2008 Buffalo Bandits season
# 2008 Buffalo Bandits season

The Buffalo Bandits are a lacrosse team based in Buffalo, New York playing in the National Lacrosse League (NLL). The 2008 season was the franchise's 17th season.

The Bandits tied with Minnesota, New York, and Philadelphia with a 10-6 record but thanks to tiebreakers, clinched first place overall and home floor advantage throughout the playoffs. They beat the Philadelphia Wings 14-12 in the opening round of the playoffs, then made quick work of the New York Titans 19-12, before they beat the Portland LumberJax 14-13 to win their first championship since 1996.

## Regular season

### Conference standings

Reference:

East Division :

| P | Team | GP | W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Road | GF | GA | Diff | GF/GP | GA/GP |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Buffalo Bandits – xyz | 16 | 10 | 6 | .625 | 0.0 | 7–2 | 3–4 | 203 | 174 | +29 | 12.69 | 10.88 |
| 2 | Minnesota Swarm – x | 16 | 10 | 6 | .625 | 0.0 | 6–2 | 4–4 | 199 | 196 | +3 | 12.44 | 12.25 |
| 3 | New York Titans – x | 16 | 10 | 6 | .625 | 0.0 | 5–1 | 5–5 | 197 | 186 | +11 | 12.31 | 11.62 |
| 4 | Philadelphia Wings – x | 16 | 10 | 6 | .625 | 0.0 | 7–1 | 3–5 | 225 | 220 | +5 | 14.06 | 13.75 |
| 5 | Rochester Knighthawks | 16 | 8 | 8 | .500 | 2.0 | 4–4 | 4–4 | 197 | 171 | +26 | 12.31 | 10.69 |
| 6 | Toronto Rock | 16 | 7 | 9 | .438 | 3.0 | 4–5 | 3–4 | 172 | 174 | −2 | 10.75 | 10.88 |
| 7 | Chicago Shamrox | 16 | 6 | 10 | .375 | 4.0 | 3–5 | 3–5 | 176 | 212 | −36 | 11.00 | 13.25 |

West Division :

| P | Team | GP | W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Road | GF | GA | Diff | GF/GP | GA/GP |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | San Jose Stealth – xy | 16 | 9 | 7 | .562 | 0.0 | 4–4 | 5–3 | 185 | 172 | +13 | 11.56 | 10.75 |
| 2 | Colorado Mammoth – x | 16 | 9 | 7 | .562 | 0.0 | 6–2 | 3–5 | 184 | 167 | +17 | 11.50 | 10.44 |
| 3 | Calgary Roughnecks – x | 16 | 7 | 9 | .438 | 2.0 | 5–3 | 2–6 | 183 | 178 | +5 | 11.44 | 11.12 |
| 4 | Portland LumberJax – x | 16 | 6 | 10 | .375 | 3.0 | 3–5 | 3–5 | 179 | 194 | −15 | 11.19 | 12.12 |
| 5 | Edmonton Rush | 16 | 4 | 12 | .250 | 5.0 | 3–5 | 1–7 | 141 | 197 | −56 | 8.81 | 12.31 |

x: Clinched playoff berth; c: Clinched playoff berth by crossing over to another division; y: Clinched division; z: Clinched best regular season record; GP: Games Played W: Wins; L: Losses; GB: Games back; PCT: Win percentage; Home: Record at Home; Road: Record on the Road; GF: Goals scored; GA: Goals allowed Differential: Difference between goals scored and allowed; GF/GP: Average number of goals scored per game; GA/GP: Average number of goals allowed per game

### Game log

Reference:

| Game | Date | Opponent | Location | Score | OT | Attendance | Record |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | January 11, 2008 | Rochester Knighthawks | HSBC Arena | L 9–12 | | 18,670 | 0–1 |
| 2 | January 12, 2008 | @ Rochester Knighthawks | Blue Cross Arena | W 14–9 | | 10,939 | 1–1 |
| 3 | January 19, 2008 | New York Titans | HSBC Arena | W 17–13 | | 11,878 | 2–1 |
| 4 | January 26, 2008 | @ Philadelphia Wings (1987–2014) | Wachovia Center | L 14–15 | OT | 10,542 | 2–2 |
| 5 | February 8, 2008 | @ Calgary Roughnecks | Pengrowth Saddledome | W 17–9 | | 10,922 | 3–2 |
| 6 | February 10, 2008 | @ New York Titans | Madison Square Garden | L 9–10 | OT | 6,742 | 3–3 |
| 7 | February 15, 2008 | @ Toronto Rock | Air Canada Centre | L 8–11 | | 14,611 | 3–4 |
| 8 | February 16, 2008 | Minnesota Swarm | HSBC Arena | W 16–14 | | 14,446 | 4–4 |
| 9 | February 24, 2008 | @ Chicago Shamrox | Sears Centre | W 13–8 | | 3,250 | 5–4 |
| 10 | March 1, 2008 | Philadelphia Wings (1987–2014) | HSBC Arena | W 21–12 | | 13,720 | 6–4 |
| 11 | March 8, 2008 | Minnesota Swarm | HSBC Arena | W 11–7 | | 12,313 | 7–4 |
| 12 | March 22, 2008 | Toronto Rock | HSBC Arena | L 9–13 | | 15,230 | 7–5 |
| 13 | April 5, 2008 | Colorado Mammoth | HSBC Arena | W 12–11 | | 16,905 | 8–5 |
| 14 | April 12, 2008 | @ Rochester Knighthawks | Blue Cross Arena | L 6–11 | | 10,517 | 8–6 |
| 15 | April 19, 2008 | Chicago Shamrox | HSBC Arena | W 13–9 | | 13,633 | 9–6 |
| 16 | April 26, 2008 | Portland LumberJax | HSBC Arena | W 14–10 | | 18,325 | 10–6 |

