Champions.

With a packed house of noisy orange clad, pom pom waving Buffalo fans on hand, the Buffalo Bandits captured their fourth indoor lacrosse title in franchise history, defeating the Portland Lumberjax 14-13 at HSBC Arena.

This city was pumped. One could feel the excitement and energy out in the streets, and in the arena tonight, as Buffalo sports fans who have gone through a dearth of good news these past ten months finally had themselves something to savor.

Portland never led in this one. The Bandits set the tone for this one right from the opening faceoff, when John Tavares got the first goal of the game at the 22 second mark on a long shot from outside. Portland tied it shortly thereafter, and the teams traded goals until Kevin Dostie got back to back netters mid way. Mark Steenhuis’ first goal of the night came as a long shot from the perimeter as the quarter was about to expire. Buffalo had themselves a 6-3 lead.

Steenhuis would add two more goals in the second period, one a long feed pass from goalie Mike Thompson. Not to be overlooked was the work Mike Accursi did to get Steenhuis open at times, playing the role of offensive lineman and taking out two Portland defenders on several occasions. Said Steenhuis “We feel two on two we have some good chemistry going. He’s a great guy to work with. He does so much grunt work that hopefully doesn’t go unnoticed.” The Bandits maintained their three goal lead into the half.

But Portland would not go away.

“I give their team a lot of credit” said John Tavares. “They hung in there and hung in there. They had some glorious opportunities. Give Portland a lot of credit for not giving up and working hard.” With Buffalo’s offense going into hibernation early in the third, the Lumberjax brought it to within one. That’s when Kevin Dostie scored yet another clutch goal to give the Bandits some cushion. Billy Dee Smith added a shorthanded netter late in the quarter, and the Buffalo margin heading into the 4th was two goals.

With the title on the line and the tension in the air, Steenhuis scored an apparent goal in the first minute of the 4th. But NO! A crease violation wiped that one out, and Portland Dan Dawson immediately took the ball down the field and sailed one past Thompson to cut their deficit to one.

That’s when the Thompson show kicked in for real.

Mike Thompson made several stunning an acrobatic saves, none more apparent then when Portland hit the crossbar, and Thompson then deflected the rebound by waving his leg into the air. “Mikey absolutely shut the door when he had to” said Coach Darris Kilgour. “It was the best save of the night.” Thompson added, “As the fourth quarter went on I could see the guys tiring a bit, but that just got me stronger and I felt as long as I keep my focus we’ll have this one.” The bench and the crowd fed on the great saves. Steenhuis then got his fifth goal of the night, and what proved to be the game winner, with just over five minutes left.

Playing without defensive specialist Chris White, who left the game early with an injury, the Bandits hunkered down, while Portland tried pulling the goalie on several occasions to get the extra attacker on the field.

Former Bandit Derek Malawsky scored with 48 seconds left to make the score 14-13. Buffalo’s subsequent possession went for naught and Portland got the ball with one last chance. The Lumberjax players swarmed the Buffalo net, but Thompson came up huge once again in the closing ticks, and time finally ran out. The celebration was on.

The crowd was a huge factor in the outcome. Said Coach Kilgour “I think you look at our record this year we were 3-4 on the road and 10-2 at home, so that says it all right there. To look in the crowd and see all the fans, the jerseys, doing all the chants. I think it has an effect on the other team as well.”

Kilgour also remarked on how the experience winning a championship as a coach differs from that of being a player. “Yeah it is different. You’re not on the floor. You’re not picking and rolling. You have to sit back and try to keep a level eye out, where as a player you go out there from shift to shift and just get rid of that excess energy.”

The celebration in the pavilion and out on the streets was loud and jubilant, but not exactly the window smashing, tipping over cars, setting fires in the streets kind of party. Fans who made it to this game were treated to a great show, and left the building happy and rewarded. Rich Kilgour said “Any championship feels good, but this was nice because we were able to do it at home for these great fans.” “We want to do it again next year” said a smiling Mike Thompson. “I’m ready to come back. I’m ready. Let’s go!”

