The

Champions- 2008

Due To Recent Changes In My Schedule And Other Commitments, I Will Unfortunately Be Forced To Stop Posts On This Site. If Interested In Inheriting The Site Directly From Me Free Of Charge, Contact Me At allisterfan@earthlink.net And We Can Set It Up. I Have Been Fortunate Enough To Run This Site For The Past Year And Meet Many Good People Along The Way. A Special Thank You Goes Out To Kevin at BFlo Blog For Giving Me A Chance And A Start.

Bandits Fan For Life,
Just Not A Bandits Blogger


Contact: Shane, allisterfan@earthlink.net

Congrats Darris

As a player and coach, most lacrosse fans know Darris Kilgour's accomplishments as part of the Buffalo Bandits. While his efforts have been tireless for the organization, they were not the focus Oct. 20 when Kilgour was inducted in to the Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame.

This time, Kilgour was recognized for some lesser-known feats outside of the NLL.

The list includes an array of championships, beginning with two Minto Cups in 1990 and 1991 when Kilgour played for the Junior A St. Catharines Athletics.

He then went on to win five consecutive Mann Cups in Major Lacrosse, first with the Brampton Excelsior's in 1992 and 1993, and then three championships with the Six Nations Chiefs in 1994, 1995 and 1996.
 
"Everywhere Darris went he won," said long-time teammate and player John Tavares. "That includes playing in Buffalo as well."
 
As if seven trophies were not enough, Kilgour has also collected three NLL Champions Cups as a player for the Bandits in 1992, 1993 and 1996- all of which overlapped with the Excelsior's and Chief's success.

"He has the ability to play at all ends," Tavares said. "He was able to excel at all aspects of the game whether it was goal scoring, roughing it up a little bit or playing defense. He did everything really well and he always played with a lot of intensity no matter what the score was or the situation. Darris always gave his all."
 
That characteristic was rewarded when Kilgour was named MVP of the Athletics in 1991. In that same year, and the season before it, he captured the St. Catharines scoring title as well.

"Darris is one of my all-time favorite players I ever played with," Tavares said. "He definitely made me a better player. His toughness opened up my game a lot and his ability to shoot the ball from the outside opened up my inside game. I credit him for a lot of goals that I got... he definitely helped my career."
 
Tavares is not the only member of the Buffalo Bandits to feel that way. Forward Mark Steenhuis also credits Kilgour for his success.

"He was a great all-around player and could do whatever you asked him, whether it was score, bring a physical aspect in or even play some defense now and then," Steenhuis said. "He was looked upon as a great leader when he played the game and it was just a natural progression for him to coach. We all look up to him... He is very knowledgeable lacrosse-minded person.

"I think he has helped me develop because I kind of started a little later. He's definitely helped my knowledge of the game where I was unfamiliar with certain things and used to using more of my athleticism and not so much my brain really. He kind of slowed the game down a little bit for me and helped me realized what I should be looking for out there."
 
His ability to break down the sport stems from his days as a player.

Kilgour continued to compete until 2000, retiring with the Albany Attack in the NLL. He was a three-time All-Pro and the first player ever selected by the Buffalo Bandits when he was drafted in 1992. He was appropriately also the first player to have his jersey number retired when the Bandits hung 43 from the rafters.

His resume continues to grow more than seven years after his retirement, now in the form of an induction to a hall of fame. With a history like Kilgour's, and a promising future as a coach, it appears that induction will not be his last.

Source: www.bandits.com

Craig Conn Selected

The Portland LumberJax selected All-Pro forward Dan Dawson with the first selection of Monday's dispersal draft. Dawson, who scored 47 goals for Arizona last season, joins a Portland offense that scored a league-worst 153 goals in 2007.

New York grabbed defenseman Pat Merrill with the second selection, while Philadelphia selected former Goaltender of the Year Rob Blasdell with the third pick.

Complete draft results are below:

First Round
1. Portland - Dan Dawson (F)
2. New York - Patrick Merrill (D)
3. Philadelphia - Rob Blasdell (G)
4. Chicago - Scott Self (D)
5. Minnesota (from Edmonton)** - Andy Secore (F)
6. Chicago (from Toronto)* - Lindsay Plunkett (F)
7. San Jose - Peter Veltman (F)
8. Minnesota - Ryan Avery (G)
9. Calgary - Pat Campbell (G)
10. Buffalo - Craig Conn (F)
11. Colorado - Bruce Murray (D)
12. Rochester - Jack Reid (D)

Second Round
13. Rochester - Matt Lyons (F)
14. Colorado - Matt Brown (F)
15. Buffalo - Brian Croswell (F)
16. Calgary - Bruce Codd (D)
17. Minnesota - Mike Grimes (D)
18. San Jose - Sean Morris (F)
19. Toronto - Curtis Ptolemy (F)
20. Edmonton - Chris Seller (F)
21. Chicago - Brock Boyle (F)
22. Philadelphia - Jamie Rooney (F)
23. New York - Matt Alrich (D)
24. Portland - Derek Malawsky (F)

