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Saturday, March 13, 2010 - 6:00 pm CST
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| West | W | L | GB | +/- | East | W | L | GB | +/- | |
| Washington | 6 | 3 | - | 14 | Toronto | 6 | 4 | - | 31 | |
| Calgary | 5 | 3 | 0.5 | 18 | Rochester | 5 | 4 | 0.5 | -3 | |
| Edmonton | 5 | 3 | 0.5 | -12 | Boston | 5 | 4 | 0.5 | -2 | |
| Minnesota | 4 | 4 | 1.5 | 4 | Orlando | 4 | 3 | 0.5 | 14 | |
| Colorado | 2 | 6 | 3.5 | -27 | Buffalo | 3 | 6 | 2.5 | -13 | |
| Philadelphia | 2 | 7 | 3.5 | -24 | ||||||
| Minnesota | Overall | Home | Road | Home-2009 | Road-2009 |
| vs Philadelphia | 7-5 | 4-2 | 3-3 | 1-1 | |
| vs Philadelphia-Playoffs | |||||
| Total | 7-5 | 4-2 | 3-3 | 1-1 |
| Numerical Roster | Picture Roster | 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 | Stats |
| Goaltenders | Defense (Left) | Defense (Right) | Forward (Left) | Forward (Right) |
| 36-Brandon Miller | 5-Mike Ward | 7-Kyle Sweeney | 88-Kyle Wailes | 26-Drew Westervelt |
| 31-Rob Blasdell | 4-Geoff Snider | 33-Bill McGlone | 27-Mat Giles | |
| 44-Taylor Wray | 22-David Mitchell | 51-Dan Teat | ||
| 17-Jordan Levine | 50-Kevin Huntley | 1-John Christmas | ||
| 19-Josh Sims | 15-Brett Moyer | |||
| 18-Max Seibald | ||||
| 41-Bob Snider | ||||
| 28-Thomas Hajek | ||||
| 55-Steve Panarelli | ||||
| 25-Pat Heim | ||||
| 21-Jeff Reynolds | ||||
| GM/Head Coach | Assistant Coach | Assistant Coach | Assistant Coach |
| Dave Huntley | Chris Sanderson | Paul Stewart | John Tucker |
The last we saw our blue and gold attired heroes, the Minnesota Swarm (4-4), they fought back a desperate foe, the Colorado Mammoth (2-6), who tried to use their tar filled home to spring a trap on the Swarm. But at the last minute, the Swarm discovered the trap and countered back with a 13-12 win on a Tim Campeau game winner with 31.7 seconds left.
That now leads to the next desperate foe on Minnesota's schedule, the Philadelphia Wings (2-7). The Wings will host the Swarm on Saturday, March 13 at 6:00 pm CST at the Wachovia Center. The Swarm will be entering the game on a three game winning streak, which is the longest since 2008. The game in Philly will be the second of four in a row on the road for Minny. The Swarm will be entering this game after a week off while the Wings will be in Orlando against the Titans the night before.
Last year, the two teams met twice in Philadelphia with both games ending in a 13-12 score as the series was split. Dan Marohl got the game winner on an Air Marohl goal with two seconds left on March 14, 2009 and Marohl just came back to the Swarm in their last game against Colorado after spending nearly the first half of the season on the hold out list.
Speaking of Marohl, how does the offense line up this weekend. Swarm General Manager Marty O'Neill likes to think of the offense with Marohl as a 3-1-3 offense because of Marohl's ambidextrous talents. So we know Marohl is the "1" in the 3-1-3 offense this weekend, but there is some question in each of the "3's". Callum Crawford, who has already set personal career season highs in assists and points and needs four goals for to break his season high of 19 last year in Edmonton, had his hearing this past Tuesday to appeal the suspension from his involvement in the big brawl against Washington on February 13. No word yet on the decision from the hearing but if Crawford is out this weekend, that is a big monkey wrench thrown in the well oiled Swarm Scoring Machine.
