
By Budd Bailey
In almost every game this season, the Buffalo Bandits have had a stretch in which they look like the one of the best indoor lacrosse teams in memory. Other team’s mistakes end up in the net, while Buffalo’s own mistakes are quickly erased by the defense. It’s rare for an entire team to be “in the zone” so frequently.
“It’s a cool feeling for sure,” Bandits forward Josh Byrne said. “It includes the defense, with (Matt Vinc) as the best ever. The defense is unreal. A lot of guys don’t get recognized enough. Our offense is insanely talented. You take any one of our guys, and they could be a No. 1 (forward) on any other team.”
The clinics don’t last for 60 minutes, but they usually are long enough to take control of the game. Saturday’s contest against Albany was the latest example of that. Buffalo had a 10-4 lead through the half, and went on to take a 16-10 decision from the FireWolves before 18,459 in the KeyBank Center.
“When everyone is scoring, it’s hard to stop us,” coach John Tavares said. “You don’t know where the shots are coming from. You can’t focus on one or two guys. As well as Dhane and Josh are playing, they are making great passes and everyone is contributing.”
The victory improved the team’s record to 6-0, and all but one of the games have been relatively one-sided. Buffalo is outscoring its opponents by an average of more than six goals per game, which is insane. Only the 15-13 win over Toronto on January 10 went down to the wire.
In this latest victory, Dhane Smith was the central figure. He finished with three goals and seven assists, which is a typical night’s work for him. But the goals came in key times, and the assists were impeccable. Byrne calls him “the best passer in the world.”
“I would compare him to a quarterback,” said Byrne, who had five goals and five assists. “He sees things develop based on the way defenses are playing before they happen. A lot of times he’s one step ahead. He’s seeing the way they might cut down the middle, for example. It comes down to him being extremely unselfish. On a lot of those passes he’s making, he could shoot it. … But he’s like, ‘No, I’m going to let those guys eat.’
“He’s also super-accurate where he puts the ball. That’s something I didn’t focus on until the last couple of years. Everything he does, in practice or in games, is about getting the ball right on the stick. Not a lot of guys can do that.”
About the only flat spot of the Bandits’ game came in the third period, when Albany outscored Buffalo 4-1 to get back within three goals at 11-8. Sometimes teams lose their intensity with a big lead, but the problem was a little easier to diagnose this time. The Bandits took seven minor penalties in the second half. You simply can’t do that and get away with it.
“I was surprised by how many of those were called,” Tavares commented.
But Buffalo reacted as it often has done this season in such situations, scoring goals in a burst. In this case, Tehoka Nanticoke and Smith scored 17 seconds apart early in the fourth quarter to let everyone exhale with the restoration of a five-goal lead.
“It helps with the crowd being into it, and with (faceoff specialist Connor) Farrell being successful,” Smith said. “When the crowd’s rocking and you have a great defense, and the next one is so important, we feed off that energy.”
And by game’s end, even Farrell had his moment in the sun. When a penalty shot was called against Albany for a minor penalty in the final two minutes, Tavares picked him to take it. Farrell had the fans chanting his name as he approached the goal, but he couldn’t quite score.
“I thought it was a no-brainer,” Tavares said. “I was hoping he’d bury it, and I even gave him a chance on the power play afterwards. He’s been a big part of the success of our team. We had been struggling on our faceoffs. He comes in on the dot, and I thought today he was terrific on the faceoff circle. You can tell he’s a fan favorite.”
Smith added, “He actually works on his penalty shot quite a bit in practice. We’ll have to teach him a thing of two. He almost had him, but he (the goalie) made a great save.”
That’s the way the first phase of the season ended, and it was a complete success. But the schedule will take a turn after this. Buffalo will have its fourth and final bye week of the season next week. But then it plays 12 games in 10 weeks, with a pair of back-to-back games mixed in, without a breather. While it’s nice to play when everything is going well, that sort of schedule will offer a good-sized challenge.
“We’re going to have to test the depth on our team,” Tavares said. “It’s going to be the tough part of our schedule. We’ve had six games to warm up, and 12 tougher games coming up.”
“It’s frustrating for sure,” Smith said. “It’s tough to get in a rhythm. It doesn’t feel like we’re 6-0. It doesn’t feel like we played well in the last two even though we won. We want to do things right. This is going to be a big test for us now.”
The Bandits will play in Toronto on February 14, and then return home the next night to host San Diego.
(Follow Budd on X.com via @WDX2BB)
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