TONIGHT’S GAME OVERVIEW
The Rochester Knighthawks begin their quest for their first National Lacrosse League championship in expansion-era history tonight when they venture out to Western Canada to battle the fourth-place Vancouver Warriors in the opening round of the 2025 NLL Playoffs, presented by Nissan, at Rogers Arena. The winner-take-all showdown gets underway at 10:00 p.m. ET and will be carried live on ESPN+, TSN+ and NLL+. The Quarterfinal matchup can also be heard locally on Big 107.3 FM. Should the Knighthawks prevail, they will move on to meet the winner of the Buffalo Bandits and San Diego Seals in the best-of-three Semifinal round which begins next weekend.
CLOSING THE SEASON
The Knighthawks are heading to the NLL Playoffs for the third straight year, having clinched by way of their 12-6 home win over Ottawa earlier this month. Rochester, which closed out the regular season having won nine of its final 13 games, including six straight entering the final week of the season, finished the year ranked fifth in the NLL’s unified standings. The Knighthawks nearly made it a franchise-best sevens in a row to conclude the campaign, but ultimately fell a goal short in what turned out to be an 11-10 loss to the Toronto Rock in last Saturday’s regular season finale at Segar & Sciortino Field at The Blue Cross Arena. Ryan Lanchbury was one of several goal-scorers and led the way with six points (1+5), while Connor Fields (2+2), Ryan Smith (2+2), Thomas McConvey (2+0), Graydon Hogg (1+0), Chad Tutton (1+0), and Matt Gilray (1+0) factored in on the scoring. Rylan Hartley played his ninth game of the season, making 41 saves in what was only his second loss of the season. The Knighthawks, who reached the 10-win mark for the second time in three years, haven’t advanced beyond the Quarterfinals in each of the last two years, dropping first-round matchups to Buffalo in 2023 and Toronto in 2024. It’s also the third straight year in which the Knighthawks open the postseason on the road. A win tonight would be Rochester’s first in postseason franchise history.
KNIGHTHAWKS DRAW WARRIORS TO OPEN POSTSEASON
The opening round matchup against the Warriors marks the first-ever meeting in the NLL Playoffs between Vancouver and the expansion-era Knighthawks. It’s also their first get-together since Week 3 when the Warriors topped Rochester by a 10-7 score in the previous meeting of the season between the two teams back on Dec. 13 in Vancouver. Both teams took similar paths to reach the postseason, relying on 100-point seasons from two of the top scoring forwards in Rochester’s Connor Fields and Vancouver’s Keegan Bal, who finished fourth and sixth among all point-getters, respectively, while also getting support on the back-end from arguably two of the best goaltenders in the game in Rylan Hartley and newcomer Christian Del Bianco. Both teams also hit their stride in the second half of the season, with the Knighthawks carrying a six-game win streak into the final day of the season and the Warriors winning six straight of their own to secure a playoff berth for the first time since 2017 when they were still operating as the Vancouver Stealth. The second-half surge for both teams can certainly be attributed to the significant boost in goaltending with the long-awaited return of Hartley for the Knighthawks and the unexpected, yet valuable midseason addition of Del Bianco for the Warriors. Since making his season debut back on Feb. 1, Hartley backstopped Rochester to a 7-2 record over its final nine games, including a six-game win streak from Feb. 22 and Apr. 5 which matched a franchise record. Hartley, despite the entire first half of the season, finished sixth among all NLL goaltenders with a 10.79 goals-against average while making 294 saves on 380 shots faced over 478 minutes played. Del Bianco, meanwhile, provided the spark that the Warriors needed to lock up their first postseason appearance in six years. Since his arrival to Vancouver ahead of Week 17, the 2023 NLL MVP and Goaltender of the Year has been perfect in his brief tenure as a Warrior, leading the team to six straight victories, including a 13-12 win over the two-time defending NLL champions in Week 18. Del Bianco, who’s just the second goaltender to earn NLL MVP honors behind only Steve Dietrich, a former Knighthawk in the previous organization, closed out the season with 238 saves while leading the NLL with a 8.76 goals-against average and a .821 save percentage. He hasn’t fared well in his career against Rochester, however, going winless with a 14.00 goals-against average and a .744 save percentage in three appearances opposite the Knighthawks.
