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The trials and tribulations of the 2012 and 2013 Rochester Knighthawks culminated in 2014. Not only were they returning the majority of their core from the previous season, but their young players were a year older and more experienced and prepared for the grind of the NLL season.

And then they added one more ingredient: Simply dominating.

After an 0-3 start last season, they flipped it in 2014 aligned with a 3 game home stand, starting with a previous season script-following victory over the Minnesota Swarm. Tyler Hass scored for the Swarm to go up 6-5 with 9:50 to play, but Joel McCready buried two goals in quick succession and Johnny Powless added his second of the game to pace the Knighthawks to the 8-6 win. The Swarm had outshot the Knighthawks 51-34 on goal, but Matt Vinc’s 45 saves equated to an .882 in the opener. Long-run-filled battles with the Philadelphia Wings continued into the new calendar year in the second game of the season. After a 3-3 first quarter, Rochester scored all six of the goals in the second quarter and then the first of the third quarter, before the Wings scored the next 6 into the fourth quarter to bring the game back to 10-9. But Dan Dawson and Craig Point completed hat tricks, and Stephen Keogh added one final insurance marker for a 13-9 win. And then a week later, the Rock were no match for another front loaded Knighthawks victory of 12-8. The championship caliber defense picked right back up where they left off with three straight games with less than 10 goals allowed.

The road slate started out with two early season challenges and the first moments of adversity on the season. The Bandits hosted the defending champs for their first road trip and offered some very cold revenge for their season-ending loss a season prior the last time these two teams played in Banditland. Buffalo had won three straight after a season opening loss, meaning a win would put them in first place through five games, and a 6-2 first half, followed by the lead extending to 10-3 after 3, the Bandits stunned the Knighthawks in their tracks. Angus Goodleaf entered the game for the fourth quarter and his Knighthawks debut, and the team got two early goals to get back to 10-5, although Joe Resetarits finished his first career hat trick halfway through to extend the lead. Rochester got a powerplay goal from Stephen Keogh, and a snowball got rolling. Joel McCready scored 45 seconds later and then another 1:04 after that. And then 45 seconds after that, Johnny Powless got on the board. All of a sudden it was back to a two goal game. Joe Walters scored with 19 seconds left, but there wasn’t more time to tie the game, and Buffalo survived.

Things wouldn’t get easier the next week easier, as the team would head to Edmonton, where the Rush had gotten out to a 4-0 start. And they had the early advantage in this matchup as well, going up 3-0 to start the game and leading 5-2 at the half. Early goals from Dan Dawson and Mike Accursi in the third quarter brought the game back within one. The Rush weren’t about to extend the lead past two, and that allowed a final push from the Knighthawks, starting with Johnny Powless scoring with 3:01 to play. Then with 1:04 on the clock, Stephen Keogh tied the game and forced overtime. However once again, fortune wasn’t in the favor of the Knighthawks, as Mark Matthews only needed 1:16 of overtime to end the game, improve his Rush to 5-0 with an 8-7 win, and dropped the Knighthawks down to 3-2. Was the reverse of last year’s start truly going to play out? Was it still going to result in a 3-3 mark after 3 games? Was this year’s regular season truly not different?

Or maybe they just needed some home cooking.

With the Bandits coming to town for the first time on the year, the defense pitched a first half shutout, and the offense contributed five goals. While the Bandits went on a 4-0 run in the middle of the third quarter, Cody Jamieson scored late in the stanza on the powerplay, and then the team outscored Buffalo 3-2 in the final frame for an 8-6 win. The Knighthawks got back to controlling the game on their terms, outshooting their rivals 49-39 on goal, with Matt Vinc registering his 4th .800+ save percentage game in 6 games.

And then he did it again the following week on the road in Toronto in a game where everything clicked for the Knighthawks. Defensively, the forced 24 shots off net, and the shots that did get through were turned aside 83.3% of the time for 45 saves from Vinc. Offensively, the stars were the stars, as Dan Dawson distributed 10 assists, while Cody Jamieson matched the point total with 5 goals and 5 assists. Stephen Keogh scored 4 goals, while Joe Walters added 3, as the scoreboard showed a 17-9 win to send Rochester to 5-2.

