Rochester, NY -- The Rochester Knighthawks John Grant left Australia with some extra luggage: two wins and an MVP award. Grant led the East All-Stars with six goals, which included three fourth-quarter tallies, in a 20-19 victory over the West All-Stars on Saturday. The game was the second and final contest of the LeasePlan NLL All Star Series at Hisense Arena in Melbourne, Australia.

"We didn't want to lose the game," said Grant. "We knew we had a bit of a jump from last night, but we wanted to win both and send those West boys home disappointed. We did what we needed to do tonight."

Grant was one of three Knighthawks playing in the series, joining Shawn Evans and Gary Gait. The games are a warm up for the Knighthawks players as they prepare for the 2010 season, which begins on Saturday, January 9th. That night, the K-hawks open their 16th season against the Buffalo Bandits at 8:05 p.m. at The Blue Cross Arena at the Rochester War Memorial.

On Saturday, Evans (3+0) opened up the scoring after just a minute of play for the East, and followed up with an impressive behind-the-back shot in the seventh minute. Evans netted his third goal of the game in the second quarter after the West had taken an 11-6 lead. Grant and Mark Steenhuis (Buffalo) netted late goals to cut the lead to 12-10 at halftime.

The West stormed ahead in the third quarter taking a 17-15 lead, but it was not enough. A three-goal effort by Grant in the final frame secured the 35 year old the MVP honors, finishing the final game of the series with six goals.

2009-10-25