Minnesota Swarm (1-0) 11
Portland LumberJax (0-1) 7
The Swarm Crozzed Up the LumberJax
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Portland, Oregon
Attendance: 7,121
When Swarm fans checked out Swarm Vision Live to check out the regular
season opener for the team last night, I think most if not all of us, were thinking, "What the blankety-blank is Swarm Head Coach
Duane Jacobs thinking". That reaction occurred when we realized that Kevin Croswell was opening the 2009 Swarm season in net
over Nick Patterson. Patterson is 24-11 in his Swarm career, is the established #1 goaltender, appeared more than healthy at
practice this past week and started the 2008 All-Star Game. Croswell has never started a NLL game and had only played 63 minutes
last year, which was his rookie season. No one knows for sure why Patterson did not play, even though speculation is growing.
What Swarm fans do know now is that Croswell was stellar in goal on Saturday night and are more reassured that Croswell can be
the man when and if needed.
Croswell's first NLL start ended in a 11-7 Swarm victory over the Portland LumberJax in Portland on Saturday night.
After a shaky start, Croswell limited the LumberJax to only three goals over the last three quarters. He saved 42 of 49 shots
and along with the Swarm defense, helped kill four of five Jax power plays. Sean Pollock led the Swarm with two goals and four
assists. Kevin Ross, in his Swarm debut, scored three goals and two assists. Dan Marohl and Ryan Ward both got two goals and
two assists and Marohl got the game winner.
The LumberJax came out strong to start the game. They opened the scoring with Peter Jacobs scoring their only power play
goal of the night. The Jax increased the lead to 3-0 after former Swarm Scott Stewart shot a cannon past Croswell. Pollock
got the first goal of the season off a rebound for the Swarm with only 45 seconds left in the quarter to make it 3-1 Jax.
Tim Campeau scored of the ensuing face off to put the Jax up three again with 39 seconds left. The Swarm got to go on their
first power play with 25 seconds left after a Bruce Alexander illegal cross check. So with the first quarter dwindling and the
Jax looking to be up three at the end of it, Ryan Ward found Sean Pollock with 1.2 seconds on the power play to cut the Jax lead
to two. Pollock's goal may have been the igniter for what was to come for the rest of night.
Peter Morgan scored on a breakaway as he won a foot race with Pollock to the net at the 2:56 mark of the second to make it
5-2 for the Jax. Ross scored his first Swarm goal as he streaked in on former Swarm Matt Disher off of Nick Inch's outlet pass.
Ward cut to the middle and received a Colin Achenbach pass to make it 5-4 and Marohl tied it up at 6:09 as he dove through the
crease and put it past Disher. The Jax appeared to regain the lead but a Ryan Powell goal was challenged by the Swarm and
overturned on replay as the video showed Powell was in the crease. The Swarm capitalized soon after as Ross scored on the
power play to make to give the Swarm their first lead at 6-5. The Jax challenged a no-goal call for Jacobs but replay did not
over turn the challenge. So two replays that went in the Swarm's favor kept the Swarm ahead 6-5 going into halftime.
Kevin Fines scored his first Swarm goal just 21 seconds into the third by shooting low and behind the back on the crease to
extend the Swarm lead to 7-5. Dan Stroup finally broke the five goal Swarm spree with a goal at the 2:33 mark which ended a
nearly fifteen minute scoring drought for the Jax. Pollock found Marohl cutting to the net and in full stride, Marohl shot it
behind the back for the eventual game winner at the 4:14 mark of third.
The Swarm grew their lead early into the fourth quarter on a two on one breakaway that had Darren Halls find the open Ward
going to the net. Chad Culp, wearing #10 again, finally got on the score sheet as he was left all alone in the middle on Disher
to make it 10-6 for the Swarm. Ross finished the Swarm scoring at the 8:00 mark after slipping off a pick he set for Culp, who
then paid Ross back with the pass that set up Ross's goal. All during the time, the Swarm killed two Jax power plays and held
the Jax scoreless for over twenty five minutes until a late goal by Stroup to make the final score 11-7 in the Swarm's favor.
The Swarm held Powell scoreless and Derek Malawsky without a goal. These were the Jax's second and third leading scorers last
year after ex-Jax Dan Dawson. Cory Conway led the Jax in scoring with three assists. P. Morgan and Stroup finished with two
goals each. Disher made 32 saves on 43 shots.
The Swarm win in their West Division debut and lead the division by themselves. They are 3-2 in regular season openers and
are 4-1 in their first road of the year. The Swarm did not start Patterson in net for the first time since April 15, 2007.
They also did not dress Jon Sullivan, Ryan Cousins and Travis Hill who were regulars last season. Sullivan entered last night
with a team record 51 consecutive games played and Cousins with 43, but both those
streaks were ended. We know Cousins was out
due to injury and is expected to be in the line up on January 10 at the X against San Jose. The reasons why Patterson did not
start and Sullivan and T. Hill not dress is unclear even though it is speculated to be disciplinary.
