If you’re a fan of Buffalo Bandits lacrosse, Saturday night’s contest against the Colorado Mammoth had been circled on your calendar for nine months. Last June, the Mammoth took games two and three to capture the Championship, winning game three in Buffalo. The Bandits looked for some revenge, all while sporting some sweet St. Patrick’s Day uniforms.
KeyBank Center was bumping in the first quarter. After that, it was eerily similar to the Finals last year. Colorado completely took the crowd out of it, and proved Buffalo can be beaten in second halves of games. The Mammoth walked out of Buffalo the same way they did nine months ago to the day, this time with an impressive 13-8 victory. The Bandits and the rest of O’Banditland are going to need quite a few pints of their favorite Irish “gargle” after this one. To add insult to injury, Buffalo could have clinched a playoff berth with a win.
One positive for Buffalo was they saw the return of dynamic forward Chase Fraser. This would be the first game for Fraser, as he underwent surgery in the offseason.
Fraser, upset with the loss, still seemed thrilled to be back with the team.
“It felt great to be back with the team,” he said. “Terrible result, but it was great to be back out there. It was a six-month recovery process from the surgery I had. It was a lot of work, but the fun part of it is getting back.”
Let’s get to the action.
Chris Cloutier continued his hot return as he opened the scoring quickly with a power play goal. Zed Williams had the answer, but that’d be the only goal the Mammoth would score in the first quarter. The second Buffalo goal almost took the roof off the joint. Yep, you guessed it, Fraser ripped his first of the game on the power play and the first in quite some time, much to the pleasure of the Banditland faithful. Instead of a power play goal, Buffalo’s third was shorthanded, courtesy of maybe the shortest guy with the biggest amount of grit, Kyle Buchanan. Bucky was flying to the net as Buffalo was killing the penalty, and Josh Byrne hit him with a quick pass that Buchanan buried. Carter McKenzie got the fourth and final goal of the quarter for Buffalo, which was as “transition-esque” as they come, and it was his first as a Bandit. The physicality really ramped up to end the first, as two heavyweights dropped the mitts in Warren Jeffrey and Steve Priolo. KeyBank was on fire. 4-1 Bandits after one.
If you’re Colorado, do you know how to extinguish that fire? A four-goal run to start the second. Goal scorers were Tyson Gibson, Ty Thompson twice, and Connor Robinson on the power play. All of a sudden we sat at 5-4 Mammoth with 9:54 to play in the frame. Stunned silence in Buffalo with a ton of similarities from last year.
Fraser tied it back up with his second of the game by finishing a beautiful one-timer from Cloutier. Speaking of Clooch, he scored next for Buffalo, his second, with a nice jump shot right at the front of the crease. Colorado got the last laugh of the quarter as Eli McLaughlin and Chris Wardle scored in the final two minutes. 7-6 Colorado going into the break.
One thing not mentioned about this game was we were treated to a world-class goaltender showdown. Both netminders did not disappoint in the first half. Matt Vinc stopped 17 of 24, while Dillon Ward stopped 19 of 25.
“It’s a fun building to play in, tons of fans,” said Ryan Lee at halftime about being able to silence the Banditland faithful. “Just stick to our game, stick to our systems, and we can come out and play hard against them.”
Lately, the third quarter is when the Bandits really turn on the pressure. Uncharacteristically, this one did not feature the same result for Buffalo. There were only two goals scored in the quarter, one from each side. The first was with 3:24 left, as Brad McCulley found the back of the net on the power play with a slick one-timer, and most importantly, tied the game back up. Williams got his second of the game less than two minutes later to give Colorado the momentum again. 8-7 Colorado going into the fourth.
The final frame was plain ugly for Buffalo. Josh Byrne got his first of the game to tie it back up, but the Bandits did not score again in the quarter. Colorado sulked this one away, all while going on a five-goal run to end it. Scorers during that run were Robinson twice, for his hat trick, McLaughlin twice, for his hat trick, and Anthony Joaquim. It demands repeating that the Mammoth are the defending champs for a reason, and they proved that in the fourth quarter of this game. Ward was unreal, their defense was stifling, and they did just enough scoring to keep Buffalo out of reach. Tempers boiled over in the final minute as McCulley and Josh Sullivan dropped the mitts. The frustration for Buffalo was clear as could be. For the first time this year, fans were piling out of the KeyBank Center with quite a bit of time left in the game. Your final, 13-8 Colorado.
“That doesn’t happen very often in Buffalo,” said John Tavares regarding the fans leaving. “It’s not encouraging. I felt bad.”
Players of the game for Buffalo were Cloutier (2+3), Byrne (1+5) and Fraser (two goals). Vinc was stellar in the first half, but fell off in the second. The netminder made 32 saves on 45 shots. For Colorado, Williams (2+3), McLaughlin (3+2) and Robinson (three goals) led the way. Ryan Lee also chipped in six assists. Ward showed why he is the reigning NLL Finals MVP and reigning PLL champ. He made 38 saves on 46 shots.
“We didn’t lose for a lack of effort,” said Tavares. “It’s times like these where guys gotta stick together. We’re 10-3. If you would’ve told me at the beginning of the year that after 13 games we’d be 10-3, I would be happy.”
Buffalo (10-3) controls their destiny. They still sit atop the East Conference and are a win away from clinching a playoff berth. They travel to the west coast to take on San Diego (9-2) this Saturday at 10 pm. Colorado (6-6) needs to keep winning if they want a shot at the playoffs and a possible repeat. They travel to Vancouver to take on the Warriors (3-10) this Saturday at 10 pm.
