O'Toole Gets Record, K-Hawks Get Rocked

The Buffalo Bandits defeated the Rochester Knighthawks 14-7 Saturday night at Blue Cross Arena in front of a season-high, sell-out crowd of 10,652. The Rochester loss marks its third-straight home defeat. The only three game home losing streak happened in 1998. The game also marked Buffalo’s fourth-straight victory. With the loss, Rochester falls to 5-6, while Buffalo improves to 6-6 The Bandits fourth straight win leapfrogs them in front of the Knighthawks in the East standings. Rochester was led by Shawn Williams and Shawn Evans who each knotted five points on the night. Williams tallied 3 goals and 2 assists, while Evans had 5 assists. Buffalo was led by Mark Steenhuis who had eight points (3+5). With his first save of the game Rochester goaltender Pat O’Toole became the National Lacrosse League’s all-time leader in saves. The 16-year veteran broke the barrier by adding his 6,357th career-save in the first quarter of play. Buffalo scored the first two goals of the game just 35 seconds apart to take a 2-0 advantage early in the first quarter. Steenhuis added the first Bandit goal, unassisted, while teammate Tom Montour scored the second shortly after. Montour’s goal was assisted by Kyle Schmelzle. John Grant Jr. scored Rochester’s first goal off assists from Williams and O’Toole, but Buffalo responded with three more goals to make the score 5-1. Mike Accursi added his 13th of the season at the 6:45 mark, while Brett Bucktooth scored less than two minutes later. O’Toole was pulled from the game after Bucktooth’s goal, and replaced by Aaron Bold. Accursi scored only 27 seconds into Bold’s shift with a long-range shot that trickled between the goaltender’s legs. Grant was able to stop the Buffalo run with a power-play goal late in the first quarter to make the game 5-2. Williams received his second assist of the night, while Evans was also credited with a helper. Just a little more than two minutes into the second quarter, Williams put another tally on the board for the K-Hawks at 2:23 to minimize Buffalo’s lead to 5-3. Assisting on the play were Evans and Jason Henhawk. The Bandits then put two more bullets through the legs of Bold to advance their lead 7-3 five minutes into the period. Scoring for the visitors was Accursi from John Tavares and Chris White, and Montour from Schmelze and Goaltender Mike Thompson. Rochester and Buffalo exchanged two more back-to-back goals less than one minute apart at 6:25 of the quarter again by Williams, scoring his second goal of the game, while Bucktooth also added his second tally at 7:23. Forwards Kevin Dostie and Frank Resetarits would keep the K-Hawks quiet for the rest of the quarter, each scored their first goals of the nights with assists coming from Steenhuis, Tavares, and Clay Hill to give the Bandits a commanding 10-4 lead going into the half. Buffalo scored just one minute into the second half, when Steenhuis tallied his second of the night. After the goal, O’Toole returned to the Knighthawk’s net. Rochester responded to make the game 11-5 with Williams’ third consecutive goal of the night. Evans and Grant earned assists on the play. Craig Point then scored at the 3:35 mark to cut the Buffalo lead to five. The Knighthawks struck again when Bobby McBride notched on a diving shot. The shorthanded goal was unassisted. Buffalo responded on another long shot by Accursi for his fourth of the night. The power-play goal was assisted by Steenhuis. The Bandits then struck again 30 seconds later when Resetarits netted a shot to make the game 13-7 entering the final quarter. Steenhuis added the Bandits final goal, this time coming off assists from Roger Vyse and Bucktooth, to give Buffalo the deciding 14-7 advantage. The Knighthawks will hold their “Breast Cancer Night” when they host the defending champion Calgary Roughnecks on Saturday, April 3rd. The Knighthawks will wear pink helmets and jerseys during the 7:35 p.m. contest at The Blue Cross Arena. Fans can bid on the jerseys until the start of the third quarter. Those paying with cash can take their jerseys right off the players’ backs after the game. The funds raised will go to the Knighthawks/Amerks Charitable Foundation, Inc., which will distribute the money to local cancer-related charities. The helmets will be auctioned off by the NLL through their website at a later date. The Knighthawks will also showcase their pink dashers, which will be the first of their kind in NLL history.