Rochester Knighthawks 12 – Ottawa Black Bears 6

There were whistles aplenty especially early on Saturday Night, as an early powerplay for the Knighthawks led to Connor Fields opening the scoring 1:26 in from the point. After Reilly O’Connor scored to tie the game, Ottawa would take two more early penalties that would lead to two more goals for Rochester, first on a second from Fields and second on a first from Ryan Smith, burying a quick stick look from Thomas McConvey, who would add a goal of his own minutes later to make the score 4-1 Knighthawks after 1.

Ryan Smith’s second of the game opened scoring in the second quarter, also on the powerplay, before Jeff Teat would get his first of the game halfway through the quarter, only for Connor Fields to pick the near corner from outside for his third goal of the game, and the score would stay 6-2 Rochester heading into the halftime intermission. 16 saves from Rylan Hartley helped Rochester put up a tie with last season’s regular season finale for the least goals the team has given up in a first half with 2. With the Thunderbirds having finished off the Seals in their game while this game was at halftime, all Rochester would need to do is take care of business in the second half to clinch a playoff spot.

While Larson Sundown would give Ottawa their first powerplay goal on their 5th attempt of the game to open up the third quarter, a dunk from his office behind the net, the rest of the quarter would return to Rochester control. Chad Tutton would find Josh Medeiros in transition to put Rochester back up 4 before Ryan Lanchbury found Kyle Waters in front of the net minutes later, and the big frame of Waters absorbed contact and capitalized on his first of the game. Ryan Smith would dip his way in close for his third of the game, and while Jeff Teat would score in the final seconds of the third quarter, this game continued to be all Rochester.

Into the fourth, a powerplay goal for Reilly O’Connor made it 9-5, but Connor Fields would send a rope of a behind the back pass to an open Kyle Waters in front of the net to push the lead back up to 5 before Ryans Smith and Lanchbury each added tallies to push the lead up to 12-5. Although Connor Kearnan would score on the powerplay with 3:15 to play, the Knighthawks had secured a spot in the playoffs.

The playoff clinch is Rochester’s third in a row, and as they are sitting in the four seed with two weeks to play, it is looking like they will have their highest finish in the standings if two of the four 8-8 teams lose one more game, with one more win and one more Vancouver loss or two more Halifax losses giving them the path to a home playoff game in the first round, although it will be close. The Warriors own the head-to-head tiebreaker, while as of the start of Week 20, the Thunderbirds have the higher strength of victory.

Back to the game, in the end, after Ottawa came into the game with the top PK unit in the league at 75%, the Knighthawks went 5 for 6 on the man advantage. Connor Fields led with 3 goals and 5 assists, with Ryan Lanchbury scoring and adding 5 assists and Ryan Smith scoring 4 times and adding an assist. Thomas McConvey also had a goal and 4 assists. For Ottawa, Reilly O’Connor and Jeff Teat each had 2 goals and 2 assists. After three straight games where their offense was back in a groove with a combined 43 goals, the Knighthawks once again held them under 10 and to their least goals scored since January.

Buffalo Bandits 15 – Colorado Mammoth 10

It was the likely sources getting Buffalo out to the early lead in their trip to Ball Arena, as Dhane Smith beat Dillon Ward over the far shoulder 5 minutes in to open the scoring. Kyle Buchanan drove inside and finished off a crease dive before a Dylan Robinson strip check led to Josh Byrne bursting forward on a transition look to make it 3-0 with 3:17 to go in the opening quarter. Ryan Lee would score in the final minute of the frame to get the Mammoth on the board.

While a Buchanan goal was wiped out early in the frame, Buffalo would go on the powerplay, where extended possession after the expiration of the penalty provided a reward for the persistence, as Dhane Smith found Clay Scanlan rolling alone in front for the goal. Connor Kelly got his first goal in his return to the lineup halfway through the quarter. Scanlan would recover an errant pass and drive to the net for his second goal of the quarter to make it 5-2 with less than three to play, but the Mammoth would get the score back to within one before the halftime break with goals from Ryan Lee and Jordan Gilles.

