Rochester Knighthawks 21 – Las Vegas Desert Dogs 13

Jack Hannah’s game-opening goal went off Rylan Hartley’s back and in after initially hitting the post. Right away on the next possession, a shot from Adam Poitras deflected off the inside of Hartley’s leg pad and in, as it looked like the bounces were going to favor the home team in this one. After Johnathan Gagliardi scored on a breakaway after blocking a shot, Jonathan Donville got on the board with a five hole goal. 4:36 into the opening period, the Desert Dogs had a 4-0 lead. But of course, there was plenty of time to play. Riley Hutchcraft entered the game for Hartley, and the jolt led to Graydon Hogg scoring Rochester’s first goal of the game. After a Josh Medieros tipped pass, he sprung a 2-on-1 and fed Ethan O’Connor for his first goal of the season. Ryan Lanchbury scored out of the under 10 timeout, and very quickly it was back to a one goal game. Holden Cattoni broke up the scoring with a catch and shoot goal from outside to make it 5-3, and then Matt Gilray got it back with a Pick 6 goal with 5 and a half minutes to play. With a late powerplay, Hogg scored on a quick stick from Lanchbury to tie the game at 5 at the end of a busy first quarter.

Another powerplay and another goal for Hogg opened the scoring in the second quarter, and then Connor Fields scored his first of the night on a midrange bouncer. Through traffic with 9:58 left in the half, Fields got his second goal, and then halfway through the quarter, Fields intercepted Landon Kells’s outlet pass attempt in front of the crease and then scored again after a series of fakes. Hogg’s fourth goal of the half came on a 2-on-1 with Lanchbury to make it 10-5. In the final two minutes, after Vegas killed off a penalty, Fields found Thomas McConvey on a behind the back roll pass for his first goal of the game. Kells was given a penalty for landing on McConvey in the crease after the goal, and then on the ensuing powerplay, Brandon Goodwin was given a 5 minute high sticking penalty after running Taylor Jensen on a late hit in transition. As play was about to resume, James Barclay was given a dead ball foul for extra-curriculars, leading to a three man in the box penalty shot, which Ryan Smith buried. Rochester won the faceoff, and Smith scored again with 3.9 seconds on the clock.

If you’re keeping score at home, that’s an 8-0 second quarter for the Knighthawks. outshooting the Desert Dogs on goal 19-11.

Still with the major penalty on the board, Rochester started the third quarter still on the powerplay, and the results were the same, right down to the scorer. Ryan Smith scored from the point 2 minutes into the quarter, and then with 1:17 still on the man advantage, it was Smith again for his fourth straight goal to put Rochester up 10 with 11:44 left in the quarter. After another faceoff win, Ryan Lanchbury ended Smith’s run for a natural sock trick, feeding a cutting Kyle Waters past a clumped Desert Dogs defense for an open take to the net for another goal. Off the next faceoff, it was the Desert Dogs captain who put an end to the 13 goal run for Rochester with a transition marker, but that was only a quick pause for the Knighthawks, as on the very next possession, Connor Fields got back in the goal column for his fourth of the game. After a stop on the other end on the next possession, the Knighthawks offense went back the other way and got an outside goal from Lanchbury. Holden Cattoni scored out of the under 10 timeout and then the game entered its longest scoring drought of the game, broken up by some tomfoolery between Jonathan Gagliardi and Thomas McConvey behind the net with 6:42 left in the quarter which also featured Landon Kells checking in as well. Gagliardi was ejected after spraying water into the other penalty box while the refs were sorting the sequence out. Goals from Curtis Knight and Holden Cattoni rounded out the third quarter, putting the score at Knighthawks 19, Desert Dogs 8.

The Desert Dogs took a run to start the final quarter, starting with a goal on the run from Casey Jackson on their first touch. Kyle Killen scored from about the same distance on the right side two possessions later to put them into double digits. After Jonathan Donville scored his second of the night minutes later, Adam Poitras did the same, and with 10:52 to play, as Rylan Hartley returned to the game for Riley Hutchcraft, Vegas got back within 7. But Connor Fields would add two more goals in the middle of the quarter to not only end any lingering hopes of a dramatic comeback, but push the Knighthawks over 20 goals for the first time in the Expansion Era. A powerplay goal on Hutchcraft with 14 seconds left set the final — 21-13 win for the Knighthawks to improve to 7-7 on the season and a three game winning streak.

