Chris Crane, Rochester Knighthawks Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©
Photo Credit: Micheline V, Rochester Knighthawks
In this weekend’s NLL action the Rochester Knighthawks (1-1) played host to the Buffalo Bandits (2-0) at the Blue Cross Arena. The game would remain very close for the first three quarters of play with Buffalo shutting out Rochester in the first quarter, but the Knighthawks would then return the favor in the second to take a one goal lead into halftime. The third quarter action would have the Bandits outscoring the Knighthawks 3-2 to make it a 6-6 game at the end of the third. However, Buffalo would once again take over in the fourth outscoring Rochester 6-2 for the victory. Final Score: Bandits 12—Knighthawks 8.
Buffalo’s first three goals would come from Dhane Smith (1g, 3a) netting his only score of the night at 1:51 in the first quarter, with teammate Connor Fields (4g, 2a) netting two of his four tally’s on the night giving the Bandits a 3-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Second quarter action would be all Rochester especially from Curtis Knight (3g, 3a) who would tally the Knighthawks first three scores to give him a hat trick on the night with teammate Holden Cattoni (3g, 1a) netting his first of three of the night giving Rochester a one goal lead heading into halftime. Score at the end of two: Knighthawks 4—Bandits 3.
Rochester would open third quarter action tallying the first score coming from Jeff Wittig (1g, 1a) to put the Knighthawks up 5-3 at the 1:25 mark. Unfortunately for the Knighthawks, the Bandits would go on a three goal run netting scores from Ian MacKay (1g), Matt Spanger (1g, 1a) and Chris Cloutier (2g, 1a) to make it a 6-5 game in favor of Buffalo. Rochester would tie it up with a shorthanded goal from Charlie Bertrand (1g, 2a) at the 12:20 mark to tie it up at the end of the frame. Score at the end of three: Knighthawks 6—Bandits 6.
With 15 to go, the fourth quarter action would swing in the favor of the Bandits as they would out score the Knighthawks 6-2. They would see scores from Fields with his final two of the night; Cloutier netting his second of the night and teammates Kyle Buchanan (1g, 3a); Tehoka Nanticoke (1g); and Steve Priolo (1g) all netting one apiece. Notching the only two scores for the Knighthawks came from Cattoni scoring first and last in the frame giving him a hat trick on the night, but it wouldn’t be enough as Buffalo would take the win. Final Score: Bandits 12—Knighthawks 8.
TEAM STATS:
Rochester Knighthawks—56 SOG; 42 Saves; 15-24 FO; 1-5 PP
Buffalo Bandits—54 SOG; 48 Saves; 9-24 FO; 0-1 PP
NEXT UP:
The Rochester Knighthawks (1-1) will travel to Times Union Center in New York, to take on the Albany Firewolves (0-1) Saturday December 18th, 2021. Game time 7:00 p.m. EST. The game can be seen on ESPN+ in the USA and on TSN.ca or the TSN app in Canada.
The Buffalo Bandits (2-0) have a few bye weeks and will not play again until after the New Year when they play host to the Toronto Rock (1-1) at Key Bank Center on January 8th, 2022. Game time 7:30 p.m. EST. The game can be seen on ESPN+ in USA. This game is the TSN game of the week in Canada.
Chris Crane, Rochester Knighthawks Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©