Saturday night, the Buffalo Bandits returned home to face the Rochester Knighthawks in an attempt to not only win their 6th in a row for the 1st time since 2007, but to be the 1st team in the NLL Eastern Division to clinch a playoff spot. The Bandits started off strong and raced out to a 5-1 lead with a natural hat trick from league-leading scorer Dhane Smith before the Knighthawks woke up and tied it up by the end of the half. With a 6-6 tie going into the 2nd half, it was an altogether new game as both teams scored in spurts with Rochester getting the lead a few times. In front of 17,397 fans of both teams, with a few hundred Knighthawks fans in the stands, the Bandits broke a tie late in the 4th to send their Thruway rivals home with a 14-12 final score in favor of the Bandits.
For the Bandettes, they were back in action with a few changes since the last game. Beautiful rookie Sarah is no longer on the team, having left for her dream job the day after the last home game. To balance out the lines, Rachel moved from Mandy's line to Stephanie's but they didn't go with 7 and 7 as expected. Angela got hurt in field practice Saturday afternoon and Deanna wasn't feeling her best so she stuck to an ambassador role for the evening, leaving the lines at 6 and 6. Obviously we hope that both these beautiful young ladies will be fully healthy and back in action at the next game.
new linemates Rachel and Deanna
Karley considers herself a good luck charm for the Bandits' strong season
When I got to the arena, I was greeted by Stephanie's line. Jennifer and Karley were handling game program duties while the rest of the line greeted fans coming in the gates. I didn't get a chance to speak to Stephanie for long as they plenty of fans about but I did talk to Karley a bit. Besides being adorable and enthusiastic, she's a very confident young lady and feels she may have brought some luck to the Bandits this season. She does have an Irish background so maybe there's a touch of leprechaun somewhere?
Mandy's line was upstairs in front of DJ Milk's dance party greeting plenty of fans. One thing I like to do is to get feedback from the ladies on their Bandette of The Week features and both Tirzah and Syidah loved theirs. Always nice to know the work is appreciated.
Pregame
Rachel
The S in BANDITS
Amanda and Jackie after a Bandits goal
cheering on a goal in the 4th
We've long made the point that pro cheerleaders/dance teams are primarily about the children and we've seen a few noteworthy interactions all season long with some children on the other side of the Bandettes. Saturday night though, it came from the other side of the aisle as a pair of little girls, possibly about 5-6 years old max apparently have hopes to become Bandettes themselves someday. They made a few visits over in front of me to watch the ladies dance and got some special attention from the gorgeous Janelle. She gave them her pom poms to play with for just a moment and before the 4th quarter ended, they showed her their love by giving her a string of beads, a touching moment that nearly brought a tear to Janelle's eyes right there.
See all the pics at https://buffaloprocheerbuffalobandettes.shutterfly.com/pictures/9709
Next up for Bandits and Bandettes, after the Bandits have a game in Toronto Friday night, they're all back in action next Saturday night at the First Niagara Center against that same Toronto Rock team whose 1st win this season came over the Bandits 2 months ago. It's our hope that not only Angela and Deanna are both back in action next weekend but that the Banditland faithful fill the arena to cheer the Bandits on to another win and of course to cheer on the NLL's premier dance team.
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