-Best sign #1: Welcome to Banditland: Population 18,690

-Best sign #2: Mohawkland Banditland (covered an entire row)

-Best sign #3: 1-2-3- we want 4 (with a pic of the Champions Cup)

-Network acronym sign guy entry: Everyone Saw Portland’s (got) Nothin’

-Funniest line of the night: At the conclusion of the postgame press conference in the media room, Richie Kilgour chanted out “B-A-R! B-A-R! To the bar! To the bar! To the bar, to the bar, to the bar!”

-Biggest boos of the night: No, not for the Lumberjax or any visiting player. The fans reserved their scorn for Tom Golisano and Larry Quinn, when NLL Commissioner Jim Jennings mentioned their names during the trophy presentation. Both Golisano and Quinn were in attendance at the game.

-Spotted in the pressbox: Kurt Silcott, former Bandits GM.

-Best timing award: Mark Steenhuis’s game winning goal, the Bandits’ 14th of the game, came with 5:38 left on the clock, just as pressbox attendants were collecting the MVP ballots from the reporters up and down media row. Pete and I both already had Steenhuis’ name penned in on our ballots. Wonder if that huge goal swayed anymore votes?

Check back. Nathan Strang shot some great video and photos of the event, the postgame celebrations and the scene outside after the game and we’ll have it up soon. I will also have a separate post with some of the sights and sounds that Pete and I encountered celebrating downtown after the big win.
-Andrew Kulyk

Only 300 level seats remain for this Saturday’s National Lacrosse League championship game at HSBC Arena, according to Bandits Media Director Ashley Scanlon.

The Buffalo Bandits and the Portland Lumberjax will play for the Champions Cup, with the opening faceoff at 7:30PM. Upper deck seats are priced at $31 and are available at the HSBC Arena box office, online at Bandits.com, or at any tickets.com outlet.

At tonight’s team practice, Coach Darris Kilgour reported that Mike Thompson will get the start in goal for the Bandits. Portland is expected to counter with the ageless Dallas Eliuk, who played in relief last weekend when Matt Disher left the game with a torn MCL.

Peter And I will both be covering this Saturday’s game. Also, look for a special preview column on the Bandits in this week’s edition of Artvoice.

For the third time this decade, the Buffalo Bandits will play for National Lacrosse League supremacy in the Champions Cup title game. This all comes about thanks to a terrific 19-12 win over the New York Titans tonight at HSBC Arena, played before a paid crowd of 11,012 fans. The Bandits will face the Portland Lumberjax, who advanced in the other semifinal by defeating Calgary tonight at the Pengrowth Saddledome.

With Ken Montour in net for the Bandits, the team got off to its usual sloppy start, falling behind 2-0 early and giving away the ball often, while unable to mount any kind of scoring threat. John Tavares finally got the Bandits on the board with a nifty wraparound goal scored from behind the net. The wild quarter continued with the teams exchanging goals, but Buffalo got three in a row late, including Billy Dee Smith’s wraparound which looked identical to Tavares’ earlier play.
Mark Steenhuis broke in all alone in the first minute of the second quarter to give Buffalo a two goal cushion, and New York immediately answered. Buffalo then took control of the game with three straight tallies - Brent Bucktooth’s second shorthanded goal of the night, then Kevin Dostie and Mike Accursi scored back to back goals late and the teams headed to the locker rooms at halftime with the score 9-5 Bandits. Said Bucktooth “Special teams are an important part of the game, and since coming back off my injury I’m just glad I am able to contribute.”

Buffalo took command of the game in the third, but shaky goaltending at the Buffalo end and former Bandits Pat Maddalena and Casey Powell doing the damage for New York brought this game to within two. Kevin Dostie’s much needed power play goal at the 13:40 mark gave Buffalo a 13-10 lead after three.

Buffalo’s Mark Steenhuis electrified the crowd in the first minute of the 4th with two straight goals to give Buffalo a 15-10 cushion. That was enough to give the hook to New York goalie Matt Vinc in favor of backup Erik Miller.

