Once again the Bandits played poorly at home, and once again they left the floor on the losing end of things. After seeming to be down in every aspect of the game, the Bandits fell to 5-7 with their 14-7 loss to the Rush.
The Bandits were out shot 63 to 42 and out loose-balled 96 to 76. It seemed that the Rush just hustled a tad more than Buffalo last night.
“We were watching a lot of the game,” said Bandits coach Darris Kilgour. “We can’t be watching, we’ve got to be playing. If you’re not playing then you’re hurting us. The play in the first half, shot clock winding down, guy throws it off the back of the boards and watches the ball go against the board and says ‘oh there’s my guy standing in front of the goal.’ That’s an embarrassing play. Its embarrassing.”
“It seems to start with our defense, we are a really athletic team back there,” said Rush coach Derek Keenan. “We tend to take away time and space quickly and on the other end we have a little bit of everything.”
The Rush only took two penalties on the night, with only one leading to a Bandits powerplay. Buffalo didn’t get much of a shot to get on any streaks, and Edmonton seemed to shut down the Bandits top guns.
“When Rubisch is on the floor I feel bad for the guys,” said former Bandit Chris Corbeil with a chuckle. “Stop being a lefty playing against our team. [Dilks] too. Those guys are shut down defenders.”
“Our defense has been clicking lately, said Corbeil. “We try and limit their shots and opportunities. We sort of build from the back out.”
One bright spot for the Bandits was Alex Kedoh Hill, playing in his first game in Buffalo since being acquired from the Rochester Knighthawks. He scored three goals in his Bandits debut.
“He’s awesome, he played great,” said Kilgour on Hill. “Best player on the floor for us.”
“I grew up watching the Bandits and I always dreamed about playing here,” said Hill. “I just wish we could of gotten a win out of it but all-in-all it was a good experience.”
For the Bandits they have lost four games in a row and are moving in the wrong direction going into the ending stretch. The team seems to be digressing, something that Kilgour and the rest of the organization can’t be happy to see.
“The days of the Bandits showing up and winning a game are over,” said Kilgour. “We need to compete, we need to fight for everything. We need to play like we’re not the best team, because I guarantee you right now we’re not. I’m glad we got the five wins at the beginning of the season because right now I don’t know when we’re going to get another one.”
While the Bandits sit trying to figure out how to solve their problems, Edmonton is on the upswing and is looking to keep the momentum going today against the Toronto Rock.
“Tomorrow is a big opportunity for us,” said Keenan. “Its a building we haven’t played real well in in the past. We played well in spurts there but we had bad second quarters. Now its an opportunity to go in there and play a full game and get a win against a very good team.”
To hear the full post-game interviews click the links below.
