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Rochester Knighthawks

Knighthawks Extend Winning Streak to Four

March 1, 2015 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Rochester Knighthawks News Release


The Knighthawks celebrated Hall of Fame Night tonight by defeating the Calgary Roughnecks, 12-11 at Connors & Ferris Field at The Blue Cross. With former players looking on, Cody Jamieson scored the game-winner with 3:48 to play to extend Rochester's winning streak to four games.

The game was a rematch of the 2014 NLL Championship Series and it once again featured a late Matt Vinc save to preserve a one-goal Rochester lead. The Knighthawks improved to 6-3 with the home win.

On offense, Jamieson led the way with seven points (3+4), while Dan Dawson and Joel Matthews each notched one-goal, three-assist efforts. Cory Vitarelli (2+1) and Joe Walters (2+1) chipped three-point performances. The game proved to be a game of runs with the Knighthawks taking theirs first.

"The most important thing is trying to limit those runs," said Jamieson. "We have to create the runs of our own. Lacrosse is a game of runs. We had it for a long time and they took it back and were hot for a while. It's key for us to score when they go on their runs to put an end to that."

Rochester came out firing with six first quarter goals beginning with Walters. Vitarelli followed with a beautiful behind-the-back goal that flew past Calgary goaltender Frankie Scigliano. Jamieson finished off the first Knighthawks first run with a power play goal before Calgary traded goaltenders for Mike Poulin. Daryl Veltman got the Roughnecks on the board, but Matthews, who has played strong in his first season with the Knighthawks, set up yet another Knighthawks run to make it 6-1 going into the second.

Dawson opened up second quarter scoring with a beautiful goal to dunk it in behind the net and give the Knighthawks their largest lead of the game, 7-1. The Roughnecks fought back for the remainder of the period to close out the second down by two.

"(Vinc) has come up huge for us and made some huge stops for us," said Brad Self. "We just tried to adjust as well as we could tonight. They are a high-powered offense over there and 'V' stepped up huge and Cody put them in the back of the net when we needed him to."

In the third, Calgary put up two early goals, but Walters silenced the run with a bullet to regain the Knighthawks lead. Point followed suit and continued his scoring streak as he fired one past Poulin and extended the Knighthawks lead to 9-7. Rochester's 10th goal came from Self, who scored a perfect breakaway goal. Calgary got one back before the end of the quarter to make it 10-8 going into the fourth.

"It's nice to be able to contribute and put the ball in the back of the net," said Self. "The last time I scored it was on an empty net so it was nice to put one by a goalie."

"We're bending but we're not breaking," Hasen said. "We battle back as best as we possibly can and if you look at our record, 6-3, it's a good spot to be."

Jamieson opened and closed out scoring in the fourth quarter to secure the Knighthawks fourth straight victory. His first of the frame was a shot that trickled past Poulin to give the Knighthawks an 11-9 lead. Calgary would come back to tie the game up with less than 10 minutes left in the frame and it would remain tied until there was just under four left to play. Jamieson notched his hat trick and the game-winning goal 11:12 into the quarter .

"Whoever's got the hot stick is going to take it," said Rochester Head Coach Mike Hasen. "'Jammer' had that hot stick again, took it, and pulled (the win) off for us."

With 24 seconds left in the game and a Calgary possession, the Knighthawks defense and Vinc were able to hold back the Roughnecks to secure the win.

"I saw him at the last second come around and his stick go low so I just went down and fortunately made the save," Vinc said. "Scottie Self just picked up the rebound and that's a big part, we didn't give them a second opportunity. I like the way we pushed back late in the fourth. We do have to play a full 60-minute game, especially because now we have to play them again in a couple of weeks in Calgary."

"It was huge," Hasen said. "They were pressing, had a lot of good shots, and 'V' made some big saves at the end just to hold it for us."

The Knighthawks will hit the road to take on the Roughnecks in Calgary on Saturday March 14th at 9:00 p.m. They will return home on Saturday, March 28th when the team takes on the Edmonton Rush at Connors & Ferris Field at The Blue Cross. Tickets are available at any Ticketmaster outlet, online at ticketmaster.com or by calling the Knighthawks office at (585) 454-4295.

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