Bandits v Rock Goes Mainstream

Hardcore fans know that matchups between the Toronto Rock and Buffalo Bandits always provide fireworks. But the game went mainstream on Friday after a fight between Toronto’s Elijah Gash and Buffalo’s Zack Belter provided one of the more viral clips in league history.

The fight was shared on major social media accounts like Barstool Sports, TSN and many others, the league had a moment in the spotlight that doesn’t come very often. Fans surely have various opinions on whether exposure due to fighting is good for the league, but there is no question that the sport had more eyeballs than usual this weekend.

But it was a great weekend of action elsewhere as well, lets check in on all of the games across the league.

Buffalo Badits 15 – Toronto Rock 13

It was another surreal atmosphere inside Banditland where the home side needed some late heroics to pull off the victory. Nick Weiss, who was involved in a viral moment of his own during a tussle with Bill Hostrawser, scored the game winning goal with just 43 seconds remaining to seal the victory.

Dhane Smith led all scorers with 2 goals and 8 assists while Ian MacKay had his second 5-goal game of the season. MacKay shared a special interview after the game as well, speaking of how the game was to honour his step-father who recently passed away. The thoughts of the LCD family are with Ian and his family at this time.

For the Rock, Challen Rogers returned to the lineup and had a goal and 6 assists, while Chris Boushy had 3 goals and 3 assists. Toronto is still looking for their first victory of the season.

Stat of the Game: Toronto has not beat Buffalo since April 1, 2023.

Attendance: 17,240

Ottawa Black Bears 14 – Georgia Swarm 10

While the Bandits and Rock stole the thunder, the more unique game was held in Georgia. Due to winter weather in the Atlanta area, barely any fans were able to safely travel to the game. Several staff members were also unable to make it to the arena.

With that being the case, the game was played without music, a rare changeup for lacrosse fans.

Ottawa got a much needed victory in the silence, coming up with the 14-10 win. Jeff Teat had his best effort of the year with 3 goals and 5 assists while Larson Sundown had 3 goals and 3 assists of his own.

Lyle Thompson had 5 goals and 3 assists to continue his strong campaign while Bryan Cole had a hat-trick for the Swarm.

Stat of the Game: Ottawa held Andrew Kew and Shayne Jackson to a combined 1 goal and 2 assists, a major reason for their victory.

Attendance: The official attendance includes tickets distributed and sold, and was listed as 3,704. Obviously, there was significantly less than that in the building.

Vancouver Warriors 11 – San Diego Seals 9

It was looking like another contender for lowest scoring game of the year, but Keegan Bal and crew broke the game open for the Warriors in the fourth quarter. Bal had a sock trick in the fourth quarter alone to lead the Warriors to victory in front of a rocking crowd at Rogers Arena.

Wes Berg had 4 goals and an assist to lead the Seals while Kyle Jackson had 2 goals and 2 assists.

Bal had the 6 goals and 1 assist while Adam Charalambides had 2 goals and 2 assists and defender Owen Grant had 2 more goals and an assist.

Stat of the Game: Grant is leading all defenders in goals with 6 in just four games played.

Attendance: 9,551

Philadelphia Wings 13 – Calgary Roughnecks 11

The Wings stayed hot on the season and won their Saturday matinee against the Roughnecks 13 – 11.

Joe Resetarits and Mitch Jones had 7 points each to lead the Wings, who improved to 4-1 on the young season.

Meanwhile Calgary has had a brutal schedule of travel to begin the season with games in Halifax, Albany, and Philadelphia. Curtis Dickson and Tyler Pace had 6 points each in the loss.

Stat of the Game: Joe Resetarits took 22 shots on goal, a sign of his confidence as his personal and team success continues.

Attendance: 6,940

Colorado Mammoth 15 – Albany Firewolves 13

Albany gave up yet another late game lead, leading 8-1 in the second quarter before the comeback began for the Mammoth.

Connor Kelly had 5 goals to lead the Mammoth and also leads the NLL in scoring as of this morning. Connor Robinson had 4 goals and 2 assists as well.

Tye Kurtz had 7 goals in the losing effort for the Firewolves while Alex Simmons had 3 goals and 4 assists of his own.

Stat of the Game: The Firewolves dropped to 1-5 on the season, but still have a +2 goal differential.

Attendance: 9,625

Halifax Thunderbirds 19 – Rochester Knighthawks 18

In one of the wildest games of the year, Clarke Petterson scored the winning goal with 0.1 seconds remaining to lift the Thunderbirds to victory.

Randy Staats led all scorers with 4 goals and 6 assists, meanwhile Thomas Hoggarth had 4 goals and 5 assists.

Thomas McConvey had 4 goals and 5 assists for the Knighthawks while Ryan Smith, Ryan Lanchbury, and Connor Fields had 7 points each.

Stat of the Game: Drew Hutchison made his first career start for the Thunderbirds and got the victory as well.

Attendance: 5,128

Saskatchewan Rush 15 – Vegas Desert Dogs 9

The Rush pulled off the dominant victory over the Desert Dogs on the back of 3 goals and 5 assists from Zach Manns. Ryan Keenan and Austin Shanks had 6 points each for the Rush as well.

Kyle Killen had 5 assists to lead the Desert Dogs while Jack Hannah had 2 goals and 2 assists.

At 4-1 Saskatchewan is tied with Philly for second place in the standings after neither club made the playoffs last season.

Stat of the Game: Jake Naso continued his strong rookie season, winning 60% of his draws.

Attendance: 5,528

And make sure to check out the most recent news, analysis, and highlights from across the LCD platform!

Bandits v Rock Goes Mainstream