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 Minnesota Swarm (1-1 H 0-1 A 1-0)
vs
 Calgary Roughnecks (1-0 H 1-0 A 0-0)
January 20th, 2006, 8:30 pm CST
Pengrowth Saddledome
Calgary, Alberta
TV/Internet/Radio Coverage:
Live: B2 Networks: https://www.b2livetv.com/bp/nll.htm $6.00 per game
Live statistics at: http://www.pointstreak.com
Minnesota Swarm website: http://www.mnswarm.com
Minnesota Swarm message board: http://boards.mnswarm.com/forums/
National Lacrosse League website: http://www.nll.com
NLL message board: http://www.wingszone.com/nllmb/
Series: Never played each other.
Last
week, the Swarm won 13-10 over the Wings in the Wings home opener in
Philadelphia.. #11 Kelly Hall had 3 goals and 1 assist in his first
action of the year after a rib injury to help rejuvenate the Swarm
offense. Other leading scorers were #40 Jamie Taylor (1 goal & 5
assists), #10 Chad Culp (1 goal & 4 assists) and #22 Kasey Beirnes
(2 goals & 3 assists). led the scoring. #93 Nick Patterson saved 45
of 55 shots in goal and probably was the MVP of the game.. The Swarm
outscored the Wings 4-0 in the 2nd Quarter to hold a 9-3 lead at
halftime. In the second Half, the Wings started to chip away at the
Swarm lead, but the Swarm behind two goals from Hall and one from #66
D arcy Berthiaume finished the Wings off. The Swarm victory was the
greatest winning margin in the team s history beating the 2 goal
victory on April 15th, 2005 at Xcel Energy Center against the same
Wings. The Swarm are now 1-1 tied for 3rd with the Rochester
Knighthawks in the East Division. Last week s game is being shown on
Channel 45 on Wednesday January 18, 2006 at 9pm right after the Wolves
game.
More statistics on the Swarm at Pointstreak http://www.pointstreak.com/prostats/teampl...56&seasonid=977
Every
player should play in at least one of the two games this weekend.
Hopefully, that will mean the NLL and Swarm debut of forward #8 Rory
McDade.
This weekend, the Swarm are looking carry the momentum
from last Saturday. They have two games this upcoming weekend. The
first is Friday January 20, 2006 at Calgary against the Roughnecks. The
Roughnecks are 1-0 with an 11-9 victory at home against the Edmonton
Rush to get their first win of the year.
The Roughnecks, 2004
NLL champions, are one of the most veteran teams in the league. The
Swarm will have their work cut out for them defensively. Calgary s most
potent scorer is lefthanded sharpshooter #42 Lewis Ratcliff, who played
with eight of the Swarm players on the Victoria Shamrocks 2005 Mann Cup
champions. Ratcliff must be covered like a glove by the Swarm so look
for #50 Ryan Cousins to get the assignment. Ratcliff is the only threat
on the left side. The Roughnecks have three big righthanded scorers in
2005 All-Star MVP #17 Tracey Kelusky, #9 Kaleb Toth and #22 Jason
Wulder. The Swarm must not get to caught guarding the righthanders to
forget Ratcliff on the other side.
Defensively, the Roughnecks
are led by the Wray brothers. #4 Devan, who also handles faceoffs and
#44 Taylor who can play both offense and defense. Both are physical and
will give the Swarm shooters like #22 Kasey Beirnes and #10 Chad Culp
fits. 41 year old #20 Andy Ogilivie comes back after injury last year
looking like he hasn't lost of step.
With Hall coming back from
injury last week, the Swarm offense really perked up. The Swarm are now
balances with 3 solid righties and 3 solid lefties. Improvement will
come in time as this unit jells. Also, any one of the six can lead the
team in scoring any night.
#66 D arcy Berthiaume will have yet
another tough faceoff specialist in Devan Wray on Friday. Our the Swarm
in trouble with faceoffs or was it more to do with facing the Wings
Peter Jacobs. In simple words, the faceoff specialist for the Swarm is
either Berthiaume's, #48 Nolan Heavenor's or #39 Mark Miyashita's for
the taking.
With Patterson's performance last week, Coach Adam
Mueller has two good options at goal. Expect Patterson to start against
Calgary and #1 Matt Disher to start the following night against
Rochester. Calgary counters with #00 Curtis Palidwor who can be
streaky; however, he has strong and experience defense in front of him.
Main Players
Swarm Righties
#17 Sean Pollock
#22 Kasey Beirnes
#44 Ryan Ward
Swarm Lefites
#10 Chad Culp
#11 Kelly Hall
#40 Jamie Taylor
Swarm Defense
#24 Brock Boyle
#77 Riley Kemp
#50 Ryan Cousins
#23 Jon Sullivan
#55 Michael Kilby
#12 Eric Pacey
#19 Darryl Gibson
#16 Noah Talbot
Swarm Faceoff
#66 D'arcy Berthiaume
#39 Mark Miyashita
#48 Nolan Heavenor
Swarm Goalies
#1 Matt Disher
#93 Nick Patterson
Swarm Head Coach
Adam Mueller
Roughnecks Lefties
#42 Lewis Ratcliffe
#51 Kevin Dostie
Roughneck Righties
#17 Tracey Kelusky
#22 Jason Wulder
#9 Kaleb Toth
#19 Kyle Goundrey
#12 Andrew Biers
Roughneck Defense
#44 Taylor Wray
#20 Andy Ogilivie
#15 Ron Kirkby
#37 Andrew McBride
#14 Jeff Moleski
#21 Travis Gillespie
#29 Grant Hamilton
Roughnecks Faceoff
#4 Devan Wray
Roughnecks Goalie
#00 Curtis Palidwor
Roughnecks Coach
Chris Hall
My
prediction is Swarm 12 Roughnecks 11. This is a risky prediction,
because Calgary has a strong fan base and a loud barn where they play
well at. However, if the Swarm stay out of the box and move the ball
around offensively, the Swarm can win it.
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