Saturday night the Stealth will make their first appearance in Rochester, N.Y. to face the Rochester Knighthawks, as the Vancouver Stealth. The Stealth and Knighthawks have played some close games, including last years Championship game. Despite Rochester coming into this game ranked 3rd in scoring to Vancouver’s 7th spot, this is sure to be another great game.
Vancouver is led by star forward Rhys Duch. Rhys has recorded 68 points this season, splitting those numbers between his goals and assists. He is going to need to come out and assert his dominance early against the Knighthawks 2nd ranked defense and future hall of fame keeper Matt Vinc. If Rhys can score in bunches, while keeping the rest of the Stealth squad active in the offense they have shown to have success. If the Stealth have no leader on offense, and get away from the team game it will surely be a long night on the road. Other great news for the Stealth is since his healthy scratch Lewis Ratcliff is still showing signs that he has re emerged to finish the season strong. With their backs against the wall, it will be interesting to see how the Stealth responds to making a push to the playoffs.
Sitting in 1st place in the East with an 11-4 record the Rochester Knighthawks are off to another great season as defending Champs once again. The Knighthawks and team leader Cody Jamieson are looking to three peat, keeping the cup in Rochester. If the Knighthawks keep their nose to the grind stone in theory should walk away with the win at home. Penalties taken from their stingy defense should not be any issue as the Stealth lead the Knighthawks in that category serving 11 more minutes thus far this season. As long as they keep Vancouver’s offensive threats in check with their physical play, and stellar goal tending the Knighthawks are the favorite in this one. The best part about the NLL as Colorado proved Friday Night against an undefeated Edmonton squad, anything can happen if you get on an offensive run.
