Warriors Ready for New York Tilt Against Rochester Knighthawks

The Warriors are in New York for a matchup against the Rochester Knighthawks for Week 4 NLL action. 

The Knighthawks are coming off a bye week and are 2-0 to start the season, meanwhile the Warriors are 1-1, after a 15-7 win against the Georgia Swarm last weekend. 

No lead will be safe against the Knighthawks. Both of their wins this season have been comeback performances. In their first game against the Calgary Roughnecks, they outscored Calgary 5-0 in the third quarter, edging the Roughnecks 14-13 for the game. The spread was never as far against the Saskatchewan Rush, but Rochester proved they’ve got what it takes in tight games with a 16-14 win. 

The Knighthawks had eight different scorers against the Rush. Left-handed forward Connor Fields leads the team with eight goals this season, and had 11 points (4g, 7a) against the Saskatchewan last week. Forwards Thomas McConvey and Ryan Smith had three goals apiece, Ryan Lanchbury had two goals and Kyle Waters, Austin Hasen and defencemen Mitch Ogilvie and Ethan O’Connor all chipped in a goal in the win. 

Of Rochester’s 16 goals last week, four of them came on the power play.  

It will be a great matchup for both teams as the Knighthawks are ranked second for goals-per-game, averaging 15 goals per contest through two, and the Warriors are ranked second for goals-allowed-per-game at just nine. 

Knighthawks’ Head Coach Mike Hasen is one win away from his 100th career victory. Reaching that milestone would make him the sixth coach in NLL history to do so. 

The Warriors’ defence has been strong to start the season and Vancouver is looking to carry the momentum from their game against Georgia to the matchup with Rochester. It was a team effort from Vancouver to hold Swarm forward Lyle Thompson to four points (2-2-4). The Warriors’ defence held the Swarm to 42 shots, with veteran goaltender Aaron Bold stopping 35 of those.  

Offensively, Vancouver had three players finish the game with hat tricks and forward Ryan Martel scored four goals and had four assists. Adam Charalambides, Keegan Bal, and Kevin Crowley each had three goals, James Rahe and Kyle Killen had one goal apiece in the win.  

Warriors’ Defensive Coach Rob Williams says they feel prepared for this weekend by continuing to stick to their process with precision and dedicated work ethic. 

“Curt Malawsky is one of the most prepared people you’ll be around in any walk of life,” Williams said. “There’s no real surprises for the guys coming into a weekend or getting ready for a game.” 

The two teams face off at Blue Cross Arena on Saturday, December 23rd at 4 p.m. PT.