After an overtime loss in Colorado last Saturday night, the Buffalo Bandits returned home to the First Niagara Center last night to face off against the rival Toronto Rock, a team they went 1-2 against last season. The game started out pretty tight with the Rock holding a slight edge over Buffalo for most of the 1st quarter. However, their 4-3 lead early in the 2nd was the last time as the Bandits' offense awoke in a big way and they put in 7 goals before Toronto got on the board again sending their rivals back to Canada with a 12-6 final score.
Jackie with the game programs
When I got to the arena this week, it was rookies Sarah and Jackie handling game program duties and they were both extremely excited to be back in action after a week away from Banditland. Like typical rookies, they had even more fun at the opener than they expected and that especially held true for Jackie, who had never been to a Bandits game before. After experiencing the excitement of opening night, she told me that she and her family were hooked.
After finishing up with them, it was up to the 100 level where Stephanie's line was holding court with lots of fans coming in. Karley was still beaming from the last game and MaKenzie was equally as happy with her Bandette of The Week feature. At the same time though, she also made a point to live up to my comment about keeping me on my toes. Mandy's line was at least as busy on the other side of the arena but after a few tries, I was able to get a chance to talk to Mandy about the Bandette of The Week series and how much longer we'll be waiting for the Bandits' site to get updated (she's hoping within the next week and a half at the latest.)
Deanna, Stephanie, MaKenzie, Karley, Jessica, and Jennifer
After we headed down to our seats, it wasn't too long before the Bandettes were assembling to get ready for the game. Erin had her little boy with her and he couldn't have been any more excited to get his picture taken with 16 beautiful young women at once. With little boys and girls, some are shy when meeting pro cheerleaders and we saw one example before the game when a mother wanted to bring her little girl over to meet the Bandettes but she was too shy to come over. Erin's little guy definitely does not suffer from shyness.
The Bandettes with a little big fan
One thing we, as bloggers for pro cheerleaders, wonder about when starting a new season working with a lot of rookies is how they'll react to the attention. Coming from high school and college dance teams, they don't get the attention that the pros do around the country and it might throw them off at 1st. In my experience, continuing to do as good a job as possible for these hard-working young ladies and the trust that the veterans and the coaches have in your work goes a long way with rookies. In the case of the 2016 Bandettes, many of the rookies seem just as comfortable with the coverage they're getting as the veterans are.
beautiful rookies Angela and Jessica
Bandettes in action during pregame
Amanda, Jackie, and Syidah waiting for the team to come out
Ti cheering on a goal
Mandy and Janelle in the 1st quarter
MaKenzie, Sarah, and Jessica cheering on a goal
MaKenzie is clearly excited
See all the pics at https://buffaloprocheerbuffalobandettes.shutterfly.com/pictures/8991
Next up for the Bandettes, they'll be hard at work the next couple of weeks with the Jr Bandettes getting them ready for the next home game on February 6 when New England comes to town. Hopefully, the Bandettes and Jr Bandettes will be cheering on a 3-1 Bandits team after the Bandits come home after their road trip to New England next weekend.
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