The Rochester Knighthawks (also known as the K-Hawks) are an American professional

box lacrosse Box lacrosse, also known as boxla, box, or indoor lacrosse, is an indoor version of lacrosse played mostly in North America. The game originated in the 1930s in Canada, where it is more popular than field lacrosse. Lacrosse is Canada's officia ...

team based in

Rochester, New York Rochester is a city in and the county seat, seat of government of Monroe County, New York, United States. It is the List of municipalities in New York, fourth-most populous city and 10th most-populated municipality in New York, with a populati ...

, that competes in the

National Lacrosse League The National Lacrosse League (NLL) is a professional box lacrosse league in North America. The league comprises 14 teams8 in the United States and 6 in Canada. The NLL is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ...

(NLL). The team plays its home games at

Blue Cross Arena Blue Cross Arena, also known as the War Memorial, is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in Rochester, New York. For hockey and lacrosse, its seating capacity is 10,662. The arena opened on October 18, 1955, as the Rochester Community War Memor ...

. The Knighthawks are owned by

Terry Pegula Terrence Michael Pegula (born March 27, 1951) is an American billionaire businessman and petroleum engineer. He is the owner of the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League (NHL) and, with a consortium of private equity firms and athletes, th ...

who purchased the intellectual property of the team from former owner Curt Styres. Styres moved the previous version of the team to

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and most populous municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the most populous municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of 2024, it is estimated that the population of the H ...

, as the

Halifax Thunderbirds The Halifax Thunderbirds (known colloquially as the T-Birds) are a Canadian professional box lacrosse team based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, that competes in the National Lacrosse League (NLL). The Thunderbirds play their home games at Scotiabank C ...

at the end of the 2018–2019 season. As an expansion team they are not a continuation of the previous Knighthawks. All records and championships followed the original franchise to Halifax.

History

The original Knighthawks played in Rochester from 1995 until 2019. They began as members of the Major Indoor Lacrosse League from

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

then became members of the NLL beginning with the league's inaugural

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

season. The Knighthawks reached the playoffs in each of their first 13 seasons, from 1995 to 2007. This is a league record going back to the league's original creation, the Eagle Pro Box Lacrosse League. The previous record was 11 straight years, held by the

Philadelphia Wings Philadelphia Wings may refer to any of three distinct professional lacrosse teams: * Philadelphia Wings (1974–1975), a member of the original National Lacrosse League * Philadelphia Wings (1987–2014) The Philadelphia Wings were a member of ...

. They were also the first NLL team to win three consecutive championships (2012–14). On September 13, 2018, owner Curt Styres announced that he would be accepting a new team in Halifax,

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

and would be relocating the Knighthawks' to the city for the winter 2019–2020 season. The Knighthawks intellectual property was sold to Terry and

Kim Pegula Kim S. Pegula (; born June 7, 1969) is a South Korean-born American former businesswoman and the wife of American multibillionaire Terry Pegula. She was the president of Pegula Sports and Entertainment, the holding company that managed the Buffa ...

(the latter of whom was raised in the Rochester suburbs) along with an

expansion franchise An expansion team is a new team in a sports league, usually from a city that has not hosted a team in that league before, formed with the intention of satisfying the demand for a local team from a population in a new area. Sporting leagues also ...

to ensure Rochester's uninterrupted presence in the league. The original name was used, but the color scheme and logo changed. The team logo, colors, and other officials were announced on May 29, 2019 in an event at

. The new franchise does not count as a continuation of the previous franchise. All championships and records were transferred to Halifax. On June 27, 2019, the Knighthawks named Mike Hasen, who had coached the original Knighthawks since 2011, as head coach, Dan Carey as General Manager, and

Pat O'Toole Patrick "Toole Time" O'Toole (born December 24, 1971, in Toronto, Ontario) is an assistant coach for the Rochester Knighthawks in the National Lacrosse League and a retired goaltender. O'Toole was named NLL Goaltender of the Year in 2003. In 1 ...

as assistant coach.

Current roster

All-time record

Playoff results

Head coaching history

Award winners

Draft history

NLL Entry Draft

First Round Selections *

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

: Ryland Rees (2nd overall) *

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

: Ryan Smith (3rd overall) *

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

: Thomas McConvey (1st overall), Austin Hasen (18th overall) *

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

: Graydon Hogg (15th overall), Ben MacDonnell (16th overall) * 2024: None

Notes

References

External links

Official Website
{{Upstate New York Sports Knighthawks Lacrosse clubs established in 2019 Lacrosse teams in New York (state) National Lacrosse League teams Pegula Sports and Entertainment 2019 establishments in New York (state)