Knighthawks Woes Continue With Three Game Slide & Loss to Riptide 3/12/22

Christopher Crane, Rochester Knighthawks Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©

Featured Image Photo Credit: Micheline V.

In this weekend’s NLL action the Rochester Knighthawks (3-8) played host to the New York Riptide (3-8) at the Blue Cross Arena in front of a crowd of 3,790. Rochester was looking to get back into the win column this weekend as they were without goalie Ryan Hartley having been placed on IR with backup net minder Joel Watson getting the start. Unfortunately New York had other plans and set the pace from the first whistle finding the back of the net just 37 seconds into the first period. They also shutout any Rochester scoring opportunities as it would be 6-0 in favor of New York at the end of the first period. The slow start would be too much for the home squad to overcome and in the end, they’d drop their third in a row. Final Score: Riptide 15—Knighthawks 12.

The Riptide would shut out the Knighthawks in the first. Netting scores for the Riptide in the first period would be Connor Kearnan (3g, 1a) notching his hat trick while scoring half of New York’s points, followed by teammates Jeff Teat (2g, 7a), Dan Lomas (1g, 1a) and Callum Crawford (5g, 1a) who would all net one goal apiece in the period. Score at the end of one: Riptide 6—Knighthawks 0.

Second period action would have Rochester turn the tides just a bit as they would at one point in the period come within one goal of New York but the Riptide would still hold a two score lead at the end of the second. Getting Rochester on the board first would be Thomas Hoggarth (5g, 1a) who got the Knighthawks going on a four goal run with him also netting four of the six Rochester scores in the period. He’d also tie the franchise record with the five goals on the night. Adding the other two scores for Rochester were Ryan Smith (2g, 2a) and Ryland Rees (1g, 1a). However, New York wouldn’t be denied like Rochester was in the first and they were able to net scores in the second period coming at the hands of Scott Dominey (1g) and Teat for his second score of the night which was a penalty shot. New York would head into halftime with an 8-6 lead.

Both teams would exchange goals in the third period as each would score two goals apiece allowing New York to keep the two goal lead at the end of the third. New York would get on the board first as Larson Sundown (1g, 2a) would be wide open right on top of the crease and snuck it past Rochester’s net minder just 43 seconds into the frame. It wasn’t until the 9:04 mark that Rochester would net their first score of the frame and Tyler Halls (1g) would net his first career NLL goal to make it a 9-7 game. New York would answer back on a score from Crawford at the 9:31 mark to put the Riptide up by three 10-7. Rochester would tally one more at the 12:35 mark to cut New York’s lead to two making it a 10-8 game at the end of third period.

In the fourth it would be another exchange of goal scoring between the teams with New York outscoring Rochester 5-4 in the period. Tallying scores for the Riptide were Crawford netting three; with teammates Jake Fox (1g) and Mackenzie Mitchell (1g, 1a) tallying New York’s other two in the frame. Rochester’s four scores would come from Smith for his second of the night; and teammates Holden Cattoni (1g, 2a), Curtis Knight (1g, 2a) and Turner Evans (1g, 3a) all netting one goal apiece. Unfortunately for Rochester it wouldn’t be enough to overcome that first period deficit as the New York Riptide would hold on for the win. Final Score: Riptide 15—Knighthawks 12.

Both Rochester and New York sit at 3-8 overall records with New York now in 7th place and Rochester now in 8th place in the Eastern Division. The differential boils down to Goals For and Goals Against. New York sits at 135 GF/147GA and Rochester sits at 122GF/143GA.

STATS:

New York Riptide: SOG 52; Saves 46; Assists 19; LB 73; Face-offs 20-31; PP 1-2
Rochester Knighthawks: SOG 58; Saves 37; Assists 15; LB 99; Face-offs 11-31; PP 1-5

NEXT UP:

The Rochester Knighthawks (3-8) will next be on the road as they travel to the Sasktel Centre on March 19^th, game time 10:30pm and will take on the Saskatchewan Rush (3-8). Fans in the USA can watch the game on ESPN+. Fans in Canada can see the action on TSN.ca or the TSN app.

The New York Riptide (3-8) will head into a bye week before they are back in action March 26th as they play host to the Albany Firewolves (6-7), game time 7:30 p.m. EST at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Fans in the USA can watch the game on ESPN+. Fans in Canada can see the action on TSN.ca or the TSN app.