NLL Rochester Knighthawks

Knighthawks Bring Back Forward Mike Accursi

Published on October 20, 2010 under National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Rochester Knighthawks News Release


(Rochester, NY)... Rochester Knighthawks Owner and General Manager Curt Styres has signed forward Mike Accursi to a two-year deal, thus bringing back one of the key components to Rochester's last championship team in 2007. The contract is pending league approval.

"The Champion's Cup seems to follow Accursi," said Styres about a player that has one two NLL titles and two Mann Cups.

"It is a good pick up for us. He is a veteran guy who leads by example," said Head Coach Mike Hasen. "He works hard to get his players in situations to make them better and is a hard-working off-ball guy that doesn't always need the ball in his stick.""

Accursi, 35, enters his 14th season in the NLL and fourth with the Rochester Knighthawks. In his NLL career, he has 325 goals, 349 assists for 674 points in 188 games and has established himself as one of the most consistent playoff producers. He won back-to-back titles, earning Champion's Cups in 2007 with Rochester and in 2008 with Buffalo. Accursi is glad to be back to continue where he left off in 2007.

"It feels good to be back," he said. "It was bittersweet when I left because we had so much momentum. This is an opportunity to go back to great fans and a great team. It's good to be in that situation."

The Welland, Ontario, native spent the last two plus seasons with the Buffalo Bandits (2008-10), playing in nine games with the Rush before returning to Buffalo to lead them to a championship. In the 2008 Playoffs with the Bandits, he tied for second on the team in playoff scoring with 17 points (7+10) and recorded at least five points in each playoff game.

From 2005-07, he played three seasons in Rochester and in 2007 he was the leading goal-scorer in the postseason. As a Knighthawk, he scored 76 goals and added 135 assists in 48 games. One of his teammates those three seasons was Mike Hasen, who was recently named the head coach. It was Accursi's relationship with Hasen and Assistant Coach Paul Day that convinced him Rochester was the right fit.

"I played with Mike Hasen and I have a great deal of respect for him as a player and a person," said Accursi. "Paul and I have a long history together since I was 17. It was also an opportunity to play with a lot of old friends."

The Knighthawks will open the season on Saturday, January 8th in Minnesota against the West Division Swarm. The Knighthawks will open the home portion of their schedule on Saturday, January 15th against the Toronto Rock at 7:35 p.m. at The Blue Cross Arena at the Rochester War Memorial. Fans can purchase tickets by calling the Knighthawks office at (585) 454-5335, stopping by The Blue Cross Arena Box Office, calling Ticketmaster at 1-800-745-3000 or online at Ticketmaster.com or knighthawks.net.

"It should be a great season. Our offense has so much talent," said Accursi. "We just need to make the pieces fall into place and buy into the team concept."

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