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.
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.
The Bandits started the 2014 season strong. After losing their first game, the Bandits won their next five 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, collapsing to 3rd 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. However, the Knighthawks came back to win game two and the resulting mini-game to take the division and end the Bandits' season. The Knighthawks would go on to win the NLL Championship, their third straight.
Standings
Game log Reference:
Playoffs
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
Roster
Player stats Reference:
Runners (Top 10) Player GP G A Pts LB PIM Ryan Benesch 18 25 53 78 88 10 Mark Steenhuis 18 31 32 63 108 21 Dhane Smith 18 20 39 59 79 9 John Tavares 16 24 27 51 78 31 Shawn Williams 18 13 36 49 44 8 Joe Resetarits 17 25 17 42 65 2 Steve Priolo 18 8 18 26 99 65 Jamie Rooney 11 8 13 21 32 4 Aaron Wilson 8 8 5 13 30 9 Chad Culp 17 7 4 11 59 28 Totals 190 296 486 1,274 329
Goaltenders Player GP MIN W L GA Sv% GAA Kurtis Wagar 18 25:05 0 1 4 .800 9.57 Anthony Cosmo 18 1,063:36 8 9 191 .797 10.77 Totals 1,088:41 8 10 195 .798 10.75
Transactions
Trades July 15, 2013 To Buffalo BanditsRyan BeneschAndrew Watt To Minnesota Swarm1st round pick, 2015 entry draft1st round pick, 2016 entry draft3rd round pick, 2017 entry draft July 30, 2013 To Buffalo BanditsRory Smith4th round pick, 2015 entry draft To Colorado MammothCarter Bendersecond round pick, 2013 entry draftsecond round pick, 2014 entry draft September 14, 2013 To Buffalo BanditsTwo 2nd round picks, 2014 entry draft To Philadelphia WingsLuke Wiles
Entry Draft The 2013 NLL Entry Draft took place on September 16, 2013. The Bandits made the following selections: RoundOverallPlayerCollege/Club 214 Nick Diachenko University of Delaware215 Mitch Wilde Robert Morris University538 Eric Penney St. Catharines, Ontario647 Kevin Pym Okotoks, Alberta653 Dylan Goddard Clarington, Ontario
See also 2014 NLL season
References
External links 2014 Buffalo Bandits at nllstats.com