Well, according to the league we have officially
clinched a spot in the playoffs for the eigth straight
time.<br><br>Let's get talking in here, there's a strong possibility
that Casey will come back to the BCARWM :)

I really think Teddy should have been rookie of the week, too bad, glad he's on
our team though.

Combination of Losses could boost Knighthawks
into the Playoffs<br><br>The Rochester Knighthawks
have never missed the Playoffs in the eight-season
history of the franchise. With a little help, they can
clinch a spot this weekend.<br><br>The Knighthawks
(10-3, idle this weekend) can finish no worse than 10-6.
Five teams already have at least seven losses and
cannot finish ahead of Rochester. If two more teams pick
up a seventh loss this weekend, the Knighthawks are
in. <br><br>The weekend’s action features three teams
with six losses: Buffalo (7-6) hosts Toronto; Montreal
(6-6) plays at Columbus; and Philadelphia (5-6) hosts
Ottawa, all on Saturday.<br><br>If two of these three
teams lose, Rochester is assured a finish in the top
six, and a berth in the 2002 Champions Cup Playoffs,
set to begin the weekend of March 29th.<br><br>Last
week, the Albany Attack (11-2) clinched a playoff
berth, the first in franchise history.

With Teddy's play I wonder if he has made himself
an easier pick for the game time roster. With Derek
back against Buffalo it should be interesting to see
what Coach Day decides in about a week and a half.
From what i saw on saturday, Teddy definitely deserves
to play more.

By Sal Maiorana<br>Democrat and
Chronicle<br><br><br>(February 24, 2002) — It's not like the Rochester
Knighthawks needed<br>another sniper on their already
offensively dynamic roster. However, it turns out they do in
the person of 2001 first-round draft choice Ted
Jenner. <br><br>Playing in just his second National
Lacrosse League game Saturday night, Jenner pumped in four
goals and added three assists to help lift the
Knighthawks to a 20-9 rout of the woefully overmatched New
York Saints in front of 8,471 appreciative spectators
at Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial.
<br><br>"It's great to see our No. 1 pick go out there and
prove himself," Tim Soudan said. "We have a ton of
depth on this team. I've heard other teams say it, they
have to guard 10 guys because we have two strong lines
of offense." <br><br>If Jenner's performance
Saturday was any indication, now they have 11. <br><br>"We
needed him to step up and he played a great game," coach
Paul Day said of the 22-year-old who played in place
of Derek Malawsky, who was serving a one-game
suspension. <br><br>"He moved the ball well, moved his feet
well. He's been waiting for that chance all year."
<br><br>And did he ever take advantage. <br><br>"The coaches
showed confidence in me to put me in there and I did
what I could," Jenner said. "I got my chances and I
had a great game. I wasn't expecting 4-3, but I'll
take what I can get." <br><br>Jenner picked a good
night to go on a scoring binge. <br><br>With Malawsky
out, Shawn Williams suffering through a goal-less
game, and John Grant Jr. scoring just once in the first
55 minutes, the Knighthawks needed their supporting
cast to play well, and they did. <br><br>Cory Bomberry
-- named co-MVP of the game along with Jenner -- had
two goals and six assists while Soudan had 3-3,
D'Arcy Sweet 3-0 and Duane Jacobs 2-2. <br><br>"This
team is stacked offensively," said Grant, who scored
three goals in the final five minutes to finish with
four for the night. "We throw a young rookie in like
Jenner and he gets 4-3. Shut me down, shut (Williams)
down, we'll still get 20." <br><br>Rochester bolted to
a 7-2 first-quarter lead, but played a poor second
quarter and saw its lead dwindle to 8-7 at halftime.
<br><br>During the intermission Soudan said Day "taunted our
manhood a little bit" because the Knighthawks were being
outworked in their own building, and that was exactly the
right button to push. <br><br>Rochester dominated the
final 30 minutes, holding New York scoreless while
winning its 11th straight game at home.

Let's get pumped here guys. We're playing a
weakened, but tough Saints team. We need to keep filling
the seats to cheer our guys to victory. Last game it
was pumping in the fourth quarter, let's get more
people going early.<br><br>We can't get the playoff spot
this weekend because Buffalo won last night, but we
still need to keep nipping at Albany's feet.

