After a hot 6-0 start to the 2023 National Lacrosse League season, the Rochester Knighthawks have seen that franchise-long win streak slip away. Over the last two weeks, the Knighthawks have suffered back-to-back losses to the Halifax Thunderbirds and the Buffalo Bandits, two top competitors in the Eastern Conference.
As tough as these losses are, the most important things to take away from them is the lessons that can be learned from the defeats.
“To me it’s about learning lessons from the defeats and how you can turn those lessons into actions,” said Knighthawks captain Paul Dawson when asked about navigating Rochester’s first encounter with adversity of the season.
New York Riptide vs Rochester Knighthawks
Regular season NLL
NEW YORK1/15/2023
This week is the Knighthawks opportunity to get back on the right track, or as general manager Dan Carey says, back to the process the team started off the 2022-23 campaign with. Especially against a Halifax Thunderbirds squad that can go off on any given night.
“It’ll be a tough matchup but, again, we have to focus on what has made us successful, what will continue to make us successful. That’s our game plan and our process,” commented Carey when asked how this serves as an opportunity to put the Knighthawks back into the win column.
But what is that process that Carey keeps mentioning?
Dawson says that the process is all about the little things that the Knighthawks have done this season that made the team successful at the start. Those little things are eventually what lead to the big things on the floor.
“For me, the process should never really change, it’s always all about the little things,” explained Dawson when asked what the process means to him.
“We need to keep doing the little things or doing the ordinary things extraordinarily well because those things lead to the big things.”
If the Knighthawks can, not necessarily get back on track, but back to the process, then they’ll be fine this weekend heading into a tough matchup against the Thunderbirds. However, it shouldn’t be overlooked that the Knighthawks have truly had one heck of a start to the 2022-23 campaign and that’s something they should be proud of in just their third year in the league.
“We need to be proud of where we are at. We’re 6-2 and in second place in the Eastern Conference. That’s a hell of an accomplishment, but it’s time to get back to the little things and remember what got us to that original 6-0 to start the season,” said Dawson.
The Knighthawks return home on Saturday, Feb. 11 when as they host the Thunderbirds for the only time this season at Segar & Sciortino Field at The Blue Cross Arena. Opening face-off is slated for 7:00 p.m. and will be carried live on Big 107.3 FM as well as ESPN+.