Then things got ugly. New York’s Rory Smith and Buffalo’s Ian Llord got into a spirited fight right along the Buffalo bench, with Llord delivering the best of the licks. As the two were escorted to their penalty boxes, Llord was raising his arms and leading the fan cheers. Apparently Smith didn’t like what we saw, because he ran over to the Buffalo box and cold cocked Llord. That was enough to earn Smith a game misconduct and the extra two minute penalty.

After that the Saints’ wheels came off. Steenhuis scored his sixth of the night at the 3:41 mark, then his seventh, tying a NLL playoff record, just 40 seconds later. “Mark had a couple of tough games and put a lot of pressure on himself to score some goals” said Coach Darris Kilgour. “Hopefully he got the monkey off his back.” Mike Accursi scored a highlight reel goal all alone in front of the New York net. It was party time at HSBC Arena.

The Titans tried pulling their goaltender, but Buffalo played keepaway for the duration, including during a late four minute penalty on Ian Llord, who got into another needless fight. As the final seconds ticked off, the fans gave their team a lengthy and loud ovation, and the players joined in the celebration.

Almost overlooked in tonight’s game was John Tavares scoring 12 points on 3 goals and 9 assists. “He got the quietest 12 points ever” said Kilgour. “I had no idea he had 10 assists, that’s how quiet he is, that’s how unassuming he is. He’s been through everything there is.” Talking about next week’s game, Tavares said afterwards “Hopefully third time’s a charm” referring to the two championship losses in recent seasons. “We’re just fortunate to be back in this situation.”

Asking Coach Kilgour who the Bandits match up better against in next week’s game, he replied “Definitely Portland. Playing Calgary is almost a mirror image of us, and that game would most likely come down to goaltending. With Portland, we can use our style of play more effectively than against Calgary.”

Is this the Bandits year? Is this the Bandits time? The team is peaking at just the right time, their stars are playoff tested and experienced, and five straight playoff appearances under Kilgour coached teams have resulted in brutal disappointment, a feat no one in the Bandits clubhouse want to repeat. Mark Steenhuis is happy and excited to be playing in another championship game. “I wish we could play every game here (in Buffalo)” said Steenhuis. “Hopefully we get to win a championship for these fans and this city.” But Steenhuis doesn’t want to take anything for granted either. “You don’t want to think this is our time. You just want to stay focused. I’ve been in two since being here and lost both of them. I want to end this streak this year.”

Game time next Saturday is 7:30PM and tickets are on sale at the arena box office and through tickets.com. To a man, every player has saluted the great fans of Buffalo and how much they have helped the team in this exciting playoff run. Let’s fill HSBC Arena to the rafters and help the Bandits bring the Champions Cup to Buffalo next Saturday!

-Add Annoying Game Night Host Guy to the cast of looney tunes in Banditland. During a media timeout late in the second quarter, the mascot did his t-shirt toss and AGNHG was yapping and exhorting the crowd in ear splitting fashion, which continued on endlessly as play resumed and the Bandits were killing a penalty.

-Next Saturday’s Champions Cup game will be nationally televised LIVE, coast to coast across Canada (The Score) and the United States (ESPN2)

.-Best sign? Had to be the seven shirtless teenagers with B-A-N-D-I-T-S painted on their chests. They got three appearances on the video board tonight.

-Kilgour has not decided yet on who he will start in goal next Saturday, but he is leaning towards Mike Thompson. “It’s still up in the air” said Kilgour, and he will also consult with his players to assist him in making the decision.

-Portland squeaked into the playoffs with a 6-10 record in a weak West Division. Buffalo defeated the Lumberjax 14-10 at HSBC Arena in the final regular season game on April 26.

-Buffalo has won three championships in their franchise history - in 1992, 1993 and 1996. They went to the finals twice in recent years, losing in Calgary on the road in 2004 and to Colorado at HSBC Arena in 2006.

Mark Steenhuis addresses the media after the game

Fans were lined up ten deep at the ticket windows to get their seats for next Saturday’s championship game.

-Andrew Kulyk