By Sal Maiorana<br>Democrat and Chronicle
<br><br>(February 23, 2002) — Shawn Williams has been playing
lacrosse for the better part of 20 years, so when he's
standing on the sidelines watching the Brock University
field lacrosse team play, he often feels the urge to
grab a stick and go show the boys how it's done.
<br><br>However, Williams is no ordinary spectator when the St.
Catharines, Ontario, school plays its games. He's the team's
coach. <br><br>"That was the hardest thing, especially
coaching right after I graduated," said Williams, a former
Brock star who gets his playing fix these days as a
member of the Rochester Knighthawks. "You can't just go
out and score a goal for the team. <br><br>"I was a
captain and a leader of the team and all of a sudden I
was a leader in a different sense. It's a little more
nerve-wracking because I can't do anything about it. I just have
to hope I've prepared my players enough so that they
can go out and do their jobs. But whenever we need a
big goal, I sometimes want to get out there and help
us get it." <br><br>Williams does not have that
problem with the Knighthawks. <br><br>Acquired in a huge
seven-player trade with Buffalo last May, Williams has been
plugged into Rochester's top offensive line and has
become a major force. <br><br>His primary job is to
score goals, and thanks to a seven-goal outburst in a
victory over Montreal last Sunday which earned him the
National Lacrosse League's Player of the Week honor,
Williams has 31 this year. <br><br>That total ranks him
second on the team behind John Grant Jr. (34) as the
Knighthawks enter tonight's game at Blue Cross Arena at the
War Memorial against the New York Saints.
<br><br>"He's always been a scorer," Knighthawks coach Paul Day
said. "He gets those goal-scorers goals. Not to say the
cheap ones, but the ones that no one else would score
because he's so talented." <br><br>Which is exactly why
the K-hawks were elated Buffalo made him available
last spring in the trade that rocked the NLL.
<br><br>Williams was coming off a 46-goal season with Buffalo,
Derek Malawsky had scored 70 points and D'Arcy Sweet
36, yet the Bandits dealt all three to Rochester for
Steve Dietrich, Casey Powell, Pat McCready and Rusty
Kruger. <br><br>While all three new Knighthawks have
played superbly in helping Rochester to a 9-3 record,
Buffalo (6-5) is battling for its playoff life. Dietrich
has been rock solid in goal for the Bandits, but
Powell decided not to play in the NLL, Kruger was later
traded, and McCready is merely a role player.
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There has been a ruling by the arbitrator
regarding the suspension of Rochester Knighthawks forward
Derek Malawsky, and the appeal that was
filed.<br><br>The League Office had suspended Malawsky for two
games and fined him an undisclosed sum for his role in
an incident during the Rochester Knighthawks at
Toronto Rock game on Saturday, January 26th. The PLPA
appealed the suspension and fine on Malawsky's
behalf.<br><br>In a ruling given by the arbitrator on Thursday,
February 21st, the appeal was denied. However, the
arbitrator modified the League's disciplinary action to a
one-game suspension and a reduced fine.<br><br>Malawsky
must serve his one-game suspension immediately.
Rochester's next game is on Saturday, February 23rd, when
they host the New York Saints.

