The Rochester Knighthawks are officially into uncharted territory after winning their third consecutive championship last season. The league has seen back to back champions five times before. Three of those times the defending champs lost the championship game when going for the third, but the Knighthawks were able to avoid that fate. So the question that fans and other teams are wondering is: what will Owner and GM Curt Styres do to try to make it for in a row?
The first thing to do is to establish what needs the Knighthawks have. While an outsider may look at a three-peat as league dominance, that is not the case with the Knighthawks. The dominant team in 2014 was easily the Edmonton Rush, who set a league record with their winning streak to open the season. What the Knighthawks have been able to do is play tight defense all season for each of the three championships. What they haven’t done is produce a dominant offense. While they can score what they need to in the playoffs, there is no consistency there. They finished in the middle of the pack in team offense while holding a steady number two defense. Edmonton by comparison had the top defense and the second highest scoring offense. Simply put, the three time defending champions still have room to improve, which is not good news for the rest of the league.
After their 2012 championship, they didn’t carry over five of their main contributors. They made some big moves in free agency, but little in the draft. This was the same story after the 2013 championship. Only losing three main contributors and mostly shoring up in free agency. So what about this year? The only two big losses to the free agency market to date have been the trade of Johnny Powless and Joel McCready which should not be ignored. Powless was the fourth highest scorer on the team with 53 points and McCready was eighth with 29. For a team that needs more scoring, that’s a big hit to take. Fortunately, they also picked up Jordan Hall in a trade. Hall recorded 31 points in his last season in the Knighthawks offense in 2012, so that should offset McCready’s numbers at a minimum. What the Knighthawks really need is a big time scorer to make up for Powless’ departure.
The McCready/Powless trade was done to gain the number two overall pick in the draft, so Styres knew who he wanted. That player turned out to be Jason Noble and that was a smart move. Noble won an MLL championship this past summer with the Denver Outlaws, a World Outdoor Championship with team Canada, three Minto cups with the Orangeville Northmen and was a star with the University of Denver in the NCAA. He possesses an excellent balance of goal scoring and assisting that will allow him to fill whatever role coach Mike Hasen requires of him.
After Noble, Rochester only had four more picks available and used them all on Six Nations products. Given that Styres knows more about lacrosse players coming out of Six Nations than anyone in the NLL and their repeated success at the junior levels, this isn’t much of a surprise. The four new Knighthawks are Zach Williams, Ian Martin, Brier Jonathan and Anthony Patterson.
Williams played transition for the Six Nations Rebels which translates well to the Knighthawks defense first mentality. He had a very accomplished career in the junior ranks, winning plenty of individual awards and three championships along the way. Martin signed and looks to help out on the offensive end of the floor. While his point totals weren’t dominant, he should be able to be competitive in a very tough training camp. Jonathon was listed as a transition player, but in reality was much more of a defender. In the summer of 2014, Patterson saw a big jump in his production from previous years and was able to contribute to the Arrows in their title run.
Since the Knighthawks roster will be very hard to crack and the recent history suggests little turnover, it’s unlikely all five draftees will make the game day roster. Styres knows these players well and is likely hoping they can inject some youth into the team if their camp goes well. Rochester didn’t have many draft picks, but did well with the ones they had. Overall, the champs are still in a great spot and are without question the team to beat once again.
