Buffalo Bandits

Buffalo Bandits 2012 season preview

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A particularly busy offseason has the Buffalo Bandits roster looking quite a bit different than it has in recent seasons. A few trades and interesting roster moves brought some turnover to the team that still has the talent to be one of the NLL’s power teams this season.

Mike Thompson will anchor the crease for the Bandits this season.

Darris Kilgour’s club made a significant step forward in establishing quality secondary scoring, something that hurt the club at points throughout the 2011 season. Luke Wiles and Kevin Buchanan will certainly compliment John Tavares, Mark Steenhuis and Tracey Kelusky at forward. Of course, Roger Vyse and Chad Culp’s offensive abilities won’t go unnoticed either. Mat Giles also should be counted on to provide some offense this season. How much will be determined by his playing time.

Wiles and Buchanan represent a step forward in re-establishing the dominant offense that drove the team to the 2008 NLL Championship and a ridiculous 8-0 start in 2009. The potential of the two puts them right on plane with players like Kelusky and Vyse. While that group of four doesn’t possess the all-world talent of a Steenhuis or Tavares, they may turn out to be more valuable to the overall success of the team than the two stars.

The X-factor on the offensive side of the ball may very well be Jeremy Thompson. The rookie is a promising talent and it will be interesting to see if he cracks the line up in his first year. Playing for a coach who has long favored proven veterans over rookies, Thompson’s first year may be used for development more than production. However, the first round selection has the opportunity to step in to fill the shoes of the recently departed Brett Bucktooth. Continue reading →

Could a Buffalo-centric sports station work?

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Remember the glory days? The Empire Sports Network broadcast Sabres games, had a handful of talk shows and a nightly highlight show that was centered around Western New York sports.

At one point Empire was truly thriving. It was the perfect outlet to serve WNY in terms of Sabres and Bills coverage in addition to high school, college and other professional sports. Unfortunately the Adelphia scandal all but killed Empire and it died off prior to the 2005-06 NHL season.

The recent MSG/Time Warner spat has blacked out a vast majority of Sabres fans and has left many questioning what the next step will be in this regard. the contract dispute is nothing more than the final straw for many. The lack of respect MSG has shown the WNY market is pathetic. Aside from Sabres games, there is little acknowledgement for the region. That includes commercials. Unfortunately the Sabres; contract with MSG runs for the next few seasons, ending in 2016-17. If the contract must run its course, then so be it. But is there a chance that a different entity could step in?

There is no secret that Ted Black comes from television. All the reports about him during the Pegula sweepstakes pointed to the success he had in building FSN-Pittsburgh. Between Pegula’s deep pockets, Black’s prowess with a sports television station and the obvious market demand in Buffalo; it would seem a regional sports network would do well here.

The first point that should be made is that there has been mo mention of anything along these lines happening. Who knows if Pegula would even be interested in forking over more dough to bankroll this type of venture? In addition, there is the current MSG contract to consider as well.

But just thinking outside the box certainly paints a picture that this type of channel would not only have plenty of content, but the potential for a strong, successful lineup. The Sabres, Bandits and Bills would obviously be the cornerstones of this channel, but UB, Niagara, Canisius and additional high school and college sports would provide ample filler. Building around some of the staples which Empire succeeded with, there is a foundation that can be augmented by additional coverage and programming. Continue reading →

Bucktooth among prominent cuts as Bandits name 23-man roster

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A 2011 NLL All Star, Brett Bucktooh was one of the final cuts for the Bandits this season.

With the 2012 NLL season fast approaching, Darris Kilgour made the final cuts to the Buffalo Bandits roster. The 23-man roster has 17 holdovers from last year and a few surprising omissions. Bandits.com has the official release.

Kevin Buchanan, Mat Giles and Luke Wiles are the new faces up front for Buffalo. They will replace a prominent name from the last few seasons, Brett Bucktooth (a 2011 All-Star). Jay Thorimbert was also cut from the final roster; however his release is slightly less surprising.

Bucktooth was a highly touted prospect and had tons of potential when he broke into the league. He had a few solid seasons, but never seemed capable of taking the next step in his development. His disappointing play compounded those issues in recent seasons. He went from a player who could be counted on to one that was passed over in clutch situations. Continue reading →

Bandits re-sign Vyse, add even more scoring punch

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The Buffalo Bandits made a pair of moves this week. First, locking up Roger Vyse with a three-year contract and then acquiring Mat Giles in a trade with Minnesota. Buffalo sent a conditional fourth-round pick to the Swarm in the deal.

Roger Vyse (81) and Tracey Kelusky (17) are two of the many weapons the Bandits enter 2012 with.

Vyse rebounded from a sub-par 2010 season to register 36 points (16+20) last season. He has consistently been counted on by Darris Kilgour to provide offense behind the likes of Mark Steenhuis and John Tavares. Vyse led Buffalo in playoff scoring (7+2) in 2011. Locking up Vyse secures a quality secondary offensive threat for the Bandits as they enter the 2012 season.