If Crawford is out, look for Sean Thomson to get the nod to replace him as the third righty in the offense to go along with Sean Pollock and Aaron Wilson. Also, what makes a start for Thomson, who has not played since the regular season opener in Calgary, intriguing is that he was the Wings' first round pick in the 2008 Entry Draft and after one year, the Wings traded him to the Swarm.
On the left side, Ryan Benesch and Tim Campeau are locks but the decision on the third lefty will be between Zack Greer and Kevin Ross. In the last game, Greer played while Ross sat for the first time in his Swarm career. Look for the opposite this weekend with Ross back in the lineup.
A couple of milestones that have been reached or soon to be reached. According to my count, the Swarm have scored 1,012 regular season goals with the 1,000th scored in the Swarm's last game on February 27, 2010 by Pollock. Look for Swarm goal 2,000 to occur faster than 6.5 years. One milestone looking to be made by the end of the month will be when Noah Talbot breaks Jon Sullivan's Swarm consecutive games played record of 51. Talbot is at 49 games now, which started three years ago on March 18, 2007 in a 11-9 Swarm home win over the Wings. Expect Talbot to pass Sullivan in Edmonton on March 27, 2010.
The Swarm have some tough decisions in the next week. Prior to the last Swarm game, the Swarm's Captain, Ryan Cousins, was placed on the hold out list due to a commitment in regards to his training to be a firefighter. His spot on the active roster for that game was taken by Ryan Sharp, who apparently is free to play as he has been in training to be a police officer. Watching Sharp in the last game, definitely convinces me that Sharp will remain on the active roster, so some one has to go with Cousins coming back this weekend, or at least we think he is coming back. The likely candidates are either Nick Inch or Colin Achenbach who have only played in one game each. Either could be released, put on the practice squad or place on some type of inactive list to make room for Cousins.
What makes the roster move for Cousins more intriguing is that the NLL trade deadline is on Tuesday, March 16. Not saying Cousins is being traded but Marty does what Marty does. Looking at the roster, I don't see many if any moves being made but Inch may be someone who could be moved. Inch was an all-star last year and has only been in one game this year. He is too good for such little time played this year. He is a roommate in Victoria with Edmonton Rush captain Chris McElroy and I am sure the Rush would not mind making room for him for the right deal. Another recent development from the Lax United website, is a February 5, 2010 audio interview with Kevin Buchanan. Buchanan mentions in the interview that he is moving to Boston late this month. Considering that Buchanan has not been able to play due to work commitments this year and the Blazers play in Boston, a move may occur between the Swarm and the Blazers. Even if Marty is not looking to make a trade, always remember other GM's are and I am sure in they are talking Marty's ear off. Also, Marty is not queasy to make moves, that should have been confirmed with the off season trades of Ryan Ward and Chad Culp.
The Swarm's opponent this weekend is the Wings, the once proud anchor of the NLL now suffering through their worst season in franchise history. At 2-7, it's definitely not sunny in Philadelphia. The night before the game against the Swarm, the Wings will be in Orlando to play the Titans, so the Wings will be likely more weary for whatever that's worth. The Wings have struggled on offense as their top two scorers the last two years, Athan Iannucci, who scored a NLL season record 71 goals in 2008, and Merrick Thomson, have been out the entire season. The player fans really like to see play is Geoff Snider, who is the NLL's fighting champion, who also at the same time, one of the most versatile players in the league. What fans in Philly can't understand is why Kevin Huntley is playing every game for the Wings this year. Huntley has played in all nine games on offense and only has three goals and nine assists. Oh, that's right, Kevin's father is Dave Huntley, the Wings General Manager and Head Coach. The father-son duo is together also in Toronto in the MLL and with Team Canada for this summer's World Field Lacrosse Championships in Manchester, England. Hopefully, for Team Canada's sake this summer, Dave Huntley plays Greer and Sullivan more than his son, Kevin.
As usual, the next game in the NLL is a must win for every team. The Swarm are playing well and riding high while the Wings had a tough loss last week in Calgary, 15-7, play in Orlando the night before and just don't look all that good. If the Swarm remember to play all sixty minutes this weekend, the Swarm should extend their winning streak to four games.
