“Muffler” Mike Kostiuk – Senior Correspondent, All Lacrosse All The Time
The Rochester Knighthawks took on the Calgary Roughnecks at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary Saturday night. Calgary was looking to separate themselves from a handful of teams hovering at or around the .500 mark. Meanwhile, Rochester needed to shake off a collapse against Saskatchewan last week and move up into that same team grouping. Thomas McConvey led eight Knighthawks scorers with a five-goal night as Rochester won 15-10 to improve to 5-7. They are now in 11th place, just a half-game behind three teams tied for the eighth and final playoff spot. Calgary drops to 6-5 on the season and 2-4 at home; they also fall from third place to sixth place with the loss, but remain a game ahead of the group of teams tied for that final playoff spot.
Knighthawks first half
The Knighthawks got out to a 3-0 lead on goals from Ryan Smith (1:07), Matt Gilray (7:44), and Kyle Waters (9:24). Haiden Dickson (9:48) and Curtis Dickson (13:27) cut the lead to 3-2, but Smith netted his second with 3 ticks left on the clock for a 4-2 Rochester lead after one quarter.
The Knighthawks kept their foot on the gas as the second quarter got underway, with Ryan Lanchbury (0:56) and McConvey (1:55) scoring within a minute of each other. Roughnecks goaltender Cam MacLeod was pulled after the McConvey goal in favor of Gowah Abrams. Abrams was greeted by Connor Fields (2:51) with a behind-the-back strike, extending the lead to 7-2. Curtis Dickson scored his second (4:56), breaking the run, then McConvey (6:08) traded power play goals with Dane Dobbie (8:37). Haiden Dickson’s second goal (9:32) narrowed the gap to 8-5. But Curtis Knight scored 15 seconds later, then McConvey scored his third goal of the quarter with one second left to give Rochester a 10-5 halftime lead.
Knighthawks second half
McConvey tallied his fourth (0:50) to open the second half and push the lead to 11-5. Abrams was pulled from the net and MacLeod went back in for the Roughnecks. Calgary got a goal from Brayden Mayea (4:07) and two from Curtis Dickson (5:36; 14:18) in the quarter. Waters netted his second (7:25) as Rochester held a 12-8 lead going into the final quarter of play.
Markers from Fields (0:38) and Chad Tutton (5:26) put the Knighthawks up 14-8. Jesse King (8:27) scored a power play goal, but that was nullified by McConvey’s fifth goal of the night (9:23). Tanner Cook closed the scoring with a power play goal (14:32) after Rochester’s Tyler Biles and Calgary’s Bennett Smith got into a brawl at 14:26, with each receiving game misconduct penalties as tempers boiled over at the end of the game.
Other Stats of Note
Knighthawks: McConvey (5g, 2a); Fields (2g, 7a); Waters (2g, 2a); Smith (2g, 1a); Lanchbury (1g, 6a); Gilray (1g, 2a)
Roughnecks: C Dickson (4g, 5a); H Dickson (2g, 1a); Mayea (1g, 3a); Dobbie (1g, 2a); King (1g, 2a); Cook (1g, 2a)
Justin Inacio (CGY): 18-27 Faceoffs; 8 Loose Balls
Rylan Hartley (ROC): 42 saves