Alberta was once again not friendly to the Knighthawks the next weekend, as Jeff Shattler and Curtis Dickson took over and turned a 9-6 deficit into a 10-9 lead on their way to an 11-10 Roughnecks win. Fortunately for them, Denver is not in Alberta, and a 5 goal game from Stephen Keogh opened March with a win to improve to 6-3. Up next was a return home for a Mardi Gras themed win over the Wings before their first back-to-back of the season the following week, both on the road.

While their second trip to Toronto didn’t get off to a great start, as Matt Vinc was pulled 19:35 into the game after the Rock went up 8-4 early, the halftime orange slices sent Cody Jamieson into overdrive, and before too many blinks of the eyes, he scored four consecutive goals in the first 5:31 of the third quarter to turn a 9-5 halftime deficit into a 9-9 tie game. Stephen Keogh gave them their first lead of the game halfway through the quarter before Joe Walters and Johnny Powless added goals of their own. Garrett Billings scored Toronto’s first goal of the half with under a minute to play in the quarter, ending the 8-0 run, but Joel McCready scored in the final second of the quarter, and then Rochester scored four more consecutive goals to start the fourth quarter on their way to a 17-12 win, with Angus Goodleaf saving 27 of 31 shots in relief and Jamieson adding 7 assists to his personal four goal run for an 11 point game. For the first time since 2008, the Knighthawks had swept the Rock in a season series.

The next night in Philadelphia, Rochester started the game with 4 goals in 6 minutes and then finished it with the final 3 goals of the game on their way to an 11-7 win. For the past 10 years, the Knighthawks had dominated the Wings, including only a single loss in the last 17 head-to-head matchups dating back to April 2009. It would be the final time that the two teams in the 1995 Championship Game would face each other, as the Wings announced that they would be leaving Philadelphia after 27 years in the market. Stating the market’s oversaturation at the time, owner Mike French announced that they would look for a new owner and new city to “ensure financial stability“, and it was the Mohegan Tribe who purchased the team and relocated them to Uncasville Connecticut in August, where they would become the BlackWolves.

Anyways, there is more time to be nostalgic later, as the next game was a big one. Since the Knighthawks defeated the Edmonton Rush in the 2012 Champion’s Cup, the Rush had won the last three head-to-head matchups…and were heading to Blue Cross Arena with an 11-0 record. They were the first team in NLL history to start with that many consecutive wins, as the 1993 undefeated Bandits had only played 8 regular season games and 2 playoff games. The only team to win 12 games in a row? The 2007 Rochester Knighthawks. While Cory Vitarelli scored first 2:43 into the game, Jarrett Davis erased that goal 25 minutes later, and then the Rush scored three more after that to go up 4-1 after 1. A first minute back-to-back goals from Cody Jamieson and Craig Point and a second from Vitarelli tied the game back up at 4-4, but a too many men penalty on the Knighthawks put the Rush on the powerplay soon after, where they capitalized and then added another four in a row to go up 9-4 while Rochester was unable to capitalize until 4 seconds left in the half with Point’s second. In the third, the Rush extended their lead with 5 of 7 goals, chasing Matt Vinc in the meantime. While the Knighthawks rattled off four straight goals in the fourth quarter, it was not enough, and Davis’s second solidified a 15-11 win for the Rush.

As the calendar turned to April, the Knighthawks were 9-4, already surpassing their win totals of each of their previous championship seasons, and with a home and home against the 3-10 Swarm ahead, there was room to bounce back from that loss to the Rush, and they had clinched a playoff spot after the Bandits lost to the Roughnecks. At the Xcel Energy Center, the two teams each registered a powerplay goal in the first quarter, and then the floodgates opened in the final 45 minutes. In the second and third, neither team was able to go up by more than 2, and the game was tied at 9-9 after 3. Minnesota got two first minute goals to start the fourth from Shayne Jackson and Logan Schuss, and then Jordan MacIntosh ensured the first three goal lead of the game went to the Swarm. It took the ensuing faceoff for Dylan Evans to win the faceoff and feed Stephen Keogh to get back to a 12-10 deficit. Callum Crawford made it 13-10 on the powerplay, leading to the longest absence of goals since the opening quarter. But a tripping penalty to Brock Sorensen put the Knighthawks on the powerplay, where Keogh buried again, and then after Logan Schuss responded 24 seconds later, Rochester made their run. Craig Point scored 20 seconds later, and the Keogh added two more goals to tie the game with 24 seconds left to force overtime and solidify the sock trick, where Johnny Powless scored the overtime winner. In a game where Matt Vinc struggled and the team trailed for 29:04, they still walked away with a victory.

