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.