Minnesota Swarm (5-5 H 1-3 A 4-2)

at
Portland LumberJax (5-4 H 2-2 A 3-2)

March 17th, 2006, 9:30 pm CST
Rose Garden
Portland, Oregon

Live: B2 Networks: $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/
National Lacrosse League website: http://www.nll.com
NLL message board: http://www.wingszone.com/nllmb/

Series First ever match up between the two teams. Portland is in their first year of operation while the Swarm are in their second year. They will again play each other on April 15th in St. Paul which will be the last game of the regular season for both teams.
More statistics on the Swarm at Pointstreak http://www.pointstreak.com/prostats/teampl...56&seasonid=977

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Standings in the East Division
Rochester Knighthawks 7-4 (Knighthawks 2-0 v Swarm)
Toronto Rock 7-5 (Rock 1-0 v Swarm)
Philadelphia Wings 6-5 (Swarm 2-1 v Wings)
MINNESOTA SWARM 5-5 (3-5 in Division)
Buffalo Bandits 4-4 (Series tied 1-1)

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The Swarm were the only team in the league not to play last weekend. Their last game was March 4th against the Buffalo Bandits in which they scored an 11-8 victory in Buffalo. For his work in goal in that game #1 Matt Disher (46 saves on 54 shots) won the NLL Player of the Week award. In addition, #93 Nick Patterson (2-1 10.00 GAA 80.13% Save Pct,) was named the NLL Player of the Month for February. That evened up the Swarm's record at 5-5. The Lumberjax had two games last weekend which saw a Lumberjax sweep. On March 11th, they defeated the Arizona Sting 12-10 in Portland and on March 12th, they beat the Colorado Mammoth 12-11 in Denver.

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Which is bigger, the Swarm fighting for the playoffs or the Swarm facing off against former teammate #14 Ryder Bateman? Probably and hopefully the former, but I am sure a couple of the guys (i.e. #50 Ryan Cousins and #55 Michael Kilby) will reacquaint themselves with Ryder during the game. Bateman (4g 4a), who was on the NLL All-Rookie Team in 2005, was traded by the Swarm to the Lumberjax on February 2nd for #48 Scott Stewart, who was injured for the season in his first game with the Swarm on February 10th against the Philadelphia Wings. In addition, #2 Ray Guze, one of the two Swarm along with the retired Neil Doddridge who were first Swarm players introduced to the fans when the Swarm announced their name on October 26th, 2005, will no doubt be his old aggressive self on defense.

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The Swarm is in flux with a lot of player movement during the playoff stretch, The defense has lost Darryl Gibson to Toronto; however, in the win against Buffalo, Gibson did not play in that game. If that Buffalo game foreshadows future team defensive performances, the Swarm will not lose much defensively. #50 Ryan Cousins will take on an even greater leadership responsibility on defense. Is he up for it? The answer is yes. The last couple of games, the Swarm have seen more transition goals and not just from #24 Brock Boyle. #23 Jon Sullivan has scored two goals in the last three games and both #77 Riley Kemp and #55 Michael Kilby each scored one during the first weekend of March. Add #12 Eric Pacey and #16 Noah Talbot to the mix and you see the Swarm have a solid defensive core in place now. That defense will be challenged Friday by the Lumberjax offense which has been improving steadily throughout the year. #90 Mike Hominuck (16g 14a) and #3 Del Halladay (10g 14a) lead the team and our the first options. The Jax can then add size in front of net with brothers, #44 Peter Morgan, 6' 6", (10g 13a) and #33 Richard Morgan, 6' 8", (6g 7a). The amazing fact is that the Jax have an even taller player on their team on defense and he is the third Morgan brother, #55 David.

