(Photo: Dan Pattison)
With both teams tied at two goals apiece at the end of the first quarter, the Buffalo Bandits’ incredible special teams play that emerged in the second ended up being the catalyst in their 15-8 opening preseason victory against the New England Black Wolves Saturday night at the First Niagara Center.
Tyler Ferreira led the Bandits to their first preseason victory of the year and was the recipient of the game’s first star honor as he recorded eight points on four goals, four assists and eventually the game winning goal.
While Ferreira (the Bandits’ second round, 18th overall selection in the 2014 NLL draft) had a very difficult 2015 NLL season—he was unable to crack the Bandits starting roster—he was finally able to catch his big break during the summer with an impressive 51 points in 17 games with his hometown team, the Brampton Excelsiors of Major Series Lacrosse. Yesterday, it was really nice to see Ferreira finally be able to prove to the Bandits coaching staff his true worth of being selected 18th overall.
After the game, Ferreira explained his intense desire to prove his worth to the Bandits coaching staff with, “My goal is to make the team this year. I was happy with making the practice squad last year but wasn’t satisfied. I’m not satisfied with it this year.”
Another fan of Ferreira’s work against the Black Wolves was Bandits head coach Troy Cordingley. Regarding Ferreira’s incredible eight point game yesterday, Cordingley stated that, “I don’t look at points. I look at how smart players play and position. If you take away the points, you look at ‘What else did he do?’ And he did a lot. He had ground balls, he seals real well, he saw the floor very well, he’s always moving and guys like that are hard to check. We had a strong effort from him tonight.”
Besides Ferreira, Bandits forwards Brady Heseltine, Jerome Thompson and Chad Culp also had themselves an incredible game as well against the Black Wolves. Heseltine played the entire 60 minutes and recorded five points (3 G, 2 A) while Thompson and Culp both recorded four points apiece with each player scoring two goals and notching two assists.
While the Bandits offensive cohesion may have taken center stage during their first preseason game, the battle for the backup goaltender position has also begun to heat up as well.
Rance Vigneux and Hunyahdengowah Abrams both received equal evaluating time from the Bandits coaching staff as Vigneux started the first half of the game while Abrams started in the second. When all was said and done, Vigneux allowed only three goals in the first half while Abrams allowed five goals during the second half.
Once the game was finally all said and done, Cordingley was, “Real happy with the goaltending. We broke down a couple times and our goalies made some big saves. It was a big start.”
Buffalo came charging out of the gates halfway through the first quarter on a two goal run from tallies by Jerome Thompson and Jordan Dance before New England would counter with a two goal run of their own from newly acquired Brendan Thenhaus and Kyle Buchanan to even the score at 2-2 after the first quarter.
Just like the first quarter, the Bandits dictated the pace yet again in the second quarter as they slowly started to pull away on two quick goals in the first five minutes by Matthew Bennett and Ferreira. With the Bandits now ahead 4-2 midway through the second, the Black Wolves physically over-aggressive defensive play started to get the team into penalty trouble.
It was at this moment that the Bandits finally began to lay to rest the special teams specter that haunted them during the 2015 regular season.
For the remainder of the first half, the Bandits special teams put on a clinic as they were able to record five power play goals with contributions from Ferreira (2 G) and Thompson, Culp and Heseltine each with one of their own while also proving just as dangerous when short-handed with a goal coming from Corey Fowler. The Black Wolves were only able to muster up one goal during the entire second quarter on a power play goal of their own from Kevin Buchanan. When the first half finally reached its conclusion, the Bandits held a commanding 11-3 lead.
Regarding the resurgence of their special teams play, Cordingley stated, “I thought they moved the ball real well and only took high quality shots. We also were responsible getting back. They pressed a couple of times where we did get turnovers and had second chances and capitalized on it. We were real good in that area as well.”
Cordingley continued on and also sent praises to their defensive roles with the ball by stating that, “Defensively, I liked our position and I liked the way we pressured the ball.”
Not wanting to let the game slip through their fingers like in the first half, New England refocused their strategies and pulled out a more refined/penalty free game in the third resulting in the team roaring back with a vengeance.
At the end of the third quarter, the Black Wolves pulled within six goals of the Bandits 13-7 lead with two goals from forward Mike McDonald and one each from Kevin Buchanan and Thenhaus.
Unfortunately for the Black Wolves, they were unable to capitalize any more on the slight momentum swing in their favor from the third when they could only muster up one goal in the fourth by John Ranagan in the 15-8 loss.
The Bandits second of three preseason scrimmages will be next Saturday Dec. 12 against the Calgary Roughnecks at the TRAC in Oakville, Ontario.
Game Stats:
Buffalo Bandits:
Thompson (2 G, 2 A) Dance (1 G)
Bennett (1 G) Ferreira (4 G, 4 A)
Heseltine (3 G, 2 A) Fowler (1 G, 1 A)
Culp (2 G, 2 A) Triolo (1 G, 1 A)
Brownell (2 A)
Goalies: Vigneux: 3 Goals Allowed; Abrams: 5 Goals Allowed
New England Black Wolves
Thenhaus (2 G) Kyle Buchanan (1 G)
Kevin Buchanan (2 G) Mike McDonald (2 G)
Ranagan (1 G) Caputo (1 A)
Shane McDonald (1 A) Cockerton (1 A)
Evan Kirk: 15 Goals Allowed
