NLL.com - The Official Home of the National Lacrosse League

KNIGHTHAWKS DEPTH TOO MUCH FOR SWARM

Rochester tops Minnesota in preseason action, 14-10

12/01/2008

The offseason was both good and bad for the Rochester Knighthawks. Good in the sense that they acquired arguably the greatest player to ever play the game in Gary Gait and bad in the sense that they lost John Grant Jr., who will miss the entire season due to injury.

At the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena on Sunday afternoon, the Knighthawks defeated the Minnesota Swarm by a score of 14-10 in both teams first preseason action.

"We were happy with the start," said Knighthawks defenceman and general manager Regy Thorpe. "We played everyone. We played our young guys and guys that are on the bubble and we were able to work four goalies in."

The Knighthawks led 3-2 after the first quarter and 9-7 at halftime. In the third quarter, both teams scored twice and in the fourth quarter, the Knighthawks added three goals and the Swarm only scored once.

"I was pretty pleased. It looked like Rochester used like about 40 guys and we only had 20 available for us and not many of our starters," said Swarm head coach Duane Jacobs. "We didn't look out of place for the most part and it's unfortunate that we have to start making some tough decisions."

Shawn Evans and Jason Henhawk had two goals each to lead the Knighthawks.

Pat O'Toole, Phil Wetherup, Ben VanEvery, and Grant Crawley all played a quarter each for the Knighthawks. Josh Agar started in net for the Swarm and played a quarter before making way for Angus Goodleaf, who played the rest of the game.

"Angus has looked great. He didn't really have a good summer but he has come in and he's stopped a lot of balls in intrasquad (games)," said Jacobs. "We have two goaltenders back but obviously, we need a third goaltender and he has a good chance,"

The Knighthawks made a lot of changes in the offseason after a disappointing 2008 campaign where they failed to make the playoffs.

"We're losing John Grant Jr. so we had to get some veterans and some young guys," Thorpe said. "Everything's coming together a little bit but we have some tough decisions to make."

The Swarm, who were tied for the best record in the league last year will look improve on that mark and will have to do so in another division this year.

"We're definitely among the top teams in the league," Jacobs said.

Thorpe liked what he saw from watching the Bandits, who played before his team.

"They look like the team to beat again," he said. "We're looking forward to the challenge.

--reporting by Scott Hill of The Turtle Island News, North America's Weekly #1 Native Newspaper