Photo credit: Micheline Veluvolu
Chris Crane, Beat Writer Rochester Knighthawks
Lacrosse is Awesome
This week’s match up pitted the (5-9) Rochester Knighthawks taking on the (6-9) Calgary Roughnecks at the Blue Cross Arena with their 6,824 fans hoping for back-to-back victories. Rochester was looking to build on last week’s win over Buffalo; however last second efforts by Rochester would come up short as they would fall to Calgary 11-9.
The first quarter of play would have both teams going back and forth with offensive opportunities. Getting things started would be Rochester’s Dan Lomas who would find the back of the net with the assist coming from Joe Resetarits at the 2:22 mark putting the Knighthawks on the board 1-0. Calgary’s Riley Loewen would answer back for the Roughnecks notching it up 1-1 at 5:04. The Roughnecks took advantage of an extra man opportunity which saw Tyler Digby beating Rochester goalie’s Matt Vinc for the score putting Calgary up 2-1. Cory Vitarelli would get one back for the Knighthawks tying it back up once again 2-2. In the closing minute of play the Roughnecks would take the lead back before the end of the quarter as Curtis Dickson would find the back of the net at 14:11 giving the Roughnecks a 3-2 lead.
The second quarter would be all Roughnecks as their defense would only allow one score. Loewen would get things started for Calgary as he would notch both of their first scores finding the back of the net at 5:34 and 6:43 giving him a hat-trick on the night putting the Roughnecks up 5-2. Rochester’s Brad Gillies would cut into the Calgary lead as he would beat Roughnecks goalie Frank Scigliano for an unassisted goal at 12:23 bringing them to within two. The Roughnecks headed into the power-play and would take advantage of the opportunity as Dane Dobbie would score at 13:57 giving Calgary a 6-3 lead heading into the half.
The third quarter would start as the second quarter ended. Dickson would get things started rather quickly as he would find the back of the net just 55 seconds in giving the Roughnecks the biggest lead of the night 7-3 thus far. Rochester wasn’t going to make things easy for the Riggers as Resetarits and Scott Campbell would get two goals back for the Knighthawks cutting Calgary’s lead to 7-5. Calgary went back up by three as Dobbie would net his second of the night at 7:01 making it an 8-5 game. Rochester finally hit net in the closing seconds of the quarter as Graeme Hossack would beat Scigliano on a short-handed goal at 14:27 making it 8-6 at the end of the third quarter and still in favor of Calgary.
The fourth quarter would have both teams at a stale mate as neither side could get one over on the other. Unfortunately, the Roughnecks got things started as Wes Berg would score only 1:22 into the quarter putting them back up by three. Dickson hit net again for the second time in the contest at 2:02 making it a four goal game. Rochester would answer back with one of their own again from Resetarits, this time unassisted at 2:37 would mark the frame at 10-7. Calgary connected on another power-play opportunity as Berg would find the back of the net at 7:55 making it 11-7. The Knighthawks weren’t going to make things easy for the Roughnecks as they would have a late surge netting two goals, one from Jackson at 9:25; and the other Jarrett Davis at 14:57 who would score on another short-handed play. However, it wouldn’t be enough as Rochester unfortunately would fall to the Roughnecks 11-9.
Rochester has a bye this coming week and will be back in action April 15th as they take on the Colorado Mammoth (8-7) who just came off a nasty loss to the Eastern Division leaders the Georgia Swarm
Chris Crane, Beat Writer Rochester Knighthawks
Lacrosse is Awesome