Minnesota Swarm (10-6) 12
Chicago Shamrox (6-10) 11
Make Sure to Get Your Playoff Tickets
Friday, April 26, 2008
Hoffman Estates, Illinois
Attendance: 6,014
One could sense watching on B2 last night, that the Minnesota Swarm had gotten together with each other and said enough was
enough after Friday night loss in St. Paul. That was bad news for the Chicago Shamrox because the Swarm were not going to let the
Shamrox repeat Friday's performance and they did not as the Swarm won 12-11 to clinch a home playoff game next Saturday, May 3
at 7:00 pm against the New York Titans.
The game started with an unusual twist in this series. The Shamrox scored first for the first time in the six games these two
have played against each other. In the first five games, the Swarm had at least scored four or more goals to start the game before
the Shamrox answered. Down 1-0, Ryan Ward (33g 36a) crossed from Shamrox goaltender Matt Roik's right to
his left and then unleashed the shot for the Swarm's first goal of the night. Brad Self scored for the Shamrox to put them back in
the lead but Ward answered again on the power play to tie it. Chad Culp (23g 32a) gave the Swarm their
first lead at 3-2 after he corraled in a rebound and dumped it past Roik. Giles tied it up for the Shamrox at 3, then
Andy Secore (28g 48a) then caught a pass on a give and go from Rory McDade (4g 13a) to put the
Swarm back up by one. Ryan Cousins (9g 5a) finished the first quarter scoring leading a 2 on 0 break,
then faked out Roik for the goal.
Both defenses played strong for the first five of the second Sean Pollock (24g 36a) found McDade
cross crease to double up the Shamrox 6-3. Jason Clark scored for the Shamrox to cut it to 2 but Ward took over for the next two
goals with the first one on an overhand shot one on one with Roik, then he gets behind a screen and unloads to put the Swarm up 8-4.
Pollock then scoops up a rebound off a Craig Point (27g 34a) shot on the crease and puts it back in
to make it a five goal lead. Shortly after Pollock scored, he met up with the Shamrox's bad boy Drew Candy and the helmets and
gloves went down and the punches flew. That initiated a goaltending change from Roik to Derke Collins. Pollock got in a good right hand
before each got tied up and dragged each other down to the floor. Even though Candy was ejected, it seemed to fire up the
Shamrox and they scored three straight to cut the lead to 9-7 but Colin Achenbach (2g 4a) started
a break and got it to Ryan Sharp (9g 11a) who found Secore coming off the bench for the Swarm's tenth
goal of the game to send it to half at 10-7 in favor of the Swarm.
The Shamrox started their comeback in the third with goals by Kevin Ross and then Cody Jacobs found Josh Wasson cutting to the
net to cut the lead to one at 10-9. Point then scores on the power play just past Collins to put the Swarm back up by two. The
Swarm went down a man after a Nick Inch (0g 1a) was called for an illegal cross check but
Nick Patterson (10-4 11.99 GAA .768 Save %) made a save to start a fast break that saw it end with
Pollock scoring off the bench shorthanded to put the Swarm up 12-9.
The Swarm entered the fourth up three at 12-9 and that is whte way it stayed as each team killed a power play. The Shamrox
finally broke through with Giles scoring at 7:18 to cut the lead to one. Thomas Montour, much to his displeasure, was sent to the
box a penalty but the Swarm were unable to capitalize at Bill McGlone got a loosie behind the net and put it in past Patterson to
cut the lead to 12-11. McGlone had an opportunity to tie it but Achenbach tackled him down to the floor in front of the crease to
put the Swarm down a man at 11:51 of the fourth. The Swarm; however, were able to kill the penalty and Patterson finished off the
Shamrox to lead the Swarm to a 12-11 victory and a home playoff date next weekend against the Titans on Saturday, May 3 at 7:00 pm.
Ward led the Swarm with four goals and the last one he got set a Swarm single season with 33 breaking
Dean Hill's (9g 10a) record of 32 set last year. Secore had two goals and three assists and set the Swarm single season point
record of 76 breaking Ward's record of 75 he set last year. Pollock also had two goals and three assists and got his fifth game
winner of the year which leads the NLL depending if Athan Iannucci scores the game winner today for the Wings and ties him.
McDade also had a solid with a career high five points on one goal and four assists. Patterson won his league leading tenth
game of the win with 42 saves on 53 shots. Mat Giles led the Shamrox with four goals and Brad Self had a goal and four assists.
