The Knighthawks are owned by the Seneca Nation of New York, via their subsidiary Seneca Holdings, LLC. They took over in 2025 from previous owner Terry Pegula, who had purchased the intellectual property of the original Knighthawks in 2019.[2]
The new Knighthawks franchise was created to replace the original team, which owner Curt Styres moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia, as the Halifax Thunderbirds at the end of the 2018–2019 season. All records and championships followed the original franchise to Halifax, and the new team uses different colors, mascot, and logo.[3]
History
The original Knighthawks played in Rochester from 1995 until 2019. They began as members of the Major Indoor Lacrosse League from 1995 to 1997 then became members of the NLL beginning with the league's inaugural 1998 season.[4]
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. They were also the first NLL team to win three consecutive championships (2012–14).[4]
On September 13, 2018, owner Curt Styres announced that he would be accepting a new team in Halifax, Nova Scotia 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 (the latter of whom was raised in the Rochester suburbs) along with an expansion franchise to ensure Rochester's uninterrupted presence in the league.[5] 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 Blue Cross Arena.[6] The new franchise does not count as a continuation of the previous franchise. All championships and records were transferred to Halifax.[3][2]
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 as assistant coach.[7]
On June 23, 2025, it was announced that Pegula would divest ownership of the Knighthawks franchise on June 30th. The league worked to find new owners who would keep the team in Rochester,[8] and on August 5, the Seneca Nation of New York announced its acquisition of the team.[9]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
