The Rochester Knighthawks have had a rather busy offseason. They traded away Johnny Powless and they acquired Jordan Hall. However, their only multi-year extension other than Hall was a player who was not on their roster.
Rochester signed Kyle Prreira to a three-year deal in early November. Pereira was drafted into the NLL by the Toronto Rock, but since he is a hockey player as well, has not played a single NLL game.
“Signing with Rochester is a huge honour,” said Pereira. “They are obviously a storied franchise, and have a clear history of winning, so to get an opportunity to be a part of that is a great feeling. I couldn’t be more excited.”
The 23 year old has played major lacrosse with the Brampton Excelsiors, so he has gone up against the best.
“I’m not sure what my role will be exactly,” said Pereira. “I’m going to work hard and do whatever I can to try and make a good impression. The team success speaks for itself; it’s a great team. So I’m going to show up and work as hard as I can and try to make coaches decisions difficult, and I’d be thrilled to play any role I was given.”
Pereira is a two-sport star as he also played for the Brampton Battalion junior hockey team. He isn’t the only hockey star on the team as Brad Self has also played in the OHL.
The interesting thing about this signing for Rochester was their confidence to give him a three-year deal since he has never played an NLL game. This is something Pereira considered when he signed.
“I feel that signing a three-year deal shows some confidence in me and that’s a great feeling. To have an organization like Rochester give you an opportunity like that is awesome, a dream come true. But at the end of the day, this is when the real work starts. Signing is one thing, but now I’m just focused on coming into camp in great shape and performing as well as I can. Signing doesn’t mean that I have made the team, nothing is ever given to you, so the real work starts now to try and prove that I can earn myself a spot.
