You might say that the Rochester Knighthawks are partying tonight like it's 1997.

And why not? Boston returned the league this week, after a ten-year absence; the Knighthawks flashed back to the days of not hosting a playoff game despite having the better record; and, oh, yes, Rochester is finally back at the top of the lacrosse world.

After years of near misses and fumbled opportunities, the Knighthawks this afternoon won the National Lacrosse League Champion's Cup, holding off a late Arizona Sting rally for a 13-11 victory at Jobing.com Arena.

The big win comes precisely ten years and one month since the Knighthawks defeated the Buffalo Bandits for what became the final North American Cup, in the final season of the Major Indoor Lacrosse League.

It was also, until today, the last time the Knighthawks finished their season with a victory.

This one wasn't nearly as close as the 15-12 win at the arena now known as HSBC Arena, at least not until late in the contest.

Today's game started off reasonably even, with both teams scoreless until midway through the first quarter, when Shawn Williams fed Mike Accursi at 7:18.

John Grant (who won Game MVP honors on three goals and five assists) made it 2-0 for the Knighthawks a few minutes later, on a sequence of Regy Thorpe to transition ace Steve Toll to Grant.

Dan Dawson put the Sting on the board with 1:15 left in the first quarter, then helped tie the game early in the second quarter, when he hit Craig Conn with a helper. Two-all.

Rochester then turned on its "We haven't lost in four months" charm and ripped off five consecutive goals, taking complete control of the ballgame. Williams opened the barrage at 3:10, followed two minutes later by an outside shot from Accursi.

Chris Schiller jumped in a short time later on a breakway. Then Grant slipped a shot past Sting netminder Rob Blasdell, and Stephen Hoar did likewise a mere eleven seconds later.

Arizona finished the first half on a positive note, though, on late goals by Conn and Peter Veltman and a successful penalty kill, reducing the Knighthawks' advantage to a manageable 7-4.

It was an uphill battle for Arizona in the third, falling behind by four goals again when Accursi netted the first goal of the third quarter.

Veltman scored a short time later to reduce the deficit to three goals, but Grant and Toll followed with goals of their own, putting the Knighthawks ahead, 10-5, with 21 minutes to play.

Matt Brown scored for Arizona with three minutes left in the third period, but Williams struck back 58 seconds into the fourth, seemingly sealing the Sting's fate with an 11-6 lead.

But a strange thing happened over the next five minutes. The Arizona Sting came to life.

A phoenix in Phoenix? It seemed that way for a few moments.

Derek Malawsky, from Conn and Dawson, at 1:55.

Conn, from Malawsky and Dawson, at 2:53.

Andy Secore, from Malawsky and Conn, 4:20.

Conn, from Secore and Peter Lough. 6:00.

Rochester still had the lead, but it was now a perilous 11-10, and with the crowd rising in support of the hometown Sting, the game started to have the feel of yet another Knighthawk big-game meltdown.

That feeling lasted only a few seconds, as Bill Greer scored off the faceoff for a crucial insurance goal.

In fact, it became the deciding goal, because, after a Williams goal three minutes later, Conn quickly countered for the Sting. That made it a two-goal game again, 13-11.

And thanks to the standout performance of Pat O'Toole in net and the Knighthawk defenders in front of him, it stayed 13-11 for the final five minutes and 37 seconds.

"He's the best goalie I've ever seen," Grant said after the game. "I'm proud to be on this team. This has been a different year for us."

"Different" certainly is a word worth using to describe the 2007 Rochester Knighthawks, both in positive and negative terms.

The Knighthawks took their offensive wizardry of the past few seasons to a new level this year, depositing 249 goals -- 30 more than any other team in the league and an average of 15.6 goals per game.

Along the way, the Knighthawks flipped a 2-2 start into a 14-2 finish, matching the 2002 Albany Attack for the most regular-season wins in league history and tying numerous teams for the second-best single-season winning percentage (.875).

The Knighthawks' winning streak, which includes three playoff victories, is now at fifteen games, second only to Buffalo's 22-game run as the longest in league history.

Of course, there's the issue of the circus, booked two years ago for a week at Blue Cross Arena -- this week.

Rochester should have hosted this game, but with Ringling Brothers not moving out and the league not budging on a long-since-determined day and time for the title game, the Knighthawks were forced to renounce their right to play for the title on home turf.

As a result, Arizona was allowed the opportunity to host the game, and gladly accepted the role as the first team since 1992 to host a one-game championship despite having a worse record than the visitor.

Philadelphia lost that one, too, falling to Buffalo, 11-10; the Bandits did not lose for another 22 months.