It’s 6 p.m sports with T.O.

http://www.wkbw.com/news/local/45363652.html?video=YHI&t=a

Not only does he recieve a hero’s welcome, but he practices, does a sportscast and gets a key to the city.

I love me some T.O.

I’ll be back

It’s a slow time for me as a blogger right now. The Bandits decided to quit, and the other two Buffalo teams are in their off-season routines. I have been busy working and trying to finish school, but we will be back soon. No worries.

Bandits top Blazers, head to NY…sort of.

After defeating the Boston Blazers 11-8 on Saturday night, the Buffalo Bandits are moving onto the National Lacrosse League’s Eastern Division Finals. The Bandits will be taking on the New York Titans on Saturday, May 9th at 7:30pm. The Titans have shuffled venues quite a bit this season. After defeating Rochester on Friday night in Madison Square Garden, the top seeded Titans will host their second round game with Buffalo in New Jersey.The game itself will be played at the Prudential Center, the home of the NHL’s New Jersey Devils.

The Bandits started off hot, taking an early 4-1 lead. Two goals from Mark Steenhuis, and one each from Cory Bomberry and Kyle Schmelzle got the Bandits going.  The game was intense from the start. It’s expected being the playoffs, but the Bandits really came out playing smash mouth lacrosse. Off of every faceoff they pressured the Blazers to get the ball over half and finished checks accordingly. In the 2nd quarter Johnny Tavares took a breakaway pass shorthanded and buried it, making it 6-4 Buffalo. The Bandits then took a 7-6 lead into the half.

In  the 3rd quarter the Bandits certainly cooled down on offense as they were held to no goals. Their defense didn’t exactly slack though, as Boston only managed one goal. Ken Montour was hot in goal for the Bandits and one of the main reason the defense held it together despite the lack of scoring.

Once the 4th quarter hit, the Bandits knew it was crunch time. A team loaded with veterans, the Bandits outscored the Blazers 4-1 in in the final quarter. Two more goals from Steenhuis, a Tavares goal, and a Tommy Montour empty netter sealed the deal for Buffalo. In goal, Ken Montour finished with 47 saves on 55 shots, and was CO-MVP along with Tavares (2 G 4 A) and Steenhuis (4 G).

Next up, the Bandits face a Titans team who beat Buffalo both times this season. Can the Titans sweep the Bandits this season? I don’t think so. The Bandits are loaded with guys who’ve been there, and the playoffs are another level of lacrosse. The crowd won’t be a factor, if anything, there will likely be more Bandits fans than Titans fans making the trip. If the Bandits can score early, and get into goalie Matt Vinc’s head, they can be successful. That’s the key in beating one of the leagues top goalies. Staying out of the penalty box would help too, a theme the Bandits are slowly going back to. It should be a great game, and for those not making the trip, the game can be seen live, per usual, on the leagues website.

Teppo got hosed

It was annonced today that Teppo Numminen is not a finalist for the Bill Masterton Trophy.  According to the NHL, the Masterton allegedly is awarded to the player that “who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to ice hockey.” Teppo has likely never made a dirty play in his 20 some years of  playing. I can’t remember any here in his Sabre career. And as for perseverence? Teppo is 40 and he had to go through open heart surgery, and 8 months of training to return to the Sabres . If that’s not dedication to ice hockey, there is no such thing.
Nice job, NHL.

And the Bills select…Aaron Maybin

A quick, defensive end from Penn State. I like the pick. Go Bills.

Bandits set all-time NLL attendance record

“The 18,527 fans in attendance at tonight’s contest set a new NLL Attendance record with the 143,651 topping the record set in 2004 by the Colorado Mammoth with 140,942.”

The 2nd seed Bandits will host a home playoff game on May 2nd. They will face the Boston Blazers, who came into Buffalo and won 13-12 in OT Saturday.

Happy trails Jason, Welcome back Lindy

A pretty big day in Buffalo sports considering it’s April 17th.

In good news, the Bills traded the overweight, overhyped and soon to be overpaid Jason Peters today. They sent him packing to Philly for a first round pick, a fourth, and a pick in next years draft. I say good riddance. The Bills made this undrafted pile of nothing into a top player at left tackle and Peters repays them by spitting in their face.

Maybe the Bills would have paid you if you weren’t selfish and lazy.

