NLL Rochester Knighthawks

Knighthawks Fall to Bandits

January 16, 2009 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Rochester Knighthawks News Release


(Buffalo, January 16)... The Rochester Knighthawks fell to the Buffalo Bandits 23-6 tonight at HSBC Arena. The game was the first of three scheduled meetings between the longtime I-90 rivals.

The loss was Rochester's second straight as the Knighthawks were limited to a season-low six goals. The l7-goal differential is the biggest goal margin ever between Buffalo and Rochester, while the Bandits' 23 goals were also the most ever scored against the Knighthawks.

Mark Streenhius led the hometown Bandits with a game-high eight goals to go along with five assists for 13 points. Roger Vyse (5+2), Sean Greenhalgh (3+2) and former Knighthawk Mike Accursi (2+3) each had big nights to help Buffalo to its third straight win this season. Ken Montour completed the contest with 32 saves to earn Player of the Game honors.

The Knighthawks were led offensively with a four-point performance (3+1) from Shawn Evans as Derek Collins and Phil Wetherup combined for a 23-save losing effort between the pipes.

Veteran forward John Tavares opened the scoring just 1:16 into the contest to give the Bandits an early 1-0 lead. Rochester tied the game at 1-1 just over a minute later as Aaron Wilson netted his first goal in a Knighthawk uniform. Rochester would never gain the lead.

Buffalo would quickly take a 7-1 lead with goals coming from Steenhuis (2), Accursi, Greenhalgh, Vyse and Tom Montour.

Evans made it a 7-3 game with back-to-back goals within the first five minutes of the second frame. From there, Buffalo would score eight of the next nine goals of the game to extend its lead to 15-4 to start the fourth quarter.

Steve Toll cut the Bandit goal-deficit to 10 with his only goal of the contest to make the game 15-5, but Buffalo would secure the win, again scoring eight of the next nine goals to deny the Knighthawks their first win of the season.

Rochester completes the two-game road trip on Sunday, January 18th as it travels to HP Pavillion to face the San Jose Stealth. San Jose is 0-2 this season after losing 10-7 to the Minnesota Swarm on January 10th. Colin Doyle (2+3) and Jeff Zywicki (1+3) led the Stealth offensively. Rhys Duch (Reese Dutch) also chipped in with two goals and two assists. Doyle and Zywicki lead San Jose scoring this season with 11 and 10 points respectively. The Stealth opened the season on January 9th with a 12-10 loss to the Calgary Roughnecks. Rochester owns a 3-1 all-time record against the Stealth, including winning 14-11 at HP Pavilion on January 5, 2007.

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