Minnesota Swarm (2-1 H 1-1 A 1-0)

Washington Stealth (2-2 H 0-2 A 2-0)

Saturday, January 29, 2011 - 7:30 pm CST
Xcel Energy Center
Treasure Island Field at The Hive
St. Paul, Minnesota

Live Statistics

TV/Internet/Radio Coverage:

More Coverage of this game at:

Standings:

Series History:

Two weeks ago in Washington, the Swarm doubled up the Stealth 16-8. Ryan Benesch had a Swarm record seven goals and Nick Patterson saved 50 of 58 shots. If the Swarm win this Saturday, they will clinch the season series.

Personnel:

Minnesota Swarm

Depth Chart

Goaltenders	Defense (Left)	Defense (Right)
Transition (Left)	Transition (Right)	Forwards (Left)	Forwards (Right)

Staff

General Manager	Head Coach	Assistant	Assistant

Edmonton Rush

Depth Chart

Staff

Your and mine favorite local professional indoor lacrosse team, the Minnesota Swarm, are not looking up. They are looking down upon the rest of the West since they are now in first place in the division. On a two game winning streak and winning their first home game since Feburary 20, 2010 last weekend over Edmonton, 9-8, last week, the Swarm are to build on their success as they host the Washington Stealth this Saturday at The Hive at 7:30 pm.

With a two game winning streak, the Swarm are going for three in a row now. The last time the Swarm had a three game winning streak, you have to look back to 2008 when they won their first six of that season. What has happened menawhile:

• Mike Lines is the Head Coach replacing Duane Jacobs before the 2010 season
• Ryan Ward was traded to Edmonton
• New Swarm owners - John and Andy Arlotta
• New President of the USA - Barack Obama
• Teams not in the NLL anymore - Chicago, Portland, New York (Orlando)
• World wide recession
• Oiled filled Gulf of Mexico
• Justin Bieber
• Brett Favre has retired, unretired, retired, unretired, retired, unretired and retired for now

Basically, the history of the world has passed by since 2008.

Nick Patterson is the Swarm headliner this week after stopping 50 & 47 shots the past two games. For both those efforts, Nick was named NLL Defensive Player of Week. He leads the league in GAA at 8.85 and is second in save % at .821. A fantastic start that is a huge reason for the Swarm success. He will be probably be going up against Tyler Richards, who is coming back from injury that caused thim to miss the game earlier this year. Richards is remembered for starting the roller derby like bench clearing brawl last year at The Hive when he attacked Sean Pollock from behind.

Pollock was held scoreless last week and still needs two points to tie and three to break the Swarm all-time points record held by Ryan Ward. It's been a tough start for Pollock this year with only four assists and held goalless on 12 shots. Kevin Ross and Tim Campeau also have been held without a goal this year and each has five assists. One of these guys will have to pick up their game soon. It was close last week and the Swarm prevailed but what if the big three have an off night soon. Will Pollock, Ross and Campeau be able to pick the slack up?

Benesch leads the Swarm with 10 goals and 11 assists this year. He is fifth in the NLL in goals, eleventh in assists and tenth in points. He has led the Swarm in scoring in all three games this year.

The Swarm traded Ryan Sharp to Toronto this week for a first rounder in 2013. Sharp has been a huge transition threat since 2007 for the Swarm but his inability to get time off from work to play for the Swarm is the reason for the trade. The Swarm couldn't afford to tie up a roster for a player that would only be available for barely half a season. So the trade is made.

The Swarm replace Sharp with Brock Boyle, who played with the Swarm from 2005 - 2007. Boyle has 30 goals and 21 assists in his time with the Swarm. He is a huge fan favorite that many fans have nagged Swarm General Manager Marty O'Neill to bring back to Minny since he was left exposed in the Blazer Expansion Draft in 2007. Boyle spent time in Chicago and Rochester after his first Swarm stint and was cut in 2009 and 2010 in Swarm camp. The word is that Boyle is just as fast as ever and his goals on transition were stellar back in the day and are hoped to be seen again starting Saturday.

Sharp, Eric Pacey and Matt Kelly were scratches last week. Kelly told me last Saturday that he is playing this week. Look for Tyler Hass to sit as Kelly plays even though Hass got his first NLL goal last week.

Noah Talbot is now up to 61 consecutive games in a Swarm uniform.

With Richards back in net for the Stealth last week, they were able to get back to winning with a 19-14 win over Calgary. The Stealth offense also got going with 5 goals from Luke Wiles and 4 from Rhys Duch and former Swarm Craig Conn.

Andrew Suitor fought Matt Beers in the match up two weeks ago. Beers also fought last week versus Calgary. Look for Beers to try to take on Suitor, Rory Smith, etc. as Beers seems to find a fight quite readily this year.

The Swarm are going for that third straight win and second straight at home. Patterson has been strong all year and look for the same this weekend. Look for some secondary scoring from Pollock, Campeau or Ross to put the Swarm over the edge. Maybe even a Boyle goal to clinch it.

Make sure to stick around to watch the Minnesota RollerGirls as they show off their Roller Derby skills after the game. They will be wearing specially desigined Swarm jerseys that will be auctioned off as The Hive gets transformed into Hell on Wheels.

Prediction: Minnesota Swarm 12 Washington Stealth 11

Next Games After This Match Up

• Minnesota at Buffalo - Friday, February 4th, 2011 6:30 pm Central
• Washington at Colorado - Saturday, February 5th, 2011 8:00 pm Central