The Swarm and Bandits faceoff at HSBC Arena in Buffalo on Saturday night. After opening with three of their first four games on the road, the Bandits look forward to playing at home.
BANDITS IN SEARCH OF FIRST WIN, HOST SWARM
Buffalo looks to improve play in front of big home crowd
01/27/2010
By Jonathan McGrath for NLL.comThe Buffalo Bandits (0-4) want nothing more than to get into the win column at home this Saturday night against the Minnesota Swarm (1-2). The Bandits have never been winless this late into a season in the nineteen-year history of the franchise.
Bandits Head Coach Darris Kilgour is obviously not happy with the start to the season, as well at the team's performance.
"Everything's gone wrong; defense can't get a stop when we need it, the offense can't get a goal when we need it. We need to show up for 60 minutes, not 50, not 45, not 30. I think once we get that through our heads, we will be better of a team than we have been".
Kilgour believes that offensive woes are a large factor in the Bandits' 0-4 start.
"The offense has to score some goals. Three times now we have gone into the fourth quarter down by two or three, only having scored five goals (in the first three quarters), and then the defense starts feeling pressure to try and create a turnover to get a fast break and that ends up backfiring. We aren't playing as a team right now and until we get that straightened around, that is going to be a major concern for us," said Kilgour.
Hoping to address these concerns, the team made numerous roster changes this week. A pair of respected veteran players were released in forwards Delby Powless and AJ Shannon. In addition, rookie Kyle Clancy and local talent (Orchard Park, NY) Joe Smith and were added to the active roster. Clancy was a first round selection for the Bandits in the 2009 NLL entry draft, and Smith has played 12 career games while posting two points and collecting 23 loose balls.
Due to a lower body injury (calf), The Bandits have played all four games without NLL all-time leading scorer John Tavares, and don't plan on him playing any time soon. Coach Kilgour projected that "(he) is probably not going to play for the next three weeks".
Buffalo will take on a Minnesota team that should be hungry after a tough 15-14 overtime loss last weekend.
According to Swarm Captain Ryan Cousins, courtesy of mnswarm.com, the loss "has left a very bad taste in my mouth".
The overtime loss dropped Minnesota to 1-2 in the early going. Much like his counterpart on the Bandits bench, Swarm Head Coach Mike Lines is also looking for more consistent play for a full 60 minutes.
"We have adjustments to make from last week, but more importantly we just have to get focused and get back on track. It will be important for us to forget about what happened against Colorado because Buffalo is going to be a tough team," stated Lines.
The Bandits defense should be leery of Swarm forward Aaron Wilson, who has eight goals and six assists in three games this season.
Faceoff is scheduled for Saturday night at 7:30pm ET at HSBC Arena. The Bandits are counting on their home crowd and, according to Darris Kilgour, "Buffalo is one of the best, if not the best, crowd in the NLL. We usually count on them for some extra energy".
Kilgour can only hope that this extra energy is enough to get them into the win column.
Watch the game live on the NLL Network at NLL.com.
© 2010 National Lacrosse League. The team names, logos and uniform designs are registered trademarks of the NLL.