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NLL Rochester Knighthawks

Knighthawks News & Notes

April 22, 2013 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Rochester Knighthawks News Release


The Rochester Knighthawks finished the 2013 regular season on high note with a one-goal victory over the Buffalo Bandits on Saturday, clinching a postseason berth in front of 19,070, the largest crowd to ever attend a National Lacrosse League regular season game.

It is hard not to notice the similarities between the 2012 and 2013 seasons as the Rochester Knighthawks prepare for their East Divisional Semifinal matchup against the Philadelphia Wings on Saturday, April 27th at The Blue Cross Arena.

The Knighthawks began the first quarter of the season with a 1-3 record in both 2012 and 2013. Despite a rough start, they began to play their best lacrosse at the end of the regular season.

Last season, Rochester won two of its last three games to earn the second seed in the East. In 2013, they did the same. The Knighthawks also hosted Philadelphia in the first round of the 2012 postseason, winning 14-13 en route to the Champion's Cup.

Rochester's highest-scoring game of 2012 was its 22-12 victory over the Wings. A year later, the Knighthawks once again dropped 20 on Philadelphia in their most impressive win when they doubled up the Wings 20-10 on February 8th.

"You can't (look back at last season)," said Rochester Head Coach Mike Hasen. "It's this league in a nutshell. It's getting hot at the right team and any team could do it. We're just looking for the next win now."

For the second consecutive season, Cody Jamieson led the team in points. He set a career-high with 89 points and 61 assists. He ranked fourth in the league in assists and led the Knighthawks with 28 goals.

One of the biggest differences on the offense, both literally and figuratively, was the 6-5 forward Dan Dawson. Dawson finished second on the team with 75 points. Twice he led the Knighthawks to victory with a season-high 11 points, first against his former team on February 8th and again in Calgary on April 13th. With 946 career points, Dawson now ranks seventh all-time in career points.

As a former All-Pro defender, Hasen tightened up the backend. Rochester led the NLL with a 10.31 goals-against average, two goals fewer per game than last season. The most goals the Knighthawks allowed in a game was 14, which is the fewest among the nine teams in the league.

Individually, Matt Vinc had a banner year between the pipes. His 10.17 goals-against average was his lowest since the 2010 and 2011 seasons when he was named the NLL Goaltender of the Year, and two goals per game lower than last season.

In the first half against Buffalo on April 20th, "Vno" broke the league's record for saves in a single season, setting the new mark at 662. He also raised his save percentage to .803, becoming the first Knighthawk netminder to make over 600 saves and have a .800 save percentage in a season.

The Knighthawk also improved their man-down defense by a large margin as well. They finished second in the league, killing 57.9 percent of their penalties, up from 45.7 percent in 2012.

The Knighthawks return home after a four-game road trip to host the Philadelphia Wings in the first round of the NLL playoffs on Saturday, April 27th at 5:00 p.m. It will mark the third time in past four weeks that the Knighthawks have been featured on the CBS Sports Network (DirecTV channel 613, Dish Network channel 158, Time Warner Cable channels 232 and 1027 in Rochester). The game can also be heard on Sportsradio 950 ESPN and on www.sportsradio950espn.com .

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