The nominees for the NLL Head Coach of the Year Award—also known as the Les Bartley Award—have been announced and now it’s a matter of waiting until September to see who the winner is. The nominees for 2015 are Mike Hasen of the Rochester Knighthawks, Derek Keenan of the Edmonton Rush, and John Lovell of the Toronto Rock. Lovell and Keenan faced each other in the Champion’s Cup this year,…
As the offseason continues, the NLL is continuing to release the candidates for the league’s various top honours. On Thursday the Goaltender of the Year nominees were revealed. For the second year in a row, Aaron Bold of the Edmonton Rush was nominated. For the second straight year, Bold led the league in goals against average, at 9.44, and wins, with 12. Brandon Miller of the Toronto Rock was nominated…
The Edmonton Rush won the Champion’s Cup this weekend, their first title in their 10-year history. And so ends the 2015 NLL season. So let’s now have a look back at the season that was, and some of the highlights along the way. The season got off to an unexpected start in the first two weeks of the schedule when the three-time defending champion Rochester Knighthawks lost two straight,…
The NLL’s 2014 awards season saw a tight three-way race for the Goaltender of the Year trophy, with Matt Vinc, Aaron Bold and Anthony Cosmo all making very good cases for the top honor. Bold set a league record for wins (15) and was tops in goals against average (8.73). Vinc was second in wins (12) and GAA (9.56) but had the best save percentage (.798). Cosmo led the league…
The Rochester Knighthawks (7-3) will try to gain some ground on the first-place Toronto Rock when they host the Edmonton Rush (6-4) tonight at the Blue Cross Arena. The Rush meanwhile will be trying to solidify their hold on first place in the West Division. The three-time defending champion Knighthawks have gotten hot of late, winning five in a row. Defending NLL MVP Cody Jamieson is pacing the K’Hawks with…
With the 2014 NLL Draft now in the books we can start speculating about which of the rookies will stand out among the rest. Interestingly, only four times in the last decade has the Rookie of the Year also been the first pick overall: Logan Schuss this past season, Mark Matthews the previous year, Ryan Benesch in 2007 and Brodie Merrill in 2006. So getting picked first is no guarantee…
Many NLL fans have probably never heard his name but they will want to remember it as Hopcroft looks to be a breakout payer for the Knighthawks in the 2015 season. Hopcroft started his career with the Calgary Roughnecks in 2011 where he put up three points in three games. The Roughnecks would trade Hopcroft to Colorado in 2012 where he posted 26 points in 11 games. Hopcroft would then…
The Rochester Knighthawks announced today that they have signed defenseman/transition man Zac Reid to a one-year deal. The former draft choice joins the Knighthawks after an impressive summer season with the Major Series Lacrosse Brampton Excelsiors. “On a young Brampton team he really stood out this summer,” said Knighthawks and Brampton defenseman Mike Kirk. “He was extremely coachable and was able to buy into our defensive system very quickly. He…
The Rochester Knighthawks became the first team in NLL history to win three consecutive championships on May 31 when they soundly defeated the Calgary Roughnecks in Game 2 and then came from behind to win the deciding 10-minute mini-game. What Went Right: Dangerous Dan Dawson—With Dan Dawson out of commission for Game 1 due to a concussion suffered in the previous round of playoffs, the Knighthawks offense struggled to find…
After losing Game 1 of the Champion’s Cup to the Calgary Roughnecks last weekend, the Rochester Knighthawks will be fighting an uphill battle Saturday night when they host Game 2. They’ll be looking to even the series and force a tie-breaking mini-game in order to have a shot at the first-ever NLL three-peat. The Knighthawks have enjoyed a great deal of success at home this year, going 9-1 in Blue…