As the Rochester Knighthawks couldn’t secure the win against the New York Riptide this past Saturday at Segar & Sciotino field, Rochester forward Thomas Hoggarth was a bright spot for the squad. Keeping the Knighthawks within a one-goal reach from New York, Hoggarth tallied six points on the night, including a career-best five goals, which tied a franchise record for Rochester.
With his six-point effort on Saturday, Hoggarth reached the century point mark in his National Lacrosse League career. The forward attributed his current offensive success to his teammates around him.
“Honestly, it’s just the players I’m playing with. They’re just finding me and tonight I got lucky finding the ball in front of the net,” said Hoggarth following the game.
Five goals by Thomas Hoggarth and every single one of them was beautiful. pic.twitter.com/EFXqewsHxh
— Rochester Knighthawks (@RocKnighthawks) March 15, 2022
While Hoggarth felt “lucky” for finding the ball, Knighthawks head coach Mike Hasen dubbed Hoggarth the “Garbage Man” for the greasy rebounds he was picking up and burying to give the Knighthawks a solid chance at a comeback.
“They were calling him the ‘Garbage Man’ here tonight. He was just picking up those greasy rebounds and burying it into the net, which is what we need and what we kind of expect out of him. He’s really good in those dirty areas. He found those loose balls, and again, he was finding the back of the net, which is what was good for us tonight.”
Rochester Knighthawks v New York Riptide :: 3.12.22 :: Photo By Micheline V
So far this season, Hoggarth has produced 26 points with 17 goals and nine assists over his 10 games on the floor. Hoggarth has registered six games with three or more points, has produced a trio of three-goal outings and has been held scoreless just twice.
After tying the franchise record with five goals in Hoggarth’s last game, Knighthawks general manager Dan Carey mentioned how this is just what the team knows and expects from Hoggarth.
“That’s the Thomas Hoggarth that we know and we expect, maybe not to score five goals every game, but he’s a guy that kind of lives in those tough areas. He’s got a really good touch, patient with the ball and a big, strong guy that can put the ball in the net when we need him to. He’s kind of a unique player and there’s not a lot of guys like him around the league. He was big for us on Saturday and that’s what we need. We need guys to step up in certain games.”
Hoggarth is currently in his fifth season in the NLL and first with the expansion-era Knighthawks. Prior to his time in Rochester, Hoggarth spent two and a half seasons with the Vancouver Warriors and one and half seasons with the Buffalo Bandits while missing the entirety of the 2019-20 campaign due to being out with an injury.
The Knighthawks acquired Hoggarth, along with forward Dallas Bridle, a second-round pick in 2020 and a third-round pick in 2020 from the Bandits in exchange for forwards Dan Linter, Frank Brown and a fourth-round pick in 2020 on Feb. 27, 2020. Hoggarth then signed a two-year contract with the Knighthawks on Nov. 13, 2020.
With arguably the biggest trade for the Knighthawks over the course of their expansion-era in that of veteran forward Shawn Evans’ departure last week, the team knows that others will have to step up in his absence. Carey feels that Hoggarth is one of those critical pieces that is going to begin to really make a name for himself here in the Flower City.
“Hoggarth happened to be in the right place at the right time and that’s what we expect from him. He’s obviously getting a little bit more of an opportunity with the trade and now he knows that he’s going to be out on the floor more and that he can take more chances with the ball. He proved that he’s capable of doing that, which we always knew.”
