(Rochester, NY)… Rochester Knighthawks President and General Manager Dan Carey announced today that the team has signed goaltender Drew Hutchison to a one-year deal, pending league approval.
Hutchison joined the Knighthawks in late August through a trade with the Halifax Thunderbirds that also brought defenseman Shonwahnonkon Thompson to Rochester. He enters off a strong summer playing for the Peterborough Lakers in Major Series Lacrosse. He went 9-4 with a 7.04 goals-against average and an .833 save percentage. In the postseason, he went 3-3 as the starter, averaging almost 49 saves per game. In the final game against the Six Nations Chiefs, he made 55 saves.
“He played really well last year and for him to start on that Peterborough team with the other goalies and the players that they have says a lot about his performance and the trust that their coaches had in him,” Carey said about Hutchison’s last season with Halifax and his summer in Major Series Lacrosse. “He’s a guy that’s been knocking on the door of starting for a few years in Halifax, and I think for us, this is an opportunity for him to come in and prove himself.”
Hutchison returns to the Flower City to play for a Rochester team for the first time since May 2022, when he and the RIT Tigers topped Tufts 26-15 in the NCAA Semifinals. He went on to win a National Championship in Connecticut a week later and was named the most outstanding player of the game.
He will join his former college teammate Taylor Jensen in the pros. Hutchison and Jensen spent three seasons together before heading to the NLL. Hutchison was an honorable mention All-American in 2022 and finished 10th in program history in wins (23), while ending up eighth in career goals-against average (8.34).
“It’s pretty exciting,” Hutchison said. “When you hear you got traded, it’s not a great feeling… But it was exciting when I heard it was Rochester that was trading for me because I spent my college years right in that city, and I still have a ton of friends that live in the area… I’m familiar with guys on the team. I’m comfortable playing with them, and I know what their abilities are. Going to a new team, sometimes you get wary about whether you’re going to fit in or not, so just knowing so many guys on the team, you kind of start a step ahead.”
In four seasons with the Thunderbirds, Hutchison totaled 729 minutes in the crease. The most he played in one season was 376 in the 2024-25 season. He went 5-3 that year with wins over Albany, Ottawa, San Diego, and Toronto. He also earned a playoff win that same season against Calgary, making 39 saves and allowing 12 goals against for his first career playoff win.
His best NLL games have come in relief of his starter. On Dec. 28, 2024, Hutchison entered the game with his team trailing 9-3. He made 12 saves and allowed no goals while the Thunderbirds scored 10 unanswered goals to earn a 13-9 win. Later that season, he entered the game in the first quarter against the San Diego Seals. He made 39 saves in 49 minutes and allowed only five goals to deliver another win after coming off the bench.