Third Round
25. Portland - Brad MacDonald (D)
26. New York - Greg Downing (D)
27. Philadelphia - Brenden Thenhaus (F)
28. Chicago - Andrew Lazore (F)
29. Edmonton - Chris McKay (D)
30. Toronto - Jon Harasym (F)
31. San Jose - Keegan Davidson (D)
32. Minnesota - Mark Tinning (F)
33. Calgary - Greg Hinman (D)
34. Buffalo - Joe Smith (D)
35. Colorado - Jed Prossner (F)
36. Rochester - Alex Smith (FO)

*Toronto traded the sixth overall selection, Kevin Fines, and a fifth round pick in the 2008 Entry Draft to Chicago in exchange for defenseman Cam Woods.

**Edmonton traded the fifth overall selection to Minnesota in exchange for goaltender Matt Disher.


On October 16th, the league cancelled its 2008 season when a deadline to reach a new Collective Bargaining Agreement with its player's association was not met. When a new seven-year Collective Bargaining Agreement was reached with the player's association on October 24th, efforts began to create a new schedule for the 2008 season. The original schedule had been lost with the October 16th cancellation.

Due to the unique business issues arising out of the cancellation of the original 2008 season schedule, Arizona and Boston were provided the option of electing inactive status for the 2008 season. The clubs were provided the option to re-enter in 2009 season by participating in the expansion draft or to receive back their rostered players from 2008. Arizona has chosen to re-claim their dispersed players for the 2009 season, while Boston has chosen not to re-claim their players following this season, and will build their 2009 roster as an expansion team.

All of the players on both clubs are available in the draft with the exception of those who had already qualified as Unrestricted Free Agents. Arizona has three such players in defensemen Brian Beisel and Peter Lough, as well as forward Curt Malawsky. All three had qualified for unrestricted free agency prior to Arizona's opting for inactive status for the 2008 season. Boston does not currently have any Unrestricted Free Agents on its roster.

The league announced a new schedule for the 2008 season on November 2nd. The 2008 season will open on December 29th, 2007, when Colorado hosts Calgary.

New Schedule

The National Lacrosse League has announced its new schedule for the 2008 regular season. The season will open on December 29th, 2007, when the Colorado Mammoth host the Calgary Roughnecks at Pepsi Center
in Denver. The regular season schedule consists of eighteen weeks, and concludes on April 26th.

The 2008 All-Star Game will be held on Sunday, March 16th, at Rexall Place, the home arena of the Edmonton Rush.

The original schedule for the 2008 season was lost when the league cancelled the season back on October 16th, when a deadline to reach a new Collective Bargaining Agreement with its player's association was not met. On October 24th, it was announced that a new seven-year CBA
had been reached, and that a new schedule would be created for the 2008 season, subject to availability of dates at each team's home arena. In the new schedule, twelve teams will each play a sixteen-game regular season schedule.

In light of the cancellation of the original 2008 season schedule, the Arizona and Boston franchises have opted not to play in 2008 due to a number of business issues. A dispersal draft will be held next week. Both franchises will resume operations in 2009.

"When we announced that the NLL was going to play in 2008, we advised everyone that there were going to be some challenges in creating the schedule", said NLL Commissioner Jim Jennings. "I'd like to thank our teams and arena managers for all of their hard work over the past couple of weeks in creating a schedule that is as close to what we originally had as possible."

Announcements regarding format and dates for the 2008 NLL Playoffs will be made at a later date.

The full schedule is listed below. All times are Eastern.


WEEK 1

Saturday, December 29
Calgary at Colorado - 9:00 PM


WEEK 2

Saturday, January 5
Toronto at Chicago - 8:00 PM


WEEK 3

Friday, January 11
Rochester at Buffalo - 7:30 PM
Minnesota at Toronto - 7:30 PM

Saturday, January 12
Chicago at Philadelphia - 7:30 PM
Buffalo at Rochester - 7:35 PM
Toronto at Minnesota - 8:00 PM
Edmonton at Colorado - 9:00 PM
San Jose at Calgary - 9:30 PM
New York at Portland - 10:30 PM


WEEK 4

Friday, January 18
Rochester at Philadelphia - 8:00 PM

Saturday, January 19
New York at Buffalo - 7:30 PM
Toronto at Edmonton - 9:30 PM


WEEK 5

Thursday, January 24
Colorado at Portland - 10:30 PM

Friday, January 25
Calgary at San Jose - 10:30 PM

Saturday, January 26
New York at Toronto - 7:00 PM
Buffalo at Philadelphia - 7:30 PM
Edmonton at Chicago - 8:00 PM
Minnesota at Rochester - 8:05 PM
San Jose at Colorado - 9:00 PM
Portland at Calgary - 9:30 PM