Angus Goodleaf got the start the night after back in Rochester, where the Knighthawks got back on track with a 5-1 first quarter, and from there, Minnesota never got back closer than down 2. A night after scoring 6 goals, Stephen Keogh led the team with 2 goals and 6 assists, and Johnny Powless and Cory Vitarelli combined for 9 goals, while Goodleaf stopped 42 of 51 shots faced. Rochester was now 11-4, with 3 games remaining in the extended 18 game regular season, while last year’s dark horse Swarm were 3-12. Perhaps the departure of Ryan Benesch to Buffalo in an offseason trade did the 2014 Swarm in, but the fortune from 2013 did not carry over on the way to a 4-14 season, their second last before relocating to Georgia.

After a rough night in Minnesota, Matt Vinc returned to the form for the final three games of the season that would win him a second straight and fourth in five years goaltender of the year. In a finals rematch against the now Vancouver Stealth, who had dropped off to 4-10, the visitors found themselves keeping it close most of the way, leading 4-3 at the half. After Craig Point scored opening minute goals in the third and fourth quarter with a goal from Dan Dawson in the middle to go up 6-4, but Vancouver scored 3 of the next 4, with Brett Bucktooth tying the game at 7 with 4:18 to play. But Cory Vitarelli provided timely goals as he had all season, scoring twice in the final three minutes, and alongside a goal from Craig Point, led the Knighthawks to a 10-7 win, clinching the top seed in the East along the way as well. Vinc had 39 saves on 46 shots on goal (.848). All that was left on the regular season was a home and home with the Bandits.

Buffalo got out to an 8-2 start, but coming into this second last weekend had lost 5 in a row to drop to 8-7. Meanwhile over in Toronto, they had gotten out to a slow start at 5-9 heading into April but had defeated the Stealth and Wings to get to 7-9 heading into this weekend. On April 18, the Bandits would play the Rock in Toronto and then head the Rochester the next night. With the Knighthawks clinching the one seed already, it meant that the Bandits and Rock were playing for a first round home game (Don’t worry, we’ll get to the new playoff format soon enough). Toronto won 13-9 with 48 saves from Nick Rose to move back to 8-9.

And if they thought they were goalied in Toronto, the Bandits were in for a rough night in Rochester. The defenses showed off in the first quarter, with the lone goal going to Buffalo courtesy of Joe Resetarits. Rochester put up a 4-0 second quarter and then negated Buffalo’s two goals to open the second half with two of their own to make it 6-3. While Ryan Benesch scored on the powerplay to cut the deficit back to 2, Rochester finished the game with two more goals for the win in one of the lowest scoring games of all time. The final statline for Matt Vinc: 45 saves on 49 shots.

Another losing weekend for the Bandits meant that their home finale against the Knighthawks would determine whether it would be them or Toronto with a home game next weekend. Toronto would beat Minnesota 8-6 on the road in their finale to finish 9-9, so the Bandits would need to win to trigger their head-to-head tiebreaker over the Rock. But it’s not like the Knighthawks wouldn’t want to play spoiler in a second consecutive season finale in Buffalo with a sold out crowd. The game script would be one of more run-filled chaos. Four opening goals for the Knighthawks were countered by 2 goals from Buffalo, and then another 2 goals for Rochester were negated by 4 Bandit goals. After Rochester scored three straight, Buffalo scored 3 straight before Sid Smith scored on a final possession gone awry for Buffalo, leading to an empty net goal for the Knighthawks with 20 seconds left in the half with a 10-9 lead. Johnny Powless scored twice in the third quarter, sandwiched between two Bandits goals to make it 12-11 after three, but Rochester took the next run, 4 straight goals to extend the lead up to 16-11. Buffalo finished the game with 3 goals, but that was all they could muster. Rochester defeated Buffalo in the season finale once again, finishing the 2014 season with a 14-4 record, matching the win total put up by the 2007 14-2 Knighthawks.

