# 2014 Buffalo Bandits season

The Buffalo Bandits are a lacrosse team based in Buffalo, New York playing in the National Lacrosse League (NLL). The 2014 season was their twenty-third season in the NLL.
After finishing last in the East and missing the playoffs in 2013, the Bandits fired head coach Darris Kilgour and hired his former assistant coach Troy Cordingley, recently fired by the Toronto Rock despite winning the Les Bartley Award.
The Bandits started the 2014 season strong. They lost their first game, but then won their next five straight and eight of their next nine, looking much stronger than the 2013 Bandits who missed the playoffs. But the Bandits seemed to return to their 2013 form after that, losing their last eight straight and finishing third in the division. But the losing streak ended in the playoffs, as they took out the Toronto Rock in Toronto in the division semi-finals. In the division finals, the Bandits won game one of the two-game series against Rochester. But the Knighthawks came back to win game two and the resulting mini-game to take the division and end the Bandits' up-and-down season. The Knighthawks would go on to win the NLL Championship, their third straight.

## Standings

Reference:
East Division :
| P | Team | GP | W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Road | GF | GA | Diff | GF/GP | GA/GP |
| 1 | Rochester Knighthawks – xy | 18 | 14 | 4 | .778 | 0.0 | 8–1 | 6–3 | 210 | 167 | +43 | 11.67 | 9.28 |
| 2 | Toronto Rock – x | 18 | 9 | 9 | .500 | 5.0 | 6–3 | 3–6 | 219 | 213 | +6 | 12.17 | 11.83 |
| 3 | Buffalo Bandits – x | 18 | 8 | 10 | .444 | 6.0 | 6–3 | 2–7 | 190 | 200 | −10 | 10.56 | 11.11 |
| 4 | Philadelphia Wings | 18 | 6 | 12 | .333 | 8.0 | 2–7 | 4–5 | 202 | 218 | −16 | 11.22 | 12.11 |
| 5 | Minnesota Swarm | 18 | 4 | 14 | .222 | 10.0 | 2–7 | 2–7 | 180 | 219 | −39 | 10.00 | 12.17 |
West Division :
| P | Team | GP | W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Road | GF | GA | Diff | GF/GP | GA/GP |
| 1 | Edmonton Rush – xyz | 18 | 16 | 2 | .889 | 0.0 | 8–1 | 8–1 | 220 | 157 | +63 | 12.22 | 8.72 |
| 2 | Calgary Roughnecks – x | 18 | 12 | 6 | .667 | 4.0 | 6–3 | 6–3 | 237 | 215 | +22 | 13.17 | 11.94 |
| 3 | Colorado Mammoth – x | 18 | 8 | 10 | .444 | 8.0 | 4–5 | 4–5 | 201 | 228 | −27 | 11.17 | 12.67 |
| 4 | Vancouver Stealth | 18 | 4 | 14 | .222 | 12.0 | 3–6 | 1–8 | 181 | 223 | −42 | 10.06 | 12.39 |
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 | December 28, 2013 | Philadelphia Wings (1987–2014) | First Niagara Center | L 13–17 | | 16,347 | 0–1 |
| 2 | January 10, 2014 | Toronto Rock | First Niagara Center | W 12–10 | | 11,404 | 1–1 |
| 3 | January 12, 2014 | @ Philadelphia Wings (1987–2014) | Wells Fargo Center (Philadelphia) | W 12–11 | OT | 7,365 | 2–1 |
| 4 | January 18, 2014 | @ Colorado Mammoth | Pepsi Center | W 16–9 | | 14,822 | 3–1 |
| 5 | January 25, 2014 | Rochester Knighthawks | First Niagara Center | W 11–10 | | 13,339 | 4–1 |
| 6 | February 1, 2014 | Toronto Rock | First Niagara Center | W 12–10 | | 12,768 | 5–1 |
| 7 | February 8, 2014 | @ Rochester Knighthawks | Blue Cross Arena | L 6–9 | | 9,280 | 5–2 |
| 8 | February 15, 2014 | Philadelphia Wings (1987–2014) | First Niagara Center | W 13–7 | | 13,980 | 6–2 |
| 9 | March 8, 2014 | Minnesota Swarm | First Niagara Center | W 12–9 | | 15,330 | 7–2 |
| 10 | March 15, 2014 | Colorado Mammoth | First Niagara Center | W 12–9 | | 15,445 | 8–2 |
| 11 | March 21, 2014 | @ Edmonton Rush | Rexall Place | L 5–14 | | 7,071 | 8–3 |
| 12 | March 23, 2014 | @ Minnesota Swarm | Xcel Energy Center | L 9–10 | OT | 6,081 | 8–4 |
| 13 | March 29, 2014 | @ Vancouver Stealth | Langley Events Centre | L 8–12 | | 3,197 | 8–5 |
| 14 | April 5, 2014 | Calgary Roughnecks | First Niagara Center | L 13–16 | | 16,606 | 8–6 |
| 15 | April 12, 2014 | @ Minnesota Swarm | Xcel Energy Center | L 9–10 | | 7,088 | 8–7 |
| 16 | April 18, 2014 | @ Toronto Rock | Air Canada Centre | L 9–13 | | 11,276 | 8–8 |
| 17 | April 19, 2014 | @ Rochester Knighthawks | Blue Cross Arena | L 4–8 | | 8,900 | 8–9 |
| 18 | April 26, 2014 | Rochester Knighthawks | First Niagara Center | L 14–16 | | 19,070 | 8–10 |

