The Buffalo Bandits continued to have trouble on the offensive end of the floor Saturday night, losing at home to the Albany Attack, 11-9, before a crowd of 7136 fans.

Buffalo’s Pat McCready scored the first goal of the game, less than two minutes after the opening faceoff. It was another six minutes before another goal was scored, but Albany’s Mike Regan finally put the ball in the net and tied the game at one. In the next four minutes, Albany’s Bryan Kazarian, Dan Teat, and Nick Trudeau all lit the lamp to put the Attack ahead by a 4-1 margin. McCready scored his second of the night to finish off the first quarter scoring and cut Albany’s lead to two goals.

Four minutes into the second quarter, Teat snuck the ball past Buffalo goaltender Steve Dietrich to increase Albany’s lead to 5-2. At the seven-minute mark, Buffalo’s Rob Kirkby was sentenced to two minutes in the sin bin, and twenty seconds later Pat Maddalena scored a short-handed goal for the Bandits. Just seconds before Kirkby’s penalty ended, the Bandits took a shot on goal and it was deflected towards center field. As the penalty clock wound down, and the ref was opening the door to the box, the ball rolled right in front of the door. Kirkby scooped it up on his way out, and finding himself all alone in Albany’s end, took a shot and buried it in the net.

Randy Mearns scored on a power play to bring the Bandits back within a goal, at 5-4, with three minutes left in the half. Josh Sanderson found the back of the net with thirty seconds before intermission to give the Attack a 6-5 lead to take to the locker room at half time.

It took eight minutes, but Regan was the first to score in the third quarter, increasing Albany’s lead to three goals. John Tavares scored the last two goals of the quarter to tie the game at seven going into the final quarter.

Albany opened the scoring in the final stanza with a pair from Gary Rosyski in less than a minute and a half, the first coming on the power play. Tavares scored his third of the night on a power play to cut the Attack’s lead to 9-8 with ten minutes remaining before the final whistle. Albany answered Tavares’ goal with a pair from Teat. With a minute and seventeen seconds remaining in the game, Albany was ahead, 11-8. When Buffalo won the ensuing faceoff, new Bandits head coach Frank Neilsen pulled goalie Chris Levis, who had entered the game for the injured Dietrich at the ten-minute mark, in favor of the extra attacker and Chris Driscoll was able to fire the ball past Attack net minder Rob Blasdell for the final goal of the game.

Dietrich suffered a hand injury early in the fourth quarter, and though he tried to play the remainder of the game, it became too difficult for him to handle his stick comfortably and he was replaced by Levis with five minutes left to play. Dietrich stopped forty-five shots while Blasdell stopped forty-three.

Josh Sanderson was the top scorer for the Attack with a goal and seven assists, but Teat wasn’t far behind, netting four goals and three assists. Tavares led the Bandits on the score sheet with three goals and a helper.

BOX SUMMARY
                                      1  2  3  4     TOT
Albany Attack (9-2)                   4  2  1  4  --  11
Buffalo Bandits (5-5)                 2  3  2  2  --   9

ALBANY ATTACK                 BUFFALO BANDITS
               G - A   PTS                   G - A   PTS
J Sanderson    1 - 7     8    Tavares        3 - 1     4
Teat           4 - 3     7    McCready       2 - 1     3
Regan          2 - 2     4    Driscoll       1 - 1     2
Rosyski        2 - 2     4    Kirkby         1 - 1     2
Kazarian       1 - 1     2    Maddelena      1 - 1     2
Trudeau        1 - 1     2    Mearns         1 - 1     2
Cochrane       0 - 2     2    Accursi        0 - 2     2
Moss           0 - 2     2    J Clark        0 - 1     1
                              Dietrich       0 - 1     1
                              Gelsvik        0 - 1     1

Shots on goal           56    Shots on goal           52
Saves made by (GA)      43    Saves made by (GA)      45
   Blasdell (9)      43          Dietrich (10)     45
                                 Levis (0)          1
Penalties                5    Penalties                4
Penalty Minutes         10    Penalty Minutes          8
Power Play Chances       5    Power Play Chances       5
Power Play Goals         1    Power Play Goals         2
   Rosyski            1          Mearns             1
                                 Tavares            1
Shorthanded Goals        0    Shorthanded Goals        1
   (None)                        Maddalena          1
Loose Balls            103    Loose Balls            115
   Blasdell          19          Dietrich          18
   Moss              15          Gelsvik           14
   Rosyski            9          McCready          12
   J Sanderson        9          Tavares           12
Faceoffs Won             9    Faceoffs Won            16
   Fannell      ( 9-15)          Kirkby       (14- 4)
   Moss         ( 0- 1)          Accursi      ( 2- 3)
                                 Langdale     ( 0- 2)

  *** STATS OFFICIAL BY VERIFY WITH BUFFALO BANDITS ***