NLL Insider

The Buffalo Bandits will host the Portland Lumberjax in the National Lacrosse League (NLL) Champion’s Cup Final this Saturday, May 17. The opening face-off is scheduled for 7:30pm EST at the HSBC Arena in Buffalo. Tickests are still available and can be purchased online at tickets.com or by calling 1.888.223.6000.

Portland is just the third team to ever reach the NLL Championship game after a sub .500 regular season, but as Insider Paul Tutka wrote yesterday, does it matter? The Jax have already pulled up-set road wins over San Jose (18-16) and Calgary (16-12), and they’re playing with a ton of confidence.

“We’re playing well, certainly at the right time,” stated Portland GM and head coach Derek Keenan. “Our offense seems to be clicking the way we’ve wanted it to… We’re putting up good numbers and we’re playing pretty decent defense.”

“Guys are playing with a lot of confidence, and I think that’s been the key,” added Keenan. “It’s taken a while to build it, with a lot of new guys on our team this year, but certainly it seems to be there now and the timing couldn’t be better.”

This is just Portland’s third season in the league and they’ve surprised a lot of people after a 1-5 start to the regular season. Their offense has generated more goals than any other NLL team this post-season. More on that later.

Buffalo earned home court for finishing with the league’s best regular season record (via tie-breaker), and have made the Championship Game with wins over Philly (14-12) and New York (19-12).

“We’re ready to get it going,” said Buffalo GM and head coach Darris Kilgour. “We’re playing very well right now. I think we can be even better in the defensive end. We’re giving up too many good chances… so I think we need to tighten that up.”

“As far as the offense goes, we’re moving the ball well. Hopefully we can get that to continue and sure up our defense.”

John Tavares (3g, 15 points) is the Bandits’ leader on offense. He’s been All-Pro every season except his rookie year, a season in which he captured the NLL title and was named MVP of the final.

“Tavares is the guy that makes our whole offense work,” added Kilgour. “He makes everybody else around him better… As a matter of fact, he’s one of those guys that can make the play happen that he wants to have happen.”

Mark Steenhuis (7g, 11 points) and Mike Accursi (6g, 12 points) are major threats too. Steenhuis’ seven playoff goals came last weekend, including four straight to start the fourth quarter. Also up-front the Bandits feature Kevin Dostie (6g, 10points), Brett Bucktooth (4g, 6 points), Delby Powless (2g, 4 points), Roger Vyse (1g, 11 points) and Cory Bomberry (1g, 3 points).

“Right now everybody’s firing on all cylinders,” said Kilgour. “I think we’re a very difficult team to try and match up with everybody… As you go down the line through the five, somewhere along the line hopefully we can find a mismatch.”

While Kilgour has started both Ken Montour (.77 SV%) and Mike Thompson (.79 SV%) in goal this post-season, Mike Thompson will get the call on Saturday. “Mike was our number one all year… Mikey’s going to be the one to lead us to a Championship hopefully,” said Kilgour

‘Dangerous’ Dan Dawson (12g, 22 points) has been the story in Portland this playoffs, as he leads all post-season scorers with 22 points. He’s shooting for his first ever NLL title, in this his third NLL Championship game in the last four seasons.

“The key obviously is Dan Dawson,” added Darris Kilgour about trying to stop Portland’s offense. “I think everything they do is based off of him… so that’s going to be the big challenge. I know they’re going to have an offensive game plan for our slides, so we’re going to have to execute precisely and really be able to read the play and make the right decision or else they’ll make us pay like the last two teams they’ve played.”

“I think the lower the scoring the game, the better off it is for us. The higher scoring the game, the more comfortable they will be,” said Kilgour.

The 18 goals Portland scored in their first playoff game was a franchise high. Dawson had 12 points in their post-season opener and 10 points last week.

Ryan Powell (8g, 12 points) and Peter Morgan (4g, 14 points) have also been major factors, with four goals each last weekend. Derek Malawsky (1g, 10 points) also had an eight point night in their victory over Calgary to take the Western Division title. Brodie Merrill (3g, 6 points) contributes in transition.

“It’s very important and we’ve gotten it,” added Keenan about Portland’s secondary scoring. “I know Dawson has been huge but last week with Ryan Powell scoring four and Pete Morgan scoring four. We’re getting contributions from our transition game with Merrill, Scott Stewart (1g, 2 points) and Rich Morgan (2g, 3 points) so that’s been important as well. Derek Malawsky’s played well for us. Really all of the offensive guys have made contributions.”

Rookie forward Peter Jacobs (1g, 4 points) will be the youngest player to ever play in an NLL Championship game. “His skill level for a kid who just turned 18 is pretty impressive,” added Keenan. Jacobs threw in four goals the last time these two met.

In goal, Portland had brought in Matt Disher (.74 SV%) to be their starter with a late season trade, but he went down with an MCL strain last weekend. Dallas Eliuk (.81 SV%) played well in relief last week, stopping 35 of the 43 shots he faced, only allowing two goals over the final 26-minutes.

“Dallas came in last week, under circumstances that were pretty difficult… and played very well for us,” added Keenan, noting Disher will be a game-time decision on Saturday. “Like the veteran he is, he closed the door. It’s a nice luxury to have a guy like that ready to go at any given point. If he needs to go this weekend, he’ll certainly be for the challenge.”

These two met last during the regular season in a 14-10 win for Buffalo on Apr. 26, but Portland sat a number of regular starters. “I don’t think there’s really too much to take from that game, I don’t think they showed us everything they had,” added Kilgour.

The Buffalo Bandits, including coach Kilgour, will be sporting Mohawk haircuts for this game. The Bandits last won the NLL title in 1996 and have since lost the Champion’s Cup final in ‘97, 2004 and 2006. Portland has not won a professional sports championship since the Blazers took the NBA title back in ‘77.

Coverage

The 2008 National Lacrosse League (NLL) game will be televised live on ‘The Score’ in Canada, and it can be seen live on ESPN360.com or the traditional B2 Live TV broadband broadcast. The opening face-off is scheduled for 7:30pm EST at the HSBC Arena in Buffalo. A repeat broadcast will air on ESPN2 on Tuesday, May 20 at 2pm EST. Joe Heyer will call the game alongside NLL Insider Brian Shanahan.

Can’t get to a television set? You can also listen to the NLL Champion’s Cup Final live with SIRIUS Satellite Radio, Channel 119, and WGR Radio 550 AM.

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