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Breaking: League Adopts Unified Standings Format & Updated Playoff Structure for 2023-24 Season

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WK
1
Fri, Dec 1
19:00:00
Saskatchewan
Halifax
Fri, Dec 1
22:00:00
Albany
Las Vegas
Fri, Dec 1
22:00:00
Panther City
Vancouver
Sat, Dec 2
19:00:00
Calgary
Rochester
Sat, Dec 2
19:30:00
Philadelphia
New York
WK
2
Sat, Dec 9
19:00:00
Philadelphia
Toronto
Sat, Dec 9
19:00:00
Buffalo
Albany
Sat, Dec 9
19:30:00
Colorado
Georgia
Sat, Dec 9
20:00:00
Rochester
Saskatchewan
Sat, Dec 9
22:00:00
Calgary
San Diego
Sun, Dec 10
16:00:00
Las Vegas
Panther City
WK
3
Fri, Dec 15
22:00:00
Saskatchewan
Las Vegas
Sat, Dec 16
13:00:00
Albany
Philadelphia
Sat, Dec 16
19:30:00
Halifax
New York
Sat, Dec 16
19:30:00
San Diego
Buffalo
Sat, Dec 16
22:00:00
Georgia
Vancouver
WK
4
Fri, Dec 22
20:00:00
Toronto
Panther City
Fri, Dec 22
21:00:00
Georgia
Colorado
Sat, Dec 23
19:00:00
Vancouver
Rochester
WK
5
Fri, Dec 29
18:30:00
Philadelphia
Halifax
Fri, Dec 29
19:30:00
Georgia
Buffalo
Fri, Dec 29
22:00:00
Rochester
San Diego
Sat, Dec 30
16:00:00
New York
Toronto
Sat, Dec 30
21:00:00
Las Vegas
Calgary
Sat, Dec 30
21:00:00
Vancouver
Colorado
Sun, Dec 31
20:00:00
Albany
Saskatchewan
WK
6
Sat, Jan 6
19:00:00
Halifax
Albany
Sat, Jan 6
19:30:00
Panther City
Georgia
Sat, Jan 6
19:30:00
Colorado
Buffalo
Sun, Jan 7
15:00:00
New York
Philadelphia
WK
7
Fri, Jan 12
18:30:00
Toronto
Halifax
Fri, Jan 12
22:00:00
San Diego
Las Vegas
Sat, Jan 13
19:00:00
Buffalo
Rochester
Sat, Jan 13
19:00:00
Saskatchewan
Philadelphia
Sat, Jan 13
19:30:00
Panther City
New York
Sat, Jan 13
19:30:00
Albany
Georgia
Sat, Jan 13
21:00:00
San Diego
Colorado
Sat, Jan 13
22:00:00
Calgary
Vancouver
WK
8
Fri, Jan 19
19:30:00
New York
Buffalo
Sat, Jan 20
19:00:00
Georgia
Toronto
Sat, Jan 20
19:00:00
San Diego
Albany
Sat, Jan 20
20:00:00
Vancouver
Saskatchewan
Sat, Jan 20
21:00:00
Calgary
Colorado
WK
9
Fri, Jan 26
22:00:00
Colorado
Vancouver
Sat, Jan 27
18:00:00
Rochester
Halifax
Sat, Jan 27
19:00:00
Buffalo
Toronto
Sat, Jan 27
19:30:00
Georgia
New York
Sat, Jan 27
19:30:00
San Diego
Philadelphia
Sat, Jan 27
22:00:00
Panther City
Las Vegas
WK
10
Fri, Feb 2
19:00:00
Halifax
Philadelphia
Fri, Feb 2
19:30:00
Vancouver
Georgia
Fri, Feb 2
21:00:00
New York
Calgary
Sat, Feb 3
19:00:00
Las Vegas
Albany
Sat, Feb 3
19:30:00
Rochester
Buffalo
Sat, Feb 3
20:00:00
Panther City
Saskatchewan
Sat, Feb 3
21:00:00
Toronto
Calgary
Sun, Feb 4
18:00:00
Colorado
San Diego
WK
11
Fri, Feb 9
18:30:00
Las Vegas
Halifax
Fri, Feb 9
20:00:00
Colorado
Panther City
Sat, Feb 10
19:00:00
Georgia
Rochester
Sat, Feb 10
19:00:00
Calgary
Toronto
Sat, Feb 10
19:30:00
San Diego
New York
Sat, Feb 10
22:00:00
Saskatchewan
Vancouver
WK
12
Fri, Feb 16
18:30:00
Buffalo
Halifax
Fri, Feb 16
22:00:00
Philadelphia
Las Vegas
Sat, Feb 17
19:00:00
Colorado
Albany
Sun, Feb 18
