This is the whole kit and kaboodle here. The Bandits and the Lumberjax face off Saturday night at HSBC Arena for the Champions Cup. The Lumberjax have had a pretty hard road to get here beating the San Jose Stealth in San Jose and then knocking off the Roughnecks in Calgary. The Bandits havent had an easy road either. They beat the Wings and Titans in Buffalo.
The Jax have been basically led by Sting rental Dan Dawson. Dawson has 12 goals and 10 assists, 7 goals against the Stealth and 5 against the Roughnecks. The next closest player is Ryan Powell with 8 goals. Basically the Jax have a few shooters and can pound inside as well. In their last trip to Buffalo at the end of the season, the Jax gave the Bandits a run for their money eventually losing 14-10.
The Bandits have been led by the play of Transition Player of the Year Mark Steenhuis. Steenhuis basically carried the Bandits on his shoulders with 7 goals against the Titans. While the Jax have a few heavy shooters in their last two games, the Bandits have seemed to pass it around with their leading scorer being Steenhuis's 7 goals, but Accursi has 6 goals along with Kevin Dostie. Tavares leads the team in points with 15, including the 10 assists that he had against the Titans.
The goalies in this matchup are going to be Mike Thompson for the Bandits and Dallas Eliuk for the Jax. Eliuk last won a championship in 2001 with the Toronto Rock and is looking to end his career on a high note. The Bandits have tapped Thompson after Ken Montour gave a solid performance against the Titans. The one-two combo for the Bandits have proven strong all season.
While both teams have been pretty evenly matched in the playoffs, I think that the sixth man in this case will help. The Bandits have never won a championship since moving to HSBC Arena. I think that the stars have aligned for the Bandits but the Jax have been too hot as of late to overlook them.
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