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

at
Philadelphia Wings (4-6 H 2-2 A 2-4)

Saturday, March 14, 2009 - 6:30 pm CST
Wachovia Center
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

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Regular Season History

The Swarm and Wings met in Philadelphia on February 21, 2009 in the first of two games this season between the two teams. The Wings won that game 13-12 as they held off a late Swarm rally. Athan Iannucci (3g 4a) made his return from injury and scored three goals and two assists including the game winner. Ryan Ward (18g 17a) had three goals and two assists and Dan Marohl (12g 19a) had a goal and five assists.

Rosters:

Regular Season Statistics:

2009 NLL Standings

Former Wings With The Swarm:

• Dan Marohl
• Marty O'Neill
• Ryan Ward

Former Swarm With The Wings:

• Shawn Nadelen

Both teams come off the All-Star break in fourth place in their respective divisions.

The Swarm have won two straight. The weekend before the All-Star Game, the Swarm swept a road doubleheader. On February 27, 2009, Kevin Buchanan (9g 6a) tied a team single goal record with five goals and one assist to lead the Swarm in coming from behind 6-2 to beat the Toronto Rock 13-10. The following night in Buffalo, Aaron Wilson (16g 13a) tied Buchanan's record with five goals along with three assists to lead the Swarm in yet another comeback on the weekend, beating the Bandits 16-15. Sean Pollock (12g 22a) led the Swarm in scoring with three goals and six assists. The Swarm came back from 8-3 and 14-11 deficits in their victory over the defending NLL Champions.

The Wings also had a road doubleheader the same weekend as the Swarm except they travelled West while the Swarm went East. They beat the Edmonton Rush 14-9 on Friday, February 27. The following night they lost in Portland to the LumberJax, 12-10. Merrick Thomson (24g 16a) scored nine goals over the weekend to lead the Wings.

Maybe the biggest question for the Swarm is: Will Ward return to the line up this Saturday? Ward missed the Buffalo game, only his second missed game in his five year Swarm career due to what some say was a lower body injury. The team didn't seem to miss him as they had their biggest scoring output of the season in that game but would you rather have Ward in the line up or Rory McDade (0g 4a) who replaced Ward in Buffalo.

The Wings will have a different look from just last month as it appears that Geoff Snider (6g 17a) will be out due to a fractured trachea. Snider is the league's top face off specialist and league leader in loose balls with 153. In the game last month, the Wings scored three goals right off Snider face offs. That would make life easier for Travis Hill (1g 3a) and Kevin Fines (5g 4a) at the face off circle and probably will give the Swarm at least another five to ten more possessions a game. The Wings will have either Sean Thomson (5g 1a) or Pat Heim (3g 2a) replace Snider at the face off circle.

Brandon Miller (4-4 11.87 GAA .771 Save %) looks to get the call again for the Wings against the Swarm. He made 39 saves on 51 shots in the February game and had numerous good outlet passes to start the break. Kevin Croswell (2-3 10.89 GAA .784 Save %) started and finished the game against the Wings last month. That complete game was the first for a Swarm goaltender in four games. Croswell finished the game strong holding the Wings to four goals in the second half after struggling in the first half. The question that Swarm Head Coach Duane Jacobs must answer is Nick Patterson (2-2 12.35 GAA .738 Save %) back in form after a strong relief effort against Buffalo. That win for Patterson in that game and against that team had to get him back some confidence in his game that may have been lost. That was probably his best outing since his win against San Jose on January 10.

The key for the Swarm is to get off to a better start than last month's game or pretty much any game this year. One way to do that is to keep out of the box, which got the Wings two power play goals to start in that earlier game. The Swarm also will have to limit the Wings transition a bit better than they did last time, when the Wings got at least three goals. Wilson didn't play in the last month's game and with him and hopefully Ward back in action, the Swarm offense should have enough firepower to overcome the Wings.

Prediction: Minnesota Swarm 14 Philadelphia Wings 11

Next Games After This Match Up

• Minnesota (4-5) at Colorado (4-4) - Sunday, March 22 7:00 pm CST
• Philadelphia (4-6) vs. Colorado (4-4) - Saturday, March 28 6:30 pm CST