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

Rochester Knighthawks (1-3 H 0-1 A 1-2)

Saturday, February 4, 2012 - 6:30 pm CST
Blue Cross Arena at War Memorial
Rochester, New York

Live Statistics

TV/Internet/Radio Coverage:

More Coverage of this game at:

Standings:

Series History:

These two teams played each other in the pre-season with the Knighhawks winning 19-15. Ryan Benesch led the Swarm with 5 goals and 4 assists. Nick Patterson and Evan Kirk split halves in goal. Rochester has won four in a row in the regular seaosn against the Swarm dating back to January 26, 2008.

Personnel:

Minnesota Swarm

Depth Chart

Staff

Rochester Knighthawks

Depth Chart

Staff

• The Swarm will enter Rochester off the first win of the season and first ever against the Buffalo Bandits at home by the score of 19-11. Tyler Carslon is his first ever NLL and Swarm appearance and start saved 39 of 50, Callum Crawford led the Swarm with 2 goals and 7 assists.
• Kevin Ross and Andrew Watt will serve as assistant captains for this game.
• As of Wednesday's NLL Coaches Call, Mike Lines has not decided who will start in net this weekeend between last week's star Tyler Carlson and first round draft pick Evan Kirk. It is believed that the Swarm want to see both in action; however, with Carlosn's perfomrance last weekend, the team may want to ride his hot hand. 
• Kirk, if he plays, will be facing his older brother Mike of the Knighthawks.
• Ryan Benesch needs one goal for 150 in his career and and just passed into fourth Aaron Wilson in points in Swarm history with 193.
• Callum Crawford leads the Swarm with 18 points with 6 goals and 12 assists. Crawford has two consecutive nine point games to start the season.
• Four players last Saturday scored hat tricks for the Swarm - Benesch, Kevin Ross, Corbyn Tao and Andrew Suitor.
• Jordan MacIntosh is third in the NLL with 44 face off wins and tied for fifth in loose balls with 27.
• The Swarm lead the league in power play percentage scoring on 13 of 20 chances for 65%. The nine power play goals in last weekend's win were the most in a game for the Swarm. The previous record of seven was set twice, the first time in the Swarm's first ever home win against Rochester on March 25, 2005 and the second time was on January 27, 2007 in a road loss victory in Calgary. Incidentally, in both of those games, the Swarm went 7 of 10 on the power play.
• The Swarm's three short handed goals tied for the most in team history with the three they got against Calgary at The Hive on April 2, 2011
• Andrew Watt's shorthanded goal against Buffalo is his tenth with the Swarm, which is the most in team history, Watt's goal was his 30th with the Swarm and the point earned was his 50th with the Swarm.
• The Swarm benefited from having 13 power play chances due to the Bandits playiing too recklessly. You can't expect that every game, so the question is can the Swarm produce regularly when 5 on 5.
• The Swarm also lead the NLL in goals per game with 16.5.
• Brendon Doran was the only scratch last week that could have played. Tyler Hass has an injured hand suffered in the loss to Colorado that appears will cause him to miss the rest of the sesaon. Nick Patterson looks to have been relegated to third goaltender status behind Tyler Carlson and Evan Kirk, therefore, they did not fly him in last week and probably won't for games in Minnesota or out East for the time being.
• The Swarm and Knighthawks have four of the top six players in the 2011 NLL Entry Draft playing for them this season. Jordan MacIntosh (4th) and Evan Kirk (6th) play for the Swarm while Stephen Keogh (2nd) and Johnny Poweless (5th) play for the Knighthawks.
• After scoring 22 goals in the season debut in a win in Philadlephia, the Knighthawks enter Saturday on a three game losing streak which incluses being swept last weekend by Toronto and Colorado, both on the road.
• Cody Jamieson leasds hte Knighthawks in goals (13), assists (14) and points (27). He is second, fourth and second in the NLL respectively in those categories.
• Former Swarm Travis Hill has 3 goals and 2 assists in 3 gmaes this season.
• Goaltneder Matt Vinc is the two-time NLL goaltender of the year but has started slow with a 12.19 GAA and .725 save %. However, he has done well against the Swarm going 5.3 with a 11.15 GAA and .774 Save %. He also was the winning goaltender for the New York Titans in their playoff win against the Swarm at The Hive in 2008. That win started a streak of five straight wins for Vinc against the Swarm while playing for New York, Orlando and Rochester.
• In 13 games against the Swarm, Mike Accursi has 25 goals and 35 asssits including the game winning goal in the last regular season matchup betweeen the two teams on Febraury 12, 2011 in Rochester.
• The Knighthawks will wear special jerseys promoting men's health for this game which will later be autcitoned off.

Prediction: Minnesota Swarm 14 Rochester Knighthawks 12

Next Games After This Match Up

• Minnesota vs Edmonton - Friday, February 10th, 2012 7:30 pm Central
• Rochester at Minnesota - Sunday, February 12th, 2012 2:00 pm Central