Democrat and Chronicle<br><br>(February 18, 2002)
— When you play side-by-side with John Grant Jr.,
the man who most indoor lacrosse observers consider
the best player on the planet, you tend to get
overlooked. <br><br>But that wasn't the case Sunday afternoon
at the Molson Centre. <br><br>Shawn Williams stepped
out of Grant's prodigious shadow and pumped in a
personal season-high seven goals to lead the Rochester
Knighthawks to an impressive 21-16 National Lacrosse League
victory over the Montreal Express. <br><br>"The thing
with Shawn is he always seems to get three or four
every night and no one seems to notice because he's
playing with John," said Rochester coach Paul Day.
<br><br>"He's just a great finisher and that's the name of the
game." <br><br>Williams, who now has 31 goals in his
first year with the Knighthawks, keyed an offensive
outburst that saw Rochester surpass the coveted 20- goal
plateau for the fourth time this season. <br><br>He was
helped by Grant, who scored four goals, Tim Soudan,
D'Arcy Sweet, Andrew Turner and Duane Jacobs had two
each. <br><br>"I just go out and play the same game,"
said Williams, seemingly unimpressed by his
performance. <br><br>"I've been having some bad luck with
hitting posts, but they went in today." <br><br>Standing
nearby in the Rochester locker room, Grant teased
Williams by saying it was about time he started producing.
<br><br>Actually, Williams has been steady all year, just not as
flashy as his running mate. <br><br>"We were definitely
clicking," Williams said of he and Grant. "We've had our
moments this year. There were some games where it didn't
seem like it, but today we were both on, finding each
other." <br><br>Montreal goalie Curtis Palidwor, who
frustrated the Knighthawks for three quarters in the game in
Rochester last week, presented no problems for Williams and
his teammates Sunday. <br><br>"He played so well the
first three quarters last week and then our guys
started to get to him," Knighthawks goalie Pat O'Toole
said. "It looked like he was a little timid. He played
well, but he wasn't as quick. He looked human."
<br><br>Rochester bolted to a 3-0 lead but allowed Montreal to
rally and tie it at 6- 6 by the end of the first
quarter. <br><br>Williams scored three of those goals,
then tallied his fourth midway through the second as
the Knighthawks took a 9-8 lead into intermission.
<br><br>Williams scored back-to-back power-play goals in the third
quarter to give the Knighthawks some breathing room at
12-9, and his seventh goal came 27 seconds before the
quarter ended and put Rochester ahead 16- 11. <br><br>In
the fourth, each team scored five goals as the
Knighthawks answered every Montreal challenge, thus improving
to 9-3 and remaining one game behind streaking
Albany in the Central Division. Montreal lost its third
in a row and slipped to 6-6. <br><br>"We came out
strong and I thought we played well," said Day. "We had
a lot of chances, we could have had 30 goals."

By Sal Maiorana<br>Democrat and
Chronicle<br><br>(February 17, 2002) — Montreal Express coach Terry
Sanderson has great<br>respect for the Rochester
Knighthawks, and, in fact, thinks they are the best offensive
team in the National Lacrosse League. <br><br>But he
is convinced that when Rochester defeated Montreal
Feb. 9 at the Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial, it
wasn't a case of the Knighthawks winning as much as it
was the Express losing. <br><br>Sanderson was livid
after watching his team blow a 10-6 lead by allowing
Rochester to score the game's final seven goals for a 13-10
victory. <br><br>"You play a club like Rochester and
nobody expects us to beat them," Sanderson said. "But
for us to play well that deep into the game and then
lose it leaves a pretty bitter taste. You don't know
how many opportunities you get to have Rochester in
that position." <br><br>The Express choked the life
out of the potent Knighthawks offense, but according
to Sanderson it took its foot off Rochester's
collective throat. By not paying the price, oh, did it ever
pay the price. <br><br>"We started getting alligator
arms, guys going for loose balls and expecting to get
hit and not paying the price to win," said Sanderson.
"We have guys getting the living crap knocked out of
them every night and we have some guys who come out
without a scratch. <br><br>"The coaches will agree that
soft players can't play in this league. That was our
downfall last week. Not that any lead is comfortable, but
some guys started playing soft and that's the reason
we dropped that one." <br><br>It was a searing
indictment of the Express, and it will be interesting to see
how his young club reacts to that public questioning
of its manhood this afternoon in the rematch as
Rochester visits Montreal's Molson Centre for the first
time. <br><br>Rochester's victory last week improved
its record to 8-3 and left it one game behind Albany
in the race for the Central Division crown. Montreal
slipped to 6-4 and is third in the division. <br><br>If
the Knighthawks win today, they can just about forget
about the Express coming up from behind them in the
standings and can concentrate on catching the Attack.
<br><br>"I think we basically have to win out," said
Rochester's leading scorer, John Grant Jr. "We don't want to
just make the playoffs, we want some home games in the
playoffs, so our goal is to take every shift, every quarter
and just keep winning them." <br><br>Rest of article:
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maybe look at williams and derek malawsky on offense and thorpe or zaph on D?

I would have to say probably Shawn Williams or Derek Malawsky on Offense.  Maybe
look at thorpe or zaph on D....

With Grant, Abrams, O'Toole holding really good chances for the roster who else
from Rochester should make the trip to the casino?

