ROCHESTER, NY - The Rochester Knighthawks defeated the Calgary Roughnecks 15-7 on Friday April 22nd at Segar and Sciortino Field. Breaking Rochester’s eight game losing streak and Calgary’s five game winning streak. Rookie Ryan Smith led the team with four goals while Curtis Knight had a hat trick. Rookie Netminder Joel Watson recorded his first career win with 43 saves in the night. 10 Knighthawks had at least two points in the win.
The first quarter looked like what most fans would expect out of Rochester. It was a slow start, Calgary had their first goal nine seconds into a power play. Four minutes later Ryan Smith tied it up for his 30th of the season. After another power play goal nine minutes into the quarter by Calgary it seemed like the game speed was going to remain slow. Then we got some late action from Mike Burke but Calgary got the lead with half a second on the clock.
The second quarter was a clinic from the Knighthawks led by Curtis Knight. He had his hat trick in just the second quarter. Tyler Biles recorded his first NLL career goal two minutes into the quarter to tie up the game at three. Rochester proceeded to go on a 6-1 run in the second quarter capped off by Holden Cattoni with just three seconds left in the quarter.
The third quarter was a slow affair. Only one goal for either team. Rochester had three penalties. The fourth quarter was where Rochester went off again though. It started off with another power play goal for Calgary. Ryan Smith seemed to take that personally as he led Rochester in a 4-0 run over eight minutes where he scored the first three. The Knighthawks capped off the game with two quick transition goals for Thomas Hoggarth.
With that, Rochester ended their eight game losing streak and moved to 4-13 on the season. They will host The Halifax Thunderbirds on April 30th for their last game of the season. Feels poetic ending the season hosting the team that moved out of Rochester.