December 23, 2017 was the last time the (previous era) Rochester Knighthawks scored 20 goals in a game, a 21-11 home win over the Bandits. You’d have to go back to February 8, 2013 for the last time it happened on the road — a 20-10 win in Philadelphia. It’s the second 20 goal game of the NLL season, joining the Roughnecks who also got 21 goals…against Vegas. The leaders led the offense, as Connor Fields, who appeared on the NLL Boxout Podcast this week, had 6 goals and 5 assists with 9 loose balls, Ryan Lanchbury had 2 goals and 7 assists, and Ryan Smith had 4 goals and 3 assists. 32 saves for Riley Hutchcraft anchored the seismic Rochester scoring run alongside the second quarter shutout.

For Vegas, who fell to 3-10, Casey Jackson and Adam Poitras had 2 goals and 5 assists each.

Calgary Roughnecks 17 – Buffalo Bandits 11

An eight second call on the Roughnecks led to the initial Bandits goal, as on a multi-shot possession, Kyle Buchanan flipped a behind the back pass to Dhane Smith for the opening goal of the game. Ian MacKay drove past his man in a transition one-on-one and got to the net for a goal to make it 2-0 halfway through the quarter. After the Roughnecks killed the first penalty of the game, Tanner Cook fired from outside as the trailer in the offense to give the Roughnecks their first goal of the game, and then nearly a minute and a half later, right after Chris Cloutier nearly scored for the Bandits had he not been in the crease, Cook picked the opposite corner to tie the game at 2.

While Kyle Buchanan scored on his way to the ground while slipping a screen in the first minute of the second quarter, it was overturned by a challenge to keep the game tied at 2. After an illegal screen on Calgary’s next possession, Paul Dawson fed an open Josh Byrne off the bench for a breakaway goal. Tehoka Nanticoke executed a perfect slip screen and scored open in front on a pass from Chase Fraser. A back-door pass from Jesse King to Tanner Cook gave Cook the hat trick and cut the deficit back to 1 with 5:34 left in the half. The creative free runs to the net continued out of the under 5 timeout, as Buchanan saw a back-door cut from Byrne and sent him an on target behind-the-back pass for Buffalo’s fifth goal of the game, but on Calgary’s next possession, Tyler Hendrycks scored his first goal as a Roughneck and of the season in transition. The goals weren’t close to being finished either in the first half, starting with an outside runner from Curtis Dickson. On their next possession, Brayden Mayea beat Sam La Roue and drove to the net to give the Roughnecks their first lead of the game. With 33 seconds left, Dhane Smith evened the game back at 6, but Curtis Dickson scored on a broken play after a rebound on Calgary’s final possession of the half to give the Roughnecks the 7-6 lead after 30.

It took 5 and a half minutes for the first goal of the new half, with Kyle Buchanan tying the game at 7 with a trailer run off the bench. A powerplay goal from outside from Jesse King kept the back-and-forth play going, and then after Josh Byrne had a goal wiped off from being in the crease, Curtis Dickson scored another runner to push the lead up to 2. But Buchanan got the goal right back after Reece Callies misplayed a pass off the faceoff, leading to Buchanan getting a breakaway tally. Tehoka Nanticoke spun off his defender and scored with the game at 4-on-4 to tie the game at 9, but once again, Curtis Dickson ended the quarter with a Roughneck goal to give them an intermission lead.

Captain King scored on Calgary’s first possession of the final quarter to make it 11-9, only for Chase Fraser to get his first goal of the game a minute later off a quick stick pass from Josh Byrne, but that was only for the Roughnecks to get the ball back and get Dickson’s fifth goal of the game. A building-deflating penalty behind the play prevented the Bandits for getting a breakaway goal the other way with just under 12 to play, and on the ensuing Roughnecks powerplay, King scored from the point for the first three goal lead of the game for either team. While Byrne found an open Clay Scanlan net-front to make it 13-11 with 9:27 left, Dickson came out on the next Roughnecks possession and after catching a pass in traffic, swept a one handed underhand goal with Justin Martin draped on him to secure the sock trick. After a stop the other way, King fed a cutting Tyler Pace who hit the cross bar, but Brayden Mayea jumped up for the rebound and put back an alley-oop to make it 15-11. With four minutes left, Dhane Smith went to the box for goaltender interference, putting a potential Bandits comeback on ice, and Jesse King added a cherry on the first shot of the powerplay. After another faceoff win for Justin Inacio, who won the faceoff battle with Connor Farrell 21-11, a behind the back pass from King to Mayea led to a second cherry, a 17-11 score, and an early end of Matt Vinc’s night. Some frustration penalties took us to the end of the game, and while no more goals were scored, the Roughnecks had gone into a sold out KeyBank Center and used a 7-2 fourth quarter to send most of Banditland to the exits early after witnessing their second straight loss at home for the first time since 2022.

