Buffalo Bandits eliminate Toronto Rock in NLL semifinals
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BUFFALO – The Toronto Rock is a team in crisis.
The Rock was eliminated by the Buffalo Bandits in their NLL semifinal series on Sunday, losing 10-8 at KeyBank Center after having lost 12-4 at FirstOntario Centre on Friday.
The Rock had an 8-4 lead in this game with just over 14 minutes to play. But three goals in the fourth quarter from Chase Fraser, two from Josh Byrne and one from Tehoka Nanticoke brought the Bandits back and off to another league final.
Nanticoke ended with two, Dhane Smith also scored twice and Kyle Buchanan also scored. Corey Small and Mark Matthews scored two each for the Rock. Tom Schreiber, Chris Boushy, Dan Craig and Chris Weier also scored.
What this game, and pretty much the past six previous meetings with the Bandits have shown, is that the Rock is in serious trouble. And the juxtaposition of being a top regular-season team and its playoff woes make it really hard to make significant changes.
Toronto is 41-13 in the regular season since the league returned from the pandemic and 3-0 in quarterfinal matches. Even in some ways the 2019 and 2022 playoff losses to the Bandits were competitive enough to not be an indicator of what was to come.
But in the past two semifinal rounds against the Bandits, it was thoroughly exposed. While its effort on Sunday was considerably better than Friday’s debacle, it was thoroughly unable to stop Buffalo when it mattered most. It was simply unable to match either Buffalo’s speed or ball movement.
“It’s tough,” Rock owner and general manager Jamie Dawick said. “There’s no other way to describe it right now.”
“We’re in a bad rut. We’ve got to find a way to get it done when it matters most.”
So all Dawick can do, given the nature of the NLL is, save for some usual turnover, roll out the same nucleus and hope for better. Nick Rose, the primary reason Toronto had the second-best regular season in league history did not cost his team this series and should be back in net next season. And the remainder of the roster is good enough to keep Toronto near the top of the league and in contention for a while to come.
“As a group, as a team, those guys in that room, they did change,” Rock head coach Matt Sawyer said. “They changed how they prepared for the season and what they did throughout the season.”
“We felt we were set up for success but we found out at the end that it wasn’t good enough.”
Meanwhile, Buffalo will face the Albany FireWolves in an attempt to win its second consecutive championship for the best fanbase in the NLL.
The FireWolves, last in the league one season ago, beat the San Diego Seals 13-10 Sunday after beating them 14-12 on Friday. The first two games between the upstate New York rivals will take place next weekend.
“They might think we have the upper hand but they’re a tough team over there,” Smith said of the FireWolves, “They’ve beat us twice this season.”
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