## Playoffs

### Game log

Reference:

| Game | Date | Opponent | Location | Score | Attendance | Record |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Division Semifinal | May 2, 2008 | Philadelphia Wings (1987–2014) | HSBC Arena | W 14–12 | 9,344 | 1–0 |
| Division Final | May 10, 2008 | New York Titans | HSBC Arena | W 19–12 | 11,012 | 2–0 |
| Championship Game | May 17, 2008 | Portland LumberJax | HSBC Arena | W 14–13 | 18,690 | 3–0 |

## Player stats

Reference:

### Runners (Top 10)

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; LB = Loose Balls; PIM = Penalty Minutes

| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | LB | PIM |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| John Tavares | 16 | 29 | 58 | 87 | 91 | 23 |
| Mark Steenhuis | 15 | 34 | 41 | 75 | 121 | 27 |
| Delby Powless | 16 | 18 | 37 | 55 | 29 | 10 |
| Cory Bomberry | 16 | 17 | 38 | 55 | 59 | 29 |
| Roger Vyse | 14 | 21 | 27 | 48 | 48 | 4 |
| Kevin Dostie | 10 | 22 | 14 | 36 | 34 | 11 |
| Dan Teat | 12 | 11 | 23 | 34 | 38 | 2 |
| Pat McCready | 15 | 8 | 15 | 23 | 121 | 44 |
| Ian Llord | 15 | 5 | 12 | 17 | 71 | 26 |
| Totals | | 316 | 519 | 478 | 1047 | 48 |

### Goaltenders

Note: GP = Games played; MIN = Minutes; W = Wins; L = Losses; GA = Goals against; Sv% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average

| Player | GP | MIN | W | L | GA | Sv% | GAA |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Mike Thompson | 14 | 421:36 | 5 | 1 | 83 | .762 | 11.81 |
| Ken Montour | 14 | 480:45 | 4 | 5 | 82 | .808 | 10.23 |
| Daniel Sams | 3 | 60:00 | 1 | 0 | 8 | .882 | 8.00 |
| Totals | | | 10 | 6 | 174 | .794 | 10.88 |

## Awards

| Player | Award |
| - | - |
| Mark Steenhuis | Transition Player of the Year |
| John Tavares | First Team All-Pro |
| Mark Steenhuis | First Team All-Pro |
| Mark Steenhuis | Championship Game MVP |
| John Tavares | All-Stars |
| Mark Steenhuis | All-Stars |
| Chris White | All-Stars |

## Transactions

### Trades

| February 5, 2008 | To Buffalo Bandits Andrew Lazore Rusty Kruger | To Chicago Shamrox two second round picks, 2008 entry draft |
| - | - | - |
| March 25, 2008 | To Buffalo Bandits Mike Accursi | To Edmonton Rush Dan Teat second round pick, 2008 entry draft first round pick, 2009 entry draft |

## Roster

Reference:

| No. | Position | Player |
| - | - | - |
| 44 | Fwd | Accursi, Mike |
| 72 | Fwd | Bomberry, Cory |
| 26 | Fwd | Bucktooth, Brett |
| | Fwd | Conn, Craig |
| | ? | Croswell, Brian |
| 51 | Fwd | Dostie, Kevin |
| | Fwd | Francis, Brandon |
| | Fwd | Greenhalgh, Sean |
| 5 | Def | Hill, Clay |
| 16 | Trans | Kilgour, Rich |
| 20 | Fwd | Kruger, Rusty |
| | ? | Lalonde, Chris |
| 17 | Def | Laverty, Kyle |
| 4 | Fwd | Lazore, Andrew |
| 2 | Fwd | Llord, Ian |
| 10 | Trans | McCready, Pat |
| 29 | Goalie | Montour, Ken |
| No. | Position | Player |
| 99 | Fwd | Powless, Delby |
| | Def | Ragnar, Pete |
| | Goalie | Sams, Daniel |
| 18 | Def | Sanderson, Phil |
| 24 | Def | Schmelzle, Kyle |
| 3 | Def | Smith, Billy Dee |
| 14 | Def | Smith, Joe |
| | Def | Sorci, Tony |
| | Trans | Squire, Chad |
| 9 | Trans | Steenhuis, Mark |
| 12 | Fwd | Swamp, Brandon |
| 11 | Fwd | Tavares, John |
| | Fwd | Teat, Dan |
| 66 | Goalie | Thompson, Mike |
| | Fwd | Thorimbert, Jay |
| 81 | Fwd | Vyse, Roger |
| 6 | Def | White, Chris |
