TONIGHT’S GAME OVERVIEW
The Rochester Knighthawks (1-1) look to get back into the win column tonight as they make their inaugural trip out to Western Canada to take on the Vancouver Warriors (0-1) for the only time this season at Rogers Arena. Game time is slated for a 10:00 p.m. ET start and will be carried live on Big 107.3 FM as well as ESPN+. The matchup will also be available to viewers on NLL+, a free direct-to-consumer streaming platform which provides instant global access to all 126 live regular-season games and every playoff matchup as well as increased access to highlights, full game replays and exclusive league content during the season. The service is designed to enhance fan access and engagement with box lacrosse as the league continues to expand its global reach.
HOW THE TEAMS MATCH UP
Tonight marks just the third meeting all-time between the unfamiliar foes and the first-ever in Vancouver. The two teams split the first two matchups in Rochester with the Knighthawks coming away with a 13-11 win in the most recent get-together nearly a year ago on Dec 23 of last season in what was a milestone victory for Knighthawks head coach Mike Hasen, who became just the sixth head coach in NLL history to reach 100 career wins. The win occurred nearly 13 years following Hasen’s first as head coach of the original Knighthawks franchise on Jan. 8, 2011, an 11-10 overtime win over Minnesota. Both teams are coming off losses in their previous matchups in which they were held to just seven goals, with the Warriors dropping an 11-7 decision to the Colorado Mammoth during opening weekend and Rochester falling to the two-time defending NLL champion Buffalo Bandits this past Saturday. Looking back to last season, both teams finished with 8-10 records, resulting in a five-team logjam for the eighth and final playoff spot. Despite a strong push by the Warriors, which saw the team win six of its final eight games, it was the Knighthawks, defying all odds, who edged out Vancouver along with the rest of the competition to claim the final playoff spot
LAST TIME OUT
The Knighthawks hung in with the Buffalo Bandits for three full quarters, even taking a one-goal lead midway through the third, but a dominant effort by the defending champs in the final frame was the dagger in a 15-7 loss Saturday at Segar & Sciortino Field at The Blue Cross Arena. With the Knighthawks trailing 7-6 after three quarters, the Bandits pulled away in the fourth, going on an 8-1 run to deny Rochester its second straight win to begin the season. Ryan Lanchbury produced a team-best four points (2+2) while former Bandit Connor Fields recorded a multi-goal (2+0) effort along with a game-high 16 shots for Rochester. Turner Evans and Thomas McConvey both notched a goal and two assists. Ryland Rees (1+0), Curtis Knight (0+1), Chad Tutton (0+1), Matt Gilray (0+1), Josh Medeiros (0+1), and Ryan Smith (0+1) all logged one point each to complete the scoring. Goaltender Riley Hutchcraft appeared in his second contest, stopping 46 of the 61 shots he faced. Hutchcraft made double digits in saves in each of the first three quarters before stopping nine shots in the final frame, upping his season total to 96 through his first two games of the young season. Netminder Kevin Orleman made his season debut, but did not face a shot in 58 seconds of action. The game also featured the debut of defenseman Brandon Slade after being a healthy scratch in Week 1.
THE FIELDS FACTOR
Despite being held to just two goals in last week’s 15-7 loss to Buffalo, Connor Fields enters Week 3 of the 2024-25 season among the NLL’s top five point-getters with a team-high 12 points on five goals and seven assists. He’s now scored two goals or more in 33 of his 37 career games as a Knighthawk dating back to the start of the 2022-23 season. Fields, who’s coming off back-to-back 100-point seasons, temporarily led the league in scoring following his 10-point performance in Rochester’s season-opening win over Las Vegas. A two-time Second Team All-Pro selection, Fields picked up right where he left from last season, erupting for three goals and seven assists, marking the forward’s fourth game with 10 points or more over his last 19 games dating back to last season. Fields also leads the league with 33 shots on goal and continues to pace all NLL forwards with 26 loose ball recoveries.
COMING IN HUTCH
Knighthawks goaltender Riley Hutchcraft has emerged as the NLL’s early leader in saves through his first two games of the season. The veteran netminder has stopped 95 of the 120 shots he’s faced, good for a .791 save percentage that ranks ninth in the NLL. Hutchcraft, who’s one of only two goaltenders with more than 90 saves this season, also ranks eighth with a 12.61 goals-against average. Dating back to last season, Hutchcraft has made 40-plus saves in his eight of his last 17 starts, including three straight to open the second half of the 2023-24 season. He also has two games of 50 or more saves over that same span, including in Week 1 of this season as well as 52-save performance in the 18-12 win over Albany back on March 9, which remains a career-high for the seventh-year netminder.
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, have outshot the opposition in 15 of their last 20 games going back to last season, including all but two on the road. The Knighthawks have also topped the 70-shot mark twice over that span, the most recent of which came in the season-opening win over Las Vegas back on Nov. 30 when they came within a shot of matching their single-game franchise record of 73. Individually, Knighthawks forward Connor Fields, who averaged nearly 15 shots per game last season on his way to establishing a new league record (267), is already on pace to duplicate the effort with an NLL-best 33 shots on goal through his first two games game of the season.
HASEN ON THE MOVE
Leading the Knighthawks into their fifth season of the expansion-era is an all-too-familiar face in head coach Mike Hasen. Last season, Hasen became just the sixth head coach in NLL history to reach 100 career wins, doing so by way of a 13-11 win over Vancouver on Dec. 23. The year prior, Hasen, a 2023 Coach of the Year candidate, coached his 200th regular-season game in Las Vegas, a feat only five others in league history have accomplished before him. He became just the sixth head coach – and third that season behind Georgia’s Ed Comeau and Calgary’s Troy Cordingley – to have coached 200 National Lacrosse League games. Hasen also owns the distinction of being the only member of the prestigious group, which also includes Paul Day, Darris Kilgour and Derek Keenan, to reach the mark having spent his entire career in the same city. One of the most decorated coaches in league history, Hasen is certainly no stranger to Rochester, having previously served as head coach of the former Knighthawks franchise from 2011 to 2019. In nine seasons behind the bench with the original Knighthawks, Hasen guided Rochester to an 81-75 regular season record while leading the team to six playoff appearances. The Knighthawks also finished among the top two teams in the East Division six different times under Hasen, including each of the first five seasons (2011-2015). Hasen’s most successful run at the helm of the Knighthawks came from 2012-14 when he made National Lacrosse League history by leading Rochester to an unprecedented three straight Champion’s Cups. He remains the only NLL bench boss to accomplish the feat. Hasen, who was named the NLL’s Coach of the Year in 2011 following his first season behind the bench, boasts a 25-43 record with the expansion-era Knighthawks, whom he’s led to back-to-back playoff appearances, as well as a 106-118 record all-time over his 14 combined seasons in Rochester. Hasen currently ranks fourth all-time in league history in games coached (224) and sixth in career coaching wins (106). He needs just two more wins to surpass Troy Cordingley for fifth all-time.
LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON
Perhaps the biggest storyline surrounding Rochester’s first-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 was 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, enters 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.