I'd give Watson the nod, i'd like to see o'toole
be the backup, but i don't know if his GAA will
allow that.<br><br>I definitely like the North's
chances, it should be a total domination. I don't know how
much i can handle having knighthawks and rock on the
same team :) It should be really fun and i'm glad to
hear they brought it back.<br><br>Grant and
Prepchuk...that definitely would be cool.

Hey we get to be teammates of sorts. The All-Star
game will lump Rochester in with the Canadian crowd.
So who's the starting goalie? O'Toole, Watson,
Disher or Palidwor? <br><br>My guess is Watson wins on
the fan poll, and the other two are split between
O'Toole and Watson.<br><br>Just imagine Grant and
Prepchuk working the ball down low as teammates...look out
South.

Palidwor was a wall, add to that the fact the
'hawks kept throwin' it at his chest and that made it
worse. Abrams is definitely tough on D. I'm also happy
with the class on the team, especially TJ, he's acting
like a pro as is definitely a good ambassador....

Palidwor is having a career season in Montreal.
He definately wasn't this good last year although
the Express defense is a bit better than the
Landsharks but I think Abrams is the real deal on defense.
But as for the rest of the team well... respect the
stick skills of Dowling and Kelusky but the attitude
that comes with it might not be worth it. Maybe they
just show their worst for TV interviews just put the
smirk away for 20 seconds Tracey.... <br><br>The
K'Hawks are classy. Perfect example is TJ taking the time
to explain exactly what happened in the Toronto game
with the Giraffe.

why your welcome rids :)<br><br>Yeah there's
definitely some teams that are at the top of my list
(toronto, buffalo)....Calgary's definitely my #2,
disappointing this year, but maybe next year.<br><br>I'm
definitely starting to get a little irked at Montreal, not
only did they steal of of C-bus' players in that
expansion-relocation thing, they were definitely taking some cheap
shots all game, especially on Zaph....I am sure that 7
goal run was a bitter taste.

Way to go K'Hawks. Thanks for beating up on the
Express. I've found it easier and easier to hate some NLL
teams based on their annoying fans along with some
annoying players and Montreal is nearing the top of the
list. Good for somebody to put them in their place.
Wish Calgary could've done it but having my second
favorite complete the feat works too.

By Sal Maiorana<br>Democrat and Chronicle
<br><br>(February 10, 2002) — It wasn't like Brad MacArthur and
Jason Crosbie hadn't seen this before. <br><br>The two
former Knighthawks who now play for the Montreal Express
know what the explosive Rochester offense is capable
of when it gets on a roll. <br><br>And Saturday
night at Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial, the
Knighthawks put together one of their goal-scoring runs to
pull out a 13-10 victory over the Express. <br><br>"I
think they showed that they're a championship team,"
said MacArthur, who had one assist. "Every time I've
played here, that team gets a run together and you feel
the electricity in the crowd and it comes right down
to the bench. <br><br>"I've been on the other side
of it before and when they scored the first couple I
just thought 'Oh oh, here they come.' "
<br><br>Rochester trailed 10-6 and seemed lifeless on offense as
Montreal goalie Curtis Palidwor was stoning them. But the
Knighthawks scored the game's final seven goals to win going
away. <br><br>"It always hurt when you're up that much
and you lose," said Crosbie, who had a goal and two
assists. "You're eight minutes away from beating an
upper-echelon playoff team, maybe a championship caliber team.
We had them on the ropes, but we couldn't put it
away." <br><br>Bouncing back: There was some confusion
before the game as to who was going to start in goal for
the Knighthawks. <br><br>Backup Pat Campbell's name
was circled on the lineup sheet, and he was announced
by the Blue Cross Arena public address announcer as
the starter, but when the game began, Pat O'Toole was
between the pipes. <br><br>Had Campbell started, it
wouldn't have come as a surprise given O'Toole's recent
slump. O'Toole had allowed 30 goals in his last two
starts -- losses to Toronto and Philadelphia.
<br><br>Two weeks ago O'Toole ranked second in the National
Lacrosse League in goals-against average and save
percentage, but had dipped to sixth in the league in both
categories. Saturday he was back in top form as he stopped 37
of 47 shots and kept the Knighthawks in the game
until their offense came alive. <br><br>Jacobs returns:
After missing the first game of his Knighthawks career
last week, snapping a streak of 101 consecutive games
played, captain Duane Jacobs returned to the lineup.
<br><br>Jacobs sat out the loss to Philadelphia due to a calcium
deposit on his pelvic bone that was causing great
discomfort. <br><br>Also in the lineup was Derek Malawsky,
the team's second-leading scorer this season.
Malawsky was hit with a two-game suspension earlier this
week for an incident in the Toronto game when he
shoved an official. <br><br>Malawsky is appealing the
suspension with the help of the Professional Lacrosse
Players Association and until a decision, he will be
allowed to play.

