Minnesota Swarm (9-4) 15
Philadelphia Wings (9-5) 14
OT
Iannucci Breaks Record but Swarm Breaks the Wings
Saturday, April 12, 2008
St. Paul, Minnesota
Attendance: 12,830
The Minnesota Swarm are enjoying their time at home this April. For the second straight weekend, the Swarm make a fourth quarter
comeback to attain victory, this time over the Philadelphia Wings by a score of 15-14 in overtime at the X.
Dan Marohl (3g 9a) in his Swarm home debut tied the game with 1.5 seconds left and Sean Pollock
(20g 29a) sent the Wings back to Philly in defeat when he took the ball to the net and scored 1:19 into the overtime frame. The
victory puts the Swarm on top of the hill in the East Division with two weeks remaining.
The Wings started quickly when Merrick Thomson scored just 43 seconds into the game. A couple minutes later
Ryan Ward (28g 34a) answered for the Swarm to tie it at 1-1. AFter the Wings scored two straight, Ward
cut the lead to one as he put a couple moves on the Wings D, backed up and unleashed his rocket.
Craig Point (24g 30a) tied it up with a lazer from top center. After Jon Sullivan (2g 6a) foiled
a golden opportunity by Jamie Rooney to score on the crease, Chad Culp (21g 25a) took a shot and hit the
crossbar. The ball; however, bounced off the back of Wings goaltender Rob Blaisdell and into the goal for the Swwarm's first lead
of the game. Ward got his third goal of the night after dodging his defender to the net to give the Swarm a two goal lead at 5-3.
Meanwhile, the Swarm defense was all over the Wings and Athan Iannucci, in particular, to delay the inevitable march to the NLL
single season goal scoring record. Iannucci's first big opportunity came late in the quarter but Nick
Inch (0g 1a) clotheslined him on his way to the net.
The Swarm scored four straight to finish the first and they continued to score to start the second.
Andy Secore (24g 41a) came off the bench on the Swarm's first possession of the quarter and Pollock found him in stride for the
goal. Secore then found Culp all alone top left to fire on Blasdell, which he did at 1:14 of the second. Within the next minute,
Sullivan scooped up a loosie in the defensive zone and took the ball coast to coast for his second goal of the year. The eight
points that Sullivan has this year is his career season best. Later on in the quarter, Marohl got in on Blasdell and took a shot.
The ball bounced off Blasdell and Colin Achenbach (1g 0a) was just outside the crease waiting for
the rebound that he put past Blasdell for his first ever NLL goal. Achenbach's goal finished the night for Blasdell and Wings
Head Coach Dave Huntley sent in Brandon Miller as his replacement. The Swarm's defense continued to stifle the Wings and
Nick Patterson (9-3 12.05 GAA .766 Save %) was stellar as he fought of Iannucci on the crease twice
late in the quarter. With under three to go, Culp was whacked in his shins near the Swarm bench and went down. He stayed down for
a few seconds but he still had the ball. The stunned Wings defense then watched as Culp got up and took off for the net. By the
time the Wings reacted, Culp passed it behind his back to Secore for a wide open shot for the 10-3 lead which held for the rest
of the half.
The Swarm began the second half with Ryan Sharp (8g 9a) in the box for an illegal cross checking
major he incurred late in the first half. That meant the Swarm were a man down for the first 4:48 of the third quarter. The Swarm
nearly escaped harm but Thomson scored with 11 seconds left on power play to end the Swarm nine goal streak. Culp got his third
goal of the night as he took the ball down the middle to put the Swarm up 11-4 but the rest of quarter belonged to the Wings. With
the Swarm up 11-6, Iannucci finally scored his first goal of night which tied him with Gary Gait for most ever goals in one NLL
season with 61. Off the ensuing face off, Geoff Snider won it and took right off for the net and scored to cut the lead to 11-8.
Iannucci got number 62 for the year after dodging Ryan Cousins (7g 5a). A.J. Shannon got the last
goal of the quarter for the Wings as he dove through the crease to cut the Swarm lead from seven to start the quarter to one to
end the quarter.
Secore finally ended the Wings streak at 1:20 of the fourth after he faked the pick and roll with
Rory McDade (3g 8a) then went to the net to put the Swarm up 12-10. The Wings came back to tie with two straight goals
including Iannucci's third of the game which ensured his fourteenth hat trick in fourteen games this year.
Eric Pacey (2g 6a) reacquired the lead for the Swarm after he picked off a pass and took it in on Miller, faked a couple times
and found the opening. Snider tied it 43 seconds later and David Mitchell gave the Wings their first lead of the game since the
first quarter with 2:54 left in the game. Taylor Wray got called for a hold with 2:01 left in the game. That put the Swarm on
the power play for nearly the rest of the game. The action was back and forth but it all amounted to nothing until the Swarm
called a timeout with 14.2 seconds left. Patterson was pulled for the extra attacker and Pollock found Marohl, the former Wing,
going to the net to score the power play goal to tie at 1.5 seconds left to send the game into overtime for the fourth time this
season.
The Wings had an opportunity to score early in OT but Patterson slammed the door. Inch got the ball to start the offense and got
it up to Secore who found Pollock for game winner 1:19 into OT. The players and the crowd erupted into euphoria as Pollock got his
second overtime goal of the year and a Swarm record sixth game winning goal. The Swarm have been overtime kings this year going 4-0
and have won six straight overtime goals in their history after losing their first ever OT game in Arizona on February 18, 2005.
