Knighthawks Drop Season Finale To New England In Final Game

The Knighthawks dropped their final game of the season to the New England Black Wolves. The Knighthawks are also officially eliminated from the playoffs with New England claiming the fourth and final playoff spot in the East Division.

After an award ceremony to honor the Knighthawks players and crew, there was a lacrosse game to be played. The first quarter did not treat the Knighthawks kindly in which they came out very sluggish and slow. The Black Wolves scored four first quarter goals and the Knighthawks did not score a single goal.

Holding a 4-0 lead going into the second quarter, the Black Wolves scored two quick goals to balloon their lead to 6-0. Chris Boushy was able to get the Knighthawks on the board with assists coming from Colton Armstrong and Brad Gillies. However, the Black Wolves would add two more goals to give New England an 8-1 lead at half.

The Knighthawks came out swinging at the beginning of the third quarter. The Knighthawks got two quick goals from Kyle Jackson and Jake Withers to cut New England’s lead down to five goals. The lead would be cut to four when Austin Shanks scored his 22nd goal of the season. New England would go onto score three unanswered goals before Ryan Benesch scored for the Knighthawks to make the score 11-5.

After a goal by New England to make it 12-5, both Benesch and Boushy scored their second goals of the game to make the score 12-7 going into the 4th Quarter. Rochester outscored the Black Wolves 6-4 in the 3rd quarter.

After a quick goal by the Black Wolves, the Knighthawks were on the comeback trail.
Cody Jamieson scored his 30th goal of the season to cut the lead back to five. Ryan Benesch would score his third goal of the game to give himself a hat trick. Brad Gillies would then score and cut the lead down to three, however, New England would score to get their lead to 14-10. Rochester then had another quick answer, this time from Ryan Benesch for his fourth goal of the game to make it 14-11.

Austin Shanks would cut the lead down to 14-12. However, the comeback would come up just short and the Knighthawks would go on to lose by the score of 14-12.

The Knighthawks finished the season with a record of 6-12 while the Black Wolves head into the playoffs at a record of 9-9.

Next up for the Knighthawks will be its relocation to the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, to form the Halifax Thunderbirds for the 2019-2020 season. Terry & Kim Pegula bought out the Knighthawks history and intellectual property and the City of Rochester was also approved for a new expansion team for the 2019-2020 season.

In 25 seasons, the Knighthawks have made the playoffs 20 times, have won 10 Eastern Division Titles, and recorded 5 NLL Championships to their storied history. These stats alone show how the Rochester Knighthawks are one of the most successful organizations in NLL History.

Three Stars of the Night:

1. Callum Crawford (New England)
2. Ryan Benesch (Rochester)
3. Doug Jamieson (New England)