The Game
“Grant against Cooley, Grant around one, Grant sets Scores! John Grant! The Knighthawks are going to the Finals!” To some, this quote would hold no meaning and most likely not even make any sense, but to me this was the start of the next major portion in my life.
This is the goal call from when the Rochester Knighthawks beat their rival Buffalo Bandits in the National Lacrosse League Eastern Conference final in 2007. The importance behind these words comes from the fact that this exact moment would help to guide me through the next ten years of my life and beyond.
It was a snowy evening in April when my dad, brother, and I made the trek from our car across the Main Street Bridge, and into the local sports venue, Blue Cross Arena. It is very possible that I had been to sporting events here before in my life, but this is the first one that really stuck with me.
My attention was immediately drawn to the number of fans piling into this relatively small arena, it seats 11,000 and they needed every single one to hold both Rochester and Buffalo fans alike. As we took our seats the energy in the stadium was so strong that it was almost a physical sensation.
We were sitting in section 106, my dad and brother’s normal season ticket holder section that they had frequented for the past three seasons. There was a combination of fans from both sides sitting around us, all of whom seemed to be competing for the honor of being the loudest and or drunkest in the section. This competition reached a head as the sound system started to pipe in Metallica’s Enter Sandman and each team ran out onto the field to a mix of cheers and boos alike.
As a nine year old who had never experience anything even close to this type of atmosphere before, I was blown away by the showmanship and intensity of everything even before the game had even started.
As I would figure out in later years, the game itself turned into a classic Rochester-Buffalo matchup. Plenty of goals, plenty of penalties, a few fans getting thrown out for fighting, and a Rochester goal early in the first overtime period to send them onto the championship game. I can still remember leaving the arena and not being able to tell whether the shaking I was feeling was my own nerves or the arena itself being shifted by cheering fans.
The most immediate impact of this game was my introduction to the game of lacrosse. That summer, I joined the middle school lacrosse travel team and would follow this up all the way through high school, lettering on the varsity team for my four years. I also took over my brother’s season ticket for Knighthawks games once he moved off to college, something that became a very fun tradition between my dad and I. Moving to college sadly ended both my playing career as well as my attendance at these games, however that game’s impact stayed with me.
That energy and excitement that I felt during that game over 12 years ago is something that stayed with me and actually helped to guide me through the difficult times of figuring out what I wanted to do with my life. Following my transfer out of the Intelligence department here at Mercyhurst, I found myself with no distinguishable career path and tremendous pressure to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. The memory of this event along with the urge to chase those feelings of excitement helped to guide me into the sports industry and continue to help guide me through my collegiate experience and beyond.