Croswell earned his first NLL victory. Ross and Fines scored their first Swarm goals. Pollock now has the most
power play
goals in Swarm regular season history with 31 after last night's goal. Riley Kemp made his return to the line up after missing
the entire 2008 season to injury. He took his first faceoffs in his NLL career and won 6 of 11. Jacobs won his
20th
game as Swarm Head Coach.
Game Statistics
Pointstreak Box Score |
Minnesota Swarm Game Center
| Team Stats |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
F |
|
Sv/S |
PIM |
PP |
SHG |
S |
SOG |
LB |
FO |
| Minnesota |
2 |
4 |
2 |
3 |
11 |
|
42/49 |
10 |
2/4 |
0 |
67 |
43 |
87 |
11/22 |
| Portland |
4 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
7 |
|
32/43 |
8 |
1/5 |
0 |
69 |
49 |
86 |
11/22 |
| # |
Minnesota |
G |
A |
Pts |
PIM |
PPG |
SHG |
S |
SOG |
LB |
FO |
| 17 |
Sean Pollock |
2 |
4 |
6 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
11 |
8 |
4 |
0/0 |
| 71 |
Kevin Ross |
3 |
2 |
5 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
7 |
4 |
3 |
0/0 |
| 7 |
Dan Marohl |
2 |
2 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
7 |
5 |
2 |
0/0 |
| 44 |
Ryan Ward |
2 |
2 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
9 |
6 |
6 |
0/0 |
| 21 |
Kevin Fines |
1 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
8 |
1/2 |
| 9 |
Craig Point |
0 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
7 |
4 |
3 |
0/1 |
| 31 |
Kevin Croswell |
0 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0/0 |
| 10 |
Chad Culp |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
9 |
4 |
6 |
0/0 |
| 22 |
Andrew Watt |
0 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
2 |
6 |
0/0 |
| 27 |
Colin Achenbach |
0 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
5 |
0/0 |
| 28 |
Darren Halls |
0 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
9 |
4/8 |
| 34 |
Nick Inch |
0 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
0/0 |
| 73 |
Dean Hill |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
3 |
5 |
0/0 |
| 12 |
Eric Pacey |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
0/0 |
| 16 |
Noah Talbot |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
0/0 |
| 26 |
Ryan Sharp |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
4 |
11 |
0/0 |
| 77 |
Riley Kemp |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
6/11 |
| 93 |
NickPatterson |
Backup Goaltender - DNP |
| 4 |
Joe Cinosky |
Did Not Dress |
| 23 |
Jon Sullivan |
Did Not Dress |
| 33 |
Kevin Buchanan |
Did Not Dress |
| 47 |
Travis Hill |
Did Not Dress |
| 50 |
Ryan Cousins |
Did Not Dress |
| |
| # |
Minnesota |
MIN |
GA |
Saves |
Shots |
Dec |
|
| 31 |
Kevin Croswell |
60:00 |
7 |
42 |
49 |
W 1-0 |
|
| 93 |
NickPatterson |
0:00 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
| |
| # |
Portland |
G |
A |
Pts |
PIM |
PPG |
SHG |
S |
SOG |
LB |
FO |
| 91 |
Cory Conway |
0 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
10 |
7 |
5 |
0/0 |
| 44 |
Peter Morgan |
2 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
5 |
9 |
0/0 |
| 88 |
Dan Stroup |
2 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
9 |
7 |
4 |
0/0 |
| 1 |
Peter Jacobs |
1 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
4 |
4 |
6 |
0/0 |
| 8 |
Scott Stewart |
1 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
5 |
10 |
0/0 |
| 18 |
Derek Malawsky |
0 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
8 |
5 |
7 |
0/0 |
| 15 |
Tim Campeau |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
0/0 |
| 12 |
Pat Jones |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
11/22 |
| 17 |
Brodie Merrill |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
3 |
15 |
0/0 |
| 39 |
Matt Disher |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0/0 |
| 7 |
Tyler Codron |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0/0 |
| 16 |
Matt Brown |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
3 |
1 |
0/0 |
| 22 |
Ryan Powell |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
14 |
7 |
3 |
0/0 |
| 33 |
Richard Morgan |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
0/0 |
| 36 |
Luke Forget |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
8 |
0/0 |
| 41 |
Joel Weber |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0/0 |
| 49 |
Bruce Alexander |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
7 |
0/0 |
| 55 |
David Morgan |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0/0 |
| 9 |
Matt Yager |
Did Not Dress |
| 11 |
Derek Lowe |
Did Not Dress |
| 21 |
Dayne Michaud |
Did Not Dress |
| 30 |
Matt Flindell |
Did Not Dress |
| 56 |
Jamieson Koesterer |
Did Not Dress |
| |
| # |
Portland |
MIN |
GA |
Saves |
Shots |
Dec |
|
| 39 |
Matt Disher |
58:07 |
11 |
32 |
43 |
L 0-1 |
|
| 41 |
Joel Weber |
1:53 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
Next Games After This Match Up
- Minnesota vs. San Jose - Saturday, January 10 7:00 pm CST
- Portland vs. Colorado - Friday, January 9 9:30 pm CST
| 
