NLL Rochester Knighthawks

Rochester travels to Philadelphia Saturday

March 2, 2007 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Rochester Knighthawks News Release


(Rochester, NY)... The Rochester Knighthawks travel to play the Philadelphia Wings on Saturday, March 3rd at the Wachovia Center. The 7:30 p.m. game will be broadcast on Hot Talk 1280 WHTK and whtk.com. It will be joined in progress during the third quarter. The contest will also be televised tape delayed on Sunday, March 4th at 2:30 p.m. on VERSUS.

Following the game, Hot Talk 1280 WHTK will host a call-in show from 10:00 to 11:00 p.m. The show from the Wachovia Center marks the second straight week the Knighthawks will hold a postgame report. The call-in show will follow the NLL game, which will be joined in progress following the St. Bonaventure men's basketball game.

Knighthawks broadcaster Craig Rybczynski and former "Rip it Up" co-host Dave Cieslinski will take fans' phone calls. The postgame report will also include a locker room interview with Rochester Head Coach Ed Comeau. Out of state fans can listen on-line at whtk.com. Fans can ask their questions by calling (585) 222-1280.

The game this Saturday is the beginning of a three-game road trip for Rochester, which also includes stops in Chicago (March 17th) and New York (March 24th). Rochester is riding a five-game winning streak to move one victory shy of tying the longest winning streak in team history, which was set during the 2001-02 season. The game against Philadelphia is the first of two this season. Rochester leads the all-time series with a record of 14-13. The last game of the two-game set is in Rochester on Saturday, March 31st.

The Knighthawks enter the contest (7-2) in first place in the East Division. Rochester leads the Minnesota Swarm (5-4) by one and a half games. Philadelphia is 4-4 and tied for fourth in the East with the Toronto Rock. The K-Hawks defeated the Arizona Sting 19-16 last Saturday to capture their seventh win in the first nine games. It is only the second time in team history that Rochester has accomplished that feat.

John Grant leads Rochester's offense with a league-best 30 goals and 62 points in eight games. Grant was named the NLL Overall Player of the Week and Offensive Player of the Week after scoring seven goals and dishing out two assists in a 19-16 win over Arizona. Grant has now won the awards twice this season. In Week 5, he also won Overall and Offensive Player of the Week accolades, following his nine-goal, 15-point performance against New York on January 27th. That night, he broke the NLL single-game points record previously shared by three players: Derek Keenan, Gary Gait and Derek Malawsky.

The Knighthawks' Scott Evans is tied for fourth in the league in points with 55 (29+26) and is second in goals. Rochester also has seven players with 20 or more points and leads the NLL with 140 goals. Further, the Knighthawks lead the league in power-play efficiency (64.79) and are second with 15 shorthanded goals. Defenseman Steve Toll and forward John Grant are tied for the league-lead with three shorthanded goals. Toll is also second in the NLL with 107 loose balls.

Philadelphia is coming off a tough 13-12 loss against the Buffalo Bandits on February 24th, losing with just eight seconds left. The Wings have allowed the second least amount of goals in the league this season with 87. Goalie Matt Roik has a 10.16 goals-against average, which is the second best in the NLL. Dan Marohl leads Philadelphia with 35 points (12+23) in eight games. Rookie Geoff Snider is fifth in the league with 77 loose balls. Snider was one of three Wings selected to start for the East in the upcoming NLL All-Star Game. He will be joined by defenseman Tom Hajek and goalie Matt Roik. Snider, who was the MVP of the 2006 World Field Lacrosse Championships, is one of five rookies on the Philadelphia roster.

Next week, the league will invade Portland for the National Lacrosse League All-Star break. John Grant, Shawn Williams, Steve Toll and Scott Evans will represent the Knighthawks during the All-Star Weekend. Williams was recently named one of the alternate captains for the East Division. Head Coach Ed Comeau will serve as the assistant coach for the East. The game is slated for 10:00 p.m. Eastern at Rose Garden.

On Saturday, March 17th, Rochester travels to play the Chicago Shamrox on St. Patrick's Day. The game is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. and will be broadcast live on WYSL 1040-AM and wysl1040.com.

Knighthawks Additional Notes:

- Forward Mike Accursi is only six points away from reaching 500 career points.

- Scott Evans is four goals away from hitting the 100-goal plateau.

- Defenseman Regy Thorpe is two penalty minutes away from passing former Wing Tom Phair for fifth place on the NLL's all-time penalty minute list. Thorpe has 330 PIM.

- Rochester transition player Chris Schiller was a member of the Wings' practice squad when they won their last title in 2001.

- Forward John Grant's father, John Grant Sr., played for the Wings in 1987.

- Grant recorded 17 points (10+7) in three games against Philadelphia last season.

- Last Saturday, the Knighthawks raised over $4,400 for CURE Childhood Cancer Association. The players built bears at Build-A-Bear Workshop and fans bid on the creations in a silent auction at The Blue Cross Arena.

- Rochester rookie Jack Reid will celebrate his 23rd birthday on March 6th.

- The ninth Rochester goal in Saturday night's game will be the 4,000th regular-season goal in Rochester Professional Lacrosse history. The Rochester Griffins (1974) scored 609 goals and the Rochester Rattlers of Major League Lacrosse has netted 1,085 goals. The Knighthawks are the all-time leaders with 2,297 goals of the 3,991 goals scored by Rochester pro lacrosse teams.

Check out the Rochester Knighthawks Statistics



National Lacrosse League Stories from March 2, 2007


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