Bandits notebook
Banner night starts with emotional rites
Even the coach of the opposing team was excited about seeing the Buffalo Bandits raise their 2008 championship banner before the start of Saturday’s season opener.
“A banner-raising is always interesting. We were fortunate enough to be there in Toronto for Jim Veltman’s final game in Toronto last season,” said Dave Huntley, coach of the Philadelphia Wings before the game. “Our guys enjoyed that experience. . . . Hats off to Buffalo. They’re a great competitor.”
The Bandits put on a brief but powerful ceremony before the game. It was complete with bagpipes and video highlights of last year’s championship season. The players — most of whom were around for the title last year — were introduced with plenty of smoke and lights.
The Champions’ Cup made an appearance on a table on the playing field. The climax came when the championship banner was unveiled in the rafters of HSBC Arena, which drew a huge ovation from the near-sellout crowd.
In addition, the Bandits honored late Buffalo News sportswriter Tom Borrelli before the game. Tom’s wife, Karen, and father, George, both took the floor to a warm, lingering applause from the crowd. Karen received a long hug from Bandits coach Darris Kilgour, and the team presented her with a helmet autographed by members of the roster.
“Tom is going to be tremendously missed by this organization, and by me personally and my brother personally,” Kilgour said after the game. “For a very long time, he’s been a great friend — not just someone who covers the Bandits, but a true friend. I loved talking basketball with him. . . . We’ll keep him in our minds for the rest of our lives, because he did a great job for the game of lacrosse and for the Buffalo Bandits.”
The team announced that it will wear a special helmet sticker in his honor during the 2009 season. The sticker has the initials “TB” on it, above a lacrosse stick crossed with a pen.
Borrelli covered the Bandits during virtually all of the team’s history. He is a member of the National Lacrosse League’s Hall of Fame.
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Some coaches in pro sports don’t like to reveal the identity of their starting goalie in advance of the game. Kilgour isn’t one of them.
“I truly believe that it doesn’t matter which goalie you have in. If you have good defense in front of him, you’ll be all right,“ he said before the game. “Mikey [Thompson] definitely is going to get the start tonight, and we’ll be going every other game from there.”
Ken Montour will rotate with Thompson, who is just fine with alternating starts.
“We’re two unselfish players,” he said. “Kenny is a great goalie as well. He’s been paying his dues for the last few years. I have no problems switching back and forth. It keeps us both healthy, and the team plays well in front of us.”
Saturday’s game was something like a family reunion for Thompson and the rest of the Bandits. They hadn’t been all together in one place very often since winning the championship back in May. Some of the players do take part in field lacrosse in the summer.
“We play against each other,” Thompson said. “About 10 of the guys played together in the summer. But it’s nice to be back together and playing on the same team again.”
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The Bandits added Rich Kilgour to the team’s injury list. He had injured his elbow in the offseason, and he suffered some swelling in that joint while working out for the past week. He’ll be placed on the physically unable to perform list, joining Brett Bucktooth. Players who are on the PUP list were injured in the offseason and can be activated at any time, while someone on injured reserve must miss at least four weeks of play.
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The Bandits had major problems with Philadelphia faceoff expert Geoff Snider, who finished 24 of 27 for the game. . . . Kevin Dostie and Roger Vyse also had two goals each for Buffalo to join Mark Steenhuis (four goals) and John Tavares (three) in a multigoal game.
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