The Bandettes at the Bandits' Home Opener against the Wings

This year, the NLL has expanded their schedule to 18 regular season games, starting a week earlier and ending a week later. Unfortunately, that seemed to have a psychological effect on the Buffalo Bandits. The 2013 NLL season was their worst performance in several years and, while the Bandits looked solid in their scrimmages against the Wings 3 weeks ago, they looked more like the team that struggled all season long in the spring. The offense was ok but the defense was porous to say the least and the goaltending did little to make up for the defensive struggles. The game wasn't nearly as close as the 17-13 score indicated and the fans in attendance were left thinking that the team looked at the 2013 on the calendar instead of the 2014 on the season schedule.
In the case of the Bandettes, it seems they also had a carry-over from 2013 but in contrast to the Bandits' play, the ladies are looking great, just as they did in 2013. Only 3 girls didn't return from the spring's squad and in their place are two stunning rookies in Janelle and Mandy with returning alum Ashley V filling out the squad. Behind Jaclyn and Erin, with strong captains in Kirsten and L.B., the 2014 Buffalo Bandettes squad should have a strong season. Maybe the NLL Girl of The Year crown, which now-3rd year vet Stephanie O won in 2012, will return to Buffalo as well.

Ashley

Amanda T

I started off the gamenight getting to the arena shortly before the gates opened. Once I got inside, Ashley and Amanda T were there with gameday programs and souvenirs for the fans. In addition to being a stunning redhead on the Bandettes, Ashley is one of the biggest Bills fans I know. Amanda, in her 3rd year on the squad, started her Bandettes career as an Ambassador and is one of the most well-spoken young ladies I've met in many years as I discovered in a conversation we had at an event 2 years ago.





I made my way up to the 100 level where the rest of the squad was on hand greeting fans and posing for photos. I bounced back and forth from Kirsten's line at the east end to LB's line at the west end of the escalators a few times with visits from Bandettes alumnae Alicia (2012-13), Melissa (2005-11) and Sarah (2005-09)

Mandy, Chrissy, Stephanie, Kirsten, Brianna V, Danielle, and Lauren K

Kelsey, MaKenzie, LB, Alicia, Janelle, Cheri, Jessica, and Chelsea

After grabbing several photos, I headed down to my seat for the game where it wasn't long before the Bandettes came out to get set for pregame. Of course there were photo poses as well and the Bandits' mascot, Rax, even photobombed a pic with Jessica and Amanda.

Jessica and Amanda with Rax

The line set-up is pretty similar to how it was last year with Chelsea switching over to LB's line and newcomer Janelle slotting in over beside Jessica. Kirsten's line has Lauren K moving back to Chelsea's old slot with newcomer Mandy filling the other vacated slot alongside Chrissy.

MaKenzie and Janelle

dance squad photo minus LB

See all the pics at https://buffaloprocheerbuffalobandettes.shutterfly.com/pictures/6480

Next up, the Bandettes and Bandits' next game is Friday January 10th at First Niagara Center playing host to the Toronto Rock. Hopefully the team can turn things around and get this march to a 5th NLL Title going in the right direction! Even though we're still waiting for the Bandettes webpage to be updated, the Bandette of The Week series will be kicking off soon leading off with 6th year vet Kirsten who started her Bandettes career posing with the Champions Cup.

Buffalo Jill of The Week Shelby H

This week, we take a look at rookie dancer Shelby H as our Buffalo Jill of The Week. One of a pair of sisters who joined the squad this season, Shelby could be found on Christina's line on gamedays between Melissa and Megan. Working towards her degree in Mechanical Engineering and Technologies, she's hoping that she and her future husband don't just buy a house, but build one out in the country, probably similar to that of her co-captain. Shelby is basically a low-maintenance type of girl in that she likes the simple things in that her ideal date would simply be some takeout by the waterfront with ice cream for dessert and while she's working towards her degree in a pretty lucrative field, she'd be just as happy being a stay-at-home mother. You can see all of Shelby's photos at http://buffaloprocheerbuffalojills.shutterfly.com/jillsindividualpics/65558 Shelby's secondary photo comes from the Bills Home Opener against New England. Shown coming off the field at the end of the game are Megan, Shelby H, Melissa, Hannah, Christina, and Taylor.

Megan, Shelby H, Melissa, Hannah, Christina, and Taylor

From the Bandettes comes a photo from the Bandits Open Scrimmage featuring members of LB's line. Shown posing for the camera are Ashley, Brianna M, Janelle, MaKenzie, LB, and Jessica. See them and the rest of the squad in action as the Bandits host the Wings to start the season at First Niagara Center December 28th!

