square inch of that floor and pushed himself to the absolute limits in his defensive efforts, picking up the loose balls and even caught fire on his scoring touch. Kedoh Hill completely erased the three goals he caused by getting the natural hat trick with three goals of his own and tying the game all up at 11-11.
Feeling the momentum starting to swing back in favor to the Bandits, Hellyer would give the lead back to the Rock less than a minute later in a bid to silence the raucous Banditland crowd and help lead the Rock to the victory.
Unfortunately for the Rock, their sticks fell silent the rest of the game and the Bandits would seal the deal with a four goal run and finish the night with the 15-12 victory.
After the game, Cordingley was proud of the way his team came together to pull out the incredibly important division win tonight with “We need to be that. That is us. Everybody on our team tonight cared and played with their hearts and stepped up. We could have quit but we didn’t and kudos to the players in our room who battled and played.”
The Bandits will be hitting the road for a 7:00pm game tonight at the Air Canada Centre when they face the Toronto Rock in their third and final showdown of 2015 NLL regular season .
