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| | East | W | L | GB | | Buffalo | 10 | 6 | -
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| | | Philadelphia | 10 | 6 | -
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| | | Minnesota | 10 | 6 | -
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| | | New York | 10 | 6 | -
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| | | Rochester | 8 | 8 | 2.0
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| | | Toronto | 7 | 9 | 3.0
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| | | Chicago | 6 | 10 | 4.0
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History |
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| ROCHESTER KNIGHTHAWKS’ HISTORY |
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The Rochester Knighthawks lacrosse team enters their 14th season as the defending National Lacrosse League champions. The championship was the second in the franchise’s history, having captured the title in 1997.
Rochester won the 2007 NLL Champion’s Cup on May 12th, defeating the Arizona Sting 13-11 at Jobing.com Arena in Glendale, Arizona. The win was the team’s 15th straight and capped a 17-2 season. The Knighthawks will try to become the first Rochester lacrosse team to win back-to-back championships.
The Knighthawks ended the 2007 campaign with a franchise record 12-straight wins and earned their second division title in team history. Rochester led the NLL in goals (249), power-play goals (67), shorthanded goals (23) and power-play percentage (58.77%).
Forward John Grant was one of the keys to Rochester’s success in 2007. He had a banner year, capturing his first points title with 111, including winning the goal-scoring title with 51. He was named the MVP of the finals and earned regular-season MVP honors. In goal, Pat O'Toole notched a league best 13-1 record. Steve Toll was named the Transition Player of the Year and a First Team All-Pro, while Shawn Williams earned Second Team honors. Ed Comeau was also named the NLL Coach of the Year.
The winning tradition of Rochester, however, did not start with the Knighthawks as the Rochester Iroquois (1940s) and Rochester Griffins (1974) paved the way for the present-day ‘Hawks.
The Griffins were the predecessor for the Knighthawks and were coached by Morley Kells and led by star player Rick Dudley. In 1974, the only year of their existence, the Griffins defeated the Philadelphia Wings in a seven-game series to win the NLL title.
Winning the series four games to two, the Griffins won crucial games at crucial times.
With a Game 6 showdown in Rochester, the Griffins were not intending on allowing the series to go back to Philadelphia for a decisive Game 7. With the Griffins falling behind early, goaltender Merv Marshall and Rochester were able to hold on the rest of the way and win the first ever NLL championship, 14-12. With Dudley out, players like Kevin Parsons and Brian Keegan were truly given the chance to show Kells, the man who acquired them in the first ever draft, that he made no mistakes along the way in building a winner.
Despite winning the title in 1974, the Griffins moved away and professional box lacrosse fans would have to wait 20 years for another franchise to fill the void. The winter of 1994-95 brought lacrosse back to Rochester. The Griffins were replaced with a new logo and new name, the Knighthawks. What was then the Major Indoor Lacrosse League or MILL, only had six teams and Rochester was selected to replace the franchise that would be leaving Detroit. Other teams that Rochester would now be competing with included the Baltimore Thunder, Boston Blazers, soon to be archrival Buffalo Bandits, the league powerhouse Philadelphia Wings and the New York Saints.
The K-Hawks, due to league territory rules, would have a roster full of players from in and around the Rochester area. Rochester beat out the cities of Chicago, Charlotte and Tampa Bay as the home to the newest franchise in the MILL. Newly named Head Coach Barry Powless and his assistant, Paul Day, were former players for Buffalo and both felt that the “game was very strong here and the roots were very deep.”
The first task for the Rochester Knighthawks on the field was in the name of the New York Saints on January 7, 1995. “This game is something to see, when I played in Buffalo, standing in the tunnel, you could hear 16,000 fans screaming and chanting. If you can’t get fired up for that, this game has no place for you and you have no place in this game,” Rochester Head Coach Powless said about the MILL.
The city was ready for excitement and welcomed the team with open arms. When the team took the field that night they looked to one star in particular to shine the brightest: Paul Gait. Considered to be the Wayne Gretzky of lacrosse, Gait was arguably the best lacrosse talent in the world and was going to have to hold the brand new franchise on his shoulders. Scoring 31 goals the previous year in Philadelphia, he carried the bulk of the experience for the young team, considering he had already won a Major Indoor Lacrosse League Championship with Detroit in 1991.
