Sting at Knighthawks game preview
Published on February 9, 2006 under National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Arizona Sting News Release
The Arizona Sting will be looking to improve to 4-1 on the season this weekend as they travel to northern New York to take on the first ranked team in the East, the Rochester Knighthawks. The Sting are coming off a tough overtime loss to the Colorado Mammoth last weekend, a game in which third-year forward Craig Conn scored a career-best eight goals. For his efforts, the third-year pro from St. Catharine's, Ontario was named the National Lacrosse League's Offensive and Overall Player of the Week for Week #6 of the season.
Conn currently ranks second in the NLL with 16 goals. Rochester's John Grant leads the league in this category, currently possessing 19 tallies on the season. Sting Head Coach/General Manager Bob Hamley recognizes the talent of Grant and the rest of Rochester's offense and will prepare heavily for this weekend's showdown.
"John is probably the best pure goal scorer in this league right now," said Hamley. "We know it will be a challenge to try and shut him down, but or defense will definitely be well prepared for him. Rochester plays really well at home, so we'll have to be sharp early against them. In addition to Grant, they've got guys like (Shawn) Williams and the Evans brothers (Scott and Shawn), so this game will be a big challenge for our defense against a pretty dynamic Rochester offense. This is a big test for our team."
Hamley's counterpart, Rochester Head Coach Ed Comeau, sees the Sting as being a formidable adversary. "We know we'll be in for a battle against Arizona," said Comeau. "They have a really strong team that knows how to win, so we'll have to try and counter their energy as best we can and try and shut down their top guns."
This will be Arizona's second road game of the season. The Sting defeated the Toronto Rock at the Air Canada Centre on January 7 in overtime by a score of 14-13.
The Sting/Knighthawks game can be seen live by logging on to the B2 network vis-Ã -vis
www.arizonasting.com or www.nll.com
The match-up:
Arizona (3-1) at Rochester (4-1) - Saturday, February 11 @ 7:35 PM EST
Location: Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial.
TOP SCORERS: Arizona - Craig Conn (4GP-16G-7A-23P); Jonas Derks (4GP-11G-12A-23P); Jason Crosbie (4GP-7G-14A-21P); Dan Dawson (4GP-5G-16A-21P); Pat Maddalena (4GP-6G-7A-13P)
Rochester - John Grant (5GP-19G-13A-32P); Shawn Williams (5GP-9G-18A-27P); Mike Accursi (5GP-10G-12A-22P); Scott Evans (5GP-5G-15A-20P); Steve Toll (5GP-3G-8A-11P)
ARIZONA/COLUMBUS ALL-TIME AGAINST ROCHESTER:
Record: 2-5
Goals For: 66
Goals Against: 91
THE LAST TIME THESE TEAMS PLAYED:
The Sting beat the Knighthawks 9-8 in overtime in Rochester on January 15, 2005. Dan Dawson scored the game-winning goal 32 seconds into overtime after Pat Maddalena tied the match late in the fourth quarter. Arizona out-shot Rochester 51-49 in the game; Mike Miron made 41 saves to earn the victory.
National Lacrosse League Stories from February 9, 2006
- Jax head East to face Buffalo Bandits - Portland Lumberjax
- Defending Champs Will Need Best Game to Keep 2-Game Winning Streak - Toronto Rock
- Knighthawks Sign Defenseman Bill Greer - Rochester Knighthawks
- Rush ready to rope in a win on Rush Rodeo Night - Edmonton Rush
- 2005 NLL champions come to do battle at Rexall Place - Edmonton Rush
- Sting at Knighthawks game preview - Arizona Sting
- Swarm's Guns-N-Hoses Night - Minnesota Swarm
- KSTC.TV To Rebroadcast All-Star Game - Minnesota Swarm
- Swarm "Inside Scoop" To Air For Second Season - Minnesota Swarm
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