(Oshawa, Ont.)… The Rochester Knighthawks earned their first win under Interim Head Coach Randy Mearns, knocking off the Oshawa FireWolves 18-11 Saturday night at the Tribute Communities Centre.
“We’ve been struggling for over the last month or two, but we stick to the grind,” McConvey said. “We love each other in that locker room, and we’re always going to play well for each other. We had a great game plan for today, and hopefully that sets us off for the rest of the season.”
It was a grudge match through the first 35 minutes; there were seven different ties, and neither team took more than a one-goal lead. Then the Rochester offense came to life. First, it was a four-goal run in the third that took the largest Knighthawks lead of the night. It was quarterbacked by Connor Fields. Then it was a five-goal run in the fourth, led by a Thomas McConvey natural hat trick, that put the contest away.
Rochester’s 18-goal output was their best this season, led by the four horsemen. Fields (2+9) and Ryan Lanchbury (1+10) each notched 11 points. McConvey (6+2) scored a sock-trick with four of them coming in the fourth quarter. His six goals are a season-high. Ryan Smith (5+3) also scored eight points on a five-goal night. Riley Hutchcraft got the start and earned his first win of the season with 40 saves.
“We had a game plan, and I feel, overall, like we executed the game plan pretty well,” Mearns said. “We made some commitment to getting off on offense and defense for transition. Riley Hutchcraft, credit to him, he made a lot of big saves, big saves late as well, and that allowed us to get on the run. T-Mac with the sock-trick, the whole offense they were just touching the ball, and it felt good on the bench in that fourth quarter when we started to stretch the lead. You can feel the energy.”
The first half was slow and gritty. Each time one group found the back of the net, the other end was quick to answer. The Knighthawks used three transition goals and the first goals of the season from Taylor Jensen and Chad Tutton to take a 6-5 lead.
Jensen opened the scoring, with his first of the season, converting a breakaway chance at 2:56 of the first. The FireWolves responded with goals from Ryan Benesch and Dawson Theede to take a 2-1 lead with 7:06 to play in the opening stanza. Fields evened things up at two at 11:53 with a laser from the left wing.
After an Oshawa goal to open the second, Zed Williams scored on a two-on-one break off a pass from McConvey to tie the game at three at 2:12. Benesch gave Oshawa a 3-2 advantage by notching his second of the contest at 5:03 to help the FireWolves regain a one-goal lead.
Rochester, however, grouped to end the first half by netting three of the next four goals to take a 6-5 lead into half. Fields weaved through traffic and buried a bounce shot to tie the game at five just 20 seconds after the Benesch goal. Tutton followed that up with his first goal of the season, scoring on a breakaway at 11:53 to give Rochester its first lead of the night at 5-4. Following an Oshawa shorthanded goal to force a 5-5 tie, McConvey scored a quick-stick power-play goal with 4.8 to play in the half to move Rochester in front 6-5.
The third quarter opened much like the first half. Oshawa took back the lead in transition from Jaxon Fridge just over four minutes in, and it was answered by Smith for a tie 33 seconds later. 32 seconds after the Knighthawks’ goal, Theede buried again, and a few minutes later, the FireWolves took the first two-goal lead of the night, up 9-7. That was the last time the Knighthawks trailed all night.
Rochester raced in front 11-9, powered by a 4-0 run late in the third quarter. Rochester scored three of those goals in a span of just 1:02 seconds. Trailing 9-7, McConvey scored first to get the Knighthawks within one at 9-8. Smith then scored back-to-back goals in 28 seconds, both assisted by Fields and Lanchbury. He completed the hat trick at 10:58, elevating and burying a shot past the right arm of Doug Jamieson to give Rochester a 10-9 lead. Then, Lanchbury notched his first of the game just 39 seconds later.
Rochester kept their foot on the gas in the fourth. Despite an early FireWolves’ goal, the Knighthawks scored the next five on their way to a 16-10 lead. The first was off a Blaze Riorden rebound that led to Kyle Waters wide open in front of the net. Then a beautiful two-man game led to a McConvey goal off a Fields behind-the-back pass. That was the first of a 1:12 natural hat trick by Thomas McConvey. He finished them all from the low shooter spot or right on the crease.
“We all wanna win so bad, it felt good to contribute,” McConvey said. “The guys set me up really well, Smitty, Lanch, Fieldsy, they’re all great playmakers, and they make my job easy, and luckily I got in the net today.”
Smith and McConvey put the game even more out of reach in the final minutes, each finding the back of the net in the final five to seal an 18-11 win.
With the win, the Knighthawks move to 6-8 and a bit closer to a playoff spot. The team returns to action next weekend as they travel to play the Halifax Thunderbirds on Saturday, April 4, at Scotiabank Centre. Faceoff is set for 6 p.m. EST.
“It’s a great win, it’s a great team win. Now we’ve got to build and get ready for Halifax,” Mearns said.