A sold out War Memorial witnessed Rochester lacrosse history with a win versus the New York Saints, 12-8. Goalie Steve Dietrich made 52 saves and Gait netted three goals and assisted on the team’s first goal by Tom Emmick. Lacrosse was underway in Rochester and the impressions left by the fans on the players were just as memorable as the impressions the fans got from the action on the floor.
Rochester took the league by storm in its first season. The Knighthawks, after defeating Boston 10-8 in the semifinals, were going to take on the Philadelphia Wings in the MILL championship in front of 17,000 fans in a sold out Philadelphia Spectrum. Philadelphia was no stranger to the championship either, considering they were the defending champions and playing in the finals for the fourth straight year. This had no effect on a young Knighthawks team and they were as poised and determined as anyone would be, new to the experience or not.
Goalie Steve Dietrich stated, “We are the underdogs, we’re going there with no pressure on us, nobody expected us to be there. It’s like, ‘They are an expansion team. What are they doing in the final?’” Coming off 47 saves against Boston, Dietrich and the rest of the Knighthawks may have silently crept up on the league but were by no means a pushover. Paul Gait would now have a larger task: Having to defeat his identical twin brother, Gary, to have the crown of champion.
The game went back and forth and the Knighthawks scored with 23.8 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter to force overtime. But in OT, it took Philadelphia and their league MVP in Gary Gait just 51 seconds to snatch victory from the Knighthawks. Paul was defeated but not broken. He was happy that it was his brother and not another player from Philadelphia who scored the game-winning goal. The Knighthawks, behind Gait, now had a taste of what it was like to come close and have it taken from them, and now it was time to take it for themselves.
In 1997, Knighthawks were ready for a hard-fought season. Finishing the regular season at 5-5 and posting a .500 winning percentage, the fourth-place team had a difficult task in going into Philadelphia and having to win to make the playoffs. A 15-13 win in the new CoreStates Center advanced the Knighthawks into the playoffs and a shot at their first MILL Championship. Rochester did not feel a sense of urgency.
“I don’t know if I should make any predictions, I might not live it down this summer,” said Knighthawks captain Randy Mearns. “But I’ll make one anyways: I think we are going to win.”
Rochester won four of the seven games against Buffalo that season, in which the Bandits moved out of the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium and into the new Marine Midland Arena. The Bandits wanted a fourth championship banner and Rochester had plans of putting up one of its own in the War Memorial. Heading into the championship game in Buffalo’s new arena, Rochester had all intention of winning, and did. In the fourth quarter, Buffalo pulled within 13-11 but a minute and 40 seconds of time was all it took for Duane Jacobs and Paul Gait to end the hopes of that fourth banner for the Bandits. With the 15-12 win, the Knighthawks were world champions.
Since then, the Knighthawks have hosted the 1999 National Lacrosse League All-Star Game and advanced to four other NLL Finals (1999, 2000, 2003 and 2007). The loss in the 2000 Finals at Maple Leaf Gardens has to be the most heart-breaking loss in the team’s history. The Knighthawks rallied with two goals in the final two minutes to tie the game at 13 and had a chance to win it in the closing seconds. However, Rochester’s Tim Soudan was stopped by Bob Watson, setting up one of the most dramatic finishes in league history. Kaleb Toth waited for the clock to wind down and ripped a shot over the left shoulder of O’Toole to give the Rock a 14-13 win and their second straight title.
In 2003, the Knighthawks returned to the NLL Finals after winning their first division title with a 12-4 record. Rochester hosted their only NLL Finals in the team’s history on May 3rd. Again the Rock played spoiler in an 8-6 win at The Blue Cross Arena in front of a then record-crowd of 11,051.
In 2007, the Knighthawks lived up to preseason billing and captured the East Division, NLL Regular Season tile and the elusive NLL Championship. The victory over Arizona in the title game capped the most successful season in franchise history.
Through the seasons and playoff berths, the team has produced some of the greatest lacrosse players in the world. Players like Paul Gait, Steve Dietrich, Randy Mearns, Duane Jacobs, Casey Powell, Pat O’Toole, Steve Toll, Regy Thorpe, Pat Cougevan, Mike Accursi, Curt Malawsky, Shawn Williams and John Grant have all played in Rochester.
The players and the winning tradition have established Rochester as one of the elite teams in the league. Each season, Rochester puts a team on the floor that is ready to compete for another shot at a championship. This year, Head Coach Ed Comeau returns to try to add another chapter to the storied history.
Compiled by staff reporters and excerpts taken from the Democrat and Chronicle.
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