Over the next nine days, we will be looking at the top nine stories of the year in lacrosse, based off of our most read and covered stories. Today is #1 with the Rochester Knighthawks NLL championship.
Today’s story is the top one of 2013, which is now just a memory. It is also the second day in a row where a ‘hawk team that won back to back titles is featured. The Rochester Knighthawks were a historic team in 2013, winning back to back championships. They started the regular season on a tough note and went 8-8, but made it to the big game.
Awards were all around for the Khawks- Matt Vinc won the goaltender of the year award again and Cody Jamieson won the NLL Champions Cup MVP, while Curt Styres took home the executive of the year award. Rochester opened their season with three straight losses before they evened out at 3-3.
Despite getting back to .500, Rochester lost two in a row again to Buffalo and Philadelphia. They would only win two games in a row one more time, but their 8-8 record was enough to get them the second seed due to playing in a weak eastern division.
Rochester opened up against Philadelphia in the playoffs. Rochester led 3-0 after the first quarter and it was 6-4 at the half. In fact, Philadelphia never led in the game at all. At one point in the fourth they tied it at seven, but that was the closest they got.
The Knighthawks took that game 10-8 before they hosted the last seed in their division, the Minnesota Swarm. Minnesota was a western division team, but due to the crossover rule they were playing in the east. Just like in the Philadelphia game, Rochester went up 3-0 in the first. However, the half was all tied at five and going in to the third it was just a 7-6 Rochester lead.
The fourth quarter was the toughest for the ‘Hawks, who went down 9-7 before storming back. Rochester scored five straight goals to go to the championship against the Washington Stealth.
The Stealth hosted this game but it was in Langley, British Columbia due to another event where the Stealth played in Everett, Washington. Rochester took a 5-2 lead and it was 10-7 at the half in the high scoring game. Washington got to within one three minutes into the fourth but it would end that way, 11-10, with the Knighthawks repeating as champions.
Dan Dawson and Cody Jamieson had 14 points each in the playoffs and Joe Walters trailed them by only two with 12 points of his own. Matt Vinc put up a stellar 9.33 goals against average to lead the Knighthawks to their second straight title.
