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Pre-Season Game
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| Minnesota | Overall | Home | Road | Home-2009 | Road-2009 |
| vs Colorado | 0-4 | 0-3 | 0-1 | 0-1 | 0-1 |
| vs Colorado-Playoffs | |||||
| Total | 0-4 | 0-3 | 0-1 | 0-1 | 0-1 |
| Numerical Roster | Picture Roster | 2009 Stats |
| Goaltenders | Defense (Left) | Defense (Right) | Forwards (Left) | Forwards (Right) |
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| General Manager | Head Coach | Assistant | Assistant |
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| Roster | Picture Roster | 2009 Stats |
| Goaltenders | Defense (Left) | Defense (Right) | |
| 41-Andrew Leyshon | 11-John Gallant | 48-Rich Catton | |
| 00-Curtis Palidwor | 28-Tom Ethington | 5-David Morgan | |
| 20-Bruce Murray | 14-Steve Forsythe | ||
| 26-Matthew Wilson | |||
| 24-Ryan McFadyen | |||
| Transition (Left) | Transition (Right) | Forward (Left) | Forward (Right) |
| 8-Nick Carlson | 19-Nenad Gajic | 9-Ilija Gajic | 6-Brian Langtry |
| 18-Brad Richardson | 7-Chad Culp | 91-Cory Conway | |
| 27-Cliff Smith | 33-Peter Veltman | ||
| 85-Jamie Shewchuk | 10-Alex Gajic | ||
| 1-Jed Prossner | 77-Shawn Dhaliwal |
| General Manager | Head Coach | Assistant | Assistant | Assistant |
| Steve Govett | Bob McMahon | Dan Perreault | Dan Pratt | Ward Sanderson |
The Minnesota Swarm, like every team in the National Lacrosse League, is in the middle of player evaluations. Who will stay and who will go? Who are the surprises in camp and who are not quite what we thought they were? These questions are being thought through right now, but teams in the league have only until December 23 to come up with some semblance of answers, as that is the date the league mandates all teams should be down to 23 active rostered players.
For the Swarm, the final exam of the preseason comes Friday night in Denver, Colorado where they will face the Colorado Mammoth at 9:00 pm central at the Pepsi Center aka the Can, aka the Tarpit.
Late weekend, both teams scrimmaged each other behind closed doors at Mammoth training camp. The Swarm thoroughly dominated the Mammoth with a 17-8 thrashing of the elephants. Not much of any news was divulged about the scrimmage by either team but we do know that both Swarm goaltenders Nick Patterson and Kevin Croswell were stellar and the offense scored often and the scorers were quite a varied bunch of blue and gold clad players.
During the scrimmage last weekend , the two teams were able to play their entire entourage of players in attendance. This week the teams are limited to regular season limits of eighteen players. So how will Swarm Head Coach Mike Lines approach this game.
Lines still has to cut down the roster, so there are some positional battles he will need to analyze. The fifth left handed spot between Tim Campeau and Alex Turner may be the most interesting. Both did well this past summer in Canada and both are 25 and 22 respectively. Whoever wins this battle may not get much time initially at the start of the season because of the depth at the position, so Lines will need to see how the second year players respond in front of the big crowd and the pressure of maybe not having a weekend job by Christmas time.
With Kevin Fines traded earlier this week to Rochester, it would appear the Swarm are leaning towards some of the younger talent when it comes to right handed defensemen. I see the Swarm keeping seven or maybe eight at that position. If it comes down to a younger or older player as the last man in, I am guessing Lines will go younger if Swarm General Manger Marty O'Neill thinks if he places a Ricky Pages or Josh Funk on the practice roster that they would be immediately signed up by another team and placed on their active roster. If he thinks he can keep an Eric Pacey, while being assured that Pages or Funk will not be touched, then hw will go that way.
Jay Thorimbert appears to have the lock on the face off circle to start the season. Ryan Cousins, Scott Self and Kevin Buchanan are all capable of taking a face off here or there when needed which was another reason that made Fines expendable.
The question is does Thorimbert, who is thought of as a transition player, take a spot from a forward or a defenseman on the team. Since I think they may want another right handed shooter if Dan Marohl is not available to play, just look at the roster page where there is no new Marohl portrait, look for a decision for one spot between Callum Crawford, Sean Thomson and Dylan Llord. Crawford has the most NLL experience, Thomson was a first round pick in 2008 and taken before Buchanan and Llord did well this past summer in Victoria. Marohl could be put on a protected list by the Swarm, which then will open up another spot on the team. If it is short term, look for that player to be on defense. If it is long term, look for it to be a forward to replace Marohl's scoring.
Both goaltenders each played 36 minutes in last weekend's scrimmage which consisted of six twelve minute periods. Together they gave up only eight goals and that will win out at least 95 out of an 100 times in the NLL. I would say Patterson will start the regular season opener in Calgary on January 10 but Croswell has come into camp with less fat and more muscle as if he is trying to prove something. Both tonight will most definitely play an half and maybe an impressive game by Croswell may sway Lines.
The Mammoth announced their 23 man roster yesterday, a week earlier. With a roster set, coming off a disappointing past weekend and in front of those prehistorically rabid fans, expect the Mammoth to come out with their tusks sharpened and their trunks ready to blow. Former Swarm Chad Culp, traded to the Mammoth in the deal that brought Crawford to the team two weeks ago, will headline the Mammoth. Culp will be wearing #7 according to the Mammoth web site. The Mammoth have a trio of brothers that they expect to build around for the next decade in the Gajics. Nenad is the oldest starting his fourth NLL campaign and is known as a strong defender. Middle brother Ilija is a transitional threat who made his name known at this year's Mann Cup for New Westminster and was selected with the second pick of the 2009 Entry Draft, right before the Swarm's Zack Greer. Experts then say the youngest Alex, the fifth pick in the 2009 Entry Draft maybe the best of the three with his scoring touch.
Also, look for a battle of trees between the Swarm's new player Richard Morgan at 6' 8" going up against his brother David of the Mammoth at 6' 10". Last year, these two and their shorter brother Peter at 6' 6" terrorized the Swarm when the trio played for the now defunct Portland LumberJax.
Like the Swarm, the Mammoth are going younger albeit the youth movement is a recent development compared to the Swarm which as been a perpetual youth movement since August 10, 2004. The score will be much closer this weekend but the Swarm's offense appears to be coming around and should be able to prevail over the Mammoth's young defense and take away a victory for Christmas at the Can.