Alongside Matt Vinc’s .798 save percentage and 9.56 GAA, with the team defense cementing 12 games with less than 10 goals, Cody Jamieson took another step further with 36 goals and 72 assists all the way to the league’s MVP award. Dan Dawson also took another step forward in his second season in Rochester with 19 goals and 72 assists. On the other end of those 144 passes that led to goals the most frequently were Stephen Keogh with 33 goals, Johnny Powless with 30, and Cory Vitarelli with 23.

The New Playoff Format

So, the league had conceded the 8 of 9 team playoff format in favor of one with 3 teams in the East and 3 teams in the West making the playoffs. The top seeds in each division would get a week off while the 2 seed would host the 3 seed.

Out West, the Rush didn’t lose until their 15th game and finished the season 16-2, so they were the runaway 1 seed and the reason why the 14-4 Knighthawks didn’t get to lay claim to a share of the record for most wins in a regular season. The two teams that defeated them battled it out at the Saddledome, with the 12-6 Roughnecks taking on the 8-10 Mammoth. If you have been following along, you would know that once again, Calgary eliminated Colorado with an overtime winner from Shawn Evans in a 16-15 win, so the West would be decided in a battle of Alberta. Edmonton had a 220-157 goal differential, compared to Rochester’s 210-167. The only team to outscore those two was Calgary with a 237-215 goal differential, so the East had their work set out for them, but they had to battle each other first to get there.

As the Bandits took on the Rock in Toronto, they were welcomed with Brandon Miller getting the start over Nick Rose, but regardless of who was in net, for the Rock to be eliminated on their home floor for the third straight season, their stars would need to be their starts. And that’s exactly what happened, as Ryan Benesch had 7 goals and 3 assists, Mark Steenhuis scored and distributed 6 assists, and a 45 year old John Tavares had 2 goals and 2 assists. After losing 8 consecutive games, the Bandits had gotten the monkey off their backs in just the right amount of time.

For the first time since 2007, it would be Rochester and Buffalo meeting in the playoffs with the winner advancing to the finals. The NLL had to be thrilled that the new playoff format would go live with two inner state/province rivalries.

Both teams would be able to host a home playoff game (yay), but no, not a best 2 of 3. If the teams split the two games, at the conclusion of the second game, a 10 minute tiebreaking mini-game would determine the winner of the series. And yeah…buckle up…

Eastern Finals – Game 1 @ Buffalo

We were going to be seeing something new with these finals series. Other sports have worked to figure out the effects of bye weeks in the playoffs, whether football, baseball, etc. Which team has the advantage? Was the rest good or was the rust compared to the opponent riding the high of winning a playoff game without that rust? Was home floor still the only important variable? Was it just contextual on the matchup and not a broad generalization? The last one is always the answer, but in the weekend of game 1, it was the Bandits coming out with the surprise.

Mark Steenhuis scored 1:05 into the game, and then the Bandits went on the powerplay off the ensuing faceoff, where Steenhuis buried a second goal in the first 90 seconds. Rochester controlled the late minutes of the first quarter with goals in quick succession from Cody Jamieson and Dan Dawson, with Joe Walters giving the Knighthawks the lead after 1.

Stephen Keogh scored to extend the run to 4 early in the second quarter, but Buffalo took over with a negating run to go back up 2, starting with a goal from Chad Culp, the tying and go ahead goal on a dunk from John Tavares, and Steenhuis’s third goal of the game. A delay of game penalty on David Brock put the Knighthawks on the powerplay to get back within one courtesy of Cody Jamieson. While they went back on the powerplay with less than two minutes in the half, they were unable to tie the game heading into the locker room.

The Knighthawks defense showed off their prowess in the third quarter with another 15 minute shutout, while Dan Dawson and Cory Vitarelli scored to give them the 7-6 lead which would stand after 3. Dhane Smith scored early in the fourth to tie the game to give the Bandits their first goal of the half before the game slowed down again. Rochester went back to the powerplay halfway through the quarter and got a second goal from Vitarelli, but then the Bandits gave the Knighthawks a taste of their own takeover medicine. 1:16 after the Knighthawks made it 8-7, John Tavares had his third of the game, and then in a glimpse into the near and distant future of fourth quarter Bandits runs, Dhane Smith scored 19 and 59 seconds later to retake the lead and then go up 2. The vets took the rhythm from the second year Smith from there, with Steenhuis and Tavares adding their fourth goals of the game to extend the lead to 12-8, and they would carry that lead to the final buzzer. The Buffalo Bandits had taken Game 1.

