With back-to-back Champion’s Cup titles to their name, the Rochester Knighthawks will be hoping a “Rule of Three” scenario will unfold during the 2014 season. To ensure such a favorable outcome, the team is practicing another familiar mantra of “Don’t Mess with Success”, returning the majority of their 2013 championship squad for the upcoming NLL season.
The Knighthawks offense features a tandem of clear leaders to patrol each side of the floor in Cody Jamieson and Dan Dawson. Jamieson has epitomized a natural born winner during 2012 and 2013, capturing two Champion’s Cup and a Mann Cup while nabbing MVP honors in each respective championship. The Syracuse alum has registered 80-plus points in back-to-back campaigns with Rochester, leading the team in scoring.
Jamieson has honed his skills during the offseason with the Six Nations Chiefs of the MSL, with whom he hoisted Mann Cup in 2013 alongside several Rochester Teammates including fellow offensive weapons Stephen Keogh and Craig Point. Dawson finished his first season in a Rochester uniform with 75 points, trailing only Jamieson in team scoring. The dynamic duo shared the team lead in playoff points with 14 each.
Budding superstar Johnny Powless enters his third year in the league alongside fellow lefty Corey Vitarelli. Peterborough native Vitaraelli, despite entering just his fourth NLL season, provides several years of MSL experience. The two lefties each have combined for 194 points in just under seventy games of NLL experience between the pair. Mike Accursi, a cornerstone of the Knighthawks success throughout his six years spent in Rochester, is a loss to the offensive unit after transitioning to a front office position with the organization. Former CLax star Chris Attwood is available on the practice roster for any offensive support needed in the absence of Accursi’s 36 points produced last season.
Captain Sid Smith anchors a hard nosed defense that allowed the fewest goals against league wide in 2013. The Knighthawks defense features a steady balance of stay athome defenders and multi-faceted transitional threats, a balance clearly personified inthe brothers’ Self, Brad (22 points in 2013) and Scott (7 points in 2013).
Matt Vinc has been outstanding since joining Rochester in 2011, earning NLL Goaltender of the Year honors twice. The Canisius College grad has faced over 2500 shots in slightly under 3500 minutes of play during his three seasons in a Rochesterjersey. Vinc was rewarded for his stellar play this off-season in the form of a five-yeardeal, and support support between the pipes with the addition of Mike Thompson.
Despite seeing sparse NLL action in recent years, Thompson has proved his skill have not diminished garnering MVP nods during the Peterborough Lakers 2012 Mann Cup run and more recently standing out with the Iroquois Nationals in international exhibition play.
The Knighthawks will open their 2014 NLL season on home floor versus the Minnesota Swarm on Saturday, December 28 at 8:30 p.m ET.
