2015 Buffalo Bandits season

2015 Buffalo Bandits
League	NLL
Division	3rd East
2015 record	11 - 7
Home record	7 - 2
Road record	4 - 5
Goals for	236
Goals against	208
General Manager	Steve Dietrich
Coach	Troy Cordingley
Captain	John Tavares
Alternate captains	Scott Self
Arena	First Niagara Center
Team leaders
Goals	Ryan Benesch (55)
Assists	Dhane Smith (68)
Points	Ryan Benesch (113)
Penalties in minutes	Billy Dee Smith (53)
Loose Balls	Jay Thorimbert (246)
Wins	Anthony Cosmo (10)
Goals against average	Anthony Cosmo (11.31)
← 2014 season 2016 season →

The Buffalo Bandits are a lacrosse team based in Buffalo, New York playing in the National Lacrosse League (NLL). The 2015 season is their twenty-fourth season in the NLL.

Regular season

Current standings

Reference:

East Division

P	Team	GP	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	GF	GA	Diff	GF/GP	GA/GP
1	Toronto Rock – xyz	18	14	4	.778	0.0	7–2	7–2	230	185	+45	12.78	10.28
2	Rochester Knighthawks – x	18	12	6	.667	2.0	7–2	5–4	205	173	+32	11.39	9.61
3	Buffalo Bandits – x	18	11	7	.611	3.0	7–2	4–5	236	208	+28	13.11	11.56
4	Minnesota Swarm	18	6	12	.333	8.0	3–6	3–6	185	226	−41	10.28	12.56
5	New England Black Wolves	18	4	14	.222	10.0	2–7	2–7	186	249	−63	10.33	13.83

West Division

P	Team	GP	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	GF	GA	Diff	GF/GP	GA/GP
1	Edmonton Rush – xy	18	13	5	.722	0.0	6–3	7–2	241	177	+64	13.39	9.83
2	Colorado Mammoth – x	18	9	9	.500	4.0	6–3	3–6	212	218	−6	11.78	12.11
3	Calgary Roughnecks – x	18	7	11	.389	6.0	4–5	3–6	212	217	−5	11.78	12.06
4	Vancouver Stealth	18	5	13	.278	8.0	3–6	2–7	211	265	−54	11.72	14.72

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 2, 2015	@ New England Black Wolves	Mohegan Sun Arena	L 8–12		5,768	0–1
2	January 3, 2015	Edmonton Rush	First Niagara Center	W 9–8		14,236	1–1
3	January 17, 2015	@ Vancouver Stealth	Langley Events Centre	W 14–13		3,478	2–1
4	January 23, 2015	@ Toronto Rock	Air Canada Centre	L 11–13		11,413	2–2
5	January 30, 2015	Minnesota Swarm	First Niagara Center	W 15–12		12,756	3–2
6	January 31, 2015	@ Rochester Knighthawks	Blue Cross Arena	L 11–17		6,994	3–3
7	February 7, 2015	@ Calgary Roughnecks	Scotiabank Saddledome	W 15–14	OT	10,312	4–3
8	February 14, 2015	Rochester Knighthawks	First Niagara Center	L 10–15		14,737	4–4
9	February 21, 2015	@ Rochester Knighthawks	Blue Cross Arena	L 12–13	OT	6,669	4–5
10	February 28, 2015	Colorado Mammoth	First Niagara Center	W 14–11		14,669	5–5
11	March 13, 2015	Toronto Rock	First Niagara Center	W 15–12		12,903	6–5
12	March 14, 2015	@ Toronto Rock	Air Canada Centre	L 10–11	OT	11,460	6–6
13	March 21, 2015	Minnesota Swarm	First Niagara Center	W 12–8		14,601	7–6
14	April 4, 2015	New England Black Wolves	First Niagara Center	L 11–12		13,674	7–7
15	April 11, 2015	@ Minnesota Swarm	Xcel Energy Center	W 12–9		8,986	8–7
16	April 25, 2015	Vancouver Stealth	First Niagara Center	W 17–9		15,897	9–7
17	April 26, 2015	@ New England Black Wolves	Mohegan Sun Arena	W 20–9		3,036	10–7
18	May 2, 2015	New England Black Wolves	First Niagara Center	W 20–10		15,374	11–7

Playoffs

The post season for the Bandits began as the third best record in the east, qualifying them for the division semifinal. The tone was set early on by the host Rochester Knighthawks, who led 5-2 after one period. The game would be relatively even the rest of the game but the three goal margin from the first was the difference in the game and sent Buffalo back west along the Interstate 90. In what would be his last game for the Bandits and in professional lacrosse, John Tavares registered five assists.

Game log

Game	Date	Opponent	Location	Score	OT	Attendance	Record
Division Semifinal	May 8, 2015	@ Rochester Knighthawks	Blue Cross Arena	L 11–14		6,527	0–1

Roster

2015 Buffalo Bandits roster
Active (21-man) roster				Inactive roster		Coaches
Goaltenders 44 Anthony Cosmo 65 Davide DiRuscio Defensemen 23 Steve Priolo  3 Billy Dee Smith  7 Derek Suddons		Forwards 17 Ryan Benesch 19 Chad Culp 92 Dhane Smith  9 Mark Steenhuis 11 John Tavares (C)  2 Jerome Thompson Transition 13 David Brock  8 Kevin Brownell 71 Brandon Goodwin 66 Alex Kedoh Hill 75 Jay Thorimbert 22 Andrew Watt 20 Nick Weiss 55 Mitch Wilde		Practice Squad 15 Matthew Bennett (T) 93 Jordan Dance (F) 21 Tyler Ferreira (F) 91 Corey Fowler (F) Injured Reserve 90 Jamie Rooney (F) Holdout 12 Drew Petkoff (D) 40 Adam Will (T)		Head Coach Troy Cordingley Assistant Coaches Rich Kilgour Dan Teat Rob Buchan Dave Pym Steve Toll Rusty Kruger Legend * Suspended list (C) Captain (A) Alternate captain Roster updated 2013-3-16 NLL Transactions

Transactions

Trades

September 22, 2014	To Buffalo Bandits Nick Weiss 9th overall selection, 2014 entry draft 2nd round selection, 2015 entry draft 1st round selection, 2018 entry draft	To Vancouver Stealth Rory Smith Eric Penney 12th overall selection, 2014 entry draft
September 22, 2014	To Buffalo Bandits 49th selection, 2014 entry draft	To New England Black Wolves 6th round selection, 2016 entry draft

Entry Draft

The 2014 NLL Entry Draft took place on September 22, 2014. The Bandits made the following selections:

Round	Overall	Player	College/Club
1	9	Brandon Goodwin
2	14	Matthew Bennett
2	18	Tyler Ferreira
3	24	Jordan Dance
6	49	Mike Melnychenko

See also

• 2015 NLL season