# 2009 Rochester Knighthawks season

The Rochester Knighthawks were a lacrosse team based in Rochester, New York, United States, that played in the National Lacrosse League (NLL). The 2009 season was the 15th in franchise history.
In September 2008, Knighthawks superstar John Grant, Jr. underwent emergency surgery on his left knee to remove an infection from his ACL. The surgery meant that Grant would miss the entire 2009 season. To make up for the loss of their most potent scoring threat, the Knighthawks pulled an unexpected move: they traded forward Andrew Potter and two first round draft picks to the Colorado Mammoth for the rights to lacrosse legend Gary Gait, and convinced Gait to return to playing after a three-year retirement.

## Regular season
### Conference standings

Reference:
East Division :
| P | Team | GP | W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Road | GF | GA | Diff | GF/GP | GA/GP |
| 1 | New York Titans – xy | 16 | 10 | 6 | .625 | 0.0 | 5–3 | 5–3 | 190 | 180 | +10 | 11.88 | 11.25 |
| 2 | Buffalo Bandits – x | 16 | 10 | 6 | .625 | 0.0 | 5–3 | 5–3 | 223 | 170 | +53 | 13.94 | 10.62 |
| 3 | Boston Blazers – x | 16 | 10 | 6 | .625 | 0.0 | 4–4 | 6–2 | 181 | 168 | +13 | 11.31 | 10.50 |
| 4 | Rochester Knighthawks – x | 16 | 7 | 9 | .438 | 3.0 | 6–2 | 1–7 | 169 | 197 | −28 | 10.56 | 12.31 |
| 5 | Philadelphia Wings | 16 | 7 | 9 | .438 | 3.0 | 4–4 | 3–5 | 188 | 193 | −5 | 11.75 | 12.06 |
| 6 | Toronto Rock | 16 | 6 | 10 | .375 | 4.0 | 3–5 | 3–5 | 194 | 218 | −24 | 12.12 | 13.62 |
West Division :
| P | Team | GP | W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Road | GF | GA | Diff | GF/GP | GA/GP |
| 1 | Calgary Roughnecks – xyz | 16 | 12 | 4 | .750 | 0.0 | 5–3 | 7–1 | 206 | 167 | +39 | 12.88 | 10.44 |
| 2 | Portland LumberJax – x | 16 | 9 | 7 | .562 | 3.0 | 4–4 | 5–3 | 181 | 177 | +4 | 11.31 | 11.06 |
| 3 | San Jose Stealth – x | 16 | 7 | 9 | .438 | 5.0 | 5–3 | 2–6 | 200 | 185 | +15 | 12.50 | 11.56 |
| 4 | Colorado Mammoth – x | 16 | 7 | 9 | .438 | 5.0 | 4–4 | 3–5 | 172 | 184 | −12 | 10.75 | 11.50 |
| 5 | Minnesota Swarm | 16 | 6 | 10 | .375 | 6.0 | 2–6 | 4–4 | 174 | 198 | −24 | 10.88 | 12.38 |
| 6 | Edmonton Rush | 16 | 5 | 11 | .312 | 7.0 | 4–4 | 1–7 | 159 | 200 | −41 | 9.94 | 12.50 |
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 10, 2009 | Philadelphia Wings | Blue Cross Arena | L 13–16 | | 7,422 | 0–1 |
| 2 | January 16, 2009 | @ Buffalo Bandits | HSBC Arena | L 6–23 | | 15,494 | 0–2 |
| 3 | January 18, 2009 | @ San Jose Stealth | HP Pavilion at San Jose | L 6–16 | | 3,463 | 0–3 |
| 4 | January 24, 2009 | New York Titans | Blue Cross Arena | L 7–8 | | 6,739 | 0–4 |
| 5 | January 31, 2009 | Toronto Rock | Blue Cross Arena | W 13–11 | | 7,088 | 1–4 |
| 6 | February 15, 2009 | @ New York Titans | Madison Square Garden | L 9–15 | | 5,187 | 1–5 |
| 7 | February 21, 2009 | New York Titans | Blue Cross Arena | W 15–7 | | 7,142 | 2–5 |
| 8 | February 28, 2009 | Toronto Rock | Blue Cross Arena | W 18–10 | | 6,739 | 3–5 |
| 9 | March 14, 2009 | Buffalo Bandits | Blue Cross Arena | W 15–14 | OT | 9,134 | 4–5 |
| 10 | March 21, 2009 | @ Toronto Rock | Air Canada Centre | L 10–16 | | 14,812 | 4–6 |
| 11 | March 28, 2009 | Boston Blazers | Blue Cross Arena | W 11–10 | | 7,329 | 5–6 |
| 12 | April 3, 2009 | @ Colorado Mammoth | Pepsi Center | W 12–8 | | 16,834 | 6–6 |
| 13 | April 4, 2009 | @ Calgary Roughnecks | Pengrowth Saddledome | L 9–12 | | 10,098 | 6–7 |
| 14 | April 10, 2009 | @ Buffalo Bandits | HSBC Arena | L 9–13 | | 17,118 | 6–8 |
| 15 | April 11, 2009 | @ Boston Blazers | TD Banknorth Garden | L 5–10 | | 8,097 | 6–9 |
| 16 | April 18, 2009 | Philadelphia Wings | Blue Cross Arena | W 11–8 | | 8,539 | 7–9 |