The Swarm offense is looking for an breakout game this season. Will it be Friday? If so, it won't be easy. The Jax defense is led by #17 Brodie Merrill, who is a leading candidate for Rookie of the Year and was voted to start the All-Star game. Merrill (8g 15a) has already proved his worth and then some to the expansion Jax. He is one of best transition players in the league. He is just as comfortable on offense than defense, but his defense is very good. He is the present and future of Lumberjax lacrosse. #26 Ryan Sharp, is yet another All-Star this year, and plays in a similar vein to Merrill. If the breakout occurs, it will be lead by #44 Ryan Ward (11g 27a). Ward has lately been very adept in finding the open man but expect an increase in goal scoring soon. #10 Chad Culp (14g 17a) has been a huge beneficiary of Ward's gift giving as he has stepped up his play from last year. In the past two games, the Swarm have had #11 Kelly Hall (15g 7a) back in the line up. Hall has been practically automatic on the power play since as he has scored five goals being man up. Still, the offense needs to pick it up when five on five. So far, good shots are being taken but they're not going in as much as they are needed.

The Lumberjax are uncertain in goal heading into this game. #35 Dallas Eliuk, (3-3 12.61 GAA .742 Save %) is considered to be the greatest goalie in NLL history, hands down. After fifteen years and four championships in Philadelphia, Eliuk was traded to Portland because he wanted to be closer to his family in Vancouver. However, Eluik pulled his hamstring last Saturday night against Arizona and his status is uncertain. If Eluik can't go, #30 Matt King (1-1 11.54 GAA .789 Save %) will play. King got his first victory this year on Sunday night in Colorado saving 54 of 65 shots. The Swarm are uncertain in goal also but not because of injury but because they have the best goaltender tandem in the league. Do you start #1 Matt Disher (1-3 11.07 GAA .777 Save %) or #93 Nick Patterson (4-2 10.29 GAA .800 Save %). Patterson has lost his last two games but still played well and Disher won his last game, March 4th in Buffalo, which was his first game since January 29th. For his fantastic performance, Disher won NLL player of the week. The luxury that Head Coach Adam Mueller has is that he can keep the Lumberjax guessing right up to game time and whoever he plays will play well.

Yours truly will be going to Portland for his first Swarm road trip. That enough is reason that the Swarm will win. However, most will want a better reason. The reason is whichever goalie plays will be more than stalwart against the Lumberjax offense. The offense should then just get enough to pull through. My prediction Swarm 12 Lumberjax 11 in a very spirited battle between two up and coming teams.

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

Swarm Lefties
#10 Chad Culp
#40 Jamie Taylor
#11 Kelly Hall
#18 Spencer Martin
#73 Dean Hill

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

Swarm Face Off
#39 Mark Miyashita (37 of 95, 38.9%)

Swarm Goalies
#93 Nick Patterson
#1 Matt Disher

Swarm General Manager
Marty O'Neill

Swarm Head Coach
Adam Mueller

Swarm Assistant Head Coaches
Paul St. John
Derek Moffat

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Lumberjax Righties
#14 Ryder Bateman (Former Swarm)
#22 Ryan Powell
#3 Del Halladay
#63 Thomas Montour

Lumberjax Lefties
#11 Shawn Cable
#90 Mike Hominuck
#44 Peter Morgan
#33 Richard Morgan
#8 Ryan Marshall

Lumberjax Defense
#17 Brodie Merrill
#2 Ray Guze (Former Swarm)
#49 Bruce Alexander
#20 Adam Bysouth
#7 Matt Dwane
#36 Luke Forget
#9 Brandon McKInnon
#55 David Morgan
#21 Damien Davis
#26 Ryan Sharp

Lumberjax Face Off
#12 Pat Jones (105 of 252, 41.67%)

Lumberjax Goalies
#35 Dallas Eliuk
#30 Matt King
#77 Aaron Bold

Lumberjax General Manager & Head Coach
Derek Keenan

Lumberjax Assitant Head Coaches
Jeremy Tallevi
Jeff McComb

Next, the Swarm finally return home since February 10th, 2006. On Friday, March 24th, 2006, they host East Division rivals, the Buffalo Bandits at the Xcel Energy Center at 7:00 pm CST.