Bandits capture Eastern Division title, will host Champion’s Cup

May 11th, 2008 by Lauren Ward

Mark Steenhuis and John Tavares. There’s your game summary.

With Steenhuis snapping in seven goals and one assist and Tavares scoring two and assisting on 10 it’s really no wonder that the Buffalo Bandits were able thump the New York Titans 19-12 in the Eastern Division final.

With a 5-4 lead after the first, the Bandits blew it open in the second, scoring four while Bandits’ goaltender Ken Montour allowed just one goal on 13 shots, giving the Bandits a 9-5 lead to take into the second half. The Titans closed the gap in the third, outscoring Buffalo 5-4 to bring the score to 13-10–not a big enough lead for the Bandits, apparently.

The first five minutes and one second of the fourth quarter saw five goals from Buffalo–including a natural hat trick from Steenhuis–and produced an imposing lead the Titans had little hope of climbing out from under.

In addition to the points put up by Steenhuis and Tavares the Bandits got big games from Roger Vyse with one and five, and Kevin Dostie and Mike Accursi with five points apiece. Montour made 41 saves on 53 shots.

For the Titans, Casey Powell had two goals and four assists and Brendan Mundorf had three and two.

Buffalo will host the Portland Lumberjax next Saturday, 7:30 PM EST at the HSBC Arena for the Champion’s Cup.