The game was relatively even in terms of shot volume, with 71 shot attempts from Buffalo to 67 from Rochester, and shots on goal were 44-42 in favor of Rochester. With both teams missing the net over 25 times, the defenses did their jobs making the offense uncomfortable for most of the night, and in the end, Anthony Cosmo, despite being a pointing figure for a lot of Bandits fans during his tenure with the team regardless of how he performed week in and week out, outdueled Matt Vinc to the tune of an .818. The offensive vets were strong again for the Bandits, as Mark Steenhuis finished with 7 points and John Tavares had 6. Despite not scoring 7 goals again like he had the week prior, Ryan Benesch added 4 assists, matched out the back door by David Brock as well. Dhane Smith had 3 goals and 2 assists as well. For Rochester, Cody Jamieson and Dan Dawson shared the point lead with 2 goals and 3 assists. The Bandits defense, despite giving up 8 shots to each of Craig Point and Johnny Powless, held those two sharpshooters scoreless on the night.

Out West, the Rush and Roughnecks put on a show that saw neither team lead by more than a single goal in the second half. With the game tied at 10, Zack Greer capitalized with 1:24 to go to give the Rush the lead, but in the closing seconds, the refs blew the game down to call a too many men penalty on the Rush, which because there were less than 2 minutes left meant the Roughnecks would be awarded a penalty shot. Curtis Dickson scored to tie the game and force overtime. Then quickly into overtime, Jeff Shattler scored the game winner 46 seconds in to send 13k in the Saddledome into a frenzy and put Calgary on the precipice of their first finals berth since 2009.

Maybe it was the home floor. Maybe it was rust instead of rest for the higher seeds. Who knows? But what we did learn that opening weekend of the semifinals was that it was still anyone’s championship to win.

Into Game 2, an angry Rush offense came out throwing haymakers to the tune of an 8-2 first quarter. Their special teams came out strong in the second half as well, with Curtis Knight scoring short handed and then Cory Conway and Chris Corbeil adding powerplay goals to extend the lead to 11-2. The largest crowd of the season in Edmonton was frantic, but there were still over 36 minutes of lacrosse left to be played. Daryl Veltman scored 25 seconds after the goal from Corbeil for the first Roughnecks goal in almost 12 minutes, followed by goals from Jeff Shatter and two from Dane Dobbie. Knight added another after the second Dobbie goal to make it a still more than respectable 12-6 halftime lead for the Rush.

Rookie Riley Loewen extended the lead back to 7, but the Roughnecks added the next three to cut it to four. Mark Matthews and Shawn Evans scored late in the third, making it 14-10 Edmonton after 3, but Calgary wasn’t done. About three minutes into the fourth quarter, Scott Ranger and Jon Harnett scored back to back unassisted goals — it was suddenly a two goal game. After a rocky start, Mike Poulin had re-dialed in for the second half, allowing the two goal game to process forward. With 4:23 to play, it was Ranger again. The score was 14-13. A little more than an hour ago, the Rush were in a position to think forward to what the mini game could entail, but now there was a chance they could get swept before making it there. Despite the adversity, the Rush locked in, and an empty net goal from Nik Bilic put the icing on the cake in game 2, or should I say sliced the orange. There were 10 more minutes of a fresh game lacrosse to determine the winner of the West.

After the brief intermission, the teams re-entered the floor with 0s on the scoreboard. After scoring 3 goals and adding 3 assists in Game 2, Shawn Evans opened the minigame two goals in the first three minutes. The Rush got one goal from Zack Greer 8:21 into the frame, but this wasn’t halfway through the period — there was only 1:39 left. And with 9 saves on 10 shots faced during the mini game, Mike Poulin had led the Calgary Roughnecks to a mini game victory and back to the finals as they had set out to do this weekend despite losing the 60 minute game to precede.

But would Calgary be hosting Rochester or heading to Buffalo next weekend? Would there be another minigame? Could Saturday Night in Rochester match or even exceed the entertainment value of Friday Night in Edmonton?

Eastern Finals – Game 2 – vs Buffalo

Sal Maiorana wrote in his game preview for the Democrat and Chronicle:

“No one really knows what to make of the National Lacrosse League’s revamped playoff format and the possibility that a 10 minute ‘mini game’ could decide the semifinal and championship series.

