Christopher Crane, Rochester Knighthawks Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©
Featured Image Photo Credit: M. Veluvolu
In the final week of the NLL regular season the Rochester Knighthawks (10-8) played host to the Philadelphia Wings (9-9) at the Blue Cross Arena with the teams 1-1 against each other this season. Rochester already punched their ticket to the postseason, but with a win and a Halifax loss they would secure the third seed in Eastern Division; however, with a loss and a Halifax win they would become the fourth seed. Philadelphia on the other hand already out of the postseason, this game was for them to end the season on a high note and potentially upset Rochester’s postseason seeding. It would seem the Wings were determined to disrupt the Knighthawks seeding as they would have an eight-goal lead 9-1 heading into halftime. But Rochester started a late surge in the second half to where the closest they would come was a two-goal differential late in the fourth quarter but unfortunately it wouldn’t be enough as the Wings would go on to a 14-11 win and take the season series 2-1 over the Knighthawks. Notables on the night were Rochester’s Thomas Hoggarth (4g, 1a) with five points on the night and Philadelphia’s Mitch Jones (3g, 5a) leading the Wings with eight points on the night.
Rochester got on the board first at the 1:11 mark with Thomas Hoggarth notching his first of the night to go up 1-0 and that was it for the home team. Philadelphia went on a four-goal run on a score from Chad Tutton (2g) 46 seconds later making it a 1-1 game. Tallying the three other goals were Mitch Jones, Joe Resetarits (2g, 5a) and Kiel Matisz (1g, 1a) with 58 seconds left on the clock putting the Wings ahead 4-1 at the end of first quarter.
Philadelphia would pick up right where they left off in the first as the four-goal run now would become a nine-goal run with the Wings completely shutting out the Knighthawks offense. Netting scores in the second quarter for Philadelphia were Blaze Riorden (2g, 1a) going back-to-back for his two scores on the night followed by Jones netting back-to-back scores as well giving him a hat trick and putting the Wings ahead 8-1 with 5:38 left in the first half. The Wings added one more tally in the closing seconds of the quarter when Ben McIntosh (3g, 4a) found the back of the net with :40 left giving Philadelphia a commanding 9-1 lead heading into halftime.
Rochester’s offense would start to come alive in the third and they would get on the board first just 40 seconds in with one from Holden Cattoni (3g, 1a) for his first of three on the night making it a 9-2 game. Both teams battled it out for almost 10 minutes of play before either side could find the back of the net. Philadelphia finally broke through with 4:29 on the timer, re-establishing the eight-goal lead with Resetarits notching his second on the night and it was 10-2. The Wings would go on the man up off a slashing penalty with 2:27 left in the frame and McIntosh would notch a power-play tally 12 seconds in at 2:15 to put them up 11-2. With just under two minutes in the third, Rochester would close it out with Connor Fields (2g, 2a) netting his first of the night at the 1:50 mark and teammate Hoggarth netting his second with one second on the clock to make it an 11-4 game at the end of the third quarter.
The teams would combine for a total of 10 goals in the fourth with the ‘Hawks outscoring the Wings 7-3. The Wings struck first to extend their lead to 12-4 on a score from McIntosh at the 1:09 mark to give him a hat trick. Rochester finally got a bit of a spark and went on a four-goal run with Hoggarth netting his third at the 2:15 mark to make it 12-5. The Knighthawks’ other three scores came from Turner Evans (1g, 2a) at 5:41; and Cattoni would tally back-to-back scores at the 7:25 mark and with 4:34 left to close the gap to four making it a 12-8 game. In the last 3:16 the teams would combine for five goals, Philadelphia’s Hunter Lemieux (1g) notched his only goal with 3:16 remaining and it was 13-8. But Rochester would make one more late surge in the closing few minutes Fields netted his second at 2:13 making it a 13-9; Curtis Knight (1g, 1a) for his only tally on the night with 1:09 remaining; and Hoggarth netting his fourth with 18 seconds on the clock to get them within two 13-11. The Wings would seal the deal with a last second score from Tutton with seven seconds remaining to give Philadelphia a 14-11 win.
Rochester will now get ready for their postseason run as they will be on the road to take on the number one seed Buffalo Bandits. Unfortunately for Philadelphia their season ends with no postseason, but they’d end their regular season with a win and can now get prepared for next year.
STATS:
Philadelphia Wings—SOG 44; Saves 48; Sv% .816%; FO 9-28; PP 1-2
Rochester Knighthawks—SOG 59; Saves 30; Sv% .681; FO 19-28; PP 0-2
NEXT UP:
The Rochester Knighthawks (E4) will head to Key Bank Center to face the Buffalo Bandits (E1) on Saturday May 6, 2023, for Round 1 of the NLL Playoffs. Game Time 7: 00 p.m. EST. The game can be seen on ESPN+, ESPNU & TSN+. Fans in Canada can also see the game on the TSN app.
Next week’s winners advance to their respective best-of-three Conference Finals, with Games 1 and 2 scheduled for May 12-15, and any necessary Game 3 played between May 19-22. Conference champions will face off in the best-of-three NLL Finals starting the final weekend of May.
Christopher Crane, Rochester Knighthawks Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©