Knighthawks Suppress Blazers

Rochester Knighthawks goalie Pat OToole and forward John Grant Jr. both reached milestones Saturday afternoon in an 11-9 win over the Boston Blazers. For OToole it was win No. 100 as a Knighthawk and for Grant it was goal 411 to pass Paul Gait for third place on the National Lacrosse Leagues goal-scoring list. With the win, Rochester improves to 4-3 overall, and 3-0 at home, while Boston falls to 3-4 on the season. Grant (3+3), Cory Bomberry (1+5) and Shawn Williams (2+4) all had six points on the night for Rochester, while Craig Point scored four goals in the victory. Rochester netminder Pat O’Toole also made 41 saves in front of 6,066 fans to become the first K-Hawk goal to reach the century mark. O’Toole also moved 100 saves away from passing Dallas Eliuk as the NLL’s all-time saves leader (6,356). “It was nice to get any win,” said O’Toole. “Getting the 100th was good, but it was just nice to get back on track.” The game was played in memory of Knighthawks fan Jack Tuite. The 20 year-old passed away the day after the season opener because of various illnesses. Jacks family took part in a pregame ceremony where the Tuites received an autographed John Grant, Jr. photo and jersey--the player who was Jacks hero. His older brother, Brendan, dropped the ball for the ceremonial opening faceoff. Boston was handed its first loss in four games. Goalie Anthony Cosmo made 42 saves and allowed double-digit goals for the first time in five games. The Blazers were led by three-point efforts from Sean Morris (3+0), Jamie Rooney (2+1), Matt Lyons (2+1), Nick Cotter (1+2) and Dan Dawson (0+3). The Knighthawks were first to attack at 9:36 of the first quarter to take a 1-0 lead. Point scored the goal with assists from Gary Gait and Grant on the power play. The only other goal in the quarter was by Grant, scoring his 16th goal of the season. Boston was able to cut the Rochester lead in half when Morris beat O’Toole on the power play. Dan Dawson earned the assist on the play. The two teams then exchanged goals over a 30 second span, with Rochester scoring the first to make the score 3-1. Bomberry netted the goal off of passes from Gait and Chris Driscoll. The Blazers answered with a goal from former Knighthawk Jamie Rooney near the 10 minute mark making the score 3-2. Morris later added a shorthanded goal with assists from Rooney and Dawson with roughly two minutes left tying the game 3-3. Boston took a 4-3 lead when another former Knighthawk, Lyons, received the ball from Cotter to give the Blazers a lead at half. Morris earned the hat trick early in the third when he beat O’Toole to give the Blazers a 5-3 lead. Rochester took the lead after three unanswered goals, the first on another from Point, which was assisted by Bomberry and Williams. The home team later tied the game at 5-5 when Williams trickled a shot past Boston goaltender Anthony Cosmo. Grant gave Rochester the lead when he netted a power play goal at 12:03. Williams and Kyle Laverty earned assists on the extra-man tally. With the goal, Grant moved to third place in Knighthawks scoring history, passing current head coach Paul Gait. In the fourth, Gait increased the Rochester lead to 7-5 with a behind-the-back goal of a pass from Grant. Boston ended the Rochester run when Cotter scored off a feed from Penn Yan native Brett Queener. The game knotted-up again after Lyons added Boston’s seventh goal at 4:03 to make the score 7-7. Point added his third of the night to give Rochester a one-goal lead, coming from Bomberry for his fifth assist of the night. After Boston’s Kyle Ross tied the game again, Williams tallied his second goal at 9:10 of the final quarter. Point added his fourth goal to give the Knighthawks a two-goal lead with five minutes remaining. Assists on the goal went to Grant and Gait. Boston was able to come within one goal after Rooney scored at 14:09, however Grant sealed the Rochester win with an empty-net goal with 35 seconds remaining. The Rochester Knighthawks head to Philadelphia to take on the Philly Wings next Saturday at 7:00 p.m. The Knighthawks’ next home game is on Saturday, February 27th.