Christopher Crane, Beat Writer Rochester Knighthawks
Lacrosse is Awesome
With the NLL 2017 draft here and gone, the Rochester Knighthawks picked up more youth adding to an already up and coming young squad. Rochester got to work quickly in the First Round with the fifth and sixth overall pick which they had acquired from Colorado and Vancouver. With the picks they would select teammates from Ohio State Austin Shanks and Eric Fannell. Shanks was an attackman at Ohio State and in his collegiate career totaled 123 points, racking up 83 goals and 40 assists in 60 career games. Teammate Fannell another attackman who was named to the First Team All-Big Ten added 66 total points 30 of which were assists.
In the Second Round the Knighthawks would end up with the 14th pick acquired via a multi-team transaction. With this pick Rochester selecte4d Adam Perroni 
from the Whitby Warriors out of the OLA Junior A Lacrosse League. Rochester would have their next picks in the fifth and sixth rounds with selections 44th and 52nd overall. They selected another set of teammates on the defensive side of the ball, Trevor Stacey and Kessler Doolittle from the Six Nations Arrows another Junior A program.
Although it seems that Rochester gave up a lot of picks in trades throughout the 2017 season, while at the same time offsetting those by re-signing Graeme Hossack as well as Cody Ward another player from the Six Nations Arrows; and veteran Billy Dee Smith from the Buffalo Bandits. The Knighthawks would also sign Rochester Institute of Technology attackman Chad Levick.
This is only the tip of the iceberg for the Knighthawks signing a few more young players to add again to this already young roster. This up and coming squad is filled with an abundance of talent that yet has yet to reach their full potential.
It goes without saying this season will be exciting as now the team to beat is the fast paced down to basics Saskatchewan Rush who came up short to the Georgia Swarm in the 2017 NLL Championship. The Swarm won their first NLL title in 2017 with three out of four Thompson brothers and Myles Thompson being named the 2017 NLL MVP. With the preseason already underway with training camps and games the Knighthawks open their season at home on December 9th at the Blue Cross Arena versus the Calgary Roughnecks.
Christopher Crane, Beat Writer Rochester Knighthawks
Lacrosse is Awesome