Knighthawks lose final game of season
- jkeys25
- 11 hours ago
- 4 min read
By: Joseph Keyser / News Director
ROCHESTER, N.Y.—The Rochester Knighthawks lost to the Toronto Rock by a score of 11-10 to close out the regular season on Saturday. The Knighthawks finished the regular season 10-8 and they will play at the Vancouver Warriors to start the playoffs on Saturday, April 26 at 10 p.m. EDT.
“I think it’s the perfect timing for us,” Rochester Knighthawks head coach Mike Hasen said. “If we’re going to have a stinker, it’s best for it to be the last game of the year because we still have next week.”
The intensity of the game started low, but it ramped up in the second half.
“We’ll take this lesson and start to show up on time,” Hasen said. “They reminded us very quickly what it’s going to take to play at the next level and next week.”
Just 17 seconds into the action, Rochester forward Connor Fields ripped a goal into the top left corner of the net from the right side of the field.
Video courtesy of @NLL on X.
The next possession of the night was controversial with Toronto transition Challen Rogers scoring on a penalty shot.
Video courtesy of @NLL on X.
Forward Chris Boushy gave the Rock their first lead of the night when he scored an over-the-top goal from the edge of the crease while on the power play following a Josh Medeiros holding penalty.
Some fancy passing from Curtis Knight and Ryan Smith led to a Graydon Hogg hesitation shot that brought the game back to a 2-2 tie.
The Rock scored twice more on the power play in the first, with Boushy sinking both while leaping over the crease, once from behind the net and once from the front.
At the end of the first quarter, Toronto led 4-2, despite being outshot 17-12.
Rogers extended the Rock lead just 41 seconds into the second frame on a shot from the center of the white line.
Rochester was able to cut into the lead with a Smith power-play goal and a Thomas McConvey goal.
Toronto defender Josh Jubenville scored a goal on a fast break, sneaking it over the top of goaltender Rylan Hartley.
Rochester defender Chad Tutton wanted to get in on the fast break scoring, so he did just that only 1:06 later.
Video courtesy of @NLL on X.
Tutton landed himself in the box for checking from behind, and in that two minutes Toronto was unable to get any shots past Hartley.
Toronto forward Josh Dawick sunk his 41st goal of the season with 1:11 left in the half to give the Rock a two-goal lead.
At half, Toronto led 7-5 with both teams having 32 shots.
Dawick was the first to score in the third, sinking one in the top-right corner of the net just 50 seconds into the quarter.
McConvey scored his second of the game to cut the Knighthawks deficit to two with 9:37 left in the third frame.
Smith sunk a hesitation shot over the top of Toronto goaltender Troy Holowchuck to chop the Rock lead in half.
Knighthawks transition Matt Gilray tied the score at eight when he scored his seventh goal of the season on a fast break.
After Gilray’s goal, both teams picked up the pace and intensity, highlighted by a Rogers goal at 1:55 in the frame and a group brawl at the end of the third. The brawl broke out after three Toronto players started checking Fields into the boards after the horn sounded for the break in action. Nobody was penalized for the fight.
“I get into the game more with the physicality,” Fields said. “I just went out there just trying to do my best to give them those battles.”
At the end of three, Toronto was ahead 9-8 despite being outshot 49-39.
Rogers scored the tenth Rock goal of the night with 13:31 remaining.
Fields scored a mind-blowing catch-and-score after intercepting a Holowchuk pass while right in his face.
Video courtesy of @NLL on X.
Another brawl broke out after Fields got slammed and pushed, this time while he was trying to exit the field. Multiple players from the Rock bench started hitting him while he was pushed to the ground. After this fight, captains from both teams were talked to by the officials.
Rock forward Brian Cameron sunk a laser-quick goal with 8:59 left in the game after being assisted by Boushy and Dawick.
Rochester forward Ryan Lanchbury brought the deficit back to one with his first goal of the night, with 2:22 remaining.
Rochester got the ball back with 15 seconds on the clock, down by one but could not put it in the net by the end.
Sitting at 10-8 with the loss, the Knighthawks finish fifth in the NLL standings.
The Knighthawks will travel to Vancouver to play the Warriors on Saturday, April 26 at 10 p.m. EDT. That game can be streamed on ESPN+ or NLL+. The full NLL playoff schedule can be found at NLL.com.
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