Lindy Ruff and Darcy Regier will be back next year. Overall, I’m fine with this. I’d rather have Darcy if Lindy comes with as opposed to neither. Darcy really has to step his game up this off-season however. I don’t ever think Lindy was the problem, and you’d be kidding yourself if you thought a better coach was avaiable.

Too little, too late

For the lackluster Buffalo Sabres. They’re once again playing golf come mid april.

More to come.

May Day May Day

Former Sabre Brad May will play in his 1,oooth NHL game tonight against Buffalo. In a nice touch, he was a healthy scratch against New Jersey so that he could play in his milestone game against the Sabres.

May is best known in  Buffalo for his undressing of Ray Bourque to clinch the Series in 1993. His fists do most of his talking these days. He is a mix of Peters and Kaleta in one. He likes to get under your skin, but he can also back it up with a good beat down.

He was on those tough, infamous teams in the 1990’s who had 900 penalty minutes in one year. A line of Ray, May and Barnaby was surely the toughest in the league.

Hats off to brad. A scrap tonight would be fitting!

Rough and tough Bandits have weekend showdowns

Johnny... WHO?

The Buffalo Bandits (9-4) are in. They’ve clinched their 14th playoff appearance, as a 18 year old franchise.  By defeating the Boston Blazers this past Saturday, the Bandits locked up their spot in the NLL playoffs. What seed, and where they’ll play has yet to be determined however.

Ahead for the Bandits this weekend are two familiar foes. On Friday night (April 10th) the Rochester Knighthawks (6-7) make the trip down the I-90 West to HSBC arena for a 7:30pm faceoff. The two teams have met twice already this season, with the Bandits destroying the Knighthawks back on January 16th, 23-6. The other meeting was an overtime win for Rochester on March 14th.

These two teams know each other well. There is no better rivalry in the National Lacrosse League than these teams. They just simply hate each other. There’s no love lost between the fans during games either. Before and after the games, Buffalo and Rochester fans alike gather for beers and food, but during those 60 minutes of game play, they are bitter rivals.

Buffalo comes into the game looking for lock up the Eastern Division and is also fighting with Calgary to lockup the top seed in the entire playoffs, which would clinch home field throughout the playoffs. The game doesn’t mean as much for Rochester, despite their poor record. They only need to beat the Philadelphia Wings in their season finale, to clinch a playoff spot. Though I’m sure a win here, on the road would be big for them. Rochester is a lowly 1-5 on the road this season. Look for Buffalo’s leading scorer, Mark Steenhuis to continue his tear, as he leads the Bandits with 90 (45 G 45 A) points thus far. The expected goaltending matchup will likely showcase Kenny Montour for Buffalo, and Pat O’Toole for Rochester. Montour has proved to be the #1 guy for the Bandits in goal this season, he’s 7-2, and also leads the league in Save percentage, and Goals Against Average.

On Saturday night, the Bandits will be heading to New Jersey and the Prudential Center to take on the New York Titans (8-6). New York clinched a playoff berth Sunday after they defeated Philadelphia.  The Titans also handed the Bandits their most recent loss, an 11-9 win for the Titans back on March 28th in HSBC arena. Goalie Matt Vinc, a Canisius College alum and lacrosse player, was stellar in goal for New York that game, and he’ll likely get the start again Saturday.  The Bandits will be looking to avenge their last loss, and hopefully had to a nice weekend with two wins. It’ll be no easy task, as New York is playing well right now having won 3 of their last 4 and led by Casey Powell who has 69 points in just 11 games this season.

If the Bandits can come away with two wins this weekend, that sets them up at 11-4 and would clinch the Eastern Divisional title, and gave them home floor advantage for at least the first two rounds of the playoffs. This is a big weekend for the Bandits and their fists with back to back games this season. Should be an exciting weekend of Bandits lacrosse!

Fast Facts:

-Mark Steenhuis is 3rd in the NLL in points with 90. (Colin Doyle and Dan Dawson are ahead of him, but Steenhuis has a game in hand on them) Steenhuis does lead the NLL in goals, with 45, only 3 of which were on the Power Play.

- 40 year old veteran Johnny Tavares is 7th in the league in points with 77. He is however, 2nd in goals.

-Tavares and Steenhuis are both tied for the league lead in Game Winning Goals, with 3 each.