2014 Buffalo Bandits season

The Buffalo Bandits are a lacrosse team based in Buffalo, New York playing in the National Lacrosse League (NLL). The 2014 season was their twenty-third season in the NLL.

2014 Buffalo Bandits
LeagueNLL
Division3rd East
2014 record8 - 10
Home record6 - 3
Road record2 - 7
Goals for190
Goals against200
General ManagerSteve Dietrich
CoachTroy Cordingley
CaptainJohn Tavares
Alternate captainsScott Self
Shawn Williams
ArenaFirst Niagara Center
Team leaders
GoalsMark Steenhuis (31)
AssistsRyan Benesch (53)
PointsRyan Benesch (78)
Penalties in minutesSteve Priolo (65)
Loose BallsJay Thorimbert (191)
WinsAnthony Cosmo (8)
Goals against averageAnthony Cosmo (10.77)

After finishing last in the East and missing the playoffs in 2013, the Bandits fired head coach Darris Kilgour and hired his former assistant coach Troy Cordingley, recently fired by the Toronto Rock despite winning the Les Bartley Award.[1]

The Bandits started the 2014 season strong. They lost their first game, but then won their next five straight and eight of their next nine, looking much stronger than the 2013 Bandits who missed the playoffs. But the Bandits seemed to return to their 2013 form after that, losing their last eight straight and finishing third in the division. But the losing streak ended in the playoffs, as they took out the Toronto Rock in Toronto in the division semi-finals. In the division finals, the Bandits won game one of the two-game series against Rochester. But the Knighthawks came back to win game two and the resulting mini-game to take the division and end the Bandits' up-and-down season. The Knighthawks would go on to win the NLL Championship, their third straight.

Standings

edit

Reference: [2]

East Division
PTeamGPWLPCTGBHomeRoadGFGADiffGF/GPGA/GP

1Rochester Knighthawksxy18144.7780.08–16–3210167+4311.679.28
2Toronto Rockx1899.5005.06–33–6219213+612.1711.83
3Buffalo Banditsx18810.4446.06–32–7190200−1010.5611.11
4Philadelphia Wings18612.3338.02–74–5202218−1611.2212.11
5Minnesota Swarm18414.22210.02–72–7180219−3910.0012.17
West Division
PTeamGPWLPCTGBHomeRoadGFGADiffGF/GPGA/GP

1Edmonton Rushxyz18162.8890.08–18–1220157+6312.228.72
2Calgary Roughnecksx18126.6674.06–36–3237215+2213.1711.94
3Colorado Mammothx18810.4448.04–54–5201228−2711.1712.67
4Vancouver Stealth18414.22212.03–61–8181223−4210.0612.39

x: Clinched playoff berth; c: Clinched playoff berth by crossing over to another division; y: Clinched division; z: Clinched best regular season record; GP: Games Played
W: Wins; L: Losses; GBGames back; PCT: Win percentage; Home: Record at Home; Road: Record on the Road; GF: Goals scored; GA: Goals allowed
Differential: Difference between goals scored and allowed; GF/GP: Average number of goals scored per game; GA/GP: Average number of goals allowed per game

Game log

edit

Reference:[3]

Game Date Opponent Location Score OT Attendance Record
1 December 28, 2013 Philadelphia Wings (1987–2014) First Niagara Center L 13–17 16,347 0–1
2 January 10, 2014 Toronto Rock First Niagara Center W 12–10 11,404 1–1
3 January 12, 2014 @ Philadelphia Wings (1987–2014) Wells Fargo Center (Philadelphia) W 12–11 OT 7,365 2–1
4 January 18, 2014 @ Colorado Mammoth Pepsi Center W 16–9 14,822 3–1
5 January 25, 2014 Rochester Knighthawks First Niagara Center W 11–10 13,339 4–1
6 February 1, 2014 Toronto Rock First Niagara Center W 12–10 12,768 5–1
7 February 8, 2014 @ Rochester Knighthawks Blue Cross Arena L 6–9 9,280 5–2
8 February 15, 2014 Philadelphia Wings (1987–2014) First Niagara Center W 13–7 13,980 6–2
9 March 8, 2014 Minnesota Swarm First Niagara Center W 12–9 15,330 7–2
10 March 15, 2014 Colorado Mammoth First Niagara Center W 12–9 15,445 8–2
11 March 21, 2014 @ Edmonton Rush Rexall Place L 5–14 7,071 8–3
12 March 23, 2014 @ Minnesota Swarm Xcel Energy Center L 9–10 OT 6,081 8–4
13 March 29, 2014 @ Vancouver Stealth Langley Events Centre L 8–12 3,197 8–5
14 April 5, 2014 Calgary Roughnecks First Niagara Center L 13–16 16,606 8–6
15 April 12, 2014 @ Minnesota Swarm Xcel Energy Center L 9–10 7,088 8–7
16 April 18, 2014 @ Toronto Rock Air Canada Centre L 9–13 11,276 8–8
17 April 19, 2014 @ Rochester Knighthawks Blue Cross Arena L 4–8 8,900 8–9
18 April 26, 2014 Rochester Knighthawks First Niagara Center L 14–16 19,070 8–10

