May 7, 2008

by Tom Borrelli, Special to Lacrosse Magazine Online Staff

In this corner, the best faceoff man the National Lacrosse League has ever seen: the Philadelphia Wings' Geoff Snider.

In the other corner, the Buffalo Bandits.

A team that has been the league's worst on the draw four times during the last five seasons and hasn't won even 50 percent of its faceoffs in a single season since 1994, back when Snider was a 13-year-old, Buffalo was at an easily apparent disadvantage last Friday in its East Division semifinal at HSBC Arena.

How would Bandits coach Darris Kilgour deal with it? He knew he couldn't stop the Wings from winning faceoffs, but he devised a way to take away the advantages.

On all 30 faceoffs, the Bandits lined up four players in their own zone in front of goaltender Mike Thompson and conceded to Snider by moving early. (Snider jumped earlier twice.) That meant a whistle and possession for Philadelphia, but no transition. The Wings led the league in scoring thanks in large part to such opportunities.

"It doesn't allow [Snider] to become a factor in the game," said Kilgour. "And they really feed off the energy he brings. It keeps that fire out."

Snider finished with just one assist and six loose balls, missing on all eight shots he attempted, as Buffalo won and advanced, 14-12.

"That was our strategy, to give them the ball and just let our defense do what they do," said Thompson, who surrendered four goals on the first 10 Philadelphia shots but settled down nicely and finished with 46 saves in just the second playoff win of his career. "We tried challenging them during the regular season, and lost the majority of them. Once [Snider] wins them, it's usually a fast break. With five-on-five, we can set up, and it worked."

Indeed, Philadelphia won 59 of 71 draws in the two regular season games against Buffalo, with Snider capturing 57 of 62. In the Wings' 15-14 victory over the Bandits on Jan. 26 in the Wachovia Center, Jake Bergey scored just 20 seconds into overtime after Snider had won the opening draw.

Lesson learned, the hard way.

"They have the best faceoff guy in the world, so you want to limit those fast-break opportunities," said Bandits forward Mike Accursi, who scored two of his four goals in the fourth quarter. "That's a smart decision, but it does put pressure on our defense, and also on the offense. We know they're going to get 26 opportunities we're not going to have. But we knew if we could limit them to one or two goals at a time, we'd be fine."

Bandits defenseman Billy Dee Smith, who scored two big transition goals, lined up to take the first draw of the night against Snider.

"Snider started shaking his head right away," Smith said. "He knew it was coming, and it still took him out of the game. He's one of the best transition players in the league, and if you can take him out of draws, it takes him right out of the game. It's either we can have a five-on-five possession, or they have numbers. So you take a five-on-five over a fast break."

It's out of the frying pan and into the faceoff fire for the Bandits this Saturday night. They got past Philadelphia, which led the league by winning 71.7 percent during the regular season. But next up are the New York Titans, who ranked second at 61.2 percent behind Jamie Hanford, who captured 264 of 426 for 61.9 percent - second only to Snider's 73.8 percent.

But don't necessarily expect a similar strategy.

"They're a completely different faceoff team," Kilgour said. "Snider is unique in that he wins it to himself, then puts pressure on the defense, and can score. Hanford is more a guy who pops it to the corners. As long as we have Pat McCready and our wing guys working really hard, we should be able to win that loose ball."