Knighthawks announce home opener for 2026/2027 season

By: Mateo Ortiz

ROCHESTER, NY - The Rochester Knighthawks announced on Thursday that the teams' home opener will take place on Saturday, November 28, 2026, at the Blue Cross Arena against the Halifax Thunderbirds.

The home opener will kick off the Knighthawks seventh season in the National Lacrosse League, and the second under the ownership of the Seneca Nation.

In their past six home openers, Rochester is 4-2, with the four wins all coming in the previous four seasons. In the home opener last season, the Knighthawks defeated the Philadelphia Wings 15-11, highlighted by a fight between the two starting goalies that night, Rylan Hartley for the Knighthawks and Nick Damude for the Wings.

For the Thunderbirds who moved to Halifax in 2019, after spending the previous 25 seasons in Rochester as the Knighthawks, they are 5-1 in season openers since the move. Their only loss in that span came in the 2024/2025 season, falling to the Calgary Roughnecks 18-17 at home.

The Knighthawks are looking to bounce back after a disappointing 2026 campaign where they recorded a 6-12 record after starting off the season with a 4-1 record. In the dispersal draft that took place on Tuesday, the Knighthawks picked up reigning NLL Defensive Player of the Year Callum Jones who played for the Ottawa Black Bears last season.

The Thunderbirds meanwhile are looking to bounce back after reaching the championship series last season, falling to the Toronto Rock, 2-0 in a best-of-three series. In the regular season they finished with an 8-10 record, making the playoffs as the eighth seed.

The full NLL schedule will be released on Tuesday, September 22, at 12 pm.