Player Spotlight

Player Spotlight highlights the finer details and elements while supplying insight to the fans on what a player's thought process may be pertaining to a certain play, game or situation. It brings the intensity, passion, and inner most thoughts of the individual player that otherwise may not be felt or heard.



This Week PLPA Correspondant Tom Borrelli interviews Pat O'Toole of the Rochester Knighthawks.

Goaltender Pat O'Toole is taking his Rochester Knighthawks to the National Lacrosse League championship game for the second straight year. He made 41 saves Saturday night against his old team, the Buffalo Bandits, in a 15-11 semifinal win at HSBC Arena. PLPA Correspondant Tom Borrelli met up with Pat after the game.


Question How did the Knighthawks manage to hold off the Bandits?
Answer We got out to a big lead early (9-1) and that really helped us because any time you do that a team has to work really hard just to get back in it. Our defensive guys played really well, like they always do. And it's just a matter of time until our offensive guys get their goals.


Question What has it been like to watch teammate John Grant Jr. perform in front of you this season?
Answer John's kind of a mixture of John Tavares and Gary Gait. Gary's a little bit fancier with the stick. But John Grant gets those over-the-shoulder goals. He means to do those, they're not just lucky. It's really fun to watch him when he's on your side. He's not even supposed to take some of those shots and he's burying them.


Question How sweet was it to beat the team which released you in a playoff game?
Answer It's really great because this is the team that let me go. Last year it was big for me to come in here and beat them but not so much anymore. This year, I'm a Knighthawk and I'm playing for the guys in front of me. Beating Buffalo is a little bit sweeter, I won't lie, but there's not the big revenge factor anymore.


Question What will your team have to do better to win the championship you just missed last season?
Answer If it's Toronto, we can't let them get out to the big lead. Last year they got up on us early and this year when we lost up there, we went down, 6-1, in the first quarter. We played with them, or even outplayed them, in the other quarters. We can't bury ourselves early. It would be interesting to see how a team like Toronto would play without the big early lead.


Question Were you as tight as usual before the semifinal game?
Answer I was doing my normal pacing before the game. But it's been such a good run for us, six in a row now, that it may look like you're a little bit more relaxed. Maybe the fact that our defense played so well made me appear more relaxed than I really was.


Question Does this six-game run remind you of the championship Buffalo team you played with in 1996?
Answer Yes, that '96 team never thought we could lose a game, from that first game right through the championship. That's kind of like the feeling here, especially the last six games, and it's a great feeling.


Question What game turned it around for the Knighthawks this year?
Answer The Albany game (a home loss). We sat in the locker room for a good hour or hour and a half just talking among ourselves. Because for a while there it seemed like we were just showing up. You have to work hard. Any game after that game, we worked harder than the other team.


Question What's been the most fun part of it for you this year?
Answer Of course the winning is always great. But this year, all of our guys have been hanging out together. Not only are we playing like a team but we're also hanging out like a team. Last year in Rochester we kind of had our little groups. But we've seemed to break the barrier between the Toronto guys and the Kitchener guys and the U.S. guys. We're all having fun together.



Question Is it good or bad for your team to have two weeks off before the final?
Answer I think it's a good thing for us. Because the last few weeks of the regular season it seemed like we had a game, then a week off, then a game, then a week off. So I think we're used to it. Some of these other teams are probably more used to playing game, game, game. The key for us is to focus on the final game.


Question You went down three times with injuries against Buffalo. Were any of them serious?
Answer Yes. The last one was the knee hurting for a good two minutes or so. The other knee I hurt in Pittsburgh and I'll be having an operation on it after this season is over. They didn't look too bad but I guess I'm just getting too old for all this.


Click here to read this weeks second Player Spotlight featuring Glenn Clark.


PLPA Correspondent

Tom Borrelli, fell in love with lacrosse while writing for his school campus paper "The Record" as a student at Buffalo State College in 1977.

He has seen and covered over 1000 games at all levels which includes the Buffalo Bandits for the Buffalo News since their inception in 1991, NCAA Tournament games, Final Four Championships, upstate New York schools games, the Canadian Mann Cup Championship, the OLA Major Box Lacrosse Series, the Buffalo Gamblers of the OLA Major Series and high school events.

Tom presently writes for the Buffalo News and does extensive feature writing for Lacrosse Magazine and Inside Lacrosse. Between pro box, college and high school field and OLA box lacrosse Tom attends about 50 to 60 games a year (and Dick Vitale thinks he has it made with hoops!) The PLPA is happy to have Tom on board as a contributing writer for the Player Spotlight.





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