In addition to Curtis Dickson’s 8 point night with a sock trick, Jesse King had 4 goals and 6 assists. Tyler Pace had 7 assists, while Brayden Mayea had 3 goals and 3 assists and Tanner Cook had 3 goals and 2 assists. Nick Rose’s losing streak to the Bandits came to an end with 44 saves. The win put the Roughnecks at 7-6, keeping them in pace with the congested middle of the pack in the unified standings.

On the other side, Calgary’s defense prevented any single player on the Bandits offense from going off. Josh Byrne led with 2 goals and 3 assists, with Kyle Buchanan and Dhane Smith each putting up 2 goals and 2 assists. Matt Vinc’s 17 goals allowed on 56 shots on goal is the most he gave up with the Bandits since last year’s opener in Albany. It was the first time he was pulled from a game in a loss since January 19, 2024. Steven Orleman stopped both shots he faced in the final 2:56.

While they still hold the top spot in the standings at 9-2 compared to Saskatchewan’s 10-3, they will head to Calgary for the second leg of the home-and-home yet to clinch a playoff spot with 7 of their 18 games still to be played.

Week 15 Review

Toronto Rock 15 – Halifax Thunderbirds 12

While it shouldn’t necessarily surprise anyone, the Rock proved that they weren’t going to fold their season on the floor despite the veteran fire sale, as 41 saves from Troy Holowchuk led to a road win in Halifax. Josh Dawick had 3 goals and 2 assists, while Tom Schreiber had a goal and 4 assists, and Zack Kearney had 5 assists. Cody Jamieson turned back the clock with 4 goals, while Clarke Petterson led the Thunderbirds with 2 goals and 4 assists.

San Diego Seals 13 – Vancouver Warriors 11

The Game of Runs of the week took place down in San Diego, as the two teams went back and forth across multi-goal runs the whole way. The Warriors erased San Diego’s 11-7 lead in the fourth quarter, but Wes Berg (4G 3A) got the game winner with 1:20 to play to earn the Seals a split of the season series with Vancouver. Rob Hellyer led the Seals with 2 goals and 7 assists. Ryan Benesch returned from injury for his first game in a month with 3 goals and 2 assists. Ryan Martel had 3 goals and 2 assists to lead the Warriors.

Albany FireWolves 12 – Philadelphia Wings 10

The FireWolves came out on top for a season sweep of the Wings, who have now lost five in a row since starting 5-2. While the game was fairly even most of the way, 6 of 7 goals between the end of the first and beginning of the third quarter ended up the difference. Kyle Jackson put up 3 goals and 2 assists in his debut for the FireWolves after being traded from San Diego. Alex Simmons led the offense with 4 goals and 3 assists. Nick Damude had 47 saves despite the losing effort, while Joe Resetarits, Mitch Jones, and Brennan O’Neill combined for 2 goals and 13 assists. Both Chris Corbeil and Mitch de Snoo scored in their Wings debut.

Saskatchewan Rush 8 – Georgia Swarm 7

Josh Zawada’s goal with 4:14 to play proved to be the difference in a defensive battle down in Duluth, as the Rush won each of the final three quarters after the Swarm had gotten out to a 4-1 lead in the first quarter. Once again without Robert Church, who is on paternity leave, the quartet of Ryan Keenan, Brock Haley, Clark Walter, and Jake Boudreau each had 3 points. Frank Scigliano made 45 saves, including 16 in the fourth quarter, as he is beginning to make increased noise towards a Goaltender of the Year nod. Bryan Cole led the Swarm with 2 goals and 2 assists, while Lyle Thompson had 4 assists.

Trade Deadline

While the Knighthawks did not make a move on deadline day, they did elevate last week’s trade acquisition, Brad McCulley, from the evaluation to the practice roster, while removing Jake Piseno’s practice tag for a full time place on the active roster. The place on the active roster opened up with Brandon Slade being placed on season-ending injured reserve. Slade hasn’t played since January 4th and registered an assist and 13 loose balls in his 4 appearances this season.

And now the headliner:

The Vancouver Warriors acquire Christian Del Bianco from the Calgary Roughnecks in exchange for Brayden Laity, first round picks in 2025 and 2026, and a 2025 second round pick. The two teams agreed to exchange future considerations in the offseason.

