Sometimes in the face of adversity, it’s tough to hear that it’s best to stick to the process because results will follow. But when the results do follow, that confidence can carry on for awhile. And pushing through as early as opening weekend is a good start for the 2023-24 Rochester Knighthawks.

Connor Fields started off the scoring in the fourth of five games during the NLL’s opening weekend, but the Roughnecks very quickly took the game back over by the middle of the opening quarter, starting with Haiden Dickson getting in close on the ensuing possession to tie the game, and then Tyler Pace scoring in partial transition to give them their first lead of the season before the first TV timeout. From there, Calgary’s transition game, which helped to propel them to a franchise best 13-5 record last season, took over. A Christian Del Bianco stop on Turner Evans in transition led to a Dan Taylor goal the other way to make it 3-1, and then with 6:36 to go in the first, Harrison Matsuoka pushed the pace and fed Shane Simpson to make it 4-1, sending Rylan Hartley to the bench for a quick in and back out. Ryan Smith was able to put the Knighthawks back on the board with 5:10 left in the first, but Matsuoka got another transition marker in response. Some sustained offensive possession time led to the Knighthawks third goal with 1:25 left in the first from Connor Fields, but the Roughnecks were able to get one more in the closing seconds of the quarter from their captain, Jesse King.

Into the second, Calgary punched in two more quick ones with Thomas Hoggarth finishing a rebound off and then Tyler Pace finishing off a tic-tac-toe play on the next possession to make it 8-3 90 seconds into the new quarter. This sent Hartley to the bench for good, with Riley Hutchcraft taking over between the pipes for Rochester. The Knighthawks defense began to settle in defensively, but an overturned Austin Hasen goal and crossbars from Turner Evans and Ryan Smith kept the score 8-3 through the middle of the quarter. Tanner Cook appeared to have scored with 6:50 left in the quarter, but it was also overturned for a crease call, and the Knighthawks finally broke through again to make it 8-4 thanks to Ryan Smith’s second of the game. Mitch Ogilvie finished a breakaway with 4:43 left in the half to cut it to 3, but Calgary finished the half with two more goals: One a Tanner Cook dunk, and the other a Haiden Dickson transition tally.

The 10-5 Roughnecks halftime lead did not come without some good process from the Knighthawks, with them outshooting Calgary 39-28 after 30 minutes and stifling the Roughneck set offense with a fair amount of interruptions, but those transition opportunities for the Roughnecks helped them to make good of the limited first half chances.

After only a single penalty in the first half, the third quarter started with a pair of penalties sending the game to 4-on-4, where the Knighthawks were able to score after a broken play led to Austin Hasen feeding a wide open Kyle Waters from the faceoff line to beat Del Bianco in front. Hasen took a roughing penalty into the under 10 timeout, but it was Rochester able to score again thanks to Ryland Rees capitalizing on a 3 on 2 with 9:07 left in the quarter. The powerplay for Calgary came to an end prematurely as Shane Simpson went to the box for a cross check, which Connor Fields capitalized on for his third of the game to cut the deficit to two. Rochester got another break with 3:29 left in the corner with Tanner Cook headed to the box for roughing. It was looking like the Roughnecks were going to be able to end the run as Shane Simpson broke out for a breakaway, but Connor Fields was able to stay with one of the fastest transition players in the league and strip Simpson before he could get a shot off. Fields brought it back the other way, and it was Turner Evans scoring his first to make it 10-9 with 1:53 left in the quarter. From there, Joe Post won the ensuing faceoff and Hasen feeding Matt Gilray on the pick and roll, and just like that, the Knighthawks had tied the game back up at 10 with 1:33 to play in the third.

Now with the shots 54-38 in favor of Rochester, the score was starting to push back towards what the game flow was setting up.

And the run continued 50 seconds in to the fourth with a dunk from Ryan Smith and then Gilray putting back an offensive rebound to give the Knighthawks a 12-10 lead 21 seconds later. Rochester got one more goal courtesy of Hasen before Calgary was able to get their first goal of the second half with 9:26 to play, with a powerplay goal from Tyler Pace. Their deficit was cut back down to one a couple minutes later after a crease dive from behind the net from Josh Currier with 6:53 to go, but Fields picked up his fourth of the game with 2:49 left to make it 14-12. Once the Roughnecks went 6-on-5, they had a pair of chances that were foiled before calling timeout off of a clear from the Knighthawks defense. With 19 seconds left, Dickson beat Hutchcraft to make it 14-13, and Calgary won the ensuing faceoff, but Mitch Ogilvie broke up the cross-floor pass attempt from Thomas Hoggarth, allowing the Knighthawks to clear and let the horn sound.

As he did throughout his first season in Rochester, Connor Fields led the team in scoring on Opening Knight with 4 goals and 2 assists, joined with 6 points by 3 goals and 3 assists from Ryan Smith. But the comeback does not happen without the composed relief effort from Riley Hutchcraft, who made 28 saves in 43:49 of relief en route to his first NLL win in his 14th appearance since joining the league in 2018. Austin Hasen had a career high 5 points to open up his sophomore season in the NLL with a goal and 4 assists, while Kyle Waters chipped in with a goal and 3 assists in his first game with the Knighthawks.

