KNIGHTHAWKS VS. STEALTH IN OT THRILLER 2/13/16
By: Chris Crane, Beat Writer Rochester Knighthawks
The Rochester Knighthawks were back in action this past Saturday taking on the Vancouver Stealth in front of 7,362 at the Blue Cross Arena. The Knighthawks looked to bounce back from there loss to the Georgia Swarm a couple weeks ago. Having been on a bye week the Knighthawks were nothing from exciting Saturday night. Final Score in OT: Knighthawks 16—Stealth 15.
The scoring would begin at the 2:12 mark as Vancouver’s Garrett Billings would get the first goal unassisted. But Rochester would answer right back on a power play goal just under four minutes later from Cody Jamieson (D. Dawson and Vitarelli). However Vancouver would start a three goal run from Joel McCready; Billings; and Rhys Duch on a power play. The Knighthawks would finally get on the board again at the 10:21 mark as Vinc raced to the bench for an extra attacker and sure enough Rochester capitalized with Craig Point getting the goal (Walters, Jamieson). Vancouver would answer and put another one on the board two minutes later from McCready (Billings). Rochester would end up getting one more from Vitarelli before the 1st would end with the Stealth up 5-3.
The Stealth would once again come out firing at the beginning of the second quarter as Billings would get another one only 31 seconds into the quarter; as this was also the beginning of another Vancouver run as Corey Small and Duch would add on to give the Stealth a 8-3 lead. The Knighthawks would answer back with their own three goal run with goals coming from Jamieson and Vitarelli who would score only 23 seconds apart with the third goal coming from Stephen Keogh at the 9:53 mark as the rest of the second quarter would be a defensive standstill. However Vancouver still had the lead going into halftime 8-6.
With the start of the third quarter, Rochester would change the scenery just a bit as hometown man Joe Walters would the get the Knighthawks on the board first with a power play goal at 4:40 with the assist coming from Joe Resetarits and Jamieson. This would bring the Knighthawks within one but Vancouver said “not so fast” as they would extend the lead back to two when Logan Schuss scored on a power play opportunity. That might have been the straw that broke the camels back as Rochester would then go on a four goal run from Mike Kirk; Dan Dawson; Walters; and Vitarelli on a power play goal. Unfortunately the Stealth would get two of those four goals back on scoring from Jordan Durston and again Schuss. At the end of the third the score was tied 11-11.
The fourth quarter would keep everyone on the edge of their seat as Rochester started the quarter with the lead, but Small would notch it all up at the 4:08 mark. Jamieson would then answer back 30 seconds later putting Rochester ahead once again. Small would add another 20 seconds after the Jamieson goal. The Stealth weren’t going away as Justin Salt then put up another for Vancouver at 8:06. The Knighthawks said “not so fast” again as they would go on a three goal run coming from Vitarelli; D. Dawson; and Resetaris giving the Knighthawks a one goal lead with 40 seconds remaining in the quarter. This time Vancouver would add in an extra attacker which would prove to be a great decision as the Stealth on a goal from Duch would tie it up at 15-15 at the end of regulation, thereby sending it into overtime.
Overtime was as exciting for the fans as much of the game had been as it would go back and forth until Cody Jamieson would score at the 7:15 mark of overtime giving the Knighthawks the win. Final Score in OT: Rochester 16—Stealth 15.
This puts the Knighthawks at 3-2 on the season with Vancouver dropping to 2-4.
The Rochester Knighthawks begin a long road game stretch beginning next week versus the Saskatchewan Rush then onto Toronto; Calgary; and finishing in Buffalo before returning home March 12th to face a very tough and high powered team, the New England Black Wolves.
Chris Crane, Beat Writer Rochester Knighthawks
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