By Sal Maiorana<br>Democrat and Chronicle
<br><br>(February 10, 2002) — The only sound more deafening than
the silence that engulfed the Montreal locker room
Saturday night were the occasional fits of primal scream
cursing and the slamming of doors. <br><br>You couldn't
blame the Express for expressing their frustration in
the wake of a maddening 13-10 National Lacrosse
League loss to the Rochester Knighthawks in front of
8,349 at Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial.
<br><br>"We were holding them off, holding them off, but you
could feel it, the first mistake we make and they bury
it and then they get going," said Montreal's Jason
Crosbie, an ex-Knighthawk, in reference to Rochester's
head-spinning seven-goal flurry that transformed what seemed
like certain defeat into victory. <br><br>"You work so
hard to get a lead like that and then all of a sudden,
boom, it's gone. You don't know why it happens, you
don't know how it happens." <br><br>But it happened,
and because it did, the Knighthawks (8-3) ended their
two-game losing streak, extended their home winning streak
to 11, and stayed within a game of first-place
Albany (9-2) in the Central Division. <br><br>Montreal
slipped to 6-4, but will have a chance to exact some
revenge when it hosts Rochester Sunday at the Molson
Centre. <br><br>In falling behind 10-6, the Knighthawks
resembled the same floundering team that had been pummeled
in its last two games, one-sided losses to Toronto
and Philadelphia. <br><br>And then once they decided
to flick on the switch, the Knighthawks looked like
the team that was so dominant during the first half
of the NLL season as they erupted for five goals in
less than four minutes to go ahead for good at 11-10.
<br><br>"We were talking to them on the bench, telling them
we had 11 minutes left and the chances would come,"
said coach Paul Day. <br><br>"The guys had good poise,
they didn't get down on themselves, they kept going to
the net and we finally got our opportunities."
<br><br>Said Derek Malawsky: "It was a matter of time before
some of those shots fell for us. We didn't give up, we
kept our composure. We knew eventually if we kept
getting chances we could bury them." <br><br>Malawsky
started the game-winning run at the 7:35 mark, Tim Soudan
followed with an outside shot that eluded Montreal goalie
Curtis Palidwor 44 seconds later, and John Grant broke
loose inside for a goal that pulled Rochester within
10-9 and brought a somber crowd jumping to life.
<br><br>Malawsky then whistled one past Palidwor from the high
slot to tie the game with 3:40 left, and six seconds
after Cory Bomberry won the ensuing faceoff, D'Arcy
Sweet scooped the loose ball and broke in alone to beat
Palidwor for the go-ahead goal. <br><br>Grant made it
12-10 with another power move inside, and Pat Cougevan
iced the victory with an empty-netter with 1:31 to go.
<br><br>"We're so potent offensively that if the ball doesn't go
in for us, we get frustrated and we force shots,"
said Grant, who had five goals and two assists to earn
game MVP honors. "The coaches were trying to tell us
to stay composed, the ball would fall for us, and it
did. It was a huge win." <br><br>A pair of three-goal
runs enabled Montreal to grab a 6-5 halftime lead, and
after Grant tied the game 39 seconds into the third
quarter, Palidwor blanked Rochester for the next 21
minutes while his teammates built the 10-6 lead.
<br><br>"I looked up and we had 41 shots and only six goals,
so you have to give their goaltender some credit,
the kid played really well," said Day. <br><br>For
the Express, Tracy Kelusky -- who played last summer
for the outdoor Rochester Rattlers -- piled up four
goals and an assist while another ex-Knighthawk, Ted
Dowling, had two goals and an assist. <br><br>"We needed
this, let's face it, after coming off two tough losses
we needed this bad," said defenseman Regy Thorpe.

hey steve, i wouldn't call it a seesaw battle,
the game was actually more dominated by Montreal
until the fourth quarter. The final 7 unanswered goals
were awesome and the crowd was really pumping, loudest
i can remember it. The 'hawks just weren't making
the right shots for most of the game. Definitely a
huge win and i agree, a loss would be
devastating.<br><br>The rumors are still abound as to where the Power
will be next year, but Edmonton seems to be the
prominent one. I'm glad for the CNN/SI coverage and i'm
looking forward to next year on AOL Sports.

