Minnesota Swarm (4-4)

at
Toronto Rock (5-4)

March 3rd, 2006, 6:30 pm CST
Air Canada Centre
Toronto, Ontario

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: Toronto 2-0
Home Overall: Toronto 1-0
Road Overall: Toronto 1-0
This Season: N/A
Home This Season: N/A
Road This Season: N/A

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

The Swarm lost to the Buffalo Bandits on February 18th 14-9 in Buffalo. The record dropped the Swarm to 4-4 this year. #10 Chad Culp led the Swarm with two goals and two assists. Both #18 Spencer Martin and #22 Kasey Beirnes scored one goal and two assists. #93 Nick Patterson was in goal and made forty of fifty-four saves. The Swarm struggled defensively as both captain #50 Ryan Cousins and #16 Noah Talbot missed the game. Cousins missed due to an one game suspension received for his pre-game fight in Edmonton on February 3rd with Edmonton Rush s Trent Smalley. Buffalo Bandits forward #11 John Tavares scored six points in the game which tied him with Gary Gait with the most points in NLL history with 1,091. Tavares next chance to break the record is against the Swarm on March 4th in Buffalo.

All Star Game: http://www.nll.com/article_2256.shtml Boxscore: http://www.pointstreak.com/prostats/boxsco...1&seasonid=1113

On Saturday, February 25th, the NLL held their All-Star Game in Toronto. The West Division beat the East Division 14-13. Calgary Roughneck Lewis Ratcliff scored the game winning goal with 4.4 seconds to go and collected the MVP trophy. The Swarm were represented by defensemen #50 Ryan Cousins and #19 Darryl Gibson. Cousins, the Swarm Captain, scored the first goal of the game for the East with Gibson getting an assist. Later, Gibson, aka Doctor D , scored the last goal for the East. In their two year history, the Swarm have sent four players total to the All-Star game. All four have scored a goal in their all-star appearances.


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The Swarm have an extremely important, colossal two game road trip this weekend against division rivals in Toronto on Friday and then they go to Buffalo on Saturday.

The standings are tight in the East and the Swarm have to make their move this weekend in order to improve their playoff chances. Remember, the top four in each division make the playoffs. The Swarm won the tiebreaker against Philadelphia but lost it to Rochester. Tiebreakers are still up for grabs against Toronto and Buffalo. The Swarm are already behind the eight ball to the Bandits as the Bandits beat the Swarm early this year.

Buffalo Bandits 4-2
Rochester Knighthawks 5-3
Toronto Rock 5-4
MINNESOTA SWARM 4-4
Philadelphia Wings 4-4

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The Toronto Rock are the defending NLL champions , won five of the last seven league championships and the team everyone would love to destroy, eradicate, humiliate and knock off the NLL throne. I think that explains the degree of envy and jealousy the rest of the league has of the Rock. This year they lost their first four; however, to the dismay of the rest of the league, they have now won five straight and look nearly unstoppable.

The Swarm will have their hands full defensively and must recover from their loss to Buffalo on February 18th. The Rock bring the league s best offense and they re firing on all cylinders. It all starts with #19 Josh Sanderson , who is the league s best set up man . He runs the offense and seems to have quite a knack to find the open man. He leads the league with 43 assists and last year set a league record with 71 assists. He usually finds one of three players to dish the ball to. The first option is #7 Colin Doyle (20g, 35a) who was the league MVP last year. The second option is #16 Blaine Manning (15g 31a) who started the year slowly like the team but as he heated up, so did the Rock. Finally, the third option, is the sharpshooter #10 Aaron Wilson (28g 8a) who has a nose for the net and maybe one of the most underrated players in the league. It would appear that the Swarm must shut down Josh Sanderson and the rest of the team is neutered but the Rock adjust very well if one tentacle is cut off. With the return of Cousins to the line up for the Swarm, the Swarm have a good chance to contain the Rock offense somewhat especially if #24 Brock Boyle can be turned loose on a few breakaways in the game.

If the Rock defense is contained to a degree, the Swarm offense must expose the Rock defense which has had some issues this year, especially with getting on and off the floor. The Swarm need to find some chemistry which has been elusive for most games this year. #10 Chad Culp (14g 16a) has picked it up in the last few games along with #44 Ryan Ward (10g 19a) but #40 Jamie Taylor (7g 17a) and #22 Kasey Beirnes (8g 14a) have to be more consistent. What the Rock defense may lack in speed they make up in creating and acquiring loose balls like no other team in the league. The Swarm will, therefore, need to make crisp and accurate passes to limit the Rock in piling them up. In addition, look for bigger presence near the crease with #7 Tony Henderson (3g 2a) and #11 Kelly Hall (8g 5a). No one in league history has scooped up more loose balls with 2,055 in his career and 129 this year. Veltman is considered by many in the league to be best defenseman now and probably by all in the league s history. He has a floor presence like no other in this league; often inspiring and demanding performances from his team which gets it over the hump repeatedly.

In goal, the Swarm have a strong backbone with #93 Nick Patterson (4-1, 9.92 GAA) and #1 Matt Disher (0-3, 12.10 GAA). Goaltending has been solid and even spectacular this year even with Disher unable to get a win. Expect Disher to start against the Rock since he hasn't played since January 29th against the Rochester Knighthawks. The Rock will counter with steady veteran #29 Bob Watson (5-4, 11.72 GAA). Watson, in the last couple years, has started slowly but gains momentum midway during the season proving rather unbeatable.

Swarm Righties
#44 Ryan Ward
#22 Kasey Beirnes
#17 Sean Pollock
#8 Rory McDade

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

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

Swarm Face Off
#66 D'arcy Berthiaume (40 of 105, 38.1%)

Swarm Goalies
#93 Nick Patterson
#1 Matt Disher

Swarm Head Coach
Adam Mueller

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Rock Righties
#10 Aaron Wilson
#16 Blaine Manning
#24 Matt Shearer
#25 J.J. Dickie
#31 Steve Evans

Rock Lefties
#7 Colin Doyle
#19 Josh Sanderson
#20 Rusty Kruger
#22 Matt Taylor

Rock Defense
#32 Jim Veltman
#6 Dan Ladouceur
#14 Rob Marshall
#17 Brian Beisel
#18 Phil Sanderson
#27 Derek Suddons
#28 Brad MacDonald
#37 Scott Campbell (former Swarm)
#40 Ian Rubel
#77 Tim O Brien
#93 Chris Driscoll

Rock Face Off
#9 Patrick Merrill (107 of 220, 48.6%)

Rock Goalies
#29 Bob Watson
#90 Phil Wetherup

Rock Head Coach
Terry Sanderson

The Swarm will have a tough go in Toronto. Many players on the team will have family and friends at the game since many grew up in the Toronto area. #17 Sean Pollock said, on Tuesday after a taping of Swarm Inside Scoop, they hope to get a split this weekend. In order for that to happen, the offense will really need to come through. I, myself, am looking and hoping for a Swarm sweep so I figure Swarm 14 Rock 13 in an offensive explosion this Friday.