One-for-January sounds a great deal better than zero-for-January as far as the Buffalo Bandits are concerned.

The Bandits, reeling after losing their first four games of the season, finally came up

with a winning formula and defeated the Minnesota Swarm, 11-7, before 15,636 in HSBC Arena on

Saturday night.

"I wouldn't say there was a state of panic yet, but 0-4 in this league — that's a

quarter of the season gone down the toilet for us," forward Mark Steenhuis said. "That panic

button probably was pressed a little bit. We were feeling the pressure."



The Bandits used a combination of an improved attack and rugged defense to get their first

win. On offense, everything revolved around Steenhuis, as usual — but this time

Steenhuis was more of a threat with his passing than with his shooting. The forward finished

with one goal and seven assists, so he had a hand in eight of the nine goals in which

Minnesota was playing with a goaltender.

"I have to credit all of the other guys. They make all the moves, and I'm trying to see

them," Steenhuis said. "That's what the coaches want me to do. If I draw a double team, it's

my job to find the open man. I was fortunate enough to do it."



With Buffalo missing three forwards because of injury, the team needed the rest of the

offense to step up to compensate. That happened on Saturday. Frank Resetarits had his first

hat trick as a Bandit. Mike Accursi had two goals. Kevin Dostie had a goal and three assists.

Kyle Clancy had a goal in his first National Lacrosse League game. Brandon Francis had the

first goal of his Bandits career.

"At practice, Darris and Dewey [Jacobs, an assistant coach] wanted us to move the ball

around and get involved. ... With J.T. [John Tavares], Roger [Vyse], Greener [Sean

Greenhalgh], We needed guys like me, and Kyle and Brandon to step up," Resetarits said.

The Bandits' defense contributed more than its share to the cause. Buffalo had allowed

three straight goals in the second period to fall into a 5-5 tie at the half, so the Bandits

simply slammed the door on Minnesota during the third quarter. That allowed Buffalo to have a

9-5 lead with a quarter to go, and it was a matter of protecting the lead from there.

"We've got some athletes back there, some big boys," Resetarits said. "When they are

sliding hard and hitting hard, they are a pretty intimidating team. You could see they didn't

want to go through the middle any more."



When the Swarm did get a shot, goalie Ken Montour usually had a good look at it and was

able to make one of his 44 saves.

With Toronto's loss to Rochester on Saturday night, the Bandits are only 2 games

out of the lead in the Eastern Division, and a game behind fourth-place Boston, the current

holders of the last playoff spot. Funny what one win can do.

"It feels good to get a win at home and kind of get that monkey off our backs, and start

our way back toward .500," Resetarits said.