The 2023 NLL MVP is back. After electing to hold out while on the franchise tag from the Calgary Roughnecks, Christian Del Bianco got his wish to be traded to the Vancouver Warriors. Two firsts and a second fit the conditions that were expected for the trade, while Laity, the 9th overall pick in the 2023 draft, has 2 goals and 10 assists with 156 loose balls and 26 caused turnover in 30 games out the back door for the Warriors. Some were surprised as the first couple of report posts were coming out that Aden Walsh or Connor O’Toole were not a part of the deal back the other way, but the official trade call included the clause of future considerations on both sides that will likely include one of the two goalies all while Nick Rose enters free agency this summer.

And then, things got complicated with a four team trade:

The Buffalo Bandits have acquired Ron John and a 2025 third round pick from the Ottawa Black Bears for Sam La Roue and a 2026 second round pick.

After trading for a 38 year old Paul Dawson last year at the deadline, Steve Dietrich had his eyes on a younger contributor to the back end that could fill their current need at the position and a core piece down the road in a 26 year old Ron John. The Angola native and former college roommate of Tehoka Nanticoke is in his fourth season in the NLL after being drafted by the Mammoth in 2020 before moving to the Riptide midway through his first season. He has 7 goals and 26 assists and 260 loose balls in 59 career games. Injuries to Matt Spanger (season-ending) and Dylan Robinson have hurt the back end of the Bandits the last couple of weeks, so when Robinson returns from injury down the road this season, the depth will be backfilled and playoff-ready. As for La Roue, he only has appeared in 11 total games in 4 seasons with only 4 assists and 10 total loose balls in an off-ball role up front behind a crowded right side of the Bandits offense with some shifts out the back door as well. The move to Ottawa should give him a chance for more playing time and a more clear role, especially with the other moves that the Black Bears made.

The Ottawa Black Bears acquired Johnathan Peshko and a 2026 fourth round pick from the Vancouver Warriors in exchange for Kiel Matisz, a 2026 first and second round pick. Ottawa then sent Peshko to the Albany FireWolves in exchange for Travis Longboat and a 2026 first and fourth round pick. Vancouver, then, sends Matisz to the Buffalo Bandits with a 2028 fourth round pick for a 2028 second round pick.

Thank you to the NLL for posting the breakdown of the trade on their socials with an infographic because SHEESH. Let’s go team-by-team.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by National Lacrosse League (@nll)

• For Buffalo, Matisz has had the flexibility of playing both sides of the floor in his career. Before primarily playing offense for the Riptide and then Black Bears the last two seasons (5G 28A in 10 games so far in 2025), Matisz was the captain and leader of the Wings defense for four seasons as one of their expansion cornerstones. The 6’5″ 35 year old is in his 12th season in the NLL and does have championship experience with the 2017 Georgia Swarm. He’ll likely play out the back door while staying and playing on the offensive end, as well as some potential powerplay time if they go righty-heavy with Dhane Smith and Kyle Buchanan. It was a deadline one would expect from a team atop the NLL standings that is looking for a third straight championship.
• For Ottawa, the right side of their offense has been in the spotlight for a lot of this season as a spot that has needed to provide more production to compliment Jeff Teat’s left side. Longboat gives them another inside-out threat on that side to help open up Jacob Dunbar and Connor Kearnan with similar touch around the net to that of Larson Sundown on the left side.
• For Albany, a 26 year old Longboat had been one of the older pieces on an infant FireWolves offense, and it will be getting younger in the form of a 23 year old Johnathan Peshko, who was the 4th overall pick in this past draft. Peshko is a bigger body than Longboat to open up space for Alex Simmons and Tye Kurtz with the ability to continue adapting to the pro game in a younger offense than that in Vancouver.
• For Vancouver, they managed to use this deal to get a first and two second round picks to help refill the cupboards from the Del Bianco trade, eyeballing what is expected to be a loaded 2026 NLL draft.

The San Diego Seals acquire Marquez White from the Buffalo Bandits in exchange for a 2026 second round pick and a conditional 2028 second round pick.

The Bandits get at least one second round pick for White, who they took in the third round of the 2024 draft. He is from Southern California and played for the San Diego Royals of the NCBS, so this was a geographical move more than anything else.

The San Diego Seals acquire James Barclay from the Las Vegas Desert Dogs in exchange for Justin Sykes and a 2026 second round pick.

