Rochester loses Evan Kirk for remainder of season
Evan Kirk (Photo: Micheline V)
The Rochester Knighthawks have announced that the team has moved starting goalie Evan Kirk to their holdout list for the remainder of the season due to work-related commitments.
The Lax Mag confirmed that Kirk, who signed a one-year contract with Rochester over the off-season, will soon be starting police college. While that had been known prior to his commitment to the Knightahwks, concerns over the spread of the COVID-19 Omicron variant have made it difficult to commit to both the league and his upcoming training.
In the Knighthawks’ statement on the roster move, team GM Dan Carey said, “Evan, unfortunately, has a work commitment that will prevent him from competing with us for the remainder of the current season. We thank Evan for his contributions to the Knighthawks this season and hope to see him return to the organization at a time when he is able to do so.”
Rochester Knighthawks (Photo: Micheline V)
It’s likely the Knighthawks will start Kirk’s backup, Rylan Hartley, this coming Saturday when the team travels to Albany to face the FireWolves in their opponent’s historic home opener. Rochester also has practice-squad goalie, Joel Watson, on their roster.
Hartley, who was originally drafted by the San Diego Seals but registered his rookie season with Rochester last year, is considered by many to be a future star stopper in the NLL after his brilliant Ontario Junior Lacrosse League career backstopping the Orangeville Northmen.
The loss of Kirk is not the first blow the Rochester roster has sustained just weeks into the 2021/22 NLL season. Last week, Cory Highfield was put on the team’s COVID-19 protocol list.
Highfield was the second NLL player placed on the protocol list after New York Riptide rookie, Jeff Teat, was moved there days earlier.
Due to player confidentiality and privacy, the league does not disclose the specifics about why an individual is in COVID protocol.
The Knighthawks and Riptide opened their season against one another, a 13-12 OT win in Rochester’s favour.