Secore (3a), Culp (2a) and Ward (2a) each had a hat trick for the Swarm. Achenbach got his first ever NLL goal and Inch's assist on Pollock's
game winner was his first ever assist and point in the NLL. Point now has scored the most assists (30) and points (54) for a rookie
in Swarm history. Ward is only four goals from tying Dean Hill's (9g 10a) single season record of 32 goals
that he set last year. Iannucci led the Wings with three goals and three assists and now has the NLL record of 63 goals in one
season with two games to go.
The victory tied the season series with Philadelphia at 1-1 and gave the Swarm the best division record in the East at 7-4. A
win next week against Rochester will clinch a playoff spot and if Buffalo loses to Chicago next week also, the Swarm will clinch
their first ever home playoff game. The game against the Knighthawks is on Saturday, April 19 at 7:00 pm at the X where the Swarm
are undefeated at 6-0 and those six home wins are a single season record breaking the record of five set last year.
Game Statistics
Box Score
Minnesota Swarm Game Center
| # | Minnesota |
G |
A | Pts |
PIM |
PPG | SHG |
S |
LB | FO |
|
# | Philadelphia |
G |
A | Pts |
PIM |
PPG | SHG |
S |
LB | FO |
| 21 | Andy
Secore | 3 |
3 |
6 | 0 |
1 |
0 | 9 |
2 |
0-0 |
|
23 | Athan
Iannucci |
3 |
3 | 6 |
0 |
1 | 0 |
16 |
3 | 0-0 |
| 19 | Chad Culp |
3 |
2 |
5 | 0 |
1 |
0 | 14 |
7 |
0-0 |
|
9 | Merrick
Thomson |
2 |
3 | 5 |
0 |
1 | 0 |
15 |
3 | 0-0 |
| 44 | Ryan Ward |
3 |
2 |
5 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 13 |
4 |
0-0 |
|
7 | Kyle Sweeney |
0 |
4 |
4 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
9 |
0-0 |
| 7 | Dan Marohl |
1 |
2 | 3 |
0 |
1 | 0 |
5 |
1 | 0-0 |
|
4 | Geoff Snider |
3 |
0 | 3 |
2 |
0 | 0 |
6 |
32 | 30-31 |
| 9 | Craig
Point |
1 |
2 | 3 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
9 |
2 | 0-2 |
|
88 | A.J. Shannon |
1 |
2 | 3 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
8 |
5 | 0-0 |
| 17 | Sean
Pollock | 1 |
2 |
3 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 10 |
5 |
0-0 |
|
44 | Taylor Wray |
0 |
3 | 3 |
4 |
0 | 0 |
1 |
6 | 0-0 |
| 47 | Travis
Hill | 0 |
3 |
3 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 1 |
9 |
2-28 |
|
22 | David
Mitchell |
2 |
0 | 2 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
4 |
2 | 0-0 |
| 12 | Eric
Pacey | 1 |
1 |
2 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 4 |
6 |
0-0 |
|
26 | Drew
Westervelt | 2 |
0 |
2 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 9 |
4 |
0-0 |
| 23 | Jon
Sullivan | 1 |
1 |
2 | 2 |
0 |
0 | 1 |
4 |
0-1 |
|
14 | Jamie Rooney |
1 |
1 | 2 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
5 |
0 | 0-0 |
| 8 | Rory
McDade | 0 |
2 |
2 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 5 |
2 |
0-0 |
|
54 | Jason Crosbie |
0 |
2 | 2 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
6 |
2 | 0-0 |
| 27 | Colin
Achenbach | 1 |
0 |
1 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 2 |
7 |
0-0 |
|
28 | Thomas Hajek |
0 |
1 |
1 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 1 |
3 |
0-0 |
| 26 | Ryan
Sharp | 0 |
1 |
1 | 17 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
1 |
0-0 |
|
77 | Rob Van Beek |
0 |
1 | 1 |
2 |
0 | 0 |
1 |
5 | 0-0 |
| 34 | Nick Inch |
0 |
1 | 1 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
1 |
4 | 0-0 |
|
1 | John Christmas |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0-0 |
| 16 | Noah
Talbot | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 1 |
4 |
0-0 |
|
2 | Jim Borell |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
4 | 0-0 |
| 20 | Kyle Ross |
0 |
0 |
0 | 2 |
0 |
0 | 1 |
7 |
0-0 |
|
15 | Brett Moyer |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
1 | 0-0 |
| 31 | Kevin
Croswell | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0-0 |
|
25 | Pat Heim |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
3 | 1-2 |
| 50 | Ryan
Cousins | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 1 |
6 |
0-2 |
|
31 | Rob Blasdell |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0-0 |
| 93 | Nick
Patterson | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0-0 |
|
36 | Brandon
Miller |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0-0 |
| # | Minnesota | MIN |
GA | Saves | Shots |
|
# | Philadelphia | MIN |
GA | Saves | Shots |
| 93 | Nick Patterson | 61:18 |
14 | 35 | 49 |
|
31 | Rob Blasdell | 19:56 |
9 | 10 | 19 |
| 31 | Kevin Croswell | 0:00 |
0 | 0 | 0 |
|
36 | Brandon Miller | 41:23 |
6 | 29 | 35 |
| | Empty Net | 0:01 |
0 | | 0 |
|
| | |
| |
|
| Scoring by Quarter | 1 | 2 |
3 | 4 | OT | F |
| Minnesota | 5 | 5 |
1 | 3 | 1 |
15 |
| Philadelphia | 3 | 0 |
7 | 4 | 0 |
14 |
| Team Stats | Power Play | SHG |
PIM | LB | Saves/Shots |
SOG |
SOFF |
Face Offs |
| Minnesota | 3/4 | 0 |
21 | 