The final move of the day saw the Seals add to their defensive depth, which has seen a lot of durability issues so far this season. The pending UFA Barclay is still only 29 and was part of the leadership group of the Desert Dogs. From their perspective, the uncertainty of the UFA market next summer with the CBA’s expiration on the horizon made it more important for them to get value back for said pending UFA. Sykes made his NLL debut last weekend in Vancouver, and the lefty forward will have a chance for more playing time in the desert.

Week 16 Preview

Teams 3-11 find themselves between 7-5 and 5-7, as with 6 weeks left to play this season, the playoff picture is anything but determined.

The first of back-to-back 7 game weekends gets under way tonight as we continue to march ever closer to May.

Rochester Knighthawks (7-7) @ Ottawa Black Bears (5-6) – Saturday March 15 – 3:00 pm

The 2019 expansion cousins meet up in Ottawa for the first time and for the first of two meetings in the next 4 weekends, which could even become the difference in whether or not the two teams make the playoffs. With the quirks of the Knighthawks very front-loaded schedule, it’s actually going to be their final road game of the season, as they have 2 bye weeks and 3 home games in the final 5 weeks of the season. They are 5-3 on the road with a +6 (99-93) goal differential. After the Knighthawks won both games of the season series in 2023, the Riptide won a road game in Rochester last April.

Buffalo Bandits (9-2) @ Calgary Roughnecks (7-6) – Saturday March 15 – 9:00 pm

The rematch of last week’s game will be the Bandits first trip to the Saddledome since Rhys Duch broke their hearts in overtime of Game 2 of the 2019 NLL Finals. We’ll see how the additions of Kiel Matisz and Ron John to the lineup will make things different this week, although don’t count out the home crowd being abuzz for their annual St. Patrick’s Day weekend game.

Saskatchewan Rush (10-3) @ Halifax Thunderbirds (7-5) – Friday March 14 – 6:00 pm

After taking care of the Swarm, the Rush continue a stretch of the three teams that are currently 7-5, traveling to Halifax to take on the Thunderbirds (they’ll play the Mammoth on March 29) for the second time this season. Zach Manns willed the Rush to a comeback in the first matchup on the season in December 14 with 4 straight goals after trailing 8-3 as part of a push to force overtime before he scored the game winner. With the metaphor of teams knocking on the door of challenging for the Top 2 seeds, the Rush can become the first team to 11 wins and further pull themselves away from the congestion below them.

Toronto Rock (4-8) – Vancouver Warriors (5-7) – Friday March 14 – 10:00 pm – TSN

Curt Malawsky made it abundantly clear that Christian Del Bianco will be between the pipes for the Warriors as they welcome the Rock to town for a Friday night Ontario vs BC matchup. It will be a step up in competition from the Arena Lacrosse League for Del Bianco, who was leading the league with a 10.20 GAA and .815 SV% in 9 appearances for the Grizzlies, the 2023 MVP will be ready to go for still talented Rock offense despite the turnover and injuries they have battled this season. It’s Toronto’s first trip to Vancouver in about 3 calendar years (March 12, 2022). They have defeated the Warriors/Stealth in 13 of their 14 matchups since they moved to Vancouver from Washington. The two teams will play in Ontario on April 11.

Colorado Mammoth (7-5) @ Philadelphia Wings (5-7) – Saturday March 15 – 1:00 pm

Welcoming the Mammoth to town for the first time since February 9, 2019, put up or shut up time for the Wings starts with an afternoon affair at Wells Fargo Center, as the team aspires to snap their 5 game losing streak. After a bye last weekend, the Mammoth will enter not only without Zed Williams, but also Eli McLaughlin, whose probationary period with the Vancouver Fire Department has started. They have exchanged a win and a loss every game since their 2-0 start; a win in Philadelphia would end that streak as they begin a three game road trip.

Georgia Swarm (7-5) @ Albany FireWolves (4-9) – Saturday March 15 – 7:00 pm

Albany has the opportunity to win two games in a row for the first time this season, but a Swarm team that has won 3 of their last 5 will be staring them down as they continue to keep their eyes on that third seed. The FireWolves won last year’s lone matchup in Georgia 12-8, but the Swarm have won the last three meetings in Albany.

Las Vegas Desert Dogs (3-10) @ San Diego Seals (6-6) – Sunday March 16 – 4:30 pm – ESPNU

After Vegas upset their ownership cousins in their first meeting of the season, the Seals look to protect their home floor for the second straight week and jump back over .500. And after Dylan Watson and Drew Belgrave faced their former teams in the first matchup, James Barclay and Justin Sykes will be slated to join their respective lineups on a Sunday Funday at Pechanga Arena.

(Photo Credit: National Lacrosse League)