19:00:00
Halifax
Calgary
WK
13
Fri, Feb 23
21:00:00
New York
Colorado
Fri, Feb 23
22:00:00
Georgia
San Diego
Sat, Feb 24
19:00:00
Las Vegas
Rochester
Sat, Feb 24
19:00:00
Vancouver
Toronto
Sat, Feb 24
19:30:00
Albany
Buffalo
Sat, Feb 24
20:00:00
Halifax
Saskatchewan
Sat, Feb 24
21:00:00
Philadelphia
Calgary
Sun, Feb 25
16:00:00
Georgia
Panther City
WK
14
Fri, Mar 1
19:00:00
Georgia
Halifax
Fri, Mar 1
20:00:00
San Diego
Panther City
Fri, Mar 1
22:00:00
Toronto
Las Vegas
Fri, Mar 1
22:00:00
Buffalo
Vancouver
Sat, Mar 2
13:00:00
Calgary
Philadelphia
Sat, Mar 2
19:00:00
New York
Albany
Sat, Mar 2
21:00:00
Saskatchewan
Colorado
Sat, Mar 2
22:00:00
Toronto
San Diego
Sun, Mar 3
16:00:00
Rochester
Panther City
WK
15
Fri, Mar 8
19:00:00
Vancouver
Albany
Fri, Mar 8
19:30:00
Calgary
Georgia
Fri, Mar 8
19:30:00
Saskatchewan
Buffalo
Sat, Mar 9
17:00:00
Colorado
Toronto
Sat, Mar 9
19:00:00
Albany
Rochester
Sat, Mar 9
19:30:00
Las Vegas
New York
Sat, Mar 9
22:00:00
Halifax
San Diego
Sun, Mar 10
15:00:00
Panther City
Philadelphia
WK
16
Fri, Mar 15
18:30:00
Panther City
Halifax
Fri, Mar 15
21:00:00
San Diego
Calgary
Fri, Mar 15
22:00:00
Las Vegas
Vancouver
Sat, Mar 16
19:00:00
Rochester
Albany
Sat, Mar 16
19:00:00
Toronto
Buffalo
Sat, Mar 16
19:30:00
Philadelphia
Georgia
Sat, Mar 16
20:30:00
New York
Saskatchewan
WK
17
Fri, Mar 22
20:00:00
Buffalo
Panther City
Fri, Mar 22
21:00:00
Albany
Calgary
Sat, Mar 23
19:00:00
Halifax
Toronto
Sat, Mar 23
19:00:00
Vancouver
Philadelphia
Sat, Mar 23
19:30:00
Saskatchewan
New York
Sat, Mar 23
21:00:00
Rochester
Colorado
Sat, Mar 23
22:00:00
Las Vegas
San Diego
Sun, Mar 24
17:30:00
Saskatchewan
Georgia
WK
18
Sat, Mar 30
13:00:00
Buffalo
Philadelphia
Sat, Mar 30
19:00:00
Halifax
Rochester
Sat, Mar 30
19:30:00
Toronto
New York
Sat, Mar 30
22:00:00
Vancouver
Las Vegas
WK
19
Fri, Apr 5
21:00:00
Saskatchewan
Calgary
Fri, Apr 5
21:00:00
Buffalo
Colorado
Fri, Apr 5
22:00:00
Panther City
San Diego
Fri, Apr 5
22:00:00
Halifax
Vancouver
Sat, Apr 6
19:00:00
New York
Rochester
Sat, Apr 6
19:00:00
Toronto
Albany
Sat, Apr 6
19:30:00
Las Vegas
Georgia
Sat, Apr 6
20:00:00
Calgary
Saskatchewan
Sun, Apr 7
16:00:00
Philadelphia
Panther City
WK
20
Fri, Apr 12
21:00:00
Philadelphia
Colorado
Sat, Apr 13
19:00:00
Rochester
Toronto
Sat, Apr 13
19:30:00
Calgary
Buffalo
Sat, Apr 13
20:00:00
San Diego
Saskatchewan
Sat, Apr 13
22:00:00
Colorado
Las Vegas
Sat, Apr 13
22:00:00
New York
Vancouver
Sun, Apr 14
16:00:00
Albany
Panther City
WK
21
Fri, Apr 19
19:30:00
Rochester
Georgia
Fri, Apr 19
22:00:00
Vancouver
San Diego
Sat, Apr 20
18:00:00
Colorado
Halifax
Sat, Apr 20
19:30:00
Albany
New York
Sat, Apr 20
20:00:00
Toronto
Saskatchewan
Sat, Apr 20
21:00:00
Panther City
Calgary
Sat, Apr 20
22:00:00
Buffalo
Las Vegas
Sun, Apr 21
15:00:00
Philadelphia
Rochester
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Defense First: Knighthawks Edge Rock For First Win, 8-6

