Minnesota Swarm
6-4 (Home 3-2 Road 3-2)

vs
Toronto Rock
4-7 (Home 2-3 Road 2-4)

The Mean and Good
Edition of Minnesota Swarm Lacrosse

March 23rd, 2007 7:00pm CST
The Hive
St. Paul, Minnesota

TV/Internet/Radio Coverage:

Webcast: B2 Networks: https://www.b2livetv.com/bp/nll.htm $6.00 per game
Minnesota Swarm website: http://www.mnswarm.com
Minnesota Swarm message board: http://boards.mnswarm.com/forums/
Toronto Rock website: http://www.torontorock.com/
National Lacrosse League website: http://www.nll.com
NLL message board: http://www.wingszone.com/nllmb/

Series

Overall: Toronto 3-1
Home Overall: Tied 1-1
Road Overall: Toronto 2-0

This is the first of two games between the two teams this year. The second game will be played on Friday, April 6th at 6:30 pm CST in Toronto.

Riley Kemp playing in every Minnesota Swarm game count (including playoffs): 43

East Division W-L (Division Record) [vs. Swarm] (Goal Differential)

1. Rochester Knighthawks 9-2 (6-1) [0-1] (+27)
2. Buffalo Bandits 7-4 (7-2) [2-0] (+10)
3. MINNESOTA SWARM 6-4 (5-3) (+6)
4. Philadelphia Wings 4-6 (2-4) [0-1] (-1)
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5. TORONTO ROCK 4-7 (3-4) (-7)
6. Chicago Shamrox 3-7 (2-6) [1-1] (-19) New York Titans 2-9 (2-7) [0-2] (-18)

West Division W-L (Division Record) [vs. Swarm] (Goal Differential)

1. Colorado Mammoth 10-1 (7-1) (+38)
2. Arizona Sting 7-3 (5-1) (+14)
3. Calgary Roughnecks 5-5 (3-3) [1-0] (0)
4. San Jose Stealth 4-5 (3-2) (+1)
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5. Edmonton Rush 4-5 (2-5) (-13)
6. Portland LumberJax 2-9 (0-7) [0-1] (-38)

The Minnesota Swarm got back to winning last Sunday with an 11-9 victory over the Philadelphia Wings at the Xcel Energy Center. Kasey Beirnes (17g 13a) scored four goals and Chad Culp (5g 12a) had a season best three goals and two assists. The Swarm’s game last Saturday in Philadelphia was cancelled due to weather and will be played in Philadelphia on Friday, April 13th at 6:30 pm CST.

The Toronto Rock struggled this past weekend as they lost two games against Western Division opponents. Last Friday, they lost in Edmonton to the Rush 12-9, then came home the following night to lose 13-12 in overtime to the NLL champion Colorado Mammoth. The Rock enter the game on Friday with a four game losing streak.

Both the Swarm and Rock enter this game with some important changes in each of their line ups in the last week.

The Swarm made the following transactions:

• Forward Jamie Taylor, an original member of the Swarm, was traded to Toronto on March 12 for a fourth round pick in the 2008 Entry Draft.
• Forward Rory McDade (2a) was re-signed on March 12 to replace Taylor on the roster. McDade was released earlier in the year after the Swarm acquired defenseman Ryan Sharp (2g 6a) in a trade with Portland in February.
• Defenseman Mark Miyashita (3g 5a) tore his ACL against Philadelphia on Sunday and was placed on injured reserve on March 21. Miyashita is expected to miss the rest of the year.
• Defenseman Kyle Ross was signed off the practice roster on March 21 to replace Miyashita. Ross was drafted by the Swarm in the fifth round in the 2004 draft. This is the first time Ross has been on the active roster during the season in his career.

The Rock made the following transactions:

• Defenseman Phil Sanderson (3g 3a) was traded to the Buffalo Bandits for a first round pick in the 2007 Entry Draft.on March 16.
• Defenseman Bryan Riddell (1g) was signed to replace Sanderson on the roster on March 16.
• Forward Rusty Kruger (3g 1a) was traded to the Chicago Shamrox on March 20 for a conditional fourth or fifth round pick in the 2008 Entry Draft
• Forward Mike McLeod was signed to replace Kruger on March 20.

The loss of Miyashita will be very difficult for the Swarm to overcome. Miyashita, the first overall pick in the 2003 Entry Draft by the defunct Vancouver Ravens, was enjoying his best ever season. He has won 60% of his draws (129 of 215) which put him fourth in the league and he was fifth in the league in loose balls with 98. With Miyashita out, Andrew Biers (4g 8a; 16 of 43 on draws) and Travis Hill (3a; 27 of 49 on draws) will take over Miyashita’s draw duties. Also, Miyashita is very good on transition, so players like Biers, Sharp, Ryan Cousins (6g 11a) and Brock Boyle (7g 2a) will be counted on even more on transition especially right off the draw.

