Swarm Open Hive (House)

October 18, 2006

The Swarm had an open house at the Hive (Xcel Energy Center) tonight. Even though only one player was there, Sean Pollock, also in attendance was Marty O'Neill, Derek Moffat, Swarm broadcaster Howard Green, Swarm PA announcer Rusty Kath and equipment manager Brock Simon. Ryan Ward was supposed to attend but the principal at the school he teaches wouldn't allow him because of parent-teacher conferences.

It was a fantastic night at the Hive. I was in need of a fix pretty soon and well now, I need more. It was nice to see some familar faces and some new ones. The organization seems reinvigorated and refocused to getting the word out about the Swarm after playing catch up last year after the Wild came back from the hockey lockout. Season ticket renewals look to be at around 75 to 80 percent which is about a 30% increase and sponsors have doubled according to Tom Garrity, who is Vice President of Business Operations of the Swarm.

One person who definitely looks committed to getting the Champions Cup for the Swarm is Marty O'Neill. He announced that he will be assistant head coach along with Derek Moffat to Duane Jacobs. Also, he lost around 15 - 20 pounds on the Matt Disher diet and looks utterly fantastic. He put on the goaltender equipment to take on shots from fans tonight and looked as if he will give Disher and Nick Patterson a run for their money. I looks like Marty missed having more influence on the field and that the players are looking forward to his input.

Sean Pollock also looks ready to get the season on even though I almost took his head off with an errant pass. It also appears that Sean will be making a bigger committent to the Swarm by saying that he is looking for a full-time job in Minnesota and will not be playing in summer box next year. Like Ryan Ward, I hope it works out for Sean even though the Shamrocks will miss him.

There will be two training camps with the first starting around November 10. One in Canada and one in the Cities. Even though O'Neill said that very few personnel changes will be occuring I can't wait to see how well the team trains together for the upcoming season. With the exhibition game in Winnipeg in December, I think it will give the Swarm an added boost before starting the season against the Shamrox.

Other than the Swarm still not installing blue turf, I am shaking with uncontrollable excitement about the upcoming season at The Hive.