Connor Robinson was the recipient of a fortunate roll, as his outside shot early in the new quarter tied the game after a slow roll into the net after Matt Vinc thought he had it covered up. A putback from Chase Fraser and a bouncer from Ryan Lee extended the score to 6-6 halfway through the third, but then Buffalo would take over in their own championship-pedigree fashion. The Bandits would get a powerplay goal from Kyle Buchanan before getting possession right back for Dhane Smith to jab and beat Ward over the same shoulder has his first goal of the game. Another faceoff win led to Smith finding Ian MacKay, who joined in on the scoring with his first goal of the game. While Will Malcom would break the run up with 1:58 left in the quarter, the Bandits would add two more in short order, first from MacKay in transition and then Josh Byrne from outside to make it 11-7 after 3.

After winning the opening faceoff of the final quarter, Buffalo wasted no time to extend their run with a Josh Byrne to Ian MacKay pick and roll set to make it 12-7, and then Dylan Robinson would score in transition to give Buffalo their largest lead of the game at 6 with still 13:07 to play. Connor Kelly and Kyle Buchanan would exchange goals before Will Malcom would get two straight halfway through the quarter, but the Bandits defense was able to limit the Mammoth to only 17 total shots on goal in the whole second half, and their goalie rewarded them with a treat with the net empty to make it 15-10 and secure the Bandits their 12th win of the season.

The goalie goal for Matt Vinc capped off a 33 save evening and was his second career goal, with the first coming with the New York Titans back in 2008. In front of him, Josh Byrne led the Bandits with 2 goals and 8 assists, while Dhane Smith had 2 goals and 5 assists. Kyle Buchanan, Ian MacKay, and Clay Scanlan combined for 8 goals.

Ryan Lee had 3 goals and 3 assists to lead the Mammoth, while Will Malcom had 3 goals and 2 assists and Thomas Vela distributed 4 assists. The loss dropped the Mammoth to 8-8.

Week 19 Review

Calgary Roughnecks 10 – Saskatchewan Rush 6

While goalie-ing is a lot more rare in box lacrosse compared to its hockey cousin, every so often you get a doozy. The Rush outshot the Roughnecks 92-65, 64-47 on goal, but were only able to beat Nick Rose 6 times, their lowest goal total in a game since March 25, 2023, which was also a home loss to Calgary. Rose finished with 58 saves total, providing the reminder of his value in Calgary’s playoff push. Curtis Dickson led the offense with 3 goals and 2 assists, while Jesse King had a goal and 4 assists. Similar to Buffalo, the Rush are 2-3 since the start of March. Robert Church led them with 3 of the team’s 6 goals.

Vancouver Warriors 10 – Albany FireWolves 4

Alex Simmons surprised the masses by returning from what looked to have been a much scarier injury in his last game against Buffalo, but it did not help Albany on this night, as the Warriors defense and Christian Del Bianco, who finished with 37 saves, shut down the FireWolves to the tune of a 10-4 home win. Keegan Bal led the Warriors offense once again this week with 4 goals and 3 assists.

Halifax Thunderbirds 13 – San Diego Seals 10

It was the right side of the Thunderbirds offense’s turn to be the catalyst, as a goal and 6 assists from Clarke Petterson, 4 goals and 2 assists from Randy Staats, and 2 goals and 2 assists from Thomas Hoggarth paced the Thunderbirds with help from 39 saves in relief from Drew Hutchison. Ben McIntosh had 3 goals and 3 assists to lead the Seals.

Philadelphia Wings 15 – Georgia Swarm 13

Georgia got out in front with a 5-1 first quarter, but after it felt like nothing was sticking throughout their losing streak, th Wings offense snapped and went on a 6 goal run to turn an 11-8 deficit into a 14-11 lead, backstopped by Deacan Knott’s 27 saves in relief, including 12 in the fourth quarter. Joe Resetarits’s 11 points not only pushed him above 100 for the 4th time in his career, but 110 point plateau for the third time with two more games remaining to set a career high. Blaze Riorden had 3 goals and 4 assists, while Brennan O’Neill had 2 goals and 4 assists to help the lefty offense fill the hole left from Mitch Jones being given a game misconduct a minute into the game for a fight he instigated with Adam Wiedemann. Lyle Thompson, Shayne Jackson, and Bryan Cole combined for 9 goals and 10 assists in the loss for Georgia.

