Swarm Blank Bandits for Final 20 Minutes to Punch Playoff Ticket

Plumb the depths; real season starts now

Down 11-8 deep into the third quarter, Brett Dobson and the Georgia Swarm (9-9) dug deep into their desperation reserves, holding the Buffalo Bandits (13-5) off the scoresheet for the final third of Saturday’s contest at Gas South Arena and scoring the final six goals of the game to win 14-11 and punch their postseason ticket.

“Every team sets a goal at the start of the season, and to get to that goal, you’ve got to get to the playoffs,” Swarm head coach Ed Comeau said. “We got ourselves into the playoffs. I think everyone realizes dramatically doing it the last night wasn’t how we envisioned it, but great, great effort. Our D really played well. Buffalo’s such a good team, so hard to defend, and they created lots of opportunities.”

The Swarm jumped to an early lead, with Lyle Thompson scoring on his very first shot on the team’s first shift of the game. It was a short-lived lead. The Bandits two-man game, which was dynamic for most of the game, cashed in on the next shift, with Chase Fraser burying the rock all alone on the crease. Andrew Kew retook the lead for the home team with a transition five-hole goal, and the defenses settled down a bit from there. Ian MacKay came around a Kyle Buchanan pick to sink an outside shot, and Josh Byrne dodged his defender to score his first goal of the game, putting the Bandits up 3-2.

Georgia’s depth was tested early, as Lyle limped down the team tunnel following a transition collision at the end of the first quarter. The Swarm’s two-way players stepped up as he recovered, but the Bandits struck early, as captain Steve Priolo collected a rebound and twisted the ball past Dobson. Brendan Bomberry stung the farside corner past Matt Vinc’s left shoulder a little over a minute later to get back within one. MacKay and Fraser quickly extended the Bandits’ lead to three goals off separate pick-and-rolls.

The Swarm went on a three-goal run led by Kew, achieving his hat trick after a transition tally and power play goal. Shayne Jackson tied things up late, picking his shot as a defender slid to him late. Buffalo had the last word of the first half, however, with Dhane Smith using a frenetic defensive recovery as a window to bury the ball shortside and retake the lead, 7-6.

With momentum in hand, the Bandits built upon Smith’s goal in the second half. Clay Scanlan potted a pair, and Smith was left all alone on a downhill dodge, dekeing for days before burying the rock past Dobson.

Richie Connell cashed in with a low whip off a Jackson feed in tight to cut Buffalo’s run, then Wiedemann scored what appeared to be the juice goal for the Swarm. He broke up a pass in the middle of the floor during a Bandits transition, scooped up the loosie, and got enough hangtime on his jump to tuck the ball over Vinc before he landed. Bandits head coach John Tavares challenged the goal, but review determined conclusively Wiedemann didn’t land before the ball crossed the plane.

The juice took a minute to materialize, as the Swarm found themselves on the penalty kill shortly afterwards. Fraser’s hat trick on the power play restored the three-goal lead and was the first Bandits goal of the game that wasn’t even strength. It was also the last time the Bandits would score in the game, as they couldn’t best Dobson for the final 20:54 minutes of action.

“For whatever reason, we didn’t have the ball much, whether they’re getting resets or whatnot,” Tavares said. “It seemed like they possessed the ball more towards the end of the game than we did, and then they just went on the run, and we kind of tried to attack them, and it felt like we were playing a bit desperate, trying to score goals, and we just couldn’t find one. We had a couple of opportunities in transition, we had a couple open looks from outside, and just couldn’t find the net.”

“I thought Brett really dialed in that last half of the third and in the fourth made huge saves,” Comeau said, “and we found some great opportunities. Jacob Hickey getting his first goal, Richie Connell scoring a big goal in the third. I think there’s lots of good things to build on, but that’s got to be the standard of where we play each and every game. We’re much more consistent, and we need that, especially going down 11-8. It was tough to go down 11-8, but the guys didn’t quit, and we had some huge goals from some of our key contributors.”

Georgia’s leading trio tied the game up for them late in the third. Kew to Lyle to Jackson delivered an even strength marker with a shot from Jackson around a Bandits defender, Kew’s fourth goal of the game came on the power play, and Lyle scored on the next shift following a face-off win.

