Saturday’s contest between the Buffalo Bandits and Halifax Thunderbirds saw seven ties throughout the game. With 27 total goals scored, and in front of another sellout crowd inside the KeyBank Center, the Buffalo Bandits secured the one-seed in the NLL Playoffs, winning 15-12.
Allow me to do something a little bit different with this article. Usually, I’m a big fan of nonbiased opinions in these recaps and a sprinkle of anonymity. This recap is a bit different, because this week for me has looked a lot different. My name is Dan Dudziak, I am 32 years old and have been in Buffalo, NY my whole life. I am a lifelong Bandits fan and season ticket holder, along with a bunch of my closest friends. Last Saturday, one of my best friends for over a decade, passed away tragically and this week has been a whirlwind to say the least. “Nubz” was one of the most radiant, kind-hearted, funny people I have ever had the pleasure meeting. He lit up every single room he walked into, and if you ever had the pleasure, you were better for it. Most important of all, he was one of the very best when it came to chopping it up about the Buffalo Bandits. If there was anyone who was a bigger fan of the team than I am, it was him. These games mean so much more now than they ever have. They don’t call it the medicine game for nothing.
Let me get you the details of the game and we’ll get back to Nubz at the end.
Considering that there were 27 total goals scored, you wouldn’t have thought it during the first quarter, as the action took a little while to get going. In front of that aforementioned sellout crowd (which broke the league’s attendance record for a single season by the way), Ian MacKay and Josh Byrne scored back-to-back goals at the 3:08 mark and the 1:35 mark of the first, both of which were on the power play. Mike Robinson finally got Halifax on the board with his first and that’s how she’d close. 2-1 Bandits after one.
Buffalo opened up the second the same way they opened the first, with two-straight goals, one from Byrne and the other from Clay Scanlan. This time, the Thunderbirds answered with three of their own to tie the game right back up. Those goals were scored by Clarke Petterson twice and Dawson Theede. They also took up a considerable amount of clock, so it was evident that Halifax was trying to control the pace. The stalemate continued for the rest of the quarter, as four more goals were scored, two per team. For Buffalo, it was Kyle Buchanan and Byrne. For Halifax, it was Randy Staats twice. All locked up at six at the break.
Both goaltenders had their work cut out for them in the first half, as each faced a flurry of shots. On one side, Matt Vinc was stout, stopping 23 of 29. On the other, Drew Hutchison was equal to the task, stopping 15 of 21.
How about three quarters in a row for Buffalo opening it up with two-straight goals. This time it was Byrne and Buchanan, and the Buffalo lead was back up to two. Theede answered with his second on the power play, but Chase Fraser got it right back for the Bandits. For the second time in as many quarters, Staats took matters into his own hands, as he buried two-straight to nod it back up. A pair of goals from two league greats, one from Dhane Smith and the other from Cody Jamieson closed out the third and we were still deadlocked. 10-10 after three.
Halifax grabbed their first lead of the game to start the fourth quarter, as Petterson completed his hat trick on the power play. Once again, Buffalo responded with, yes, you guessed it, two-straight. Those two were scored by Steve Priolo and Buchanan. Just about 30 seconds after Bucky’s, Jamieson notched his second and we were all tied up…again. Sorry to say it T-Birds faithful, but that’d be it for Halifax’s scoring the rest of the way. Buffalo closed the game out with three consecutive goals and ran out of raucous KeyBank Center with a 15-12 win. Those final three Bandits goals were scored by MacKay, Buchanan, and Cam Wyers, which was a coast-to-coast transition beauty.
Players of the game for Buffalo were Byrne (4+4), Buchanan (4+1), and Smith (1+10). Vinc was a brick wall in the fourth quarter, stopping 51 of 63 in total. For Halifax, Staats (4+5), Petterson (3+4), and Jamieson (2+2) led the way. Hutchison kept his team in it but faltered a bit down the stretch. He made 33 saves on 48 shots.
“I thought we did a really good job of minimizing them in transition”, said John Tavares. They are a really good transition team, and I don’t think they got any goals in transition, and we got two or three. We have to treat it like a playoff game (the regular season finale against Georgia), It might be Georgia that we’re playing (in the playoffs).”
“Most of our losses have been one-goal games, except for maybe one of them”, said Buchanan. “You want to get those tough wins; it was nice to pull away in the fourth quarter.”
Buffalo (13-4) has clinched the league’s top spot. They close out the regular season on the road against Georgia (8-9). That game is this Saturday at 7:30pm. Halifax (10-7) sits in third place in the standings. They also hit the road for the season finale against Toronto (5-11). That one is this Friday at 7pm.
Before I go, allow me to tell you a story about my late friend as it relates to the Buffalo Bandits and hit you with some of his infamous quotes. Years ago, before Vinc was a Bandit, I was out with some other friends, and I received a phone call. I answered and was told top secret news, that Matt Vinc was going to be coming to Buffalo, and I was sworn to secrecy until the news was made official. Me, being me, I called “Nubz” immediately and told him the news (oops). He lost his mind on the phone and started to cry tears of happiness and said, “we’re so back”. I thought nothing more of the conversation, said I love you as we did after every phone call, and I went to bed. I woke up the next morning to what felt like a million text messages and missed phone calls from various friends, family members, Bandits fans, asking me if I heard that Vinc was coming to Buffalo. I immediately called my friend Nubz, and said, “hey man, what gives?”. He replied, “I couldn’t help myself; I called everyone in my contacts.” Now more than ever, that is a story that I will never forget.
Nubz was infamous for some funny quotes, most of which only made sense to those around him and us in his immediate friend group. Here are some appropriate ones:
“You know what they say”
“Bo Gills (or) Bo Gandits”, as he loved flipping the first letters of those two phrases.
And my personal favorite for no other reason than it made absolutely no sense:
“They did what they did, ‘cause they did what they does, ‘cause they didn’t do what they did. Or did.
My message is simple: hug your loved ones. Make the time to check on your people, take the pictures and videos. You have absolutely no idea when their number is going to get called. Moreover, mental health is very real and tremendously important. To my dear friend, this one’s for you. Bo Gandits. E.K. 
