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Minnesota Swarm (7-3) 13 Chicago Shamrox (1-7) 9
Swarm Enact A Pre-St. Patrick's Day Massacre Against Shamrox
Friday, March 14, 2008
St. Paul, Minnesota
Attendance: 13,004
Is the answer to why the Minnesota Swarm had lost three in a row as simple as not having Colin
Achenbach (0g 0a 5 LB) in the line up for any of those
games? Maybe or maybe not but Achenbach was in the line up last night getting two loose balls, six penalty minutes and nearly
scoring his first goal as the Minnesota Swarm ended their three game losing streak with a 13-9 victory over the Chicago Shamrox
at the Xcel Energy Center last night.
I think a large majority of Swarmiacs would say that the return of Andy Secore (18g 27a) from a
nagging injury that caused him to miss the last two games and Craig Point (21g 25a) being back to
being bang on again after a tough game last weekend in Buffalo may have had a large influence in the Swarm regaining their winning
ways. Secore did not waste any time as he got the Swarm's first goal of the game in just under two minutes after the start.
Not only did Secore return to the lineup, the Swarm's next goal scorer , Andrew Biers (1g 2a), made
his 2008 debut after being laid up with a knee injury since April 2007 as he came down in full flight on Shamrox goaltender Matt
Roik to put the Swarm up 2-0. Point worked the pick and roll well with Sean Pollock (14g 24a) at
the half way point of the first quarter to increase the the lead to three. A minute later, Kyle Ross
(3g 6a) beat his defender to the net for the Swarm's fourth goal. However, the Shamrox, in particular Drew Candy, did not take
to kindly to Ross' scoring touch. Candy came up to Ross right after the goal to speak his mind with his fists and Ross was more
than up to the challenge as they fought each other to an most exciting draw. It was so thrilling that Swarm captain Ryan Cousins (7g 5a) had some imaginative dialogue with the referee about it which put the Swarm a man down.
It is possible that the Shamrox thought they had stemmed the Swarm-ing tide that was cascading over them but
Ryan Sharp (7g 6a) scooped up the loose ball off the ensuing face off and stormed right to the goal to increase the lead to 5-0.
Sharp's shorthanded goal ended the Shamrox's momentum cold. Not only were the Swarm scoring on transition and peppering Roik with
16 shots in the first, the Shamrox could only get six shots on net in the quarter and even former Swarm Brock Boyle was thwarted by
Rory McDade's (1g 3a) on the Shamrox's best chance of the quarter on a breakaway late in the quarter.
The Swarm started well in the second quarter as well with Travis Hill (2g 5a) finishing off a 2
on 1 breakaway to put the Swarm up by six. A few minutes later just after the Swarm killed a Shamrox power play, Secore bolts off
the bench to catch the Shamrox napping to extend the lead to 7-0. It's hard to believe but Nick
Patterson (7-3 11.91 GAA .770 Save %) does give up a goal here or there. It took the Shamrox 27 minutes and 8 seconds to do it
before Josh Wasson finally got one past Patterson on the power play. The Swarm answered two minutes later when Biers forced a
turnover on a Shamrox power play and found the unstoppable scoring machine that is Jon Sullivan
(1g 4a) for the shorthanded breakaway goal with 51 seconds left in the half. For Sullivan, that is his first goal of the year and
first regular season goal since February 18, 2006 in Buffalo. But if your counting, Sullivan scored in last year's playoff game in
Buffalo on an empty net goal being manned by the National Lacrosse League's all-time leading scorer, not a goaltender, John
Tavares. Last night, was Sullivan's 44th consecutive game played with the Swarm which is now a
Swarm record breaking the 43 set by Riley Kemp
last year. The Shamrox did get a late goal by Kevin Fines before the half but the Swarm were comfortably ahead 8-2 as the fans
settled in to watch the halftime festivities.
The problem for the Swarm lately has been that you can not play a first half every half. During the three game losing streak,
the Swarm outscored the opponents 18-12 in the first half. Not electrifying but it certainly is much better than the second halves
when the Swarm were outscored 31-11. So when Shamrox young guns Cody Jacobs and Wasson cut the lead to 8-4 by mid way through the
third quarter, one gets a small twinge of fear of what may be ahead. Last night though, Point eradicated those fears as he
answered each of those two goals which two of his own to send the Swarm to the fourth quarter with a 10-4 lead.
Even though the Shamrox started fast in the fourth including a Bill McGlone goal on the opening face off and added another two
after that, the Swarm still were able to keep a nice buffer between them and the Shamrox. Pollock put the Swarm up 11-7 as he
got one by Roik on the crease. Jonas Derks cut the lead to three again but Point scored his team leading fourth goal of the night
to effectively end the Shamrox chances of a comeback. Mat Giles got a late goal with the extra attacker to make it 13-9 but the
extra attacker bit the Shamrox in the end as Eric Pacey (1g 4a) ended the night's scoring with his
first goal of the season on an empty netter.
The Swarm were lead by Point with four goals and two assists and Secore with
two and two. This year when these two guys are on their game or even in the
game, the Swarm are nearly unstoppable and even in the first Buffalo game, they
nearly helped pull that one out. Biers made a fantastic return to the floor with
a goal and two assists. He was a bit tired he said after the game but he had on
quite a grin saying that. Pollock recorded his 200th loose ball with the Swarm
while Sharp got his 100th with the team. Patterson had yet another great game
with 29 saves on 38 shots. The Swarm transition game returned from an one month
vacation with four goals. The Shamrox were led by Derks who had two goals and three assists. Roik, who the Shamrox got in a
trade from Philadelphia two weeks ago, not only made his Shamrox debut but also his season debut with a stellar 47 saves on 59
shots.