For Calgary, Jesse King was only able to score a single goal but added 6 assists to lead the Roughnecks in points, and Tyler Pace had 3 goals and 3 assists. Haiden Dickson also had a hat trick. Christian Del Bianco had 50 saves but took the loss, his first in his career in a game where he had 50+ saves. The loss was Calgary’s third consecutive loss in Rochester, as they have yet to beat the Expansion Era Knighthawks. Their last win in the Flower City came against the old regime on March 23, 2019. Fortunately for them, their next (regular season) meeting with the Knighthawks is expected to be at the Saddledome based on the NLL’s new schedule format alongside the unified standings. For now though, the Roughnecks will look to bounce back ahead of another road weekend, this time headed to San Diego for the Seals home opener.

Rochester, meanwhile, will head to Saskatchewan to face the Rush in their next game, also on Saturday.

Week 1 Around The League

Halifax Thunderbirds 17 – Saskatchewan Rush 12

The Thunderbirds jumped out to a 9-goal first quarter and never looked back, chasing Frank Scigliano in his Rush debut. Jake Withers led a 29 of 33 day at the faceoff dot with 24 loose balls and also added a first half hat trick. Clarke Petterson led the Thunderbird attack with 5 goals and 3 assists, while Austin Shanks had a goal and 6 assists and Ryan Benesch and Dawson Theede each had 5 points. Zack Manns had 3 goals and 3 assists to lead the Rush in his debut with the team.

Albany FireWolves 12 – Las Vegas Desert Dogs 10

A three-goal run to end the game pushed the FireWolves into the win column on opening weekend for the second straight season, defeating the Desert Dogs in Vegas 12-10. A quartet of FireWolves led the team with five points, with Ethan Walker, Sam Firth, and Tye Kurtz putting up 2 goals and 3 assists, while Marshall Powless had a goal and 4 assists. 2022 4th overall pick Alex Simmons had 2 goals and 2 assists in his NLL debut. Vegas led with 5:20 to play, but it did not end up being enough, plagued throughout the game by being shorthanded nine times. Albany was 0 for 9 on the powerplay, but the time pushed the Desert Dogs away from sustained offensive zone time at even strength. Zack Greer led Vegas with 3 goals and 2 assists, while Casey Jackson had 4 goals and an assist in his first game with the club.

Panther City 11 – Vancouver Warriors 7

Kicking off his 18th season in the NLL, 39-year-old Callum Crawford scored 4 of his 5 goals consecutively to help Panther City start 1-0 with an 11-7 win over the Warriors, first breaking a 4-4 tie with 2 seconds left in the first half and then adding a third quarter natural hat trick to what became the deciding margin. Jonathan Donville and Will Malcom each had a goal and 3 assists, while Mathieu Gautier had 4 assists. Nick Damude stopped 43 of 50 shots on net. Ryan Martel was the lone Warrior to reach 3 points with a goal and 2 assists, while Reid Bowering and Adam Charalambides each had a pair of goals.

Philadelphia Wings 13 – New York Riptide 10

The Wings led wire-to-wire, jumping out to the first 5 goals of the game en route to a 13-10 weekend to open their season in the win column. Mitch Jones led the Wings with 2 goals and 6 assists, while newly appointed captain, Blaze Riorden, led the team with 4 goals. Joe Resetarits had 5 assists, and Ben McIntosh chipped in 2 goals and 2 assists, all while Zach Higgins made 48 saves in the win. Connor Kearnan and Jeff Teat each had five-point nights to lead the Riptide, with Riley O’Connor right behind them with four.

Oh and a trade!

On Thursday afternoon, the Knighthawks added another body to their forward ranks, acquiring Ryan Lanchbury from the Georgia Swarm. The right-handed forward enters his second season in the NLL after being the second overall pick in the 2021 NLL draft – slated between Jonathan Donville and Tehoka Nanticoke. His slow start to his career aligned with the Swarm’s, but after missing the majority of the midseason with injury, he put up 10 points in his last three games, including 3 goals and 4 assists against Albany on April 15. Curtis Knight and Stephen Keogh both being on IR have Lanchbruy expected to play regular minutes alongside his Burlington junior teammate Ryan Smith, Austin Hasen, and Kyle Waters.

Georgia receives two first-round picks in return – one compensatory and one conditional. Stephen Stamp explains the picks in his article about the trade:

In return, the Swarm get a 2024 first round pick plus a conditional first-round compensatory pick. Rochester acquired a first round pick next year from Philadelphia in the deal that send Holden Cattoni to the Wings and dealt one to the Buffalo Bandits for the 15th pick this year, which they used to take Graydon Hogg. Georgia will get the higher of those two picks and Buffalo will get the lower. 

Stephen Stamp, IL Indoor

What’s Next

Week 2’s preview and a preview of the Bandits season will be out later this week!

Photo Credit: Micheline Veluvolu/ Rochester Americans