The Swarm have earned the second seed in the East and third overall in the NLL for the upcoming playoffs. They will host the
New York Titans (10-6) on Saturday, May 3 at 7:00 pm. The Buffalo Bandits (10-6) won the tiebreaker over the Swarm this season
and with that the division and will host throughout the entire playoffs will host the fourth seed Philadelphia Wings (9-6) next
Friday, May 2 at 6:30 pm. The Swarm's opponent next Saturday, the Titans have won 9 of 11 and four in a row to finish the season
and their head coach is Adam Mueller who was the Swarm's head coach in 2006. Mueller led both the Swarm and the Titans to each
of those teams first playoff berths with this being the Swarm's fourth season and the Titans' second season.
Game Statistics
Box Score
Minnesota Swarm Game Center
| # |
Minnesota |
G |
A | Pts |
PIM |
PPG | SHG |
S |
LB | FO |
|
# |
Chicago |
G |
A | Pts |
PIM |
PPG | SHG |
S |
LB | FO |
| 17 |
Sean Pollock |
2 |
3 |
5 |
7 |
0 |
1 |
9 |
3 |
0-0 |
|
12 |
Brad Self |
1 |
4 |
5 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
9 |
0-0 |
| 21 |
Andy Secore |
2 |
3 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
4 |
0-0 |
|
27 |
Mat Giles |
4 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
11 |
4 |
0-0 |
| 8 |
Rory McDade |
1 |
4 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
0-0 |
|
13 |
Jason Clark |
1 |
3 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
7 |
8 |
0-0 |
| 44 |
Ryan Ward |
4 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
13 |
2 |
0-0 |
|
18 |
Josh Wasson |
1 |
2 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
2 |
1-5 |
| 19 |
Chad Culp |
1 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
7 |
5 |
0-0 |
|
42 |
Jonas Derks |
0 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
8 |
1 |
0-0 |
| 9 |
Craig Point |
1 |
2 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
11 |
1 |
0-1 |
|
33 |
Bill McGlone |
2 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
10 |
3 |
0-0 |
| 27 |
Colin Achenbach |
0 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
0-0 |
|
71 |
Kevin Ross |
1 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
3 |
0-0 |
| 50 |
Ryan Cousins |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
5 |
0-0 |
|
88 |
Cody Jacobs |
1 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
12 |
1 |
0-0 |
| 7 |
Dan Marohl |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
2 |
0-0 |
|
6 |
Scott Self |
0 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
0-0 |
| 26 |
Ryan Sharp |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
0-0 |
|
21 |
Mack O'Brien |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
0-0 |
| 47 |
Travis Hill |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
8 |
11-26 |
|
63 |
Thomas Montour |
0 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
2 |
0-0 |
| 12 |
Eric Pacey |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0-0 |
|
4 |
Carter Livingstone |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
0-0 |
| 16 |
Noah Talbot |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
0-0 |
|
11 |
Mike Hobbins |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
0-0 |
| 23 |
Jon Sullivan |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
0-0 |
|
17 |
Kevin Fines |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
4 |
15-22 |
| 31 |
Kevin Croswell |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0-0 |
|
25 |
Drew Candy |
0 |
0 |
0 |
17 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
0-0 |
| 34 |
Nick Inch |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0-0 |
|
26 |
Mike Kirk |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0-0 |
| 40 |
Ian Rubel |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
0-0 |
|
35 |
Matt Roik |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0-0 |
| 93 |
Nick Patterson |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0-0 |
|
43 |
Derek Collins |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
0-0 |
| # | Minnesota | MIN |
GA | Saves | Shots |
|
# | Chicago | MIN |
GA | Saves | Shots |
| 93 | Nick Patterson | 60:00 |
11 | 42 | 53 |
|
35 | Matt Roik | 24:59 |
9 | 12 | 22 |
| 31 | Kevin Croswell | 0:00 |
0 | 0 | 0 |
|
43 | Derek Collins | 35:01 |
3 | 24 | 27 |
| Scoring by Quarter | 1 | 2 |
3 | 4 | F |
| Minnesota | 5 | 5 |
2 | 0 | 12 |
| Chicago | 3 | 4 |
2 | 2 | 11 |
| Team Stats | Power Play | SHG |
PIM | LB | Saves/Shots |
SOG |
SOFF |
Face Offs |
| Minnesota | 2/6 | 1 |
15 | 51 | 42/53 |
49 |
12 |
11/27 |
| Chicago | 0/4 | 1 |
29 | 56 | 37/49 |
53 |
16 |
16/27 |
| Scratches | | |
| | |
| Minnesota | Chris Courtney | Keith Cromwell |
Andrew Biers | Kyle Ross | Justin Norbraten |
| Chicago | Bryan Kazarian | Callum Crawford |
Brock Boyle | Andrew Burkholder | Bobby McBride |
| 