WEEK 6

Thursday, January 31
San Jose at New York - 7:30 PM

Saturday, February 2
Portland at Edmonton - 9:30 PM
Minnesota at San Jose - 10:30 PM


WEEK 7

Thursday, February 7
Portland at Colorado - 9:00 PM

Friday, February 8
New York at Minnesota - 8:00 PM
Buffalo at Calgary - 9:30 PM

Saturday, February 9
Chicago at San Jose - 4:00 PM
Toronto at Rochester - 7:35 PM

Sunday, February 10
Buffalo at New York - 12:30 PM
Portland at Minnesota - 4:00 PM


WEEK 8

Friday, February 15
Buffalo at Toronto - 7:30 PM
Philadelphia at Colorado - 9:00 PM

Saturday, February 16
Minnesota at Buffalo - 7:30 PM
Calgary at Rochester - 7:35 PM
New York at Chicago - 8:00 PM

Sunday, February 17
Edmonton at Portland - 6:00 PM


WEEK 9

Friday, February 22
Minnesota at Philadelphia - 8:00 PM
Calgary at Portland - 10:30 PM

Saturday, February 23
New York at Rochester - 7:35 PM
San Jose at Edmonton - 9:30 PM

Sunday, February 24
Buffalo at Chicago - 3:00 PM
Colorado at Calgary - 3:00 PM


WEEK 10

Friday, February 29
New York at Philadelphia - 8:00 PM

Saturday, March 1
Calgary at Toronto - 7:00 PM
Philadelphia at Buffalo - 7:30 PM
Rochester at Chicago - 8:00 PM
Edmonton at Portland - 10:30 PM


WEEK 11

Saturday, March 8
Toronto at Philadelphia - 1:00 PM
Minnesota at Buffalo - 7:30 PM
San Jose at Colorado - 9:00 PM
Portland at Calgary - 9:30 PM


WEEK 12

Friday, March 14
New York at Toronto - 7:30 PM
Chicago at Minnesota - 8:00 PM
San Jose at Philadelphia - 8:00 PM
Colorado at Calgary - 9:30 PM

Saturday, March 15
Rochester at Edmonton - 9:30 PM

Sunday, March 16
NLL All-Star Game at Edmonton


WEEK 13

Thursday, March 20
Colorado at Portland - 10:30 PM

Friday, March 21
Edmonton at Toronto - 7:30 PM

Saturday, March 22
Calgary at San Jose - 3:00 PM
Toronto at Buffalo - 7:30 PM
Philadelphia at New York - 7:30 PM
Chicago at Rochester - 7:35 PM


WEEK 14

Saturday, March 29
Minnesota at Chicago - 8:00 PM
Philadelphia at Rochester - 8:05 PM
San Jose at Edmonton - 9:30 PM


WEEK 15

Thursday, April 3
Rochester at Colorado - 9:00 PM

Saturday, April 5
Rochester at Toronto - 7:00 PM
Colorado at Buffalo - 7:30 PM
Philadelphia at Chicago - 8:00 PM
New York at Minnesota - 8:00 PM
Calgary at Edmonton - 9:30 PM
San Jose at Portland - 10:30 PM

Sunday, April 6
Portland at San Jose - 7:00 PM


WEEK 16

Friday, April 11
Philadelphia at Portland - 10:30 PM
Edmonton at San Jose - 10:30 PM

Saturday, April 12
Chicago at Toronto - 7:00 PM
Buffalo at Rochester - 7:35 PM
Philadelphia at Minnesota - 8:00 PM
Colorado at New York - 8:00 PM
Edmonton at Calgary - 9:30 PM


WEEK 17

Friday, April 18
Chicago at New York - 7:30 PM
Edmonton at Colorado - 9:00 PM
Portland at San Jose - 10:30 PM

Saturday, April 19
Chicago at Buffalo - 7:30 PM
New York at Philadelphia - 7:30 PM
Rochester at Minnesota - 8:00 PM
Toronto at Calgary - 9:30 PM
Colorado at Edmonton - 9:30 PM


WEEK 18

Friday, April 25
Chicago at Minnesota - 8:00 PM
Colorado at San Jose - 10:30 PM

Saturday, April 26
Philadelphia at Toronto - 7:00 PM
Portland at Buffalo - 7:30 PM
Rochester at New York - 8:00 PM
Minnesota at Chicago - 8:00 PM
Calgary at Edmonton - 9:30 PM

A Little Off Topic

My East Aurora Blue Devils will play the Depew Wildcats on Friday November 2nd at 4:30 p.m. at Ralph Wilson Stadium. This will decide the Section 6 Class B title. Me and my posse will defenately be attending and I hope you do too. Lets go Bandits or rather Lets Go Blue Devils!
-Bandit Blogger

Tickets: $7 at stadium, $5 at Tops

Update

Last week, the National Lacrosse League and its player's association reached agreement on a new 7-year Collective Bargaining Agreement that allowed for a new 2008 season to be scheduled. The original 2008 season had been cancelled when an agreement was not reached by the original deadline of October 15.

