Minnesota Swarm (3-3 H 0-3 A 3-0)

vs
Philadelphia Wings (3-1 H 0-1 A 3-0)

February 10th, 2006, 7:00 pm CST
Xcel Energy Center
St. Paul, Minnesota

Live: B2 Networks: $6.00 per game

Tape Delay: Fox Sports North: Friday, February 10th, 2006 at approximately 10:30 pm CST and/or right after the Minnesota Gopher Hockey game. Also, on February 15th, 2006 at 12:00 pm CST

Live statistics at: http://www.pointstreak.com

Minnesota Swarm website: http://www.mnswarm.com
Minnesota Swarm message board: http://boards.mnswarm.com/
National Lacrosse League website: http://www.nll.com
NLL message board: http://www.wingszone.com/nllmb/

Series
Overall: Philadelphia 3-2
Home Overall: Philadephia 2-1
Road Overall: Tied 1-1
This Season: Tied 1-1
Home This Season: Philadelphia won 15-11 on January 6th
Road This Season: Minnesota won 13-10 on January 14th.

Practice at 10pm, Thursday, February 9th at
Corner Kick: http://www.ckisoccer.com/corner_kick/index.asp
1357 Cope Avenue
Maplewood, MN

Last week, the Swarm beat the Edmonton Rush 7-6 in Edmonton on Friday, February 3rd. #44 Ryan Ward led the Swarm in scoring with 1 goal and 3 assists. #93 Nick Patterson saved 40 of 46 shots. The win made the Swarm 3-0 on the road and 0-3 at home this season.

On Thursday, February 2nd, the Swarm traded forward Ryder Bateman to the Portland Lumberjax in exchange for forward Scott Stewart. Bateman, was a member of last year's NLL All -Rookie Team. The Swarm's first ever draft pick last year, Bateman scored 20 goals and 19 assists last year but had not yet played this year. Stewart, 26, an overall 3rd pick of the NLL draft in 2001 by the New Jersey Storm, has scored 2 goals and 2 assists for the Lumberjax this year. In his five year career, the 6' 1" 225lbs., Stewart has scored 91 goals and 88 goals in 67 games with New Jersey/Anaheim Storm and the Portland Lumberjax.

Swarm Notes

More statistics on the Swarm at Pointstreak http://www.pointstreak.com/prostats/teampl...56&seasonid=977

Standings:
http://www.pointstreak.com/prostats/standi...30&seasonid=977

On Friday, the Philadelphia Wings come to town having not played since a January 21st 10-7 victory over the San Jose Stealth. The Wings offensively are very potent with #27 Dan Marohl (6-15=21) directing the offense. He often dishes to outstanding rookies #19 Sean Greenhalgh ( 7-10=17), NLL Rookie of the Month, for January and #15 Luke Wiles (6-6=12). The Wings are very balanced on both the right and left sides of the net offensively, so the Swarm defense will have to make sure to help each other quickly and to rotate off the picks the Wings do set up their shots. Once again, #50 Ryan Cousins and #19 Darryl Gibson will be directing the defense and #24 Brock Boyle and #77 Riley Kemp, team leader in loose balls with 37, pestering the shooters.

The Swarm offense is looking to show the form they did when they beat Philadelphia 13-10 on January 14th. The Wings generally bring out the best in the Swarm and this should be no exception. #44 Ryan Ward (7-16=23) leads the offense. He has done well in recent games of distributing the ball in the Swarm's motion offense. The Swarm do a good job on offense on having all the players moving without the ball and getting at least 4 passes during each possession during the 30 second shot clock. His two big beneficiaries have been #10 Chad Culp (8-10=18) and #11 Kelly Hall (8-5=13). With Scott Stewart joining the Swarm offense, Coach Mueller will have to decide whose minutes maybe reduced amongst #66 D'arcy Berthiaume and #17 Sean Pollock. The Wings should be improved defensively from the last matchup of these teams as defensemen #28 Thomas Hajek and #47 Jeff Spano should be playing after both missed that game.

One key facet of the game to watch when the Swarm play the Wings is the faceoff. The Wings have the best faceoff man in the league in #24 Peter Jacobs who has won 72 of 106 faceoffs for a 67.9%. With all the faceoffs won, the Wings greatly control the time of possession. If the Swarm's #39 Mark Miyashita can at least win 40%, it will give the Swarm a good chance at victory.

In goal, #93 Nick Patterson is expected to start in his first home game this season. Patterson is 3-0 with a league leading 8.53 goals against average. He will go up against #35 Matt Roik, who also has done well this season with a 10.87 goals against average.

Swarm Righties
#66 D arcy Berthiaume
#22 Kasey Beirnes
#17 Sean Pollock
#44 Ryan Ward
#8 Rory McDade
#? Scott Stewart

Swarm Lefties
#7 Tony Henderson
#11 Kelly Hall
#40 Jamie Taylor
#10 Chad Culp

Swarm Defense
#28 Nolan Heavenor
#19 Darryl Gibson
#55 Michael Kilby
#12 Eric Pacey
#33 Shawn Summerfield
#16 Noah Talbot
#23 Jon Sullivan
#50 Ryan Cousins
#24 Brock Boyle
#77 Riley Kemp

Swarm Face Off
#39 Mark Miyashita

Swarm Goalies
#93 Nick Patterson
#1 Matt Disher

Swarm Head Coach
Adam Mueller

Wings Righties
#90 Jeff Ratcliffe
#15 Luke Wiles
#66 Jeff Bergey
#27 Dan Marohl

Wings Lefties
#17 Marc Morley
#19 Sean Greenhalgh
#37 Rob Van Beek
#21 Keith Cromwell

Wings Defense
#34 Shawn Nadelen
#5 Brock Robertson
#47 Jeff Spano
#28 Thomas Hajek
#32 Mike Brzeski
#12 Keevin Galbraith
#11 Glenn Clark
#22 Dan Finck
#23 Brad Self
#7 Kyle Sweeney
#44 Chad Thompson
#41 Bryan Barrett

Wings Face Off
#24 Peter Jacobs

Wings Goalies
#35 Matt Roik
#2 Erik Miller

Wings Head Coach
Lindsay Sanderson

My prediction is Swarm 12 Wings 10. Nick Patterson shows the fans what everyone else has seen away from St. Paul

Following the home game against the Wings, the Swarm go on a four game road trip. First game of the road trip is Saturday, February 18th against the Buffalo Bandits at 6:30 pm CST at the HSBC Arena in Buffalo.