2008 Rochester Knighthawks season
# 2008 Rochester Knighthawks season

The Rochester Knighthawks were a lacrosse team based in Rochester, New York, that played in the National Lacrosse League (NLL). The 2008 season was the 14th in franchise history.

After finishing the 2007 season with a 14-game winning stream winning the Champion's Cup, the Knighthawks hoped to continue their success into 2008. They continued their winning streak by beating the Buffalo Bandits in the season opener, but then lost the next three. The Knighthawks finished with an 8-8 record, good for 5th place in the Eastern division, and missed the playoffs for the first time in franchise history.

## Regular season

### Conference standings

Reference:

East Division :

| P | Team | GP | W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Road | GF | GA | Diff | GF/GP | GA/GP |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Buffalo Bandits – xyz | 16 | 10 | 6 | .625 | 0.0 | 7–2 | 3–4 | 203 | 174 | +29 | 12.69 | 10.88 |
| 2 | Minnesota Swarm – x | 16 | 10 | 6 | .625 | 0.0 | 6–2 | 4–4 | 199 | 196 | +3 | 12.44 | 12.25 |
| 3 | New York Titans – x | 16 | 10 | 6 | .625 | 0.0 | 5–1 | 5–5 | 197 | 186 | +11 | 12.31 | 11.62 |
| 4 | Philadelphia Wings – x | 16 | 10 | 6 | .625 | 0.0 | 7–1 | 3–5 | 225 | 220 | +5 | 14.06 | 13.75 |
| 5 | Rochester Knighthawks | 16 | 8 | 8 | .500 | 2.0 | 4–4 | 4–4 | 197 | 171 | +26 | 12.31 | 10.69 |
| 6 | Toronto Rock | 16 | 7 | 9 | .438 | 3.0 | 4–5 | 3–4 | 172 | 174 | −2 | 10.75 | 10.88 |
| 7 | Chicago Shamrox | 16 | 6 | 10 | .375 | 4.0 | 3–5 | 3–5 | 176 | 212 | −36 | 11.00 | 13.25 |

West Division :

| P | Team | GP | W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Road | GF | GA | Diff | GF/GP | GA/GP |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | San Jose Stealth – xy | 16 | 9 | 7 | .562 | 0.0 | 4–4 | 5–3 | 185 | 172 | +13 | 11.56 | 10.75 |
| 2 | Colorado Mammoth – x | 16 | 9 | 7 | .562 | 0.0 | 6–2 | 3–5 | 184 | 167 | +17 | 11.50 | 10.44 |
| 3 | Calgary Roughnecks – x | 16 | 7 | 9 | .438 | 2.0 | 5–3 | 2–6 | 183 | 178 | +5 | 11.44 | 11.12 |
| 4 | Portland LumberJax – x | 16 | 6 | 10 | .375 | 3.0 | 3–5 | 3–5 | 179 | 194 | −15 | 11.19 | 12.12 |
| 5 | Edmonton Rush | 16 | 4 | 12 | .250 | 5.0 | 3–5 | 1–7 | 141 | 197 | −56 | 8.81 | 12.31 |

x: Clinched playoff berth; c: Clinched playoff berth by crossing over to another division; y: Clinched division; z: Clinched best regular season record; GP: Games Played W: Wins; L: Losses; GB: Games back; PCT: Win percentage; Home: Record at Home; Road: Record on the Road; GF: Goals scored; GA: Goals allowed Differential: Difference between goals scored and allowed; GF/GP: Average number of goals scored per game; GA/GP: Average number of goals allowed per game

### Game log

Reference:

| Game | Date | Opponent | Location | Score | OT | Attendance | Record |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | January 11, 2008 | @ Buffalo Bandits | HSBC Arena | W 12–9 | | 18,670 | 1–0 |
| 2 | January 12, 2008 | Buffalo Bandits | Blue Cross Arena | L 9–14 | | 10,939 | 1–1 |
| 3 | January 18, 2008 | @ Philadelphia Wings | Wachovia Center | L 14–15 | | 9,248 | 1–2 |
| 4 | January 26, 2008 | Minnesota Swarm | Blue Cross Arena | L 17–18 | OT | 9,686 | 1–3 |
| 5 | February 9, 2008 | Toronto Rock | Blue Cross Arena | W 11–4 | | 9,925 | 2–3 |
| 6 | February 16, 2008 | Calgary Roughnecks | Blue Cross Arena | W 15–12 | | 8,871 | 3–3 |
| 7 | February 23, 2008 | New York Titans | Blue Cross Arena | L 11–14 | | 10,118 | 3–4 |
| 8 | March 1, 2008 | @ Chicago Shamrox | Sears Centre | W 18–8 | | 5,335 | 4–4 |
| 9 | March 15, 2008 | @ Edmonton Rush | Rexall Place | L 9–10 | OT | 6,711 | 4–5 |
| 10 | March 22, 2008 | Chicago Shamrox | Blue Cross Arena | L 11–12 | | 10,221 | 4–6 |
| 11 | March 29, 2008 | Philadelphia Wings | Blue Cross Arena | W 20–12 | | 8,940 | 5–6 |
| 12 | April 3, 2008 | @ Colorado Mammoth | Pepsi Center | L 8–11 | | 16,860 | 5–7 |
| 13 | April 5, 2008 | @ Toronto Rock | Air Canada Centre | W 9–6 | | 15,422 | 6–7 |
| 14 | April 12, 2008 | Buffalo Bandits | Blue Cross Arena | W 11–6 | | 10,517 | 7–7 |
| 15 | April 19, 2008 | @ Minnesota Swarm | Xcel Energy Center | W 11–8 | | 11,568 | 8–7 |
| 16 | April 26, 2008 | @ New York Titans | Madison Square Garden | L 11–12 | | 8,026 | 8–8 |

## Player stats

Reference:

### Runners (Top 10)

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; LB = Loose balls; PIM = Penalty minutes

| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | LB | PIM |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| John Grant, Jr. | 16 | 47 | 45 | 92 | 116 | 16 |
| Shawn Williams | 16 | 25 | 55 | 80 | 64 | 2 |
| Scott Evans | 16 | 44 | 34 | 78 | 88 | 28 |
| Shawn Evans | 15 | 25 | 38 | 63 | 61 | 63 |
| Ken Millin | 15 | 8 | 25 | 33 | 49 | 8 |
| Steve Toll | 16 | 7 | 25 | 32 | 166 | 8 |
| Stephen Hoar | 16 | 5 | 17 | 22 | 76 | 36 |
| Sandy Chapman | 16 | 1 | 15 | 16 | 77 | 12 |
| Matt Lyons | 12 | 9 | 6 | 15 | 26 | 9 |
| Totals | | 317 | 514 | 375 | 1167 | 44 |

### Goaltenders

Note: GP = Games played; MIN = Minutes; W = Wins; L = Losses; GA = Goals against; Sv% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average

| Player | GP | MIN | W | L | GA | Sv% | GAA |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Pat O'Toole | 16 | 889:25 | 8 | 6 | 156 | .776 | 10.52 |
| Phil Wetherup | 15 | 71:39 | 0 | 2 | 13 | .759 | 10.89 |
| Grant Crawley | 1 | 4:30 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | .00 |
| Totals | | | 8 | 8 | 171 | .773 | 10.69 |

## Awards

| Player | Award |
| - | - |
| John Grant, Jr. | All-Stars |
| Scott Evans | All-Stars |
| Steve Toll | All-Stars |
| Shawn Williams | All-Stars |

## Roster

Reference:

| No. | Position | Player |
| - | - | - |
| 43 | Def | Abrams, Marshall |
| 26 | Def | Brown, David |
| | ? | Bucktooth, Drew |
| 5 | Def | Chapman, Sandy |
| 42 | Def | Cougevan, Pat |
| 52 | Goalie | Crawley, Grant |
| 25 | Def | Ditzell, Scott |
| | Def | Dutton, Pat |
| 19 | Fwd | Evans (sc), Scott |
| 15 | Fwd | Evans (sh), Shawn |
| | Def | Forget, Luke |
| 24 | Fwd | Grant, John |
| 20 | Def | Greer, Bill |
| 23 | Trans | Hoar, Stephen |
| No. | Position | Player |
| 21 | Fwd | Lyons, Matt |
| 14 | Fwd | McLeod, Mat |
| 32 | Fwd | Millin, Ken |
| 39 | Goalie | O'Toole, Pat |
| 16 | Fwd | Potter, Andrew |
| 18 | Def | Reid, Jack |
| 2 | Trans | Schiller, Chris |
| | Fwd | Spillett, Brandon |
| 11 | Def | Thorpe, Regy |
| 17 | Trans | Toll, Steve |
| 22 | ? | Vitarelli, Cory |
| 90 | Goalie | Wetherup, Phil |
| | ? | Wilkins, Shawn |
| 51 | Fwd | Williams, Shawn |