The playoff races is heating up. With the victory, the Swarm are now in second place a half game ahead of Buffalo (7-4), who
holds the tiebreaker against us. We are now a game behind Philadelphia (7-1) who rallied in the fourth quarter to beat San Jose
(5-4), 16-13, last night. Tomorrow, the NLL will hold their All-Star game in Edmonton with Ryan Ward
(20g 27a), Cousins, Patterson and Secore representing the Swarm even though Secore will not play in the game.
The Swarm have next week off but on Saturday, March 29 they will travel to the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, Illinois to
take on these same Shamrox at 7:00 pm CDT. Before that game, the Shamrox will travel to Rochester (4-4) to play the Knighthawks
on Saturday, March 22 at 6:35 pm CDT before the can exact revenge (not likely) on the Minnesota Swarm.
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 |
| 9 | Craig Point |
4 |
2 |
6 | 2 |
1 |
0 | 15 |
4 |
1-1 |
|
42 | Jonas Derks |
2 |
3 | 5 |
2 |
0 | 0 |
8 |
1 | 0-0 |
| 21 | Andy Secore |
2 |
2 |
4 | 0 |
1 |
0 | 13 |
5 |
0-0 |
|
18 | Josh Wasson |
2 |
2 | 4 |
2 |
1 | 0 |
3 |
9 | 8-12 |
| 17 | Sean Pollock |
1 |
2 |
3 | 0 |
1 |
0 | 11 |
6 |
0-0 |
|
88 | Cody Jacobs |
2 |
1 |
3 | 0 |
1 |
0 | 5 |
1 |
0-0 |
| 18 | Andrew
Biers |
1 |
2 | 3 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
1 |
5 | 0-1 |
|
27 | Mat Giles |
1 |
2 | 3 |
2 |
0 | 0 |
8 |
2 | 1-4 |
| 47 | Travis
Hill |
1 |
2 | 3 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
4 |
16 | 12-24 |
|
33 | Bill McGlone |
1 |
1 | 2 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
6 |
2 | 0-0 |
| 20 | Kyle Ross |
1 |
1 |
2 | 5 |
0 |
0 | 2 |
5 |
0-0 |
|
13 | Jason Clark |
0 |
2 | 2 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
5 |
3 | 0-0 |
| 23 | Jon
Sullivan | 1 |
1 |
2 | 0 |
0 |
1 | 1 |
2 |
0-0 |
|
71 | Kevin Ross |
0 |
2 | 2 |
2 |
0 | 0 |
5 |
1 | 0-0 |
| 8 | Rory
McDade | 0 |
2 |
2 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 3 |
0 |
0-0 |
|
17 | Kevin Fines |
1 |
0 |
1 | 0 |
1 |
0 | 2 |
5 |
3-8 |
| 44 | Ryan Ward |
0 |
2 |
2 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 11 |
3 |
0-0 |
|
24 | Brock Boyle |
0 |
1 | 1 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
3 | 0-0 |
| 12 | Eric
Pacey | 1 |
0 |
1 | 2 |
0 |
0 | 3 |
5 |
0-0 |
|
44 | Bobby McBride |
0 |
1 | 1 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
5 |
7 | 0-0 |
| 26 | Ryan
Sharp | 1 |
0 |
1 | 2 |
0 |
1 | 1 |
4 |
0-0 |
|
63 | Thomas
Montour | 0 |
1 |
1 | 2 |
0 |
0 | 1 |
8 |
0-0 |
| 11 | Keith
Cromwell | 0 |
1 |
1 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 6 |
0 |
0-0 |
|
4 | Carter
Livingstone |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
2 | 0-0 |
| 19 | Chad Culp |
0 |
1 | 1 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
5 |
9 | 0-0 |
|
6 | Scott Self |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
1 |
4 | 1-2 |
| 16 | Noah
Talbot | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
3 |
0-0 |
|
23 | Callum
Crawford |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
5 |
2 | 0-0 |
| 27 | Colin
Achenbach | 0 |
0 |
0 | 6 |
0 |
0 | 2 |
2 |
0-0 |
|
25 | Drew Candy |
0 |
0 | 0 |
5 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
5 | 0-0 |
| 31 | Kevin
Croswell | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0-0 |
|
26 | Mike Kirk |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
2 |
0 | 0-0 |
| 50 | Ryan
Cousins | 0 |
0 |
0 | 2 |
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 |
0 | 0-0 |
| # | Minnesota | MIN |
GA | Saves | Shots |
|
# | Chicago | MIN |
GA | Saves | Shots |
| 93 | Nick Patterson | 60:00 |
9 | 29 | 38 |
|
35 | Matt Roik | 59:58 |
12 | 47 | 59 |
| 31 | Kevin Croswell | 0:00 |
0 | 0 | 0 |
|
43 | Derek Collins | 0:00 |
0 | 0 | 0 |
| | | |
| | |
|
| Empty Net | 0:02 |
1 | |
1 |
| Scoring by Quarter | 1 | 2 |
3 | 4 | F |
| Minnesota | 5 | 3 |
2 | 3 | 13 |
| Chicago | 0 | 2 |
2 | 5 | 9 |
| Team Stats | Power Play | SHG |
PIM | LB | Saves/Shots |
SOG |
SOFF |
Face Offs |
| Minnesota | 3/7 | 2 |
19 | 72 | 29/38 |
60 |
18 |
13/26 |
| Chicago | 3/7 | 0 |
19 | 55 | 47/60 |
38 |
18 |
13/26 |
| Scratches | | |
| | |
| Minnesota | Chris Courtney | Justin Norbraten |
Nick Inch | Ian Rubel | Dean Hill |
| Chicago | Bryan Kazarian | Mike Hobbins |
Darryl Gibson | Andrew Burkholder | Chris Panos |
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