Bandits notebook
Blazers turned corner in game against Titans
The Boston Blazers weren’t expected to be playing with the big boys this season. But they made the playoffs this season and then gave the Buffalo Bandits all they could handle in Saturday’s playoff game before losing by an 11-8 count.
The Blazers joined the National Lacrosse League this year. They caught a couple of breaks when they picked up forward Dan Dawson from the Arizona Sting in a dispersal draft, and added goalie Anthony Cosmo from the Chicago Shamrox when that team suspended operations.
Those are two big building blocks, but the Blazers still had to show they were a playoff team. They began the season with two straight losses to New York, and were 2-3 when they played the Titans again Feb. 7. That’s when the turning point of the season came.
“We scored two goals in the last 10 seconds,” Boston coach Tom Ryan said. “That was a confidence-builder. It was great that we were able to come back and win in that fashion. It made the guys believe they were a good team that could beat everyone. Everyone looked at that win as a turning point.”
Gary Bining tied the Feb. 7 game for Boston with 10 seconds left, and Kyle Ross won it with one second left.
Dawson showed his abilities in the first half on Saturday night. He ran the Boston offense like a basketball point guard at times, particularly on the power play. He finished the first half with six assists.
However, Buffalo shut him down in the second half, holding him to one assist. The Blazers scored only two goals in the final 30 minutes.
“He’s a tremendous ballplayer,” Buffalo defenseman Chris White said about Dawson. “I’ve been playing against him for the last six years. He keeps getting better, and his game evolves. Eventually you have to learn to control guys like that if you want to win. I think Billy Dee Smith did a hell of a job on him tonight. He got seven assists, but that’s not going to win a game against us and our offense.”
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Mike Accursi hopes that Saturday’s win keeps him on the road toward a bit of National Lacrosse League history. He has a chance to win his third straight championship.
“It would be awesome,” the Bandits forward said. “I’ve got three kids so I want to have a ring for every one of them. I think it would be meaningful, especially three in a row. I think I’d be the only player in all history to do that.”
Accursi won a championship with the Rochester Knighthawks in 2007. He started 2008 in Edmonton, but was acquired from the Rush in mid-season and helped the Bandits win a title.
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The Bandits used a familiar lineup in Saturday’s game. Coach Darris Kilgour played a team that did most of the work during the 2009 regular season. The scratches were Brett Bucktooth, Delby Powless, Brian Croswell, Rich Kilgour and Brandon Francis.
“I think this was the first time we had 16 guys healthy that was our best lineup,” Darris Kilgour said. “A lot of guys have been nicked up . . . It’s very gratifying to win with our best lineup. It would be nice to get Brett in there, but defensively that was our strongest group.”
Kilgour tried something different in preparation with his practice schedule this week. In the teams’ previous meeting in Buffalo two weeks ago, he held a workout on the Friday night before the game. This week, he decided to have the practice on a Tuesday night.
“I thought we had a really soft practice before the Boston game,” he said. “That was a mistake I didn’t want to make again. I wanted to give us a nice hard practice on Tuesday, give us four or five days to rest, and be prepared to come and play hard on Saturday.”
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