Through the eyes of Bandits fans

May 20th, 2008 by Bob Chavez

Simply put, Saturday’s National Lacrosse League Champion’s Cup game delivered.

No matter what you paid for a ticket, you got your money’s worth in watching the Buffalo Bandits defeat the Portland LumberJax, 14-13, to win it all. If you were there, you ain’t gonna forget it anytime soon. Still, in this day and age, we’re blessed by fans with cell phones recording parts of the game and posting it on YouTube. So I undertook the tough task of browsing lacrosse videos (hey, someone’s gotta do it) and found some real dandies for ya. And even if ya couldn’t make it to the game, be sure to catch a replay of the title tilt on ESPN2. It starts this afternoon at 2 p.m. Eastern time and is followed right after that by Inside Lacrosse TV: 2008 Season Review.

We’ll kick things off here with what was my favorite part of the game: the John Tavares goal where I swear he borrowed the legs of a 20-year-old. Who knew dude still had these kinda moves left in him? It was a goal of beauty, and NLLFAN2008 was kind enough to get the sequence posted for our enjoyment. Turn the page to watch the clip and to see what else we found.

Some aren't a fan of the game intros at Bandits game and I gotta admit, this is the first time I saw it. And I gotta say, it freakin' ROCKS! And this is comin' from a guy who grew up in Knighthawks territory. The bagpiper is a strong intro and the way it melts into the metal guitar for the player intros is absolutely solid. No doubt about it, and thanks to "thisredheadrocks" for posting the clip:

Here’s another view of that amazing Tavares goal, a bird’s eye view posted by Avino3:

Here’s a solid clip of the frantic final seconds, when Portland was able to launch a shot in the final seconds and Mike Thompson came up with a money save. Much thanks to “danfrisi” for the clip:

And last, but not least, here’s the Champion’s Cup presentation, again provided by “danfrisi:”

Chavez is an avid lacrosse player in Rochester and a journalist for the Democrat and Chronicle as well as a longtime Inside Lacrosse contributor. Email him at bob.chavez@nllinsider.com or go to RochesterSports.com.

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