## Playoffs
### Game log

Reference:
| Game | Date | Opponent | Location | Score | OT | Attendance | Record |
| Division Semifinal | May 1, 2009 | @ New York Titans | Prudential Center | L 10–11 | OT | 4,878 | 0–1 |

## 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 |
| Shawn Williams | 16 | 26 | 67 | 93 | 85 | 4 |
| Shawn Evans | 16 | 30 | 49 | 79 | 106 | 42 |
| Jason Henhawk | 14 | 18 | 20 | 38 | 55 | 6 |
| Gary Gait | 11 | 22 | 15 | 37 | 42 | 4 |
| Craig Point | 10 | 17 | 11 | 28 | 47 | 12 |
| Joe Walters | 15 | 8 | 12 | 20 | 50 | 7 |
| Chris Schiller | 16 | 8 | 11 | 19 | 100 | 20 |
| Steve Toll | 16 | 4 | 13 | 17 | 178 | 6 |
| Ken Millin | 14 | 5 | 11 | 16 | 41 | 21 |
| Totals | | 262 | 431 | 373 | 1117 | 42 |

### 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 | 13 | 776:46 | 7 | 6 | 139 | .774 | 10.74 |
| Derek Collins | 3 | 93:20 | 0 | 3 | 28 | .627 | 18.00 |
| Phil Wetherup | 2 | 49:48 | 0 | 0 | 21 | .543 | 25.30 |
| Ben Vanevery | 13 | 43:52 | 0 | 0 | 7 | .788 | 9.57 |
| Jake Henhawk | 1 | 0:00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .00 |
| Totals | | | 7 | 9 | 197 | .744 | 12.31 |

## Transactions
### New players

* Aaron Wilson - acquired in trade
* Gary Gait - acquired in trade
* Chris Courtney - acquired in trade

### Players not returning

* Stephen Hoar - traded
* Andrew Potter - traded
* Jack Reid - traded
* John Grant, Jr. - injured, out for season
* Luke Forget - traded

### Trades

| February 19, 2009 | To Rochester KnighthawksCraig Point Dean Hill | To Minnesota Swarm Aaron Wilson conditional draft pick |
| December 9, 2008 | To Rochester Knighthawkssecond round selection, 2009 entry draft | To Portland LumberJaxLuke Forget |
| November 19, 2008 | To Rochester KnighthawksChris Courtney | To Minnesota Swarm fourth round pick, 2010 entry draft |
| October 15, 2008 | To Rochester KnighthawksGary Gait | To Colorado MammothAndrew Potter 1st round pick, 2009 entry draft 1st round pick, 2010 entry draft |
| September 7, 2008 | To Rochester KnighthawksAaron Wilson first round pick, 2009 entry draft (from Toronto) | To Toronto Rock Luke Wiles Stephen Hoar | To San Jose Stealthfirst round pick, 2008 entry draft (from Rochester) |
| July 29, 2008 | To Rochester KnighthawksKyle Laverty | To Boston Blazers Jack Reid |
| June 30, 2008 | To Rochester KnighthawksTroy Bonterre Mac Allen third round pick, 2008 entry draft | To Edmonton Rush Lindsay Plunkett Matt Brown |

### Entry draft

The 2008 NLL Entry Draft took place on September 7, 2008. The Knighthawks selected the following players:
| Round | Overall | Player | College/Club |
| 2 | 18 | Joel McCready | Cornell University/St. Catharines Athletics Jr.A |
| 3 | 29 | Kyle Guadagnolo | Syracuse University |
| 3 | 30 | Brendan Loftus | Syracuse University |
| 4 | 41 | Jesse Guerin | Peterborough Lakers Jr.A |
| 5 | 54 | Logan Kane | Onondaga Community College/Six Nations Arrows Jr.A |
| 6 | 67 | Mitch Nanticoke | Six Nations Arrows Jr.A |