Quirky or not – and there are people on both sides of the issue – all the Rochester Knighthawks are hoping for is the chance to test out the new system.

As one would expect, the game didn’t start out line one where either side was looking at the possibility of playing 10 additional minutes of lacrosse after the initial 60. Cory Vitarelli got scoring underway before Buffalo rattled off three straight goals from Ryan Benesch and two from Dhane Smith, with Dan Dawson cutting the deficit back to 1 less than a minute later. With the Knighthawks on the powerplay late in the quarter, Johnny Powless got in on the scoring, and then Dawson scored his second to give the Knighthawks the lead back. Jamie Rooney managed to tie the game back up at 4 with 13 seconds left in the quarter.

Despite losing Dan Dawson in the second quarter to a concussion, Rochester reminded everyone not only of their depth, but that this was still Cody Jamieson’s team. Another powerplay and another goal from Rochester, courtesy of Jamieson, opened scoring in the second quarter, and then he scored again to extend the lead to 6-4. From there it was Jamieson’s turn to distribute, as he set Johnny Powless up for two consecutive goals in the middle of the frame before Joel McCready got in on the action to extend the Knighthawks lead to 5. Buffalo was not held scoreless in the frame, as Mark Steenhuis capitalized on the powerplay for their first goal in 12 minutes, but Stephen Keogh negated that for a 10-5 halftime lead.

With the cushion, Rochester kept their priority on the defensive side of the floor. A Scott Campbell goal for the Knighthawks and a Bandits goal from John Tavares were the lone goals of the third quarter. 4 goals were scored in the first half of the fourth quarter – Joel McCready and Cody Jamieson for Rochester, Dhane Smith and Jamie Rooney for Buffalo, and then scoring stopped. Could both teams have looked forward to the next challenge? Possibly, but regardless, neither goalie let another one in and the Knighthawks had won Game 2 13-8.

Cody Jamieson led the way with 3 goals and 5 assists, with Johnny Powless adding 3 goals and 2 assists, with the Knighthawks outshooting the Bandits 43-35. Dhane Smith had another strong game with 3 goals and 3 assists, but the Knighthawks defense limited the rest of the Bandits stars (Benesch, Steenhuis, and Tavares) to a goal each. The home Hawks got back to what they were good at and controlled the game to get there, and now it was time to enter the unknown.

East Final Mini Game

Steve Priolo took a holding penalty in the first minute of the frame, but the Bandits penalty kill held up strong. As the teams continued to feel out the new format, a new game on the scoreboard and in the record books but the continuation of the fatigue of the previous 60 minutes, half the 10 minute quarter had gone by before Joe Resetarits put Buffalo ahead 1-0. Joel McCready helped Rochester pull even at 1 2:16 later, and just like that, this new thing was tied 2:22 left on the clock. Were we going to have overtime of a minigame?

Yep.

Buffalo got the initial possession of overtime, but both of their shot attempts were turned aside by the Knighthawks MVP between the pipes. After Rochester’s first possession sufficed to nothing, their defense forced a shot clock violation, and that would be the last time the Bandits offense would touch the ball. Rochester would end the game just shy of the 73rd minute of lacrosse on the night, and putting the Knighthawks back in the finals with a shot over the shoulder of Anthony Cosmo was the unsung hero of the 2014 Knighthawks offense.

There were only three times in the 2014 regular season in which Cory Vitarelli didn’t score a goal, and the Knighthawks lost all three games. He had scored a goal in every game since March. He would go on to score 7 goals across the playoff run, tied with Dan Dawson for second on the team. Across 8 and a half seasons with the Knighthawks, Vitarelli was a sharpie entry for more than 20 goals, only finishing with less than that in a 2017 season where he missed 5 games due to injury. While not putting up what some would consider head turning numbers, he found himself year in and year out as a staple on the left side of the offense and there around the net to do his job, and that job found the Peterborogh native surrounded by his ecstatic teammates and the sound of the goal horn and the teal-clade fans in the Blue Cross Arena among those in orange and black who would head back down The 90 stunned.

