By Travis Larner -- Despite the 14-10 loss to the Toronto Rock in Saturday’s exhibition game at the Bell Centre in Montreal, the game provided an once-in-a-lifetime experience for one lucky Rochester Knighthawk.

After impressing the Knighthawks with his conditioning and defensive ability at the Quebec Lacrosse Showcase on November 17th, Patrick Hargreaves was selected out of a pool of 35 players to suit up for Rochester in from of his hometown crowd.

It was a surreal moment for the Montreal native as he was announced as a starter for Rochester. Watch highlights of the game.

“Yes, it was a dream come true,” said Hargreaves, who plays for the Vermont Voyageurs of the Senior “B” Quebec Senior Lacrosse League. “For sure I wanted to win, but at the end of the day, I had fun. It was fast and now I know what’s happening out there. I just wish luck to everyone on the team.”

Hargreaves served as an assistant captain for the Voyageurs during the 2012 season. In the 2011 All-Star Game, he netted four goals as the QSLL beat the best of the Three Nations Lacrosse League.
Playing defense for the Knighthawks, however, was an eye-opening experience. Hargreaves learned firsthand just about the fast-paced National Lacrosse League.

“It was fast. A lot of speed and it was crazy. The ball was going much faster than in my league,” said Hargreaves. “It wasn’t that rough in the front when I was on defense, but they were just sliding all the time and just running, running, running. They just get you lost easily.”

The physical education teacher at Mont-De-La Salle High School in Laval, Quebec, will now be able to take what he learned from his minutes on the floor with the Knighthawks and teach his teammates a lesson on how defense is played in the pros.“

On defense, it’s really not the same thing. Different positioning and a lot of speed, and going in the middle because usually we just go in our ‘office’, like we say. Now it’s really different, easier to play,” said Hargreaves.

Admittedly, the Quebecer has become the Knighthawks’ newest fan. He hopes the exhibition matchup, with an announced attendance of 7,269, has sparked enough interest for the game of lacrosse in his hometown so that someday soon, Montreal will once again be a competing member of the NLL.

“I hope there will be a team. A game like that every week without hockey, it could pick up really easily,” he said. “For sure, the NLL is welcome in Montreal.”