Black Wolves Maul Knighthawks In A Messy Affair

Uncasville – The Rochester Knighthawks (1-8) visited the Mohegan Sun Arena to face the New England Black Wolves (5-3) in National Lacrosse League (NLL) action Saturday night, in front of 5,328 fans, who were treated to a little of everything in this game.

A close game through most of the first half deteriorated in the second half, yielding seventy four minutes in penalties.

New England came away with the victory 18-7.

The Knighthawks started early when Holden Cattoni (3g,0a) buried a Cory Highfield pass at 2:50. Dan Lintner (1g,0a) added to the lead when he converted a Shawn Evans pass at 8:22 for a 2-0 lead.

The Knighthawks played well defensively for the majority of the quarter but New England ended the quarter with two quick goals back to back, that changed the completion of the game.

Callum Crawford (4g,8a) got the Black Wolves on the board firing a laser past Rylen Hartley (Knighthawks goalie) at 14:13, followed by Joe Nardella (1g,0a) winning the draw, going down the floor and scoring just 0:06 seconds later to tie the game up.

The Black Wolves thought they had another goal with just 0:01.3 seconds left, but because of a Black Wolves penalty being called just prior to the shot, the goal was disallowed.

After one quarter, New England 2 Rochester 2.

Tony Malcom (2g,1a) opened the second quarter scoring converting a Nick Chaykowsky pass in transition at 4:13 to give the Black Wolves their first lead of the evening.

Things started getting tense when Colton Watkinson and Phil Caputo got into a tussle at 4:55.

Joe Resetarits (3g,1a) scored off a Jordan Durston pass at 6:32. Reilly O’Connor (3g,2a) added to the Black Wolves lead scoring off a Callum Crawford pass at 8:16.

Frank Brown (1g,0a) stopped the five goal run when he converted a Dylan Evans pass at 9:26, but Adam Bomberry (1g,2a) got it back when he put a Reilly O’Connor pass past Hartley at 10:42. Stephan Leblanc (2g,3a) added to the New England lead converting a Callum Crawford pass at 12:28.

Holden Cattoni scored his second of the night on the powerplay, firing a Shawn Evans pass past Doug Jamieson (Black Wolves goalie) at 13:48.

At the half, New England 7 Rochester 4.

New England started the third quarter on fire, scoring three quick goals to blow this game wide open.

Joe Resetarits converted a Callum Crawford pass at 1:11, followed by Reilly O’Connor scoring off a Joe Resetarits pass at 3:38.

Rochester made a goaltender switch, pulling Hartley in favor of Craig Wende.

Joe Resetarits scored again off a Callum Crawford pass at 4:33, but Holden Cattoni converted a Mark Cockerton pass at 8:51, shorthanded, for the Knighthawks. Jordan Durston (1g,3a) came right back with a goal off a Stephan Leblanc pass at 9:27, followed by Colton Watkinson (1g,2a) scoring from a Brett Manney pass in transition at 12:42.

Rochester ended the quarter with a goal of their own when Cory Highfield converted a Shawn Evans pass at 14:45.

After three quarters, New England 12 Rochester 6.

The fourth quarter opened with Callum Crawford scoring a natural hat-trick.

Crawford’s first goal came on the powerplay off a Colton Watkinson pass at 0:41 seconds. Crawford scored his second in a row at 2:26, and the natural hat-trick was then achieved, again on the powerplay, as he buried a Stephan Leblanc pass at 6:30. Leblanc himself added to the lead at 8:17 converting a Callum Crawford pass, making the score 16-6.

The game took a turn for the worse when Paul Dawson and Joe Resetarits started to mix it up, but the main event was Shawn Evans vs. Greg Downing, in which Downing earned the decision.

When play resumed, Turner Evans earned a two minute cross checking penalty against Adam Bomberry who got a slashing penalty, but Evans was assessed an unsportsmanlike penalty which resulted in a New England penalty shot.

Ty Logan took the penalty shot for the Black Wolves but was stopped by Craig Wende.

Turner Evans was also assessed a game misconduct for continuingto argue with the officials on his way to the box.

Once play resumed, New England scored two more powerplay goals.

Reilly O’Connor scored off a Callum Crawford pass at 11:20 followed by Tony Malcom scoring also from a Callum Crawford pass at 11:45.

Rochester got one more goal before it was over when Curtis Knight (1g,0a) scored off a Mark Cockerton pass at 13:42, and that was how it ended.

Final score, New England 18 Rochester 7.

Shots on goal were 70-42 in favor of the Black Wolves.

The loose ball battle went to New England 94-59.

The Black Wolves won the faceoff battle 21-9.

Rochester went 2 for 4 on the powerplay, also scoring a shorthanded goal.

The Black Wolves went 7 for 10 on the powerplay.

The Three Stars:

Doug Jamieson New England
Callum Crawford New England
Tony Malcom New England

Top scorers,

Rochester:

Holden Cattoni 3g, 0a
Turner Evans 0g,3a
Shawn Evans 0g, 3a

New England:

Callum Crawford 4g, 8a
Reilly O’Connor 3g, 2a
Stephan Leblanc 2g, 3a

Rochester’s next game is at home on Saturday February 29th against the New York Riptide. Game time is 7pm.

New England’s next game is at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Long Island, New York on Friday February 28th against the Riptide. Game time is 7:30pm.

Gary Groob

Gary Groob has been involved with Lacrosse for the majority of his life, whether playing, coaching, or covering the sport for the media.

An avid fan, with a real drive about helping to “grow the game”, Gary became part of podcasts about the game in 2010. Through the podcasts, Mr. Groob was given an opportunity to write about lacrosse, and the rest as they say, is history.

Through many miles (flying and driving) Gary has made inroads with the National Lacrosse League, Major Series Lacrosse League, the Ontario Lacrosse Association, as well as the Arena Lacrosse League, covering the leagues, their teams, and players, working for, and in concert with all of them.

In the year 2020, Mr. Groob was made the media person for the Arena Lacrosse League, voted onto the board of directors of the Brampton Excelsiors Lacrosse Club, as well as being made administrator of the Lacrosse page “Global Lacrosse” with a membership of 9000 members in over 90 Countries. Gary was also made an administrator of Lacrosse History Past Present and Future in 2022.

Mr. Groob co-hosts a weekly Lacrosse show on Spanglish Sports World, and ZingoTV channel 250, as well as writes a weekly lacrosse column for La Portada Canada News (both in print, and online).

Gary also hosts a Lacrosse talk show and podcast for The Edge of Philly Sports Network, seen live Sunday nights at 9pm (ET), and archived on the Edge of Philly YouTube page, as well as Spotify.

Mr. Groob’s other sports interests include Hockey, Football, Boxing, Wrestling, and Baseball, competing competitively in Boxing and Wrestling for many years.