IL Indoor

Sid Smith started his National Lacrosse League career with the Rochester Knighthawks the same way he ended his college career: with a win. In his last collegiate game, he helped lead Syracuse University to a come-from-behind overtime victory over Cornell in the NCAA title game. Fast forward to September when Smith was drafted No. 1 overall in the NLL draft by the Knighthawks, and Smith fits in perfectly for a team that lost Regy Thorpe, Troy Bonterre, and Pat Cougevan. Smith made his NLL debut on Saturday night when Rochester defeated Thruway rival Buffalo 10-5 in front of a raucous crowd of 8,192 at the Blue Cross Arena.

Smith played in front of huge crowds in college and has spent many seasons playing box lacrosse in Canada so nerves were not going to get the best of him in his first game.

“I wasn’t too nervous,” said an iced up Smith after the game. “You could check the roster, but I’m pretty sure I’ve played everyone on that team at least once or twice. The crowd was into it. It didn’t really make me nervous; it just kind of pumped me up more.”

Smith and his fellow defenders held Mark Steenhuis to just one goal on the night and only allowed one Bandits goal in the second half.

“It was a team effort. We were pressuring and we had a lot of help slides coming over quickly. We just tried to stay on him and dictate the shots that we wanted him to take.”

Smith was quick to give credit to goalie Pat O’Toole, who finished with 42 saves on 47 shots.

“He makes our job a lot easier. He doesn’t let a lot of our mistakes show when he makes a big save. He bails us out a lot. We tried to play hard for him because we know he’s going to do his job.”

Gary Gait got the scoring started 13:26 into the game on a cross-crease pass from John Grant. At 10:20, Buffalo’s Brandon Francis took a roughing penalty after he flattened Shawn Evans. A nasty behind the back pass from Shawn Williams to Shawn Evans resulted in the second goal of the night. His marker was quickly followed by a goal from Grant after he stole the ball away during a Bandits clear. The Bandits finally got on the board on the power play at 5:57 on a cannon from Mike Accursi. Moments later, Roger Vyse beat O’Toole over his left shoulder. The period ended with Rochester clinging to a 3-2 lead.

Shortly into the second, goals from Steenhuis and A.J. Shannon gave the Bandits their first lead. Rochester quickly tied it up on Gait’s second tally of the night 10:19 into the quarter. Less than a minute later, Grant scored one of the prettiest goals I’ve ever seen. It was some kind of out-of-this-world behind the back shot that only he and Jesus are capable of. After seeing Grant and company in action, Smith is well aware of the amazing array of firepower the ‘Hawks have on offense

“I got a chance to play a little bit with them (Grant and Gait) this summer up in Toronto in the MLL. It’s great to see those guys playing. How they act and how they approach the game, you can learn a lot from watching them.”

Gait made it a hat-trick when he beat Ken Montour on the power play with just over six minutes left in the half. Cory Bomberry gave Rochester a three goal lead on a cannon just about a minute later.

Tom Montour beat O’Toole through the wickets to start the second half to pull Buffalo within two. Rochester finally got on the score sheet in the second half when Craig Point solved Montour as he was being slammed to the turf. The third quarter ended with Rochester holding an 8-5 advantage.

A little trickeration led to Williams’ first goal of the season. Grant found him wide open in front of Montour and he put it away with a quick stick. Rochester added one more insurance goal and Rochester held on for the win.

After the game, Smith pointed out that an overall team effort is what propelled the Knighthawks to victory on opening night.

“I thought our defense played really well. They are a really highly skilled team, so defensively we tried to get out on them. We tried to dictate the shots that we allowed them to have. Offensively, we have a lot of firepower up there. We were getting a lot of shots and a lot of good looks.”

Grant took home game MVP honors with 2 goals and 6 assists in his return to NLL action. Gait finished with 3 goals and 2 assists. Buffalo was led by Ken Montour’s 46 saves on 56 shots and Steenhuis’s three points.

One of the biggest question marks in the past weeks has been about Rochester’s chemistry with so many new big guns and new pieces. Some of that seemed to be answered on Saturday night.

“That’s a challenge, said Smith. “You don’t get much practice time and you only place once a week, so building chemistry quick is really important if you want to get off to a good start.”

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