Playoffs

edit

New to the 2014 season, the Conference Finals and Championship will expand to a two-game series from the previous single-game elimination setup. The top seed from each division will play the winner of the Division Semifinal game between the second and third seeds, with the lower-seeded team hosting the first game and the higher seed hosting the second game of the series. A team which wins both games will win the two-game series. In the event of a series split with both teams winning one game, a 10-minute tiebreaker game will be played immediately following the conclusion of the second contest to determine the winner of the playoff series. If the teams are still tied after 10 minutes, they would play sudden-death overtime. The Championship would be decided by a similar two-game series.

Game log

edit
Game Date Opponent Location Score OT Attendance Record
Division Semifinal May 3, 2014 @ Toronto Rock Air Canada Centre W 15–13 7,867 1–0
Eastern Final Game 1 May 10, 2014 Rochester Knighthawks First Niagara Center W 12–8 9,209 2–0
Eastern Final Game 2 May 17, 2014 @ Rochester Knighthawks Blue Cross Arena L 8–13 8,651 2–1
Eastern Final Game 3 (10 min game) May 17, 2014 @ Rochester Knighthawks Blue Cross Arena L 1–2 OT 2–2

Roster

edit
2014 Buffalo Bandits roster
Active (21-man) roster Inactive roster Coaches
Goaltenders
Defensemen
Forwards
Transition
Practice Squad
Holdout
Unable to play
  • 40   Joel Matthews
Head Coach

{{{Head Coach}}}


Legend
  • * Suspended list
  • (C) Captain
  • (A) Alternate captain

Roster updated 2013-3-16
NLL Transactions

Transactions

edit

Trades

edit
July 15, 2013[4] To Buffalo Bandits
Ryan Benesch
Andrew Watt
To Minnesota Swarm
1st round pick, 2015 entry draft
1st round pick, 2016 entry draft
3rd round pick, 2017 entry draft
July 30, 2013[5] To Buffalo Bandits
Rory Smith
4th round pick, 2015 entry draft
To Colorado Mammoth
Carter Bender
second round pick, 2013 entry draft
second round pick, 2014 entry draft
September 14, 2013[6] To Buffalo Bandits
Two 2nd round picks, 2014 entry draft
To Philadelphia Wings
Luke Wiles

Entry Draft

edit

The 2013 NLL Entry Draft took place on September 16, 2013.[7] The Bandits made the following selections:

Round Overall Player College/Club
2 14 Nick Diachenko University of Delaware
2 15 Mitch Wilde Robert Morris University
5 38 Eric Penney St. Catharines, Ontario
6 47 Kevin Pym Okotoks, Alberta
6 53 Dylan Goddard Clarington, Ontario

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ "Bandits hire Cordingley". NLL.com. July 3, 2013. Retrieved September 6, 2013.
  2. ^ "National Lacrosse League - 2014 Regular Season - Standings". NLL.com. Retrieved May 17, 2014.
  3. ^ "2014 NLL schedule announced". NLL.com. Retrieved September 6, 2013.
  4. ^ "Bandits land Benesch in trade". NLL.com. July 15, 2013. Archived from the original on July 17, 2013. Retrieved September 6, 2013.
  5. ^ "Bandits trade Bender and draft picks to Mammoth for Smith". NLL.com. July 30, 2013. Retrieved September 6, 2013.
  6. ^ "Wings acquire Luke Wiles from Buffalo". Wingslax.com. September 14, 2013. Archived from the original on September 14, 2013. Retrieved September 14, 2013.
  7. ^ "Draft recap". NLL.com. September 16, 2013. Archived from the original on September 20, 2013. Retrieved September 16, 2013.
edit