The Rochester Knighthawks (1-2) earned the team’s first win of 2015 and handed its East Division rival Toronto Rock (3-1) its first loss with an 8-6 defensive battle victory at Blue Cross Arena on Saturday night. It was the second meeting between the two teams in the young NLL season, as the Rock took Week 1 opener by a score of 13-12 at the BCA.

The night was a milestone night for Knighthawks forward Dan Dawson as the matchup was the league’s active ironman’s 200th consecutive game played.

“I’ve been blessed to play in this league for a long time,” Dawson said. “It’s a testament to the training staff that I’ve surrounded myself with, the strength and conditioning coaches that keep me game ready. I’m very lucky to play the game I love for such a long time. Tonight, it’s nice to say you’ve played in 200 games, but more importantly we got the win, and that’s all I really care about.”

“It’s a credit to Dan’s career so far,” said Knighthawks head coach Mike Hasen. “I’m sure he’s going to be having a few more of these games.”

The Rock opened the scoring 55 seconds into the game, perhaps giving the impression that it would be a high-scoring affair. That was not to be, though. It was a defensive struggle throughout. The game was tied at 2-2 at halftime, the lowest score at the half in the last 159 NLL games.

“It was nice to get that monkey off our back,” Hasen said. “It was a good team win… Both units and both goalies played exceptionally well. It was a gutsy, gutsy game. I think a lot of credit goes to the referees tonight. They did let us play. If we can play like that and have that kind of game on that side of things, it’s going to be a good game and it’s going to be an entertaining game. We just stuck within ourselves. They knew where the line was tonight and they didn’t quite cross it as many times as we have in the past.”

“These are two really defensive-minded teams,” Dawson said. “A lot of big bodies out there. Guys are in the lanes knocking down passes. You’ve got two tremendous goalies in Brandon Miller and Matt Vinc. It just goes to show sometimes you’re scoring high, but you’ve got to squeeze these out. You wish you could dictate, you want to put up 16 a night, but sometimes you can’t. You’ve got to gut it out and put up eight… It was a total defensive win tonight.”

“Like Dan said, it’d be nice to put up 16 goals, but we know that’s not going to happen in this league,” said Knighthawks forward Cory Vitarelli who scored twice. “Tonight, eight goals is what it took to win and we’ll take it… That’s our team, we’ve always been able to count on our defense to step up, and tonight Matt Vinc was solid back there. Our defense, you could see it compared to the first two games, playing a lot harder, stronger, blocking shots in the lanes. It was just a good game all around for us tonight.”

It was especially a struggle for the Rock, having played Friday night against the Buffalo Bandits and then turn around to come to Rochester the next night.

“Brandon Miller gave us great goaltending, gave us a chance to win,” said Rock head coach John Lovell. “We knew we just had to find some way to stay in this game as long as we could. As cliche as it may be, we took this game a shift at a time and looked at every shift as being an investment in what we had to do here to get to the end. So we stayed in the game for a long time and it just got away from us in two or three minutes there… It was a tough battle. I’d like to make excuses that we played last night, but I don’t think that was an issue. We played hard for 60 minutes and give ourselves a chance. Just couldn’t get it done… Our offense wasn’t as good as it has been, but that’s what happens when you play back-to-back games.”

One of the lone bright spot’s for the Rock offense was Kevin Ross with four points (2+2).

“He’s a good-sized guy who shoots the ball,” Lovell said. “He’s been around, he’s played in the league for a while. He got a big goal for us last night, got some key ones for us tonight.”

“That was a heck of a battle back and forth,” Ross said. “We took looks we could get, Vno made a lot of big saves. I just tried to get inside them. It was a tough game, it was definitely a tough battle. We need to take advantage of our opportunities and more often than not, Vno was there tonight.”

For the Knighthawks, Joel Matthews was activated and he made his mark on the game with two points (1+1) and physical play.

“It was big for us,” Hasen said. “He’s doing a lot of the inside work, a lot of the dirty work. He’s creating space for our righties, Dawson and (Craig Point) there. We know when he gets the ball on his stick and he has an opportunity, he’s going to bury it. It was good to see.”

“Feels great,” Matthews said. “Last year, I only got in two games, I was injured, and the two games were against Rochester. It was a little weird coming and playing for the other side, but it was awesome. All the guys have welcomed me with open arms. Great team camaraderie. It’s really easy to transition into your role when you’ve got guys being really positve and backing you up. The crowd was amazing. Just all those things make it easier to feel comfortable to do your job. That’s all I was trying to do all night was just do my job and do what the coaches asked me to do.

“Anytime you can contribute, it’s big. It makes it a lot easier when you’ve got guys like Cody Jamieson and Dawson and all these amazing players to get you open and to help you out. That’s basically it, the rest is easy. Once those guys do all the work for you, you’ve just got to put it in the net. I got my opportunity tonight and I had to make the most of it. I think I did.”

Three Stars of the Game as selected by the media:

1) Matt Vinc
2) Brandon Miller
3) Joel Matthews

By Jeremy Pike (@KnighthawksBeat) for NLL.com. Photo by Larry Palumbo.

NLL