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You’ll have to excuse the Buffalo Bandits if they had a little something in their eye last night en route to their 15-11 2009 debut victory over the Philadelphia Wings.

After a Championship banner-raising and a emotional tribute to the late great Tom Borrelli in front of a sell-out crowd, it was the Philadelphia Wings who came out on fire, taking the early 1-0 lead after Drew Westervelt snagged a Geoff Snider pass off the face-off to open scoring in the 2009 NLL season 10 seconds into the game. That lead held for nearly a full ten minutes until Mark Steenhuis pumped in his first of four goals. John Tavares scored next just under a minute and a half later, but it would be Taylor Wray replying for the Wings at 12:37. Roger Vyse and Kyle Wailes each found the back of the net in the first for a 3-3 tie.

The Bandits began to pull away in the second, scoring three in the first ten minutes and keeping the Philly offense quiet until 11:29 when Mat Giles got on the board, pulling the score to 6-4. Third quarter scoring began with Steenhuis scoring just under two minutes in, followed by Cory Bomberry unleashing a cannon from up top to make it 8-4. Snider pulled the Wings within three a few minutes later, but Kevin Dostie and Delby Powless closed out the quarter with a goal each to make it 10-5 for the Bandits. Both teams offenses put on some fireworks in the fourth, but the Wings outscoring the bandits 6-5 in the quarter wasn’t enough to get them closer than 15-11.

Mark Steenhuis led all scorers with four goals and four assists, Tavares had three and two, and Vyse and Dostie each scored two and helped out on a pair. For the Wings, Westervelt had three and two, Snider one and five, and Wailes marked his return to the NLL with two goals and one helper.

• Bandits open season with 15-11 victory: Canadian Press
• Bandits rise to occasion: Buffalo News
• S. Thomson makes NLL debut last night: Burlington Post

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