Las Vegas Desert Dogs 14 – Toronto Rock 13 F/OT

The Rock went on a 5 goal run to go up 2 late in the fourth, but starting with a powerplay goal from Kyle Killen with 2:07 left, the Desert Dogs weren’t out of it. Jackson Webster tied the game with 1:11 left before Jack Hannah scored the game winning goal and snapped Vegas’s 4 game losing streak. Jonathan Donville led the way for the Desert Dogs with 2 goals and 5 assists, while Adam Poitras returned to the lineup and chipped in 2 goals and 4 assists. Landon Kells held on for the win after relieving Justin Geddie. Josh Dawish had 5 goals and an assist to lead the Rock, whose 10th loss puts their playoff chances on their last legs. Challen Rogers also added 2 goals and 3 assists.

Week 20 Preview

The Knighthawks have their final bye of the season this weekend, while the Bandits return home for Fan Appreciation Night.

While Calgary is on a bye this weekend before a a two game weekend to finish out the season, the other three 8-8 teams are in action and could raise the target win total to 9 to get a playoff spot, which itself could eliminate the 10 loss teams before a whistle is blown. Of course with that, it does mean that the 10 win teams would be eliminated with their next losses.

Halifax Thunderbirds (10-6) @ Buffalo Bandits (12-4) – Saturday April 12, 7:30 pm

Halifax could still be the one seed if they win out and the Bandits also lose to Georgia next week, but of course that starts with the challenge of traveling to Banditland this weekend for its 5th sellout of the season. Their home win on February 16, 2024 snapped a 5 game losing streak to the Bandits following COVID, but they have not won in Buffalo since December 28, 2019. One more Bandits win clinches the 1-seed.

Vancouver Warriors (9-7) @ Toronto Rock (5-10) – Friday April 11, 8:00 pm, TSN

If the Warriors are able to get a road win in Mississauga this weekend, with the tiebreaker advantage over the Knighthawks, they would jump up to the 4 seed and clinch their first playoff berth since playing in Langley back in 2017 with a week to play.

Las Vegas Desert Dogs (4-12) @ Ottawa Black Bears (7-9) – Saturday April 12, 7:00 pm

With the Rush the last team on the Ottawa schedule, a home win over the Desert Dogs is mandatory for the Black Bears. Vegas lost last year’s matchup on Long Island 13-11.

San Diego Seals (8-8) @ Albany FireWolves (6-10) – Saturday April 12, 7:00 pm

It’s familiar territory for the Seals. Advancing their season comes down to two games with the Albany FireWolves, who swept San Diego in the semifinals last year. The first game of the home-and-home will take place at MVP Arena on Saturday, with the home FireWolves wearing a fauxback inspired by their years as the New England Black Wolves.

Georgia Swarm (8-8) @ Philadelphia Wings (6-10) – Saturday April 12, 7:00 pm

While their 3-5 home record does mean an improvement over 1-8 in 2024, the Wings would certainly aim to fit one more win at Wells Fargo Center in to close out the home slate. The Swarm, however, have won 3 of the 4 all time meetings between the two franchises in Philadelphia, with Saturday being the first since March of 2023.

Saskatchewan Rush (11-5) @ Colorado Mammoth (8-8) – Sunday April 13, 4:00 pm

On the other side of the one seed’s battle, the Rush aim to get their second win over the Mammoth in three weeks. For Colorado, Sask and Calgary finishing out the season with their playoff lives on the line gives some throwback Western division vibes when those three teams would face off in the playoffs seemingly annually. While they’ve lost three games in a row, records have never been indicative of said western battles especially when spring time arrives.

(Photo Credit: Jon Tenca)