Buffalo Bandits

Opening the 2001 season with three straight victories, hope was rekindled in Buffalo, where the once-perennial finalists had been reduced in recent to a three-game losing skid in the playoffs, spanning four seasons. The Bandits hadn't been in the league championship game since 1997, and hadn't won the title since 1996. So, would a 20-19 shootout win at Washington, a 23-10 thrashing of Columbus, and a 26-18 thumping of Philadelphia be a foreshadowing of great things to come?

At 3-0 and sitting in first place, the Bandits hosted the surprisingly struggling Toronto Rock. A win in this game would not only put Buffalo in the driver's seat entering February, but would instill the confidence that the Bandits could beat any team in the league. Toronto's Steve Toll had other ideas, recording a crucial hat trick - including the game-winner eight minutes into overtime - in Toronto's comeback 14-13 victory.

Nothing helped a team rebound this season like a game against the hapless Ottawa Rebel, who almost reached April without a victory. The Bandits were especially fortunate, drawing the Rebel twice in a three-week span after the Rock loss, and capitalizing with a pair of routs, which, sandwiched around a home loss to Washington, raised the team to 5-2 in anticipation of a rematch with the Philadelphia Wings. In January's high-scoring match, the Wings were inconsistent and without the services of a healthy Dallas Eliuk (who left the game shortly after halftime after gutting out a charley horse the entire first half); in February, the champs-to-be showed that the first meeting was a fluke, running away with the 17-11 win.

Consecutive wins over Columbus and Albany carried the Bandits into the stretch drive with a stellar 7-3 record. Strangely, and certainly unexpectedly, Buffalo suffered a late-season swoon, beginning with a curiously low-scoring home loss to the Rochester Knighthawks, 10-9. After winning at Albany and losing at Rochester, the Bandits traveled to New York with an 8-5 record and a playoff berth still not ensured. Needing to win to keep their dreams of postseason play alive, the Bandits came out flat on Long Island, and the Saints were more than willing to assume the role of spoiler, running Buffalo ragged in an 18-13 shocker. The loss ended Buffalo's run for the postseason, the second time in three seasons that the Bandits failed to qualify.

A month after the season, the Bandits and Knighthawks stunned the box lacrosse world with perhaps the league's biggest trade ever. Gutting an offense which, early in the season, had threatened to set records as the most prodigious ever, Buffalo surrendered Derek Malawsky, Shawn Williams, and D'Arcy Sweet to their Thruway rivals. Receiving goaltender Steve Dietrich and runners Casey Powell, Rusty Kruger, and Pat McCready, the Bandits assured that, in 2002, they will not be the one-dimensional team they had been sliding towards for years.

DATE         OPPONENT              BUF-OPP   W/L  REC  POS
----------------------------------------------------------
  Nov 15-18  -open date-                          0-0  t-2
Sat Nov 24   WASHINGTON       8:00  17-15     W   1-0  t-1 #
Sat Dec  1   MONTREAL         7:30  17-18 OT  L   1-1  t-3 #
  Dec  6- 9  -open date-                               t-3
Sun Dec 16   at New York      5:00  16-13     W   2-1  t-3 #
  Dec 20-23  -open date-                               4th
Sat Dec 29   PHILADELPHIA     8:00    - postponed -    4th #
Sat Jan  5   ROCHESTER        7:30  11-22     L   2-2  4th #
  Jan 10-13  -open date-                               t-4
Fri Jan 18   at Calgary       9:00  13-12 OT  W   3-2  t-3 #
Fri Jan 25   at Philadelphia  7:30   7- 8     L   3-3  t-4 #
Sat Jan 26   VANCOUVER        7:30  17-14     W   4-3  4th #
Fri Feb  1   at Montreal      7:30   7-10     L   4-4  t-4 #
Sat Feb  2   COLUMBUS         8:00  12- 8     W   5-4  4th #
Sat Feb  9   ALBANY           7:30   9-11     L   5-5  4th #
Sat Feb 16   at Columbus      7:30  12-10     W   6-5  4th #
Fri Feb 22   PHILADELPHIA     7:00  19-14     W   7-5  3rd #
Sat Feb 23   at Albany        1:00  14-15 OT  L   7-6  3rd #
Sat Mar  2   TORONTO          3:30   7- 8     L   7-7  4th #
Sat Mar  9   at Rochester     7:30   7-12     L   7-8  4th #
  Mar 14-17  -open date-                               4th
Sat Mar 23   at Washington    7:00  23-22     W   8-8  4th #
----------------------------------------------------------
Philadelphia game (29 Dec) ppd by snow, makeup 22 Feb.

Bandits record breakdown:
  vs Eastern   4-1        Monday       0-0
  vs NJ        0-0        Tuesday      0-0
  vs NY        1-0        Wednesday    0-0
  vs PHI       1-1        Thursday     0-0
  vs WAS       2-0        Friday       2-2
  vs Central   2-6        Saturday     5-6
  vs ALB       0-2        Sunday       1-0
  vs BUF        --        November     1-0
  vs COL       2-0        December     1-1
  vs MON       0-2        January      2-2
  vs ROC       0-2        February     3-3
  vs Northern  2-1        March        1-2
  vs CAL       1-0        April        0-0
  vs OTT       0-0        After win    1-6
  vs TOR       0-1        After loss   6-2
  vs VAN       1-0        After bye    4-1
  Home         4-4        2nd game     2-1
  Road         4-4        One goal     2-4
  Overtime     1-2        Two goals    4-5
  Day          1-2        Night        7-6
  
* Second game refers to a multi-game weekend.
* Day games are games beginning at or before 
    5:00 PM local time.

Buffalo Lacrosse LLC
Buffalo Bandits
Marine Midland Arena
1 Seymour H. Knox III Plaza
Buffalo, NY 14203
716.855.4100 (voice)
716.855.4110 (fax)

Official Buffalo Bandits site
The Unabridged Bandits Encyclopedia (member, NLL Lacrosse Network)
Buffalo Bandits booster club
Buffalo News sports
ArenaMedia's HSBC Arena page
Map of the area, courtesy of Mapblast.
Alter characteristics of Mapblast map above.