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Rochester Knighthawks

Knighthawks Fighting for First Place this Week

February 16, 2011 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Rochester Knighthawks News Release


(Rochester, February 16)... The Rochester Knighthawks have a chance to move into first place in the East Division this week, as they begin a two-game series against the first place Toronto Rock on Friday at the Air Canada Centre.

Rochester (4-2) enters the week just a half game behind the Rock (5-2). The first game of the home-and-home series is on Friday, February 18th at 7:30 p.m. at the Air Canada Centre. The game will be broadcast live on The Zone 94.1 FM and www.thezone941.com. The following night, the match up shifts to Rochester for a 7:35 p.m. game at The Blue Cross Arena.

Head-to-Head: The game Friday is the second of three meetings between the two teams. In the first encounter, the Rock broke a 15-game regular season losing streak in Rochester with a 12-9 win on January 15th. Knighthawk Cody Jamieson recorded his first-career hat trick and tallied three assists. Garrett Billings led the way for Toronto with eight points (2+6), while Blaine Manning tallied a six-point game (2+4). Bob Watson also made 53 saves. Despite the setback, Rochester leads the all-time series with a 19-12 record, which includes a 4-11 mark in Toronto.

Knighthawks Notes: The Knighthawks are riding a two-game winning streak after earning a 12-10 victory over the Minnesota Swarm last Saturday. Shawn Evans and Craig Point both earned hat tricks, while Rochester netminder Matt Vinc made 34 stops in the win. Evans now has 16 points in his last two games (4+12). Shawn Williams also recorded two goals and three assists to move within four helpers of passing John Grant Jr. for first on the team's all-time assist list with 462. Jamieson leads all rookies with 20 points (13+7), while Pat McCready is the top point producer (4+6) among league defensemen.

Road Show: Rochester is 2-0 on the road this season, earning 11-10 overtime wins on January 8th and January 22nd. It marked the first time in team history Rochester has won back-to-back road games in overtime. The 2011 Knighthawks are now one win away from tying the 2005 squad with three OT wins. The 1998 club owns the team record with four overtime games.

Rock Notes: Toronto (5-2) improved to 4-0 at home this season with a 9-8 overtime win over the Calgary Roughnecks last Saturday. Aaron Pascas scored the overtime winner to keep the Rock in first in the East en route to Rookie of the Week honors. Manning (1+4) and Colin Doyle (2+3) led the Rock with five-point nights. Bob Watson earned his league-leading fifth win. He enters the weekend series with the third best goals-against average in the NLL at 9.30. Toronto has two players in the Top 10 in the points in Stephan Leblanc and Blaine Manning. Leblanc is sixth in the NLL with 38 points (17+21), while Manning is seventh with 36 (10+26). Doyle enters the game Friday just two points away from 800 as a member of the Rock.

Next Game: On Saturday, February 19th, Rochester hosts Toronto in a 7:35 p.m. contest at The Blue Cross Arena. The first 5,000 fans will receive a Knighthawks Wall Decal. The game will be broadcast live on The Zone 94.1 FM and www.thezone941.com. Before the game, the Knighthawks will induct former defenseman Mike Hasen and past forward Jeremy Hollenbeck into the team's Hall of Fame as the Class of 2011. The inductees played together in Rochester for six seasons (1999 to 2004) and led Rochester to three NLL Championship game appearances. The two men join Paul Day, Jody Gage, Paul Gait, Randy Mearns, Duane Jacobs and Tim Soudan in the Knighthawks Hall of Fame.

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