2014 Champion’s Cup

As mentioned above, Rochester would head to Calgary for the first game the next week to take on old friend Shawn Evans and the Roughnecks. Evans already had 10 goals and 12 assists through the first two rounds of the playoffs after a 105 point regular season as an encore to his 112 point MVP winning season a year prior (in the 16 game regular season as well). While the best was still to come for Evans, winning the 2015 MVP with a new record 130 points and then two 100+ point seasons in New England to follow, this was a chance for revenge against his former team.

While not being as dominant as the Rush were on the regular season, Calgary still had plenty of fire power to display, featuring 51 goal scorer (and future MVP as well) Dane Dobbie, the 2011 MVP in Jeff Shattler who had 84 points of his own, and Curtis Dickson in his second year of a stretch of consecutive 40 goal seasons. Mike Poulin had a strong season between the pipes with a .778, and the team included the best faceoff taker to date in Geoff Snider. It would certainly be Rochester’s toughest finals test to date, but it was also their best team to date to match that.

Champion’s Cup – Game 1 – @ Calgary

By the end of Game 1, the Roughnecks had beaten the Knighthawks at their own game. Jeff Shattler got the scoring going 2:19 into the game for Calgary, and then after it was Shattler heading to the box for roughing, Scott Ranger added a shorthanded goal to extend the lead to 2-0. Rochester, courtesy of Stephen Keogh, did score on the powerplay, but Curtis Dickson and Ranger’s second to start scoring in the second quarter extended the lead to 4-1. While Johnny Powless and Craig Point got the Knighthawks back within one, two goals from Dane Dobbie and another from Dickson pushed the lead back out to 3, although Joe Walters had his first of the finals to make the score 7-4 at the half.

With Dan Dawson still out of the lineup, it was looking like the absence of their top righty was making things more difficult, and that was before considering the strong game Mike Poulin was having in net.

While the defense took control in the third quarter with another 15 minute shutout, Rochester still trailed by 1 at the end of the quarter, with Cory Vitarelli breaking a 12:42 scoring drought and Point added a second on the powerplay. Dane Dobbie started the end of the goalie duel 2:07 into the fourth quarter, and then after Vitarelli went to the box, Mike Carnegie put the Roughnecks up 9-6 with just over 9 minutes to play. A slashing call on Paul Dawson was killed off, but it was two more minutes the already limited offense was taxed from generating some more. Soon after the penalty expired, Shawn Evans had his first of the game to go along with 4 assists to extend the lead to 10-6, and outside of a goal from Cody Jamieson with 10 seconds left, the Knighthawks were stoned from there, and Calgary had taken game 1 by a score of 10-7.

Joe Walters was the high scorer for the struggling Knighthawks offense on the night with a goal and 4 assists, as Mike Poulin and the Roughnecks defense limited the Rochester offense to 7 goals on 43 shots on goal, an .837 for Poulin, outdueling 31 saves on 41 shots for Matt Vinc.

Fortunately, Rochester was heading back to their home floor where they had now extended their franchise playoff record at the Blue Cross Arena to 12-2 and home playoff win streak to 8 (yes including the mini game). They had that advantage of winning game two after a game 1 loss, but both teams had won the mini game to get here, so that would probably not be one way or the other a sign of things to come.

Champion’s Cup – Game 2 – vs Calgary

Step one for the Knighthawks to defend their home floor for a 9th (and 10th, thanks mini game for confusing us all) consecutive time in the playoffs was to be healthy, and they would get Dan Dawson back in the lineup to do just that. Step two was probably not to give up two goals in the first two minutes, but step one meant step two wouldn’t be as daunting as it may have felt a week prior. Following those opening goals from Shawn Evans and Curtis Dickson, Cody Jamieson joined in on the scoring to put the Knighthawks on the board. Daryl Veltman and Stephen Keogh traded goals in the middle of the first, a too many men call on the Roughnecks led to Dan Dawson getting his first goal of the finals with 2:04 left in the opening quarter. An opening quarter stalemate wasn’t good or bad one way or the other, but the three goals for was a reminder that they had their floor general back to help carry the task of figuring out Mike Poulin.

Goals were in quick succession to start the second quarter, with Joe Walters joining the scoring to give Rochester their first lead of the game, but the next three were from Calgary, with two from Curtis Dickson and one from Jeff Shatter. But the Knighthawks responded with Stephen Keogh’s second of the game, Cory Vitarelli’s first to re-tie the game, and Cody Jamieson’s second to give Rochester the halftime lead. The Knighthawks opened the third quarter with two more goals, first from Vitarelli on a heat check behind the back shot on the run from midrange, and then the other Dawson, Paul, added a transition marker to make it 9-6. Calgary had a great opportunity with a powerplay in the middle of the quarter after Rochester took a too many men call, but it was Scott Self scoring a shorthanded goal to make it a 4 goal game.

