The former franchise continues its dominance over the expansion Rochester franchise.
HALIFAX, N.S. — The Rochester Knighthawks suffered their first defeat of the season Friday night at Scotiabank Centre, as the former franchise, now the Halifax Thunderbirds, posted a 17-7 victory.
Despite the loss, the Knighthawks remain in first place in the Eastern Conference with a 6-1 record. The Buffalo Bandits (5-2) rallied past the Philadelphia Wings Friday night to moved within a game of Rochester. Halifax improved to 4-3.
A series of multi-goal runs proved to be the difference for the Thunderbirds in the first of two meetings between the two teams.
Holden Cattoni (3+1) led all Knighthawks with team-high four points while Ryan Smith (0+3) posted three assists. Connor Fields (2+0) turned in his sixth multi-goal outing of the campaign with a pair of goals while Turner Evans (1+0) and Brad Gillies (1+0) both scored in the defeat. Paul Dawson, Curtis Knight, Matt Bennett, Ryland Rees, Austin Hasen, Jordan Stouros, and Thomas Hoggarth all produced one assist apiece.
Goaltender Rylan Hartley (6-1) suffered his first loss of the season as he made his seventh straight appearance. The netminder stopped 37 shots in 50 minutes before goaltender Riley Hutchcraft finished the game by making four saves in his Knighthawks debut.
Austin Shanks (3+5), Chris Boushy (3+0) and Wake:Riat BowHunter (3+0) all scored a hat trick for Halifax, which entered the game winless in its past two games. Graeme Hossack (1+1), Ryan Benesch (1+2), Jake Withers (1+2), Clarke Petterson (1+4), Ryan Terefenko (1+2), Eric Fannell (1+3), and Cody Jamieson (1+2) all notched a multi-point effort. Max Wilson added one goal to close out the scoring.
Goaltender Warren Hill (3-2) made his seventh appearance of the campaign and stopped 43 of the 50 shots.
Facing an 8-2 deficit four minutes into the second, Rochester netted the game’s next four goals to pull within a pair of tallies as Cattoni, Gillies and Fields all scored.
Halifax, however, responded and erupted with five straight unanswered goals to take a 13-6 lead at the 10:27 mark of the fourth quarter.
Cattoni capped off his hat trick with under 10 minutes left in regulation, but the Thunderbirds closed out victory as they added four straight to complete the 17-7 score.
Past meets the Present
Tonight was just the fourth meeting all-time between the Knighthawks and Thunderbirds, but it’s the historical significance that runs much deeper. While Rochester is currently in its third season as an expansion franchise, the Thunderbirds, led by third-year head coach Mike Accursi, relocated to Halifax during the summer of 2019 following 25 seasons in Rochester as the original Knighthawks franchise. The previous Knighthawks joined the NLL in 1998 following three seasons in the MILL, winning 10 division titles and five NLL championships, including three straight from 2012-14 under the ownership of Curt Styres, who also serves as the team’s general manager. The Styres-led Knighthawks also remains the only team in NLL history to win three consecutive championships, a team that was coached by current Knighthawks head coach Mike Hasen, who also holds the distinction of being the only head coach in league history to guide his team to three consecutive championships. Of the 21 players on Halifax’s current active roster, at least six members have ties to the previous Knighthawks organization. Even Accursi himself is also a former original Knighthawk, whom he led to a Champion’s Cup in 2007 before winning his second straight title the following year during his second stint with Buffalo.
The Knighthawks continue their two-game road swing as they take on the Buffalo Bandits for a 7:30 p.m. faceoff on Saturday, Feb. 4 at KeyBank Center. The matchup will be the second of two scheduled meetings between the two rivals this season.