In a battle of must wins Saturday night at the LEC the Vancouver Stealth went on to best the Buffalo Bandits 12-8. The Vancouver Stealth needed the win to keep pace in their Western Division playoff race. Buffalo was again on the loosing end of a road game, making it four road losses in a row for the struggling travel team.
It did not take long for the Stealth to take action after the opening whistle, with Rhys Duch scoring just 0:19 seconds in. Brett Bucktooth would follow a couple minutes later to take the 2-0 lead. Seven minutes would go by before we would see another goal as Jamie Rooney came through with an assist from Tavares, and Priolo to get the Bandits on the board. Cliff Smith would answer right back less than a minute later to put the Stealth back up by 2. With goals from Joe Resetarits, and Steve Priolo the Bandits would close the gap to end the quarter tied at 3 a piece.
The second quarter started and the Stealth were on fire. Spreading the ball and love around like they were back in Championship form. A total of five players would score goals in the quarter for the Stealth. Rhys Duch led the way with 2 goals, followed up by 1 goal each from Nick Weiss, Jamie Lincoln, Lewis Ratcliff, and Brett Bucktooth. The Bandits would also tally 2 goals in the second from Mitch Wilde and Mark Steenhuis. Vancouver would enter halftime with a 9-5 lead.
The second half started and it appeared that the Bandits were making the proper adjustments to slow the Vancouver offense down. Shawn Williams would get the first goal of the quarter. Vancouver’s Cliff Smith and Buffalo’s Dhane Smith would trade goals. Rhys Duch would score again to split the quarter 2 goals each.
Going into the fourth quarter down 11-7 the Bandits would need a run by their offense to take the win on the road. Things did not start well as Lewis Ratcliff put another one in the back of the net 4:00 minutes in. The “Legend” John Tavares would not answer back for Buffalo till the 12:59 mark making it 12-8 and seemingly impossible for the Bandits to pull this one out. Vancouver’s stingy defense kept up the high intensity and aggressive play that has seemed absent all most all season long to solidify the 12-8 victory for the Stealth at the LEC.
Tyler Richards led the Stealth between the pipes with 35 saves. On offense Rhys Duch tallied 4g 5a. Saturday night fans got to also see the re immergence of Lewis Ratcliff 2g 6a.
