The Buffalo Bandits continued their downward spiral Saturday night, losing to the Toronto Rock, 15-9, in front of their largest crowd in over four years at HSBC Arena.

Toronto clinched the Eastern Division title with the victory.

The first quarter was all Rock, as Toronto recorded the only three goals. Colin Doyle scored first, just 39 seconds into the game. Twenty seconds later, Sandy Chapman got the ball past Bandits netminder Steve Dietrich. >/p>

The Bandits’ defense stepped up their play and managed to hold the Rock scoreless for the next eleven minutes, before Marc Landriault scored the final goal of the quarter and made it 3-0 in favor of the Rock after fifteen minutes of play.

Buffalo’s John Tavares singlehandedly tied the game at three, scoring three straight goals in the first three and a half minutes of the second quarter.

Blaine Manning gave the Rock back the lead within seconds, and Matt Shearer added a natural hat trick of his own to put the Rock ahead by four. Shearer’s third goal chased Dietrich from the net, in favor of Derek General.

Chapman nailed his second of the night at 11:06 to give the Rock an 8-3 lead with four minutes left in the half, but Mike Accursi cut the Rock’s lead when he scored the last goal of the half -- 8-4, Rock.

Manning netted his second goal of the night three minutes into the second half, and Chapman added his third, putting the Rock ahead 10-4.

Accursi and Tavares added a pair of power play goals to cut Toronto’s lead to 10-6 at the halfway mark of the third quarter, and Jason Clark tacked on another goal for Buffalo, cutting the Bandits’ deficit to just three goals with seven minutes remaining in the quarter.

Doyle finished the third-quarter scoring, adding two goals to the Rock’s lead before the whistle blew, with the Rock ahead 12-7.

Toronto again dominated every facet of play in the fourth quarter. Shearer, Landriault and Doyle lit the lamp for three quick goals to start the quarter, giving the Rock a 15-7 lead.

Clark and Tavares finished the scoring with just over seven minutes remaining before the final whistle.

While the Bandits had many chances to score, the Rock defense and goalie Anthony Cosmo had other ideas, holding Buffalo without a goal for the remainder of the game.

Doyle led the Rock’s attack with ten points, on four goals and six assists. Manning (two goals, five assists) and Veltman (seven assists) each had seven points for the Rock as well. Cosmo stopped 36 of Buffalo’s 45 shots.

Tavares was the top scorer for Buffalo, with five points, all on goals. Accursi was second with four points (two goals, two assists). Dietrich stopped eleven of nineteen Rock shots, while General stopped nineteen of 26.

BOX SUMMARY
                                      1  2  3  4     TOT
Toronto Rock (10-4)                   3  5  4  3  --  15
Buffalo Bandits (8-7)                 0  4  3  2  --   9

TORONTO ROCK                  BUFFALO BANDITS
               G - A   PTS                   G - A   PTS
Doyle          4 - 6    10    Tavares        5 - 0     5
Manning        2 - 5     7    Accursi        2 - 0     2
J Veltman      0 - 7     7    J Clark        2 - 1     3
Shearer        4 - 1     5    Accursi        0 - 2     2
Chapman        3 - 1     4    Derks          0 - 2     2
Landriault     2 - 1     3    Steenhuis      0 - 2     2
Millin         0 - 2     2    R Kilgour      0 - 1     1
Driscoll       0 - 1     1    McCready       0 - 1     1
Gibson         0 - 1     1    
Toll           0 - 1     1    

Shots on goal           45    Shots on goal           45
Saves made by (GA)      36    Saves made by (GA)      30
   Cosmo (9)         36          General (7)       19
                                 Dietrich (8)      11
Penalties               15    Penalties               24
Penalty Minutes         33    Penalty Minutes         57
Power Play Chances      14    Power Play Chances      10
Power Play Goals         3    Power Play Goals         3
   Doyle              1          Accursi            2
   Manning            1          Tavares            1
   Shearer            1
Shorthanded Goals        0    Shorthanded Goals        0
Loose Balls             88    Loose Balls             74
   Manning           10          Steenhuis         10
   Toll              10          McCready           9
   Coyle              9          Tavares            9
   J Veltman          9          
Faceoffs Won            19    Faceoffs Won             9
   Millin       (12- 3)          Fraser       ( 7-13)
   Toll         ( 6- 6)          Steenhuis    ( 1- 0)
   Merrill      ( 1- 0)          R Kilgour    ( 1- 6)

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