On the evening of Monday, October 29th, NLL Commissioner Jim Jennings held an online chat with fans to thank them for their patience throughout the process and to answer their questions about the upcoming season and beyond. Here is a summary of the most frequently asked questions and the Commissioner's answers.

Question: What really happened to bring the season back to life, can you pinpoint a breakthrough?

Jennings: Our owners decided to give it one last try. They authorized me to contact (player's association president) Peter Schmitz in hopes of saving the season. I spoke with Peter and a positive dialogue ensued. We negotiated for three days and came to a positive conclusion.

Question: Are you pleased with a 7-year deal?

Jennings: Yes, I'm very pleased with a 7-year deal. Since I've become Commissioner, one of my objectives was to get a long-term Collective Bargaining Agreement so we would be able to pursue national sponsors and a national television agreement.

Question: Because of dates being released, are we looking at a shorter than 16 game season?

Jennings: I anticipate we will have a 16-game schedule. We are trying to start our schedule as close as possible to the season's original start date of December 27. We are working together with the teams and arenas. We hope to have the new schedule out within the next seven days.

Question: Is there any hope of getting games on national TV this year?

Jennings: We've contacted several television networks in hopes of salvaging our efforts to have the All-Star and Championship games air live on national television. With our season schedule still in the process of being assembled, it's too early to say if we have a place to fit into a network's television schedule.

Q: Will there be any exhibition games this year and will teams go on the road, possibly in Halifax?

Jennings: There are no exhibition games scheduled as of yet. At this time, we are completely focused on creating the new 2008 regular season schedule. If there's an opportunity to play some pre-season games, we'll explore it.

Q: Can you tell us when the NLL video game will be ready?

Jennings: Yes, we have extended our agreement with Activision for the development of a NLL video game. It's taking longer than expected, but they assure us it will be out for 2009.

Q: Commissioner Jennings, do you browse fan forums or fan websites to take in their opinions or suggestions?

Jennings: I love hearing from our fans. Feel free to email me any time at jim.jennings@nll.com.

Live Chat

National Lacrosse League Commissioner Jim Jennings will host a live chat on NLL.com on Monday at 6:00 PM Eastern. A link to join the chat will be available starting at 5:00 PM. The league and the players' association agreed to a seven-year agreement to begin in 2008 this week. The new Collective Bargaining Agreement will run through the 2014 season. I also have a live chat on the site on the right hand toolbar. When clicked you will enter a chat room codename: george lopez (I dont know if it works but we'll try it) Sign the Bandit Guestbook too.

We're Live From Banditland!
-Bandits Blogger

NLL Reaches Deal!

The National Lacrosse League has announced the reaching of a new Collective Bargaining Agreement with the Professional Lacrosse Player's Association. The agreement is a seven-year term that begins in 2008 and run through the 2014 season. The agreement marks the longest labor deal in the 22-year history of professional indoor lacrosse. The league's previous three-year agreement with the PLPA expired following the 2007 season.

"Reaching a long-term collective bargaining agreement with the players was our number one priority in this process", said NLL Commissioner Jim Jennings. "We've been building positive growth in the league over the past few years. Securing long-term labor peace puts us in a position to take our league to the next level."

The agreement also means that professional indoor lacrosse will be played in 2008. When a new CBA had not reached by the league's deadline last week, the 2008 season was canceled. A new schedule for the 2008 National Lacrosse League season is expected to be announced next week.

Game Time Change

The National Lacrosse League announced today that the Buffalo Bandits game at the New York Titans on Saturday, April 12 has been changed from 7:30 p.m. to an 8 p.m. start.

Tickets for the eight regular season home games are on sale now (BUY TICKETS). Season ticket prices have not changed from last year, with ticket packages starting as low as $96.
 
Bandits season ticket holders receive several preferred benefits including: significant savings over the box office price, first right to purchase playoff tickets, a 10 percent discount on Bandits merchandise, and the ability to purchase additional seats up to the number of seats you own at season ticket prices (based on availability).
 
Current season ticket holder's renewal campaign will commence in
mid-October.  Information on the sale date for individual games will be forthcoming
 
To purchase tickets by phone, call 1-888-467-2273, or contact Account Services at (716) 855-4100.