The Buffalo Bandits celebratory 25th season as a franchise was in full swing Saturday night as the team faced off against the visiting Calgary Roughnecks in front of 14,286 screaming Banditland fans inside the First Niagara Center.
Bandits forward Dhane Smith gave the fans definitely something to cheer about with a stunning stutter-step/fake of a shot past Roughnecks starting goaltender Frankie Scigliano in the closing two minutes of the game to give the Buffalo Bandits (1-0) the 10-9 victory over the Roughnecks (0-2).
Asked about the memorable game winning goal, Smith explained that, “The move is usually my go-to move, but I don’t want to tell too many people that. I obviously have different moves but that one seems to be the one I lean on and luckily it worked for me tonight.”
Bandits head coach Troy Cordingley also praised Smith on his game winning shot stating that, “Big players make the big plays. He struggled a little bit with his shooting and the team as a whole really struggled offensively but they stuck with it, found a way and came up with a big goal.”
The victory against the Roughnecks on Saturday definitely helps to give the Bandits a good head start in the Eastern Division standings and some extra time to work out the kinks in their updated offensive/defensive schemes before they face the dreaded Colorado Mammoth (2-0) on the road next week.
Smith received first star of the game honors as he recorded five points on two goals (including the game winner) and three assists. Besides Smith, Bandits forward Ryan Benesch also had a wonderful evening as well three points of his own coming from two goals and one assist.
Bandits starting goaltender Anthony Cosmo was stellar in net as he kept the potent Roughnecks offense away from the score sheet with 41 saves out of 50 shots in the victory.
“Cosmo was sensational again tonight,” Bandits head coach Cordingley said. “He’s a real good goalie and I know there is not a lot of credit given to him in this league, but he made some real huge saves for us tonight.”
Leading the way for the Calgary Roughnecks this evening was the stellar play of forward Dane Dobbie as he recorded seven points on two goals and five assists.
One particular player of note this evening for the Roughnecks which deserves some attention was the gritty play of incoming forward Tyler Digby who the Roughnecks acquired in the offseason from the New England Black Wolves. Digby proved to the Roughnecks that he was worth trading for by recording four points on three goals and one assist while also receiving the second star of the night honors. Roughnecks starting goaltender Scigliano had an uneven performance in net tonight making 33 saves in the loss to the Bandits.
For the first half of the game, the Bandits and Roughnecks were really locked into a very tight game of tug of war with neither side relenting to the other or letting the game get out of hand with goal scoring runs.
Bandits’ assistant captain David Brock got the Bandits on the scoreboard first with an unassisted coast to coast goal with not even three minutes off of the clock. The special teams play from both the Bandits and the Roughnecks were another major highlight of the evening and started with Calgary responding four minutes later with a shorthanded goal coming from forward Curtis Dickson to tie the game at one apiece.
For the rest of the first quarter the Bandits and Roughnecks both exchanged two goal runs of their own coming from Smith and Nick Weiss for the Bandits and two from Dobbie for the Roughnecks to leave the game tied at three after the first quarter.
Buffalo and Calgary were still locked in the tug of war during the entire second quarter as Bandits newcomer Daryl Veltman and Benesch recorded two for the team while Jeff Shattler and Wesley Berg responded in kind for the Roughnecks to leave the game tied at 5-5 at the half.
While the Calgary Roughnecks showcased their special teams play in the first half, it was the Buffalo Bandits turn to showcase their special teams in the second half.
After Bandits assistant captain Steve Priolo was called for a holding penalty during the two minute mark of the third quarter, Bandits transition specialists Kevin Brownell and Mitch Jones stunned the Roughnecks as they both recorded shorthanded goals less than 10 seconds apart to give them the 7-5 lead.
Trying to make sure the Bandits didn’t pull ahead with an even larger margin heading into the fourth quarter, Digby received a stellar pass from Shattler and cranked a top shelf blast past Bandits goaltender Cosmo to keep the Roughnecks within one goal of the Bandits lead as they headed into the fourth quarter.
As the fourth quarter began, Bandits transition specialist Mitch Wilde received a beauty of a pass from Smith and blazed one past Scigliano to help give them the two goal lead (8-6). Digby’s second goal of the game at the 4:27 mark of the fourth helped the Roughnecks counter back and keep them within one goal. Benesch’s second goal of the game at 7:18 in the fourth helped give the Bandits back their two goal lead but Calgary would counter one last time with a two goal run from Dickson and Digby three minutes later to help tie the game up at nine with less than five minutes to go in the game.
Smith would eventually give the Bandits their game winning goal with a little over a minute remaining in the game and send the Roughnecks packing with their second straight loss of the season.
For the past couple of seasons, the Bandits defense has been on shaky ground with the team giving opponents multiple chances with high quality shots and Cosmo leading the league in saves. With some modifications to their defensive scheme this year (pressure defense), Bandits goaltender Anthony Cosmo was very pleased this evening with how well the defense adjusted to the new game plan and pulled out the victory.
Cosmo stated that “Our ‘D’ played really well today. We have a new system that we’re trying out this season and I thought we did a good job of playing that system and staying compact. We weren’t too overzealous, we forced guys toward the wall and those shots were easy for me to stop.”
Buffalo’s next game will be on Saturday January 16 when they head west for a showdown with the Western Division leading Colorado Mammoth.
