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NLL Buffalo Bandits

Bandits Beat Albany 16-10 in Inaugural Tucker out Lymphoma Cup Game

February 1, 2025 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Buffalo Bandits News Release


As Dhane Smith stood at the postgame podium awaiting the first question, a familiar face peered through the door, one that haunted the Albany FireWolves on Saturday night - Josh Byrne's.

A pair of 10-point nights from Smith (3+7) and Byrne (5+5), who accounted for half of Buffalo's goals, led the Bandits to a 16-10 win over the FireWolves in the team's first game of the Tucker Out Lymphoma Cup at KeyBank Center.

"It's hard to focus on one or two guys," head coach John Tavares said. "As great as Dhane and Josh are offensively for us, we have a great supporting cast. When those guys are contributing, our offense is hard to stop."

The first 5:50 of the game was competitive between the two teams, with Albany and Buffalo trading goals. Albany scored the opening goal on a power play, and Chris Cloutier and Ian MacKay responded with back-to-back goals 34 seconds apart before the FireWolves fired back to even the game at two.

Four minutes later, the Bandits scored four consecutive goals in a 2:23 span from four different players, including Matt Spanger with his first of the season on a fast-break give-and-go with Nick Weiss. Just before the end of the opening quarter, Albany ended Buffalo's four-goal run to make the score 6-3.

Between the first and second quarters, Albany head coach Glenn Clark replaced starting goalkeeper Doug Jamieson, taking him out of the game in favor of Andrew Kidd.

"We don't go into the game thinking we're going to chase the goalie out," Tavares said. "It's good when it happens because it means that we're shooting the ball well. Doug is a premier goalie in this league."

The Bandits pulled away from Albany in the second quarter, totaling four goals to the FireWolves' one. Tehoka Nanticoke added yet another highlight goal to his resume, diving across the crease and scoring his ninth goal this year to give the Bandits a 10-4 lead at halftime.

Either Byrne or Smith factored into each of the Bandits' four second-quarter goals and nine of 10 first-half goals. Byrne finished the first half with six points (3+3), while Smith had seven points (2+5).

Chase Fraser started the second half with a bit of flair, running across the middle of the field and going behind the back to score his second goal of the game and extend Buffalo's lead to seven.

Following the goal, Albany began its comeback attempt.

Penalties on Fraser and Paul Dawson allowed Albany to score two power-play goals. Less than a minute after Albany's second man-up goal, the FireWolves scored again to narrow their deficit to four. Two minutes later, Albany scored again to make it 11-8, the closest the game had been since the 1:15 mark in the first quarter.

"We did some dumb things, like, 'C'mon, we're very good and we're shooting ourselves in the foot,'" Byrne said.

After almost 15 minutes of being held scoreless, Nanticoke and Smith scored goals 18 seconds apart, extending Buffalo's advantage back to five after Albany's third-quarter scoring run.

Albany added a ninth goal to its tally, but Byrne scored twice in the final six minutes for his fourth and fifth goals of the game, and MacKay added his second goal of the night. The three fourth-quarter goals extended the lead to 16-9, the Bandits' second seven-goal lead of the night.

Albany scored a goal with 1:24 left in the game to make the final score 16-10.

The Bandits' win extended their undefeated streak to six games to start the season, tightening their grip on first place in the NLL.

"It's a cool feeling," Byrne said. "I feel like on all parts of our team, we're extremely talented. You look at (goalie Matt Vinc), the best ever. The defense is unreal. (There's) probably a lot of guys that don't get recognized enough."

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