Rochester Knighthawks goaltender Riley Hutchcraft has been in the National Lacrosse League since 2018. The 26-year-old has taken on several names: Ry, Hutch, Hutchy, and often, back-up goaltender. But on Saturday night at Segar and Sciortino Field at The Blue Cross Arena, the sixth-year netminder took on a different alias: hero.
As the Calgary Roughnecks began to put some distance on the scoreboard, Knighthawks head coach Mike Hasen elected to make a swap in goal, relieving starter Rylan Hartley for the experienced Hutchcraft just over a minute into the second quarter. The switch worked perfectly, as Hutchcraft went on to deny 21 of his first 23 shots faced, finishing the night with 28 saves to help fuel an explosive second-half surge in what turned out to be an incredible 14-13 season-opening victory on opening night.
“He let in two early, but he stopped the bleeding in that second and third quarter and he just shut the door,” said Hasen.
BIG HUGS FOR A BIGGER FIRST @NLL WIN FOR HUTCHY!! pic.twitter.com/KNgkaclEnF
— Rochester Knighthawks (@RocKnighthawks) December 3, 2023
Hutchcraft went on a run while his teammates in front of him did the same. He prevented the Roughnecks from scoring for over 20 minutes while Rochester tallied eight straight unanswered goals to come back from a five-goal deficit.
“He did a real good job and it just gave our guys confidence that we could press out a little bit more and if we made a mistake, he was there for us. ‘Hutchy’ understands his role. He’s going to get thrown into this kind of situation. I think this year we have all the confidence that he’s going to do the job for us when we need him.”
This was just Week 1 in the NLL, but this one game will be something Hutchcraft remembers forever. This was his first professional win.
“It’s a special one that took me six years to get,” said Hutchcraft. “I’ve been in the league for six years, so to do this and to do it in front of our fans in Rochester was great.”
“When he came in, he just had this calming presence to him,” said Knighthawks captain Dan Coates. “We were super excited for him. I think I was the first guy to turn around and give him a hug when the clock hit zero and to see the emotion on his face was special. He’s the ultimate team guy. He’s all about our group and getting better. To see him rewarded was awesome.”
It’s often said that goaltenders can be a different breed. Their habits and rituals are uninterruptable and when things don’t go as planned, you’re often told to stay clear of them. That was not the case for Hartley, who had an atypical night in goal. Instead of isolating himself in frustration, the fifth-year pro and fourth-year Knighthawk became the team’s biggest supporter.
“Well, that just kind of shows you what type of person Rylan Hartley is,” said Coates. “At halftime we met as a defense, like we always do, to kind of talk about what adjustments we can make and Rylan had a great message for us. And it kind of was just like, ‘we’re fine here. Let’s just stay with it. We’re good.’ And he was the best cheerleader and teammate on the bench. And that’s all you can ask for. And we know we’re going to get Rylan Hartley’s best down the stretch. He’s going to win us some games alone. And the fact that we have this kind of one-two punch is a good, healthy competition.”
“Rylan Hartley brought us all in at half and said ‘what’s next,’” said Hutchcraft. “That’s the mentality we have in our dressing room, and I was fortunate enough to be in-between the pipes for this one.”
Hutchcraft and Hartley share the crease. They are goaltenders, competitors, but maybe more importantly, they are friends.
Your first @NLL DUB-YA is a whole lot sweeter when you celebrate with a cowboy boot pint glass 🍻 pic.twitter.com/BpVuqexLE9
— Rochester Knighthawks (@RocKnighthawks) December 3, 2023
“It’s a great partnership. This is the closest I’ve ever been with a goaltending partner. He has a view on the game that I don’t and I have a view that he may not have, so just to be able to bounce those aspects of the game off each other makes a duo that’s pretty special.”
The Knighthawks will fly to Saskatchewan this weekend to take on the Rush. It’s a new week and a new opponent. Nobody will be surprised to see Hartley back in goal. On the other end, Hutchcraft may begin Saturday’s game on the bench. He may once again assume the role of back-up goaltender, but that doesn’t change what he did last weekend.
On opening night in front of over 4,000 fans in downtown Rochester, Riley Hutchcraft was a hero.
