National Lacrosse League: Buffalo’s Smith and Montour earn NLL honors

May 11th, 2009 by Steve Bermel

Two Buffalo Bandits players earned individual recognition this year by the National Lacrosse League. Billy Dee Smith earned Defensive Player of the Year honors while Ken Montour won the Goaltender of the Year title. Smith beat out the likes of teammate Chris White and Calgary’s Jeff Moleski. Montour beat out East division goaltenders Matt Vinc from New York and Anthony Cosmo from Boston.

Smith finished the year with 5 goals and 7 assists to lead all of the Bandits’ defenders with 12 total points. He also added 47 loose balls and 33 penalty minutes to his 2009 point sheet. Darris Kilgour was pleased to see Billy Dee recognized, “Billy Dee has really matured over the past five seasons, he has come a long way and it is great to see him recognized for his on-field play.”

Montour set career highs this year in 3 goaltender categories: wins (8), goals against average (9.57), and save percentage (.813). He also earned Defensive Player of the Week honors 3 times this season. Kilgour also gave credit to Monster. “Kenny has paid his dues for a long time, he stepped in as our number one guy this year and played at a level above anyone else in the league.” Montour finished the season with 451 saves.

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