Bandits vs. Knighthawks Preview: The Thruway Series Rekindled

The Rochester Knighthawks were the fifth highest scoring team last season with an average of 11 goals/game. To start this season, the Knighthawks put 22 goals on the Philadelphia Wings and got themselves involved in a line brawl for good measure as well. On the flip side, the Buffalo Bandits were a team that couldn't find offense on certain nights last season, averaging 10.6 goals/game, and put 14 goals on the Toronto Rock last Saturday night. These two teams are renewing the Thruway series again by starting the home schedule for the Rochester Knighthawks. In the three matchups last season, the Bandits won the series two games to one. The lone game in Rochester was a 9-8 victory by the Bandits on April 9th, 2011.

The Knighthawks offense is led by Cody Jamieson, who had four goals and five assists in the win against Philadelphia. Jamieson had six goals and six assists in the three games against the Bandits last season. After the Knighthawks sent Shawn Evans to Calgary and Shawn Williams to Edmonton, the offense will run through Jamieson.

In net, Matt Vinc should get the start again after allowing 10 goals on 42 shots against the Wings. He was pulled toward the end of the Wings game after things started to look like they were getting out of hand. Jake Henhawk allowed the final two goals and even threw some punches at the end of the game.

On the Bandits side of the ball, Mike Thompson was the best players on the floor for the Bandits last week and his defensive player of the week award showed that. He made 41 saves against the Rock and is looking to try and slow down that potent Knighthawks offense. The Bandits defense as a group played a solid game with guys like Scott Self even chipping in a little on the offensive side.

For the Bandits offensively, the game plan is most likely going to be the same as it was last week. The new acquisitions in Kevin Buchanan, Luke Wiles, and Mat Giles all contributed in the win against Toronto. The balanced scoring took the pressure off John Tavares and Mark Steenhuis who only had three goals combined for the Bandits last week. Those two players accounted for 32% of the Bandits goals last season.

The game is Saturday at 7:30 and is poised to sound a little like a Buffalo home game with the amount of Bandits fans that make the trip down the Thruway.