The Swarm should have a full complement of players on Friday after the weather fiasco of the past weekend. Dean Hill (19g 12a), the Swarm’s leading goal scorer, and Scott Stewart (10g 16a) will be expected to return to the line up after being unable to make the trip to Minnesota from Ontario where both reside. Beirnes has been the hot hand on offense lately as he has scored 19 points in the last four games.

The Rock defense is led by Jim Veltman (2g 23a), who is the league’s all-time career leader in loose balls with 2,560, with 320 in the playoffs. He missed three games earlier this year due to injury but in just eight games he has scooped up 88 loose balls for an average of 11 per game which places him eighth in the league. As team captain, Veltman is being heavily relied upon to tutor an defense which is starting to incorporate younger talent as the whole team is basically in a process of rebuilding.

The Swarm defense will be going up against a Rock offense which has struggled throughout the year. However, the Rock have three very dangerous forwards that the Swram must account for. Josh Sanderson (18g 38a) leads the Rock on the point. Aaron Wilson (25g 23a) is the Rock’s leading goal scorer and Blaine Manning (15g 39a) is having another fine season. The Rock traded 2005 MVP Colin Doyle (12g 33a) to the San Jose Stealth before the season in a five player deal. One of the three players the Rock got in the trade, was Ryan Benesch (18g 15a) who was selected first overall in the 2006 Entry Draft by the Stealth.

Nick Patterson (5-3 11.78 GAA .767 Save %) had a very solid outing against Philadelphia on Sunday. However, the last time Patterson faced the Rock on April 1, 2006, he gave up 8 goals on 20 shots in 33 minutes until he was replaced by Matt Disher (1-1 16.09 GAA .689 Save %) who only let in one goal for the rest of the game leading the Swarm to a 10-9 victory after being down 9-2, Bob Watson (4-5 11.43 GAA .779 Save %), an eleven year veteran, has had a very good year for the Rock even as the team has struggled. Watson has done well against the Swarm in his career and will be a very formidable challenge for the Swarm offense.

The Rock are rebuilding but still can be very dangerous. They gave the Mammoth quite a run last Saturday and still have some of the best players in the league. The Swarm will have to adjust to missing Miyashita but the Rock have struggled on draws, so this may not be a huge issue for the Swarm on Friday. With all forwards on hand for the Swarm this Friday, I see the Swarm having enough fire power to prevail in a 13-11 victory over the Rock.

The Swarm will have the following promotions on Friday:

• First 5,000 fans receive a Swarm stocking cap
• The Josh Harding “Fund the Fight” night: http://www.mnswarm.com/news/news.asp?news_id=242

The Swarm’s next game will be at home on Saturday March 31 to host the NLL defending champion Colorado Mammoth at 7:00 pm CST at the Xcel Energy Center. The Rock’s next game is also at home on Friday, March 30 against the Philadelphia Wings at 6:30 pm CST at the Air Canada Centre.

Minnesota Swarm

Head Coach: Duane Jacobs
General Manager & Assistant Head Coach: Marty O'Neill
Assistant Head Coach: Derek Moffat

22-F-R-Kasey Beirnes
18-D-R-Andrew Biers (FO)
10-D-L-Brock Boyle
50-D-R-Ryan Cousins {C}
19-F-L-Chad Culp
1-G-L-Matt Disher
73-F-L-Dean Hill
47-D-R-Travis Hill (FO)
90-F-L-Mike Hominuck
77-D-L-Riley Kemp
55-D-R-Michael Kilby (A)
15-F-L-Spencer Martin
8-F-L-Rory McDade
6-D-L-Ashton McLean
12-D-R-Eric Pacey (Former Rock)
93-G-R-Nick Patterson
17-F-R-Sean Pollock
20-D-R-Kyle Ross
26-D-L-Ryan Sharp
48-F-R-Scott Stewart
23-D-R-Jon Sullivan
16-D-L-Noah Talbot
44-F-R-Ryan Ward (A)

Toronto Rock

Director of Lacrosse Operations: Mike Klopfer
Head Coach: Glenn Clark
Assistant Head Coach: Terry Bullen
Assistant Head Coach: Greg Van Sickle

21-F-L-Ryan Benesch
37-D-L-Scott Campbell (former Swarm)
23-D-L-Matt Carroll
93-D-R-Chris Driscoll (A)
17-D-R-Kevin Fines
6-D-L-Dan Ladouceur
41-D-R-Brad MacArthur (FO)
16-F-R-Blaine Manning (A)
14-D-R-Rob Marshall
9-D-R-Patrick Merrill (FO)
22-F-R-Mike McLeod
77-D-L-Tim O’Brien
30-G-R-Mike Poulin
45-D-R-Bryan Riddell (FO)
40-D-L-Ian Rubel
19-F-L-Josh Sanderson
24-F-R-Matt Shearer
27-D-L-Derek Suddons
49-F-L-Jamie Taylor (former Swarm)
12-D-L-Chad Thompson
32-D-L-Jim Veltman {C}
29-G-L-Bob Watson
10-F-R-Aaron Wilson