It was déjà vu all over again as the Buffalo Bandits were defeated in their season opening game by the Philadelphia Wings, 17-13. Jordan Hall led the Wings to their first victory of the season and was the recipient of the game’s first star honor as he recorded seven points on five goals and two assists.
Buffalo Bandits head coach Troy Cordingley was not happy with his team’s results this evening. “We were taught a lesson. We were outworked and we were outplayed; we were out-everything. We had guys on different pages. You have to be on the same page to win in this league. Quite frankly, we were terrible tonight.”
Philadelphia came charging out of the gates early when Kyle Buchanan received a behind-the-back pass from Tracy Kelusky to give the Wings the one-nothing lead 2:49 into the game.
The former Buffalo Bandit, Kelusky returned with a vengeance against his former team by racking up six points (2g +4a) and earning the second star of the game.
After the game, Wings coach Blaine Harrison was pleased with Kelusky’s performance. “The boys were really happy that Tracy was able to come back and contribute the way he did.”
Five minutes after the Wings pulled ahead with the one-nothing lead, Buffalo responded when new Bandit acquisition Ryan Benesch received a stellar pass from John Tavares to score his first career goal with the Buffalo Bandits on the power play.
Even though Benesch eventually ended the game with two goals, one assist and three loose balls, his main focus was on the overall team performance against the Wings. “Individual stats do not mean anything. This is a team game. We can make all of the excuses we want but we did not stick to our game plan.”
Halfway through the first quarter both teams would trade goals. Kevin Ross gave the Wings the 2-1 lead by scoring for the Wings at 8:26 but was countered three minutes later by Bandits defenseman Glen Bryan.
Garrett Thul and Kyle Sweeney would score back-to-back to give the Wings the 4-2 lead before Ryan Benesch added a late first quarter goal, and his second in the quarter, to cut into the Wings lead making the score 4-3 at the end of the first.
Wings forward Kevin Crowley opened up the scoring in the second quarter by blasting one past Anthony Cosmo, giving the Wings the 5-3 lead, before Bandits transition man Jay Thorimbert went coast-to-coast to keep the Bandits within one goal of tying the game at 5-4.
The Buffalo Bandits then began to get into a little bit of penalty trouble midway through the second quarter. These penalties were the catalyst that began the Jordan Hall highlight show for the Wings. Hall scored four
consecutive goals, including one on a penalty shot, to pull the Wings even further ahead with a 9-4 lead.
The Wings then began to experience their own penalty issues and helped the Buffalo Bandits begin their own run. The team cut into the Wings lead with two power play goals from Shawn Williams and Mark Steenhuis and a late second quarter goal from Kevin Brownell to keep the game close at a 9-7 Wings lead.
Tracy Kelusky began the scoring for Philadelphia in the third quarter by scoring his first goal of the season at 3:31. Two minutes later Dhane Smith would score his first goal of the season for the Bandits. The two goal margin was as close as the game would get for the Bandits as the Wings just kept pouring it on the rest of the way.
Philadelphia would then go on a three goal run with contributions from Kelusky, Hall and Kevin Ross to help give the Wings a five goal lead, making it a 13-8 game. Dhane Smith would score his second goal of the quarter to keep the Bandits within four goals heading into the fourth quarter.
Philadelphia helped make sure the Bandits hopes for a comeback were dashed by scoring three consecutive goals from Ross, Crowley and Buchanan early into the fourth quarter.
Kevin Brownell and Shawn Williams would go back-to-back for the Bandits to bring the team within five goals of the Wings but Buchanan’s third goal of the game helped keep the Wings lead to six goals with 2:45 remaining in the game.
Keeping the game a respectable one, Buffalo Bandits forward Mark Steenhuis would score his second of the game with 2:31 remaining and Bandits forward Dhane Smith would finish the night with his first hat trick of the season with 10 seconds remaining in the game. Final score: Philadelphia Wings 17, Buffalo Bandits 13.
The most troubling issue for the Bandits coaching staff this evening was the shot totals for this game. The Philadelphia Wings racked up an impressive 68 shots against the Bandits 52. Bandits starting goaltender Anthony Cosmo made 38 saves on 51 shots before being pulled for Kurtis Wagar.
“Our defense was not making people pay the price and we were not boxing out,” Cordingley said. “Our defense was just as bad as our offense. We spent an extensive amount of time talking about not being outworked. And we were totally outworked tonight.”
The Bandits will have the bye week this upcoming week. This much needed time should help give the coaching staff another thorough inspection of their current roster. “We’ve got lots of work to do,” Cordingley said. “We need to get the guys on the same page, because if not, there’s going to be a few guys watching from the crowd.”
Hopefully the team will learn from the mistakes of tonight’s contest and be able to capitalize on January 10th when they host the Toronto Rock at the First Niagara Center.
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