Well, only saw bits and pieces of the game on
Rnews sports and looked to be a seeswa contest. Glad
the Hawks found that all important win tonight...a
loss would have been devastating.<br> Final score was
like 11 or 12 -10...maybe a couple more, but big win
for the K-hawks.<br> And soeone please tell CNN/SI
that in the final 4-5 weeks of TV coverage that there
ARE more teams in the league other than Philly and
Washington. Should be happy we even get coverage I guess.
<br>Anyone else hear of the sale of the Washington Power to
an Edmonton group who ay move the team up there as
soon as season's end?

By Sal Maiorana<br>Democrat and Chronicle
<br><br>(February 9, 2002) — By blowing out the Rochester
Knighthawks last Friday, the Philadelphia Wings certainly
didn't do the Montreal Express any favors. <br><br>"Just
what we needed, to go into Rochester with them coming
off two losses," Montreal coach Terry Sanderson said
with a nervous chuckle. <br><br>Tonight when the
Knighthawks take the floor at Blue Cross Arena at the War
Memorial, Sanderson is fully aware they will look to wipe
away the nightmare that has been the last two weeks of
their schedule. <br><br>After a blazing 7-1 start,
Rochester has lost back-to-back games by lopsided scores to
two of the National Lacrosse League's best teams --
14-9 at Toronto and 21-13 at Philadelphia. <br><br>In
the process, the Knighthawks gave up their grip on
first place in the Central Division as 7-2 Albany now
holds the top spot, with the Express (6-3) nipping at
Rochester's heels. <br><br>But while the Knighthawks aren't
pleased by their two-game slide, nor are they overly
concerned. <br><br>They still feel they have one of the best
teams in the league -- Sanderson agrees -- and they
expect to get back into a groove just in time for this
pivotal two-game divisional home-and-home series tonight
and next Sunday against Montreal. <br><br>"We're not
happy with how we played in Philadelphia, but we don't
want everyone to panic," Knighthawks coach Paul Day
said. <br><br>"We lost to two very good teams, that's
another thing that our players should understand. Toronto
is a very good team, and Philly is as good a team as
they were last year (when the Wings won the NLL
championship)." <br><br>Day makes a valid point. <br><br>Not only
are the Rock and Wings the two finalists from the
2001 championship match, both games were played on the
road in the two most hostile and intimidating
buildings in the league, Air Canada Centre and the First
Union Center. <br><br>"I wouldn't read anything into
that," Sanderson said of Rochester's recent slump.
"We're looking forward to the game, simply because we
have to find out where we are as a team. Toronto gave
us some answers (the Express lost 17-12 in Toronto
last week), but in my mind Rochester is still very
highly regarded. This gives us another shot against one
of the favorites in the league." <br><br>Rochester
needs to tighten defensively. It has been peppered for
35 goals its last two games, and the 21 scored by
Philadelphia was the most the Knighthawks have ever allowed in
a game. <br><br>"I think Philadelphia was our worst
game of the year defensively," Day understated. "We
didn't show up to play." <br><br>They'd better be
present and accounted for tonight. <br><br>Montreal, an
expansion team, has been one of the NLL's surprises, and
one of the keys has been its potent offense.
<br><br>The Express rank No. 1 in the league at 17 goals per
game and early in the year against Calgary it
shattered the league record for goals in a game with 32.
<br><br>However, while Tracey Kelusky (28 goals, 64 points) and
Ted Dowling (33 goals) have been superb, Montreal's
scoring has not been evenly spread out, and the
third-leading scorers are Mat Giles and ex-Knighthawk Jason
Crosbie with 29 points each. <br><br>"I know there's a
big drop-off in points, but that's the way it is,"
said Sanderson. <br><br>"We don't have the luxury of
being able to stockpile some depth. We would love to
have more contributions from some of the other guys."
<br><br>Day said it will be important for Rochester to
control Kelusky and Dowling, but to not forget about the
other Express shooters. <br><br>"All year it's
definitely been the two guys, but they've got quite a few
young guys who can still hurt you," he said.
<br><br>"We don't want to pay attention to just the two and
let the floodgates open everywhere else. They've put
up big numbers, we have to be concerned with that."

