Coming into Saturday’s contest, the Buffalo Bandits would be playing their fourth game in eight days. They won the first three in that stretch and were riding a seven-game winning streak. Arguably, the Bandits’ toughest game in that span would come at the hands of the Colorado Mammoth.
Colorado is a fast, young, well-coached team, who sits comfortably in the second spot in the West Division standings. Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado was bumping as the Mammoth were hip to the task of taking down mighty Buffalo, squeaking by with a 15-14 win. What a game this was.
For a good majority of the first quarter it was a tale of two stud goaltenders. Matt Vinc and Dillon Ward were sparkling. The two veterans stood on their heads and went tit-for-tat with save after save to keep the advantage in their club’s favour. Dhane Smith finally snuck one past Ward with a nice drive to the net to make it 1-0 Buffalo with 8:42 left in the first. Another drive to the net by Chase Fraser led to a reactive loose ball roughing penalty against Colorado and put the Bandits on the powerplay. Just a couple seconds in, Chris Cloutier received a slick behind-the-back pass from Josh Byrne and sniped one past Ward to make it 2-0 with 3:35 left. With a few more outstanding saves from Vinc and Ward, and very stifling defense from both clubs, that’s how the quarter would end.
The second quarter scoring started off with a bang. Just about a minute in, prolific scorer Zed Williams fired a spinning backhand shot from the slot that trickled past Vinc. Buffalo had to have known they were not going to keep Zed quiet for long. Not only did that goal get Colorado on the scoreboard, it seemed to have sparked the whole offense.
If the first quarter was tit-for-tat with the goaltenders, the second was that for both offences. Connor Robinson tied the game up for the Mammoth with a rocket of a shot on the power play. Twenty-five seconds later, Kyle Buchanan regained the lead for the Bandits. Keep that number 25 in the back of your mind. Eli McLaughlin answered with a goal from the outside, only to be answered by Fraser, both of which were 25 seconds apart. Four goals scored 25 seconds apart. Weird.
Speaking of weird, so was the next goal for Colorado. McLaughlin swept across the top of the slot, attempted a pass to a cutting Williams and instead of the pass connecting, it bounced off of Williams and went in the net.
Joey Cupido scored next for the Mammoth to give them a 5-4 lead. A questionable slashing call against the Mammoth led to Connor Fields notching his first of the night on the power play. Colorado answered right back with Robinson’s second of the game and another goal by Ryan Lee. 7-5 Colorado going into the half.
Trailing or not, Buffalo is notorious for coming out hot in the second half. Spoiler, this game was no different. Three goals to start the third quarter got the Bandits right back on top. Smith, Byrne and Fraser all beat Ward and the Bandits were now leading 8-7 with 8:38 left in the third.
Colorado said hold on a second. Robinson got his hat trick and Alex Woodall cracked the scoresheet, six seconds apart, mind you. Smith got his hat trick with 3:10 left, Byrne and Woodall each scored another, and we’re sitting at 10-10 going into the fourth. Whew.
Expect more of the same in the fourth. Neither team had more than a two-goal lead the entire game. Chris Wardle gave Colorado the lead, only to be answered by Byrne getting his hat trick. Tyson Gibson scored his first as a member of the Mammoth, only to be answered by Fraser. This isn’t a broken record, nor is it copy and paste, this is edge-of-your-seat type lacrosse.
ROTY contender Tehoka Nanticoke finally found the back of the net for the Bandits with 7:12 left in the frame, making it 13-12.
With 3:42 left, it was crunch time for the Mammoth. Williams tied the game back up, and with a bang. Receiving a pass in the slot, he stiff-armed one defender and fired a behind-the-back shot to beat Vinc. What a way to get your hat trick. Gibson got his second of the night to give the Mammoth the lead back, but 20 seconds later Fraser got his fourth on a quick-stick goal. Tied at 14.
With exactly one minute left, Robinson got his fourth of the night with a very patient shot. Ward stood tall in that last minute to keep the score where it was and give the Mammoth a huge 15-14 win in front of their home crowd.
“We drew up a play, and it was for me to go down the alley and have a couple guys chasing,” said Robinson. “I really wanted to give it to Eli (McLaughlin). He was open, but I was a bit of a coward. I was shooting that all game, surprised they didn’t catch on. But it was a good win overall.”
Players of the game for Buffalo were Byrne (3+5), Fraser (4+1) and Smith (3/9). Vinc stopped 34 of 49, and Ward stopped 48 of 62 with a couple huge saves down the stretch. Robinson (4+0) and Williams (3+2) were outstanding for Colorado.
Buffalo (13-2) can finally go home and rest for a week. They play Saturday at home against the New York Riptide (4-9). As for Colorado (8-6), they have a quick turnaround as they prepare to face New York in a rare Monday night contest.
