Although they lost out on the most important development of the week -- hosting the National Lacrosse League championship game -- the Rochester Knighthawks fared well with end-of-season awards, netting two of the six announced so far.

Head coach Ed Comeau was chosen Thursday as the Les Bartley Award (Coach of the Year) winner, two days after veteran two-way standout Steve Toll picked up the Transition Player of the Year award.

Comeau guided the Knighthawks to a 14-2 record this season, tied with the 2002 Albany Attack for the most wins in one season in NLL history, including twelve straight victories to close out the regular season.

That record includes a perfect 8-0 mark at home, and Comeau's troops led the league in goals scored (249), power play goals (67), shorthanded goals (23) and power play percentage (58.9%).

This was Comeau's second season as the Knighthawks' head coach. He joined the team during the 2004 season, as an assistant coach under Paul Day, following six seasons with the Toronto Rock. Comeau first served in Toronto as an assistant coach under Bartley, then as interim head coach at the start of the 2004 season, when Bartley left the Rock to fight cancer.

Toll, who played under Bartley and Comeau in Toronto before joining the Knighthawks, took the league's first-annual award for transition players, following on two Transition Player of the Week awards during the season. He finished the season with fourteen goals and 24 assists.

Toll was a stalwart on Rochester's penalty kill unit, reversing field for four shorthanded goals and five shorthanded assists (one behind league-leader and teammate John Grant in both categories). He also scooped up 177 loose balls, third among all NLLers.

Another Bartley product, San Jose Stealth netminder Anthony Cosmo, was named as the league's Goaltender of the Year. Cosmo led the league in goals-against average (10.22) and save percentage (79.2%) while appearing in all but one of San Jose's games. Between Cosmo and backup Aaron Bold, the Stealth surrendered the fewest goals of any team this season, 170, compiling a 9-7 record and its first playoff berth since 2004.

In addition to Rochester, the Minnesota Swarm also picked up two awards this past week, with Marty O'Neill selected as General Manager of the Year and Ryan Cousins named the Defenseman of the Year.

O'Neill, the only general manager in the Swarm's three-year history, assembled a squad which improved its record again in 2007, going from 8-8 to 9-7 and third place in the Eastern Division. O'Neill was also responsible for hiring head coach Duane Jacobs, a former player whose limited coaching experience included none at the helm of an NLL team.

Cousins, the captain of the Swarm, helped lead the Swarm to its first winning record, recording 23 points (9 goals, 14 assists) and gathering a team-best 108 loose balls while appearing in all sixteen games.

Also announced last week was the selection of Calgary Roughnecks forward Tracey Kelusky as the winner of the Sportsmanship Award, given to the player who shows great leadership, character and sportsmanship. Kelusky scored 35 goals and dished out 53 assists (second on the team in both categories) in sixteen games, but did not have a single penalty called against him.

The NLL's awards program continues next week with the Team Executive of the Year, the Tom Borrelli Award (Writer of the Year), and a handful of support awards on Monday; the Rookie of the Year and All-Rookie Team on Tuesday; the All-Pro Teams on Wednesday; and the Most Valuable Player on Thursday.

That all leads up to the NLL Championship Game on Saturday, 12 May, between Rochester and Arizona, a game the Knighthawks would have hosted if not for the circus being in town. Instead, the Sting hosts, at Jobing.com Arena (4:00 PM Eastern).