Ashley, Brianna M, Janelle, MaKenzie, LB, and Jessica

More from the Jills at the Bills' Home finale

As promised, we do have more photos from Sunday's game to share.
First up, we have photos taken by a friend of mine. He generally gets a few shots of pregame and, when they perform in the tunnel endzone, of the 3rd quarter break performance.

lined up for pregame

Lisa, Natalie, Emily, Katie, and Taylor

See the rest of his pics of the Jills at http://s15.photobucket.com/user/buffalojills2005/library/2013/Dolphins-Mike%20Thomas

There's a few from the Bills as well, with some sideline field-level shots

Christina

Katie, Taylor, and Hayley

See all their pics at http://www.buffalobills.com/photos/photo-gallery/Jills-Week-16-Bills-vs-Dolphins/694b87e3-2649-465a-bead-6070b103b280

There are also some on CNN/SI's site that didn't make it to the Bills site at http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/cheerleaders/photos/1312/nfl-cheerleaders-week-16/3/

Megan

Myesha

The Jills at the Bills' Home Finale

The 2013 season has been a season of transition in Buffalo with a new coaching staff, new QB, and new front office with the Bills. There have been some tough losses and some exciting wins. Last week, the Bills' perennial rivals from Miami officially eliminated the Bills from the playoff race but the character of the Bills' team wasn't going to take it lying down. Behind one of the strongest performances the Bills defense has put up in a few years, including 7 sacks, shattering the franchise mark for a season with a total of 56, the Bills "squished the Fish" with a 19-0 score in front of a crowd of 54,305 that, at times, sounded like a sell-out crowd.
The Jills have also just completed a season of transition. A significantly smaller squad than normal with a large amount of turnover started off the season. Only 2 Jills remained prior to the creation of this site and they, Nichole and Omarlla, both are in management. But while the veteran presence is lacking, the youth showed a lot this season, both in the younger vets as well as in the beautiful rookie class.

The Jills ready for pregame

Prior to performing, they introduced Jenny as the Buffalo Jill of The Week and Emily as the Jills' Pro representative.

Jenny and Emily

The Christmas game had the Jills in their Santa outfits, complete with a special pregame performance with Billy Buffalo and a little elf as well as a Jingle Bell Rock-themed 3rd quarter break.

 The Jills form part of Stampede Row

Emily, Alyssa K, and Kayla smile up at the camera as they come out for the game

Shelby H and Megan in the 1st quarter

On the Ambassador Squad, Dana and Ashley P handled promotional duties but Janis, Gabrielle, and Ashley C also made appearances on the sidelines at various points in the game.

Ashley P and Dana posing for the camera

Gabrielle and Ashley C coming off the field

Allysha and Emmy coming off the field at halftime

The tricky part of the day was protecting the camera. With the cold, rain, and wind, I wasn't able to get as many photos as normal, which was to be expected when the NFL disallowed camera bags to be brought into NFL stadiums. However, there will be more photos we'll be sharing from the game later in the week. For now though, check out all the pics at https://buffaloprocheerbuffalojills.shutterfly.com/pictures/34598
Next up for the Jills, Gabrielle and Ashley (not sure which one) will be appearing at the taping of Out of Bounds with Arthur Moats and Sal Capaccio tonight at Danny's South in Orchard Park. The taping starts at 7:30pm and the special guest is Bills FS Jairus Byrd.
After that, tune into the Pro Bowl on January 26th at 8pm ET on NBC. Jills' 4th year vet Emily will be there, obviously sporting the prettiest smile.
Next season looks to have more changes for the Jills as at least 3 of the 8 captains are planning to retire and with tryouts coming up in April, we'll just have to wait to see what kind of changes are in store.

Buffalo Jill of The Week Jenny P

This week, we take a look at 3rd year vet Jenny P as our Buffalo Jill of The Week. In her 1st season as a co-captain, on Emily's line, Jenny started off her Jills career in a big way winning the dance rookie of the year award. That couldn't have been an easy feat and not just because there were several other outstanding candidates, including a pair of former Bandettes who made the switch to the Jills that year. No, her biggest obstacle was in making it to all the practices and games because she lived, at the time, past Syracuse. When the Jills held their Calendar Release Party a few months ago in Verona, Jenny could've stayed with her folks instead of in a hotel afterwards like everyone else who attended had to do if they didn't want to make the long trek home. She actually had family in Buffalo that rookie year she had told me she could stay with if need be but at the end of the season, at the Jills Comedy Show that January, she told me she never did. Thankfully, that's no longer an obstacle for her as she moved to Buffalo last summer with her (sorry, guys) longtime boyfriend. Besides looking forward to when she will someday be working with animals someplace like Sea World, Marineland, or a large zoo, she's also very interested in what will be going on in Cleveland next spring. She's a big Ghostbusters fan and word is, they'll be shooting the 3rd movie in Cleveland in spring 2014. You can see all of Jenny's pics at https://buffaloprocheerbuffalojills.shutterfly.com/jillsindividualpics/42213 Jenny's secondary photo comes from the Bills-Ravens game. Shown as they head into the tunnel just before the half are Hayley, Jenny, and Kayla.

Hayley, Jenny, and Kayla

From the Bandettes comes a photo from the Bandits Open Scrimmage vs the Wings. Shown posing for a photo are members of Kirsten's line. From left to right are Mandy, Danielle, Chrissy, Kirsten, Brianna V, and Stephanie. See them in action along with the rest of the squad at the Bandits Home Opener against the Philadelphia Wings on December 28th at First Niagara Center!

Mandy, Danielle, Chrissy, Kirsten, Brianna V, and Stephanie