FIELDS FOR MVP?
It was another prolific season on the floor for Rochester’s Connor Fields, who continues to make a strong push to be named this year’s Most Valuable Player. Fields this season joined elite company, becoming the NLL’s first American-born player – and just the second overall behind Buffalo’s Dhane Smith – to post three consecutive 100-point seasons in the 18-8 win at Ottawa on March 15. Just two weeks later, he added yet another impressive milestone in the 14-13 win over San Diego when he became just the fourth player ever to record at least three 110-point seasons, a feat previously achieved by only Mark Matthews, Shawn Evans and Smith. Fields, who totaled 38 points over his last five games, finished tied for third in scoring with 122 points while ranking fifth in goals (46) and sixth in assists (76). A two-time Second Team All-Pro selection, Fields also closed out the season seventh all-time in scoring amongst American players and his 470 career points are third-most among active American-born players, trailing only Toronto’s Tom Schreiber (592) and Philadelphia’s Joe Resetarits (870), a former Knighthawk in the previous organization. Fields, who averaged nearly seven points per game this season, led all forwards with 148 loose ball recoveries and finished with the most shots in the NLL (252) for the second straight year. He also set new single-season franchise records for power-play assists (22) and power-play points (27).
SHOOTING GALLERY
The Knighthawks, who closed out the 2023-24 regular season leading the NLL in shots per game with 81.44 and were the only team that averaged more than 80 per contest, were again at the top of the league in terms of shooting efficiency in 2024-25. Entering the final week of the regular season, Rochester was the only team averaging more than 80 shots per game on its way to finishing second behind only Halifax in shots for (1,455) and shots per page, (80.83). Fields averaged exactly 14 shots per game this season, falling short of matching his league record of 267 which he set the year prior. Fields was one of only four players this season with more than 200 shots and had 22 more than the next closest player in Ottawa’s Jeff Teat. With the addition of Ryan Smith (176), Ryan Lanchbury (149) and Thomas McConvey (144), the Knighthawks collectively were one of only six NLL teams to have four different players with more than 100 shots.
LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON
Perhaps the biggest storyline surrounding Rochester’s second-ever trip to Vancouver is the reunion of the O’Toole family. Warriors goaltender Connor O’Toole, one of four first-round picks (18th overall) selected by Vancouver in the 2023 NLL Entry Draft, is the son of Knighthawks assistant coach and NLL Hall of Fame goaltender Pat O’Toole. Connor was also the first goaltender to be selected in that year’s draft. It should come as no surprise that Connor followed in his father’s footsteps, taking up the same position and wearing the same jersey number as his father who spent years cementing his legacy as arguably one of the greatest goaltenders all-time to ever play the game. The older O’Toole, who in his fifth season as an assistant coach with the expansion-era Knighthawks, enjoyed a 16-year playing career, the final 12 of which were spent in Rochester with the original Knighthawks. O’Toole, who finished as the franchise’s all-time leader in wins (102) and saves (5,756), is a five-time NLL champion, winning two as a player with Buffalo (1996) and Rochester (2007) before helping the Knighthawks to an unprecedented three straight NLL championships as an assistant coach from 2012-14. A two-time All-Pro selection, O’Toole was named the NLL’s Goaltender of the Year in 2003 and was the lone inductee into the NLL’s Hall of Fame in 2013. Connor, meanwhile, is in his second season with the Warriors after playing his junior lacrosse with the Orangeville Northmen. Widely viewed as one of the top goalies in Canadian junior lacrosse, the younger O’Toole was named a 2024 OJLL Second-Team All-Star and was a finalist for the Sanderson Memorial Award, presented to the most outstanding goaltender in the OJLL.