But as the third quarter moved on, Calgary proved they weren’t out of it yet, just as was the case in Edmonton two weekends ago. Jeff Shattler broke a scoring drought of about 20 minutes before Dane Dobbie added his first of the game 1:17 later, and then in the final second of the quarter, Shattler had his third, meaning the score would find itself with the same differential as it did at the half, with Rochester out in front 10-9.

Things were tense as would be the case for any sport’s final night of the season, but in the fourth quarter, Rochester did the thing that got them to this spot in their best season in 7 years: They proved they were the better team. As the switch flipped, Dan Dawson scored his second of the game 1:05 into the quarter crashing the net on a rebound, and then steadily from there, Rochester looked to not only force the mini game, but deflate the Roughnecks into thinking they had the advantage when one would start. Cody Jamieson scored his third a couple minutes later, and then Dawson had his third 32 seconds later, and Craig Point joined in on the scoring 45 seconds after that. While Scott Ranger broke up the 4-0 Rochester run, Stephen Keogh and Jon Sullivan added two more goals to preserve a 16-10 win in Game 2.

The National Lacrosse League season would be decided with The Mini Game.

Yet while Rochester had hoped that the 6-1 4th quarter would bury the Roughnecks, and maybe it did for some, Shawn Evans certainly wasn’t deterred, as he opened the scoring 2:42 in. After Curtis Dickson scored about halfway through the 10 minutes, it was beginning to look bleak for the Knighthawks, but once again, they simply Were Better. After their stars shined in Game 2, their depth took the stage to bring them to a dynasty.

Rochester had finally gotten back on the scoreboard to make it 2-1 with only 2:14 to play, as the pride of Irondequoit, Joe Walters, sent an outlet pass in partial transition to a cutting Craig Point who finished finished off the play with a goal. 51 seconds later, it was the local boy again tying the game up after creating some space and shooting sidearm from outside.

With 1:24 to play, Mike Hasen called timeout to get the reset, and out of it, Walters had the ball swung to him as Stephen Keogh set a screen to get Point open. As the defense read the play, Walters took the ball to the net, drew the help defender, who was Point’s, and as the final minute of the game began, Point took the lane to shoot and, well:

It was Scott Ranger with the ball in his stick for Calgary’s final shot, looking to the middle of the net on the near side as he took a shot towards the middle of the floor, but to put a period on the story, Matt Vinc made his 45th save of the ninth, the seventh in the minigame. The horn sounded, fireworks went off inside the Blue Cross Arena, and the Rochester Knighthawks followed Vinc to the corner of the field to pile on him and each other, for they had just done something that no other professional lacrosse team had.

The new leaves that turned at the start of the decade had not only bloomed, but taken the full spotlight for three consecutive years. From draft picks like Cody Jamieson, their captain in the second two seasons, Sid Smith, Stephen Keogh, and Johnny Powless. To the goaltender they received trading away their franchise’s identity away following the retirement of their previous franchise goaltender had become a franchise leader in his own right and a three time champion with multiple goaltender of the year awards still to come both with the team and beyond. To the massive contributions (and massive height) of brothers Dan and Paul Dawson in the second two legs of the three as the team looked to ensure that they weren’t a fluke to just get to one, culminating with Dan being named the MVP of the final series. To the other faces of the defense such as Dylan Evans, Mike Kirk, and Brad Self. To the coaches behind the bench — Mike Hasen in the middle, Pat O’Toole beside him — the captain and cornerstone goaltender of successful years past, and Paul Day, who was an assistant coach during the team’s first three seasons and first championship, and was the head man from 1998-2005 and back in an assistant role as Hasen took over with experience in Edmonton and Orlando to aid the young coaches beside him. To the owner and architect Curt Styres. They were cemented as a dynasty.

Great teams and great cores have come and gone, but only one had raised the trophy three years in a row:

The 2012, 2013, and 2014 Rochester Knighthawks

(Photo Credit: Knighthawks Flickr)