By Sal Maiorana<br>Democrat and Chronicle
<br><br>(February 8, 2002) — It happened nearly 12 years ago, but
Pat Cougevan vividly remembers the feeling.
<br><br>It was the first day of lacrosse practice at
Syra-cuse University and Cougevan, a wide-eyed freshman
from tiny Penn Yan, was wondering what in the world he
was doing wearing a prized Orange jersey. <br><br>"We
were on some grass field, nowhere near the Dome, and
we're in stick lines and the ball goes behind the net
to (three-time first-team All-America defenseman)
Pat McCabe," Cougevan recalled the other day.
<br><br>"He does an Indian pick-up with one hand with a
six-foot stick, then throws a pass behind his back right
on the money. I was thinking 'I don't know if I
should be here.' " <br><br>It took some time, but
Cougevan realized he did belong. <br><br>As a starting
senior long-stick defenseman, he helped Syracuse win the
1993 NCAA Division I national championship.
<br><br>Perseverance and patience helped him survive and prosper at
Syracuse, and those same attributes have come in handy
during Cougevan's career with the Rochester Knighthawks.
<br><br>Prior to the start of the 2001-02 National Lacrosse
League season, Cougevan had played just seven games
during his five years with the Knighthawks. <br><br>But
this year he has become a regular member of the
rotation and when Rochester hosts Montreal Saturday night
at Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial, Cougevan is
expected to be in the lineup for the 11th straight game.
<br><br>"I would get down on myself over the years, but in
the back of my mind I thought I could play," said
Cougevan, who helped Penn Yan win a couple of Section V
championships in the late 1980s. <br><br>Cougevan graduated
from Syracuse in 1993 and after serving as an
assistant lacrosse coach at Colgate for a year, he took a
job as a legislative aide to state Sen. John R. Kuhl,
R-Hammondsport. <br><br>By day he wore a suit and tie and became
a specialist at cutting through red tape as he met
with Kuhl's constituents and often accompanied the
senator to Albany for legislative sessions. <br><br>By
night he played lacrosse, anywhere he could.
<br><br>For a while it was in recreational leagues, and then
along came the Knighthawks, who were admitted into the
old Major Indoor Lacrosse League in 1995.
<br><br>"That first year I saw guys I played with at Syracuse
like Regy Thorpe and Matt Riter playing and I thought
I could play," Cougevan said. <br><br>About a month
after Rochester lost the 1995 MILL championship game to
Philadelphia, Cougevan saw then Knighthawks coach Barry Powless
at the NCAA Final Four at Maryland and inquired
about the team.<br><br>Rest of article
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I agree rids. Definitely not something that i
would like to see, but maybe there will be more relaxed
players (not too relaxed of course). Another upside is
the return to the regular jerseys (yah!).<br><br>One
thing that really worries me come playoff time is the
loss to Toronto (one more game left to play),
Washington, and the split with Philly. Not only could it
prove costly in the search for a home playoff game, it
also makes it tough to be the best when you have
trouble with other quality teams.

But being the top ranked team for the entire
season throws a lot of pressure on the team come playoff
time. Anything less than a championship and people look
down on you because of how great the regular season
was (see the Mariners last year). So having this blip
on the radar that drops them to second behind Albany
might turn out to be a good thing. Still lots of time
to replace the Attack at the top of the division.

That sucks that schills got hurt, but i was
definitely glad to see Teddy get a goal, he deserves it and
i hope he keeps it up, i'd like to see him in the
lineup more often, but then again, who are you going to
drop.<br><br>It's the stretch run, make it or break it...

Also, Schills broke his foot in the game!! I am
so glad Teddy got to play, he really did a good job.
Unfortunatley the Hawks played like individuals througout most
of the game (after the half) and there were several
times when Ted was open and had clear shots into the
net!!<br><br>I hope we can pull this together! We need to win
this weekend!!

I hope so too, i didn't even know that he and dewey were injured.  They better
come out hard next week.