# 2006 Buffalo Bandits season

The Buffalo Bandits are a lacrosse team based in Buffalo, New York playing in the National Lacrosse League (NLL). The 2006 season was the 15th in franchise history.
The Bandits captured the Eastern division title by repeating their 11-5 record from 2005. They then spoiled the Minnesota Swarm's first ever playoff game by defeating them 11-10, and advanced to the championship game by beating Rochester 15-10. The Bandits hosted the Championship game for the first time since 1997, but lost to Gary Gait's Colorado Mammoth 16-9.
Goaltender Steve Dietrich made history twice, by being the first person to be named Goaltender of the Year in consecutive years (in fact, the first person to win the award twice), and also by being the first goaltender to be named NLL Most Valuable Player.

## Regular season
### Conference standings

Reference:
East Division :
| P | Team | GP | W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Road | GF | GA | Diff | GF/GP | GA/GP |
| 1 | Buffalo Bandits – xyz | 16 | 11 | 5 | .688 | 0.0 | 6–2 | 5–3 | 193 | 167 | +26 | 12.06 | 10.44 |
| 2 | Rochester Knighthawks – x | 16 | 9 | 7 | .562 | 2.0 | 6–2 | 3–5 | 196 | 180 | +16 | 12.25 | 11.25 |
| 3 | Toronto Rock – x | 16 | 8 | 8 | .500 | 3.0 | 5–3 | 3–5 | 182 | 179 | +3 | 11.38 | 11.19 |
| 4 | Minnesota Swarm – x | 16 | 8 | 8 | .500 | 3.0 | 3–5 | 5–3 | 158 | 171 | −13 | 9.88 | 10.69 |
| 5 | Philadelphia Wings | 16 | 8 | 8 | .500 | 3.0 | 5–3 | 3–5 | 184 | 184 | −-0 | 11.50 | 11.50 |
West Division :
| P | Team | GP | W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Road | GF | GA | Diff | GF/GP | GA/GP |
| 1 | Portland LumberJax – xy | 16 | 11 | 5 | .688 | 0.0 | 5–3 | 6–2 | 188 | 177 | +11 | 11.75 | 11.06 |
| 2 | Colorado Mammoth – x | 16 | 10 | 6 | .625 | 1.0 | 6–2 | 4–4 | 200 | 172 | +28 | 12.50 | 10.75 |
| 3 | Calgary Roughnecks – x | 16 | 9 | 7 | .562 | 2.0 | 4–4 | 5–3 | 183 | 178 | +5 | 11.44 | 11.12 |
| 4 | Arizona Sting – x | 16 | 8 | 8 | .500 | 3.0 | 4–4 | 4–4 | 198 | 199 | −1 | 12.38 | 12.44 |
| 5 | San Jose Stealth | 16 | 5 | 11 | .312 | 6.0 | 3–5 | 2–6 | 151 | 174 | −23 | 9.44 | 10.88 |
| 6 | Edmonton Rush | 16 | 1 | 15 | .062 | 10.0 | 0–8 | 1–7 | 150 | 202 | −52 | 9.38 | 12.62 |
x: Clinched playoff berth; c: Clinched playoff berth by crossing over to another division; y: Clinched division; z: Clinched best regular season record; GP: Games Played W: Wins; L: Losses; GB: Games back; PCT: Win percentage; Home: Record at Home; Road: Record on the Road; GF: Goals scored; GA: Goals allowed Differential: Difference between goals scored and allowed; GF/GP: Average number of goals scored per game; GA/GP: Average number of goals allowed per game

### Game log

Reference:
| Game | Date | Opponent | Location | Score | OT | Attendance | Record |
| 1 | January 13, 2006 | @ Toronto Rock | Air Canada Centre | W 13–11 | | 15,104 | 1–0 |
| 2 | January 21, 2006 | Toronto Rock | HSBC Arena | W 13–10 | | 13,072 | 2–0 |
| 3 | January 28, 2006 | @ Rochester Knighthawks | Blue Cross Arena | L 10–11 | OT | 11,121 | 2–1 |
| 4 | February 10, 2006 | Portland LumberJax | HSBC Arena | W 16–6 | | 10,395 | 3–1 |
| 5 | February 11, 2006 | @ Philadelphia Wings (1987–2014) | Wachovia Center | L 9–10 | | 11,207 | 3–2 |
| 6 | February 18, 2006 | Minnesota Swarm | HSBC Arena | W 14–9 | | 12,458 | 4–2 |
| 7 | March 4, 2006 | Minnesota Swarm | HSBC Arena | L 8–11 | | 10,961 | 4–3 |
| 8 | March 11, 2006 | Toronto Rock | HSBC Arena | L 8–10 | | 14,064 | 4–4 |
| 9 | March 18, 2006 | @ Rochester Knighthawks | Blue Cross Arena | W 14–13 | | 10,209 | 5–4 |
| 10 | March 24, 2006 | @ Minnesota Swarm | Xcel Energy Center | W 13–11 | | 9,533 | 6–4 |
| 11 | March 25, 2006 | Rochester Knighthawks | HSBC Arena | W 18–13 | | 13,722 | 7–4 |
| 12 | March 31, 2006 | @ San Jose Stealth | HP Pavilion at San Jose | W 11–9 | | 5,143 | 8–4 |
| 13 | April 1, 2006 | @ Arizona Sting | Jobing.com Arena | W 13–10 | | 6,759 | 9–4 |
| 14 | April 8, 2006 | Colorado Mammoth | HSBC Arena | W 14–12 | | 11,895 | 10–4 |
| 15 | April 14, 2006 | Philadelphia Wings (1987–2014) | HSBC Arena | W 8–7 | | 10,379 | 11–4 |
| 16 | April 15, 2006 | @ Philadelphia Wings (1987–2014) | Wachovia Center | L 11–14 | | 12,796 | 11–5 |

## Playoffs
### Game log

Reference:
| Game | Date | Opponent | Location | Score | Attendance | Record |
| Division Semifinal | April 23, 2006 | Minnesota Swarm | HSBC Arena | W 11–10 | 8,110 | 1–0 |
| Division Final | April 29, 2006 | Rochester Knighthawks | HSBC Arena | W 15–10 | 10,897 | 2–0 |
| Championship Game | May 13, 2006 | Colorado Mammoth | HSBC Arena | L 9–16 | 16,104 | 2–1 |

## Player stats

Reference:

### Runners (Top 10)

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; LB = Loose Balls; PIM = Penalty minutes
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | LB | PIM |
| John Tavares | 16 | 32 | 53 | 85 | 95 | 12 |
| Mark Steenhuis | 15 | 34 | 23 | 57 | 144 | 22 |
| Dan Teat | 15 | 27 | 29 | 56 | 50 | 10 |
| Cory Bomberry | 15 | 21 | 27 | 48 | 89 | 22 |
| Delby Powless | 15 | 12 | 33 | 45 | 64 | 10 |
| Pat McCready | 15 | 11 | 15 | 26 | 154 | 36 |
| Kim Squire | 12 | 13 | 10 | 23 | 43 | 12 |
| A.J. Shannon | 9 | 7 | 16 | 23 | 44 | 2 |
| Lindsay Plunkett | 7 | 9 | 9 | 18 | 21 | 4 |
| Totals | | 287 | 480 | 402 | 1039 | 50 |

### Goaltenders

Note: GP = Games played; MIN = Minutes; W = Wins; L = Losses; GA = Goals against; Sv% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average
| Player | GP | MIN | W | L | GA | Sv% | GAA |
| Steve Dietrich | 16 | 812:34 | 10 | 4 | 135 | .808 | 9.97 |
| Ken Montour | 7 | 116:48 | 1 | 1 | 25 | .775 | 12.84 |
| Ryan Avery | 6 | 30:00 | 0 | 0 | 6 | .800 | 12.00 |
| Totals | | | 11 | 5 | 167 | .802 | 10.44 |

## Awards

| Player | Award |
| Steve Dietrich | NLL Most Valuable Player |
| Steve Dietrich | Goaltender of the Year |
| Steve Dietrich | First Team All-Pro |
| John Tavares | Second Team All-Pro |
| John Tavares | All-Stars |
| Steve Dietrich | All-Stars |
| Mark Steenhuis | All-Stars |

## Transactions
### Trades

| February 21, 2006 | To Buffalo Bandits Ken Montour third round pick, 2007 entry draft | To Calgary Roughnecks first round pick, 2006 entry draft |
| February 21, 2006 | To Buffalo Bandits first round pick, 2006 entry draft | To Calgary Roughnecks Ryan Avery |
| March 23, 2006 | To Buffalo Bandits Jason Crosbie | To Arizona Sting Lindsay Plunkett fourth round pick, 2007 entry draft |

## Roster

Reference:
| No. | Position | Player |
| | Goalie | Avery, Ryan |
| 72 | Fwd | Bomberry, Cory |
| 2 | Def | Bonterre, Troy |
| 27 | Def | Couling, Kyle |
| 54 | Fwd | Crosbie, Jason |
| 30 | Goalie | Dietrich, Steve |
| | Def | Francey, Tyler |
| 7 | Fwd | Harasym, Jon |
| 5 | Def | Hill, Clay |
| 97 | Fwd | Kazarian, Bryan |
| 16 | Def | Kilgour, Rich |
| 32 | Def | Langdale, Chris |
| 17 | Def | Laverty, Kyle |
| No. | Position | Player |
| 23 | Def | McCready, Pat |
| 29 | Goalie | Montour, Ken |
| | Fwd | Plunkett, Lindsay |
| 99 | Fwd | Powless, Delby |
| 12 | Fwd | Schmelzie, Kyle |
| 8 | Fwd | Shannon, A.J. |
| 77 | Def | Shattler, Jeff |
| 3 | Def | Smith, Billy Dee |
| 93 | Fwd | Squire, Kim |
| 9 | Fwd | Steenhuis, Mark |
| 11 | Fwd | Tavares, John |
| 15 | Fwd | Teat, Dan |
| 81 | Fwd | Vyse, Roger |
| 6 | Def | White, Chris |