Knotted at 11, the teams traded ends of the floor one last time. Following a scary collision trying to break up a Swarm transition opportunity, Kiel Matisz left the game injured, meaning a Bandits defense that saw Cam Wyers exit the game due to an apparent injury in the third quarter was depleted further. Hickey went coast-to-coast for his first pro NLL goal and the Swarm’s first lead in 38:24 minutes. Georgia’s two-man game came through, with Bomberry finding his captain after a great pick and MacIntosh tucking the ball home as he fell. Dobson made numerous saves on plenty of high-danger situations down the stretch, notably a one-on-none with Priolo in transition and a Scanlan jumping attempt off a successful pick that was getting buried earlier in the game.

Bomberry rewarded his netminder with a desperation shot from a sponsor logo midfloor late in the shot clock and game that bounced farside past Vinc, twisting the knife. Georgia won the next possession, Jackson was mobbed behind the cage to give the Bandits the final possession, but a roughing call on Byrne at the end of the play wasted his teammates’ efforts to get the ball back. The Swarm killed the clock for a 14-11 win, clinching a postseason berth in their final game of the season against the No. 1 overall seed.

Buffalo was led by Byrne in scoring with 8 PTS (1G, 7A), followed by Smith with 6 PTS (2G, 4A). Smith finished the season with 135 PTS (32G, 103A), setting a new single-season record for assists — he now owns the top four spots in that category — and tying his and Byrne’s record for third most single-season points. Smith and Byrne now account for seven of the eight top single-season points records, with Jeff Teat’s name breaking up the repetitiveness with his 136-point season in 2023. Vinc was busy in net Saturday night, finishing the night with 49 saves and a .778 Sv%.

“Guys are obviously down,” Tavares said postgame. “Whether it’s the last game or the first game of the year, you never want to lose. The guys played hard. We had a couple of injuries. Georgia did a great job; they deserved to win the game. They ended off the game on a six-goal run, and when you go on a run like that and you don’t get any answers, it’s tough to win. So kudos to them for what they did today.”

Kew also finished with 8 PTS (4G, 4A), as Bomberry’s 5 PTS (2G, 3A) were next in line for the Swarm. Dobson played his best stretch of lacrosse when it mattered most, finishing the game with a .756 Sv% and, more imporantly, the win.

“I’m not sure what was working,” Comeau said about Dobson’s perfect efforts in the final third of the game, “but we’re hopefully going to replicate that wherever we are next week. He has a lot of confidence, and I think he, again, would be the first to admit he hasn’t been at his best for a number of nights. He just really dialed it in. I thought we did a much better job defensively of giving up some shots that he wanted to give up, and he made some great saves. He made a great save on Scanlan on a pick-and-roll in tight. That’s what we said, if you want to be a top level goalie in the league, you’ve got to make the regular saves, and you’ve got to make a couple of spectacular saves, and he did that for us.”

Plumb the Depth

Depth became a huge focus for both teams in the game. Georgia planned for it a bit pregame — Seth Oakes remained on the Holdout List, Kaleb Benedict was placed on the Injured Reserve List this week, and Miles Thompson was the healthy scratch. Bomberry, who had been playing more of a two-way role this season, would slot in the right side with Lyle, and MacIntosh joined them, logging more O than D shifts in the game but still playing a healthy amount of defense.

Having players do that isn’t atypical for the Swarm; MacIntosh mixes in his fair share of offensive shifts throughout the season, and Bryan Cole had his most productive NLL season, playing primarily out the front door but getting more and more defensive sets as the season wore on.

“Colesy logs more minutes than anyone but Dobber,” Comeau said, “and Jordan, we had him in a different role tonight, but he was great. He was able to play D, run up and stay, or play O, run back and play. Bomber went back there. Even Lyle a couple of shifts went back and did a great job. Having that versatility’s really huge. Sometimes those guys, other than Lyle, maybe don’t get that recognition cause they’re playing in both ends, but we recognize the importance to our team, and it certainly in a game like tonight gave us success.”

That depth was tested early, however, as Lyle hobbled off the floor at the end of the first quarter after Wyers landed on his leg in a transition shift. It meant other Swarm players had to step up while he recovered, meaning Jeremy Thompson played a few O shifts as the Swarm went strong left for a healthy amount of the second quarter. The youngest Thompson recovered and came up big for his team when it mattered most, scoring the game-tying goal in the waning minutes of the third.

