The Rochester Knighthawks will be hosting the Buffalo Bandits 7:30pm Saturday night at the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester for Game Two of the NLL Eastern Division Finals.
After defeating the Rochester Knighthawks in Game One, the Buffalo Bandits will have two chances to not only dethrone the back-to-back defending NLL Champions but also advance to the NLL Champion’s Cup Finals as well.
In their previous matchup, the Knighthawks held the one goal (8-7) lead midway through the final quarter before Bandits captain John Tavares helped ignite his offense into a five goal run that sealed the 12-8 victory in Buffalo on May 10th.
During the weekly coach’s conference, Bandits assistant coach Dan Teat addressed the media on his take of game one.
“It was tight throughout, I think we capitalized on a couple of mistakes late and we took advantage of a couple opportunities. Having said that, we know we’re going into Rochester where they’ve only lost one game all year (to Edmonton). We’ve got to prepare better and not just wait for those opportunities; we’ve got to create our own.”
With Buffalo securing the victory in game one, Rochester must win both the second game and the 10 minute mini game to stay in contention of winning a third consecutive title.
So far, the Buffalo Bandits and the Rochester Knighthawks have faced each other five times this season. It will be in the best interest of both teams to scrutinize as much previous game footage as possible to find those hidden weaknesses that may have been missed before.
“Both teams know each other extremely well; there’s no hidden secrets,” Teat said. “It’s going to come down to who can execute their game plan better.”
With the Knighthawks destiny in their own hands, head coach Mike Hasen is looking forward to his team giving it all they can in front of the home crowd.
“That’s our mindset, Game One happened. Game Two, we’re at home, a place that we’ve played well at this year. We’ve earned the opportunity to have this second game back at home. We’re glad that we earned that opportunity, but we’ve got to worry about that opening faceoff first and foremost. If we can battle and give ourselves the opportunity, then we’ll get ready for the next ten minutes and see if we can win this series.”
Leading the offensive charge for the Bandits on Saturday will be Ryan Benesch with 14 points (7G, 7A), Mark Steenhuis with 13 points (5G, 8A) and John Tavares with 10 points (6G, 4A).
Leading the offensive charge for the Knighthawks will be Cody Jamieson with 5 points (2G, 3A), Dan Dawson with 5 points (2G, 3A) and Cory Vitarelli with 3 points (2G, 1A).