Buffalo’s second big transaction of the week was bringing in Giles from the Swarm. Giles is a big body offensive threat whose season point total dipped below 50 for the first time since 2007. Giles recorded 43 points (16+27) for Minnesota last season, a total that would have been good for fourth on the Bandits’ roster.

The only condition on the pick exchanged for Giles rests on his place on the Buffalo roster. From the Bandits press release:

“The pick is conditional on Giles being on the Bandits roster or practice squad at any time in 2011 or 2012. Should Giles not make the Bandits active or practice roster, Buffalo will instead send their sixth-round pick in the 2013 Entry Draft in place of the fourth-round selection.”

Based on Giles history and talent, there is little reason to think he won’t secure a permanent roster spot. Giles joins a cast of secondary scoring that may be unparalleled throughout the NLL. Buffalo now boasts an extremely deep roster of forwards. Giles and fellow newcomer Luke Wiles will join incumbents Brett Bucktooth, Kyle Clancy, Chad Culp, Brandon Thenhaus and Vyse in battling for roles behind the Bandits’ primary offensive threats; John Tavares, Mark Steenhuis and Tracey Kelusky.

Buffalo produced only 169 goals last season, seventh in the NLL and third lowest among playoff teams. Clearly the offseason moves made by Darris Kilgour are to revamp the Bandits offensive attack. It is hard to fathom a roster that will not only include Buffalo’s two superstars and the remaining eight front-door players. While another trade would not be out of the question, the one certainty is that there will be some interesting position battles as the Bandits open training camp.

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The Bandits also announced the signings of three 2011 draft picks. Dwight Bero, Lloyd Chrysler and Connor Daly were all inked to deals as well. Daly, a third-round pick, is the most likely to make an impact with the Bandits. However, Darris Kilgour has a long history of patience with his draft picks.

Bandits to host 2012 NLL All Star Game

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In a news release put out this morning, the Buffalo Bandits announced they will be hosting the 2012 NLL All Star game. All the details can be found at Bandits.com.

Last year’s game was held at Turning Stone to a decent crowd, considering the venue. Holding it in Buffalo was probably an easy decision for the league. This is the best fan base in the NLL and the attendance numbers are always near the league’s best.

This is just another Terry Pegula bull’s eye. There hasn’t been much attention given to the Bandits since the ownership change – mainly because they are a model franchise. But it is good to see the Bandits getting some love too.

February 25 will be a fun day for lacrosse fans and it will certainly be a nice draw for the City of Buffalo as well.

Bandits add seven at NLL Entry Draft

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The Buffalo Bandits added seven new players to the organization at the 2011 NLL Entry Draft, yesterday.

Without a first round choice the Bandits saw the biggest names in the draft go before they had a selection. One interesting move was made by Rochester in order to draft Johnny Powless. The Knighthawks traded a perennial Bandits pest, Shawn Evans, to Calgary for the Powless pick.

The Bandits first pick came at the top of the second round which they used on Jeremy Thompson from Syracuse University. Buffalo also drafted Jeff Cornwall from Coquitlam, BC.

It will be interesting to see how these picks fit into the Bandits roster. In recent years Buffalo has run out a lineup with a veteran look while waiting on their young talent to progress outside of the NLL.

Buffalo’s final five picks had a fairly even split of NCAA and junior players. Here is the rest of the Bandits’ picks (s/t to TBN):

3rd round: Connor Daly (Burlington, ON), Jerome Thompson (OCC); 4th round: Billy Bitter (UNC); 5th round: Dwight Bero (Dartmouth); 6th round: Lloyd Chrysler (Tuscarora University)

Effin’ A Cotton, effin’ a

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In a summer of major changes for the Sabres organization one more cosmetic one will occur today. First Niagara will acquire the naming rights to HSBC Arena.

This is a move I suspected would occur in the near future, I just didn’t think it would happen this soon. As First Niagara has continued to grow in recent years I began to wonder if they would look into some sort of branding with the Sabres, Bisons or the Bills. When HSBC sold their retail branches to First Niagara I assumed a name change for the Arena was inevitable. However, all news from the three parties involved appeared to be in the contrary.

Now there is the opportunity for the Arena to be called the First Niagara Arena – or FNA (effin’ a). UPDATE: It appears the name will be the First Niagara Center.

With the additional renovations being made to the interior of the Arena and the locker room, a name change will add that much more of a new look for the new regime. Based on the look of the First Niagara logo, it will look much better on the exterior (and interior signage) of the building. I do wonder if they will utilize the neon waves that were once prevalent on the main exterior sign back in the 90s.

Aside from a trade, it seems as if the next biggest change will come with a new sign on the front of the Arena.