Buffalo didn’t enter the game with as much roster manuvering as their opponent. Chris Cloutier was activated from the IR, and Tehoka Nanticoke was placed on that list instead. But losing Wyers and Matisz in the second half was a huge blow for the Bandits back end, and Tavares noted their absence late coupled with the Swarm’s dominance of possession resulted in his bench getting worn down. He also noted this isn’t unfamiliar territory for the Bandits, as they’ve weathered injuries throughout the season.

“It tested our depth,” Tavares said. “Guys that are playing, guys that are on the practice squad, if they have to step in, they step in. The team’s not about one or two or three players. Good teams usually have to dig down and use their depth at some time in the season.”

One more notable name played the second half banged up more than usual — Kyle Buchanan. The 37-year-old had a noticeable limp postgame, but during the game, nothing suggested he was ailing. Buchanan was his usual self, indefatigable and always in motion, playing past the pain and drawing high praise from his coach postgame.

“We have a lot of great offensive players, but I think he’s been the catalyst, for the most part, of this team,” Tavares said, “just makes the guys go and is a huge part of the puzzle, and he doesn’t usually have the ball in his stick. He’s been probably one of the most consistent O guys at scoring and getting open and getting loose balls. He’s been a great energy waterbug for us. Great to have on our team, and he’s very smart, too, off of loose balls, off of face-offs, finds ways to get open. He’s the smallest guy on the floor but finds himself in front of the net more often than not.”

Real Season Starts Now

The Bandits entered the 2024-25 NLL regular season the heavy favorites to three-peat in the chase for the NLL Cup. Losing the last game of the regular season stings, as Tavares said earlier, but it doesn’t erase how great this Bandits team was all season long.

“It’s great, and the guys did a great job throughout the year like you alluded to earlier,” Tavares said. “That’s one loss, but what are we, 13-5? In this league, that’s a great record. Guys should be proud of ending up first and having home floor advantage. Playing in Buffalo is a huge advantage for us. We have a great crowd, the guys are accustomed to the environment, and used to the routine of being there.”

But the Bandits now enter the most dangerous part of the season — win-or-go-home quarterfinals. The Bandits take on the eighth seed San Diego Seals (9-9), one of the few teams to beat the Bandits earlier this season. Face-off at KeyBank Center is set for 7:30 p.m. ET on Friday, April 25. While Tavares and co. will enjoy the home floor atmosphere, the importance of a one-game series and lessons learned from Saturday’s loss are at the front of their minds.

“(Banditland’s) also a place where people like to come in and play, as well. It’s not like it’s only an advantage for us. I think a lot of teams get pumped up to play in front of 18,000 fans. Just because it’s a home game, just because we’re in first place doesn’t mean we’re going to get a win. We’ve got to go out and earn it. I think today was a big wakeup call for us in terms of this is what can happen to us in a one-game elimination; there’s no tomorrow. You lose, you’re out. We played Georgia last year in the first game in Buffalo last year, it was an overtime win for us. Those first games, there’s a lot on the line, right? They’re scary, especially when everyone’s pointing the finger, ‘Oh, you should win, you’re first place, you’re home seed, you’re playing the eighth place team,’ but you look at the standings, and there’s a lot of parity in this league. Anything can happen, and I’m just trying my best to prepare the team as best as possible to play whoever we’re facing.”

Georgia clawed their way into the postseason, making a dramatic statement by besting the best NLL team in the regular season and stifling them the last third of the contest. They were one of seven teams entering week 21 that would have their fate decided this weekend and put self-imposed blinders on to focus on what they could control. As such, Comeau hadn’t even begun to process what was ahead for his team, reveling in the bask of having punched their postseason ticket by coming up huge when it mattered most.

“We said, ‘Let’s enjoy the night,’” Comeau said. “We battled hard to get here; we’ll start looking at Saskatchewan tomorrow. I know there’s other games tonight — I don’t even know who’s playing. We said all week, ‘Let’s control what we can control. All we can do is win. If we win and we don’t get in, well, we did our best.’ We’ll figure that out starting tomorrow, figure out where we’re going and start getting a game plan for whoever it is.”

The Swarm travel to Saskatoon to take on the second seed Saskatchewan Rush (13-5) on Saturday, April 26 at 9:30 p.m. ET.

Swarm Blank Bandits for Final 20 Minutes to Punch Playoff Ticket

Plumb the Depth

Real Season Starts Now

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TyMer Lacrosse