### Playoffs

New to the 2014 season, the Conference Finals and Championship will expand to a two-game series from the previous single-game elimination setup. The top seed from each division will play the winner of the Division Semifinal game between the second and third seeds, with the lower-seeded team hosting the first game and the higher seed hosting the second game of the series. A team which wins both games will win the two-game series. In the event of a series split with both teams winning one game, a 10-minute tiebreaker game will be played immediately following the conclusion of the second contest to determine the winner of the playoff series. If the teams are still tied after 10 minutes, they would play sudden-death overtime. The Championship would be decided by a similar two-game series.

### Game log

| Game | Date | Opponent | Location | Score | OT | Attendance | Record |
| Division Semifinal | May 3, 2014 | @ Toronto Rock | Air Canada Centre | W 15–13 | | 7,867 | 1–0 |
| Eastern Final Game 1 | May 10, 2014 | Rochester Knighthawks | First Niagara Center | W 12–8 | | 9,209 | 2–0 |
| Eastern Final Game 2 | May 17, 2014 | @ Rochester Knighthawks | Blue Cross Arena | L 8–13 | | 8,651 | 2–1 |
| Eastern Final Game 3 (10 min game) | May 17, 2014 | @ Rochester Knighthawks | Blue Cross Arena | L 1–2 | OT | | 2–2 |

## Transactions
### Trades

| July 15, 2013 | To Buffalo BanditsRyan Benesch Andrew Watt | To Minnesota Swarm1st round pick, 2015 entry draft 1st round pick, 2016 entry draft 3rd round pick, 2017 entry draft |
| July 30, 2013 | To Buffalo BanditsRory Smith 4th round pick, 2015 entry draft | To Colorado MammothCarter Bender second round pick, 2013 entry draft second round pick, 2014 entry draft |
| September 14, 2013 | To Buffalo BanditsTwo 2nd round picks, 2014 entry draft | To Philadelphia WingsLuke Wiles |

### Entry Draft

The 2013 NLL Entry Draft took place on September 16, 2013. The Bandits made the following selections:
| Round | Overall | Player | College/Club |
| 2 | 14 | Nick Diachenko | University of Delaware |
| 2 | 15 | Mitch Wilde | Robert Morris University |
| 5 | 38 | Eric Penney | St. Catharines, Ontario |
| 6 | 47 | Kevin Pym | Okotoks, Alberta |
| 6 | 53 | Dylan Goddard | Clarington, Ontario |