In a showdown of two long standing Eastern Division rivals, the Buffalo Bandits (2-1) saw their team firing on all cylinders of their game and sent the Toronto Rock (0-4) back to the drawing board still looking for their first win of the season after the Bandits crushed the Rock 12-6 in front of 13,395 at the First Niagara Center Saturday night.
The win against the Rock not only gives the Bandits an important first divisional win of the season, but gives the team hope that if they can keep sticking to their game plan and dictate the course of the game the entire night, even more wins and especially divisional ones will come their way.
For the Bandits on Saturday they were led by Dhane Smith once again with nine points on four goals and five assists, Mitch Jones with four points from one goal and three assists and the trio of Ryan Benesch, Mark Steenhuis and Bandits rookie Anthony Malcolm with three points on the night.
Bandits starting goaltender Anthony Cosmo had an impressive night in net for the team as he recorded 37 saves on 43 shots and a .860 save percentage in the victory against the Rock.
After the game, Bandits head coach Troy Cordingley praised Cosmo’s effort during the game with, “He was real good tonight. Defenses are going to break down in this league because the ball moves so much and when they do break down, you need those big saves. Coz made some huge stops tonight.”
Leading the way for the Toronto Rock this evening was forward Stephan Leblanc with four points coming from two goals and two assists. Forwards Rob Hellyer and Brett Hickey also assisted the team in their offensive pursuits with three points each for the game. Rock goaltender Brandon Miller was the starter tonight against the Bandits with Miller receiving the loss on 33 saves in 45 shots.
For a team that’s been averaging six goals a game, it was definitely a change of pace seeing the Rock score the first two goals of the game early in the first from Bill Hostrawser and Leblanc. With the team winless at 0-3 the Rock looked really determined to turn the corner and get their season back on track. The Rock’s stingy prevent defense held the Bandits in check for the first 11 minutes of the game by keeping them to the outside and off the scoreboard. The Bandits were finally able to break through the Rock defense and went on a two goal run of their own from Smith and Steenhuis.
Cordingley addressed his team’s ability to adapt to their opponents and effort to work through their issues towards the victory noting, “The first five or six minutes we kind of struggled, but then we got into a flow. After that I liked our game. We were playing like a team. We had energy; we were doubling the ball on their offensive players. We did a really good job of pushing the ball and created chances to score.”
With less than a minute left in the first the Rock ended the Bandits streak at two goals when Hellyer put a blast past Cosmo and gave the team the 3-2 lead. With the Bandits having the last possession of the first they decided to pull their goaltender for the extra attacker and it paid off handsomely when newcomer Daryl Veltman ripped a shot past Miller’s shoulder and tied the game up with three seconds remaining on the clock.
Toronto surged out of the gate early in the second when Rock forward Kevin Ross quick-sticked his goal past Cosmo to give the team the 4-3 lead just 44 seconds into the second. Unfortunately for the Rock, that would be the last goal they would see out of the first half.
For the Bandits however, they caught fire in the second quarter by finishing the first half with a five goal run.
Kevin Brownell would get the run started for the Bandits by scoring just 33 seconds after Ross and tying the game up at 4-4.
Over the next five minutes the Rock would have two chances to swing the momentum back in their favor only to see two of their goals successfully challenged by Cordingley when both opportunities saw players crossing into the crease before the ball crossed the line.
“We definitely felt a swing of momentum (from the two overturned goals). Those hurt the other team for sure,” said Smith after the game. “We’ve done a better job than last year (stopping opponent goal runs). We have the same group offensively as last year and it shows.”
With Toronto’s wind of momentum taken from their sails, the Bandits continued to pour it on offensively with Benesch, a returning Alex Kedoh-Hill, Jones and Smith each recording a goal to give the Bandits a commanding 8-4 lead heading into halftime.
Heading into the third, the Bandits offense continued to pour on the pressure against the Rock with crisp passing, great off-ball movement to create good shooting lanes and would see two more goals from Smith and Benesch go past Miller to give them the 10-4 lead midway through the third.
With the offense firing on all cylinders, the defensive aspects of the Bandits defense were on full display with lots of doubling the ball on the top Rock offensive threats, keeping them to the outside and getting the loose balls to keep the Rock in check.
Bandits starting goaltender Anthony Cosmo praised his defense team’s effort they did this evening with, “I thought this was our best defensive outing in a long time. We really forced their team, dictated what we wanted to be done and brought players down the wall, allowing me to see the ball and make easy saves. We preach all the time, hard pressure on the ball and make guys pay. We did that under control. We pounded them but stayed out of the box.”
By the time the Rock finally got back on the board with Ross’s second goal of the game at the 9:45 mark of the third, 24 minutes had passed between the last Rock tally and the Bandits held a comfortable 10-5 lead heading into the fourth.
Steenhuis would continue to keep the Bandits’ sizeable lead in hand for the team when he kicked off the scoring in the fourth with his second goal of the night with less than two minutes off the clock.
Leblanc would cut the Bandits lead back down to a manageable five goals with 7:50 left in the game with his second goal of the night.
Smith would receive his fourth and final goal of the game with a top shelf scorcher over Miller’s shoulder and end the game with the 12-6 victory.
Bandits forward Dhane Smith liked what he saw in his team from tonight’s game and believed that, “We moved the ball better than we did in the first two games, and we have so many threats on offense it’s unbelievable. It opens up everybody on offense and obviously Coz and our defense played really well too. It was a great team effort and we came out with the win.”
Buffalo’s next game will see them on the road at the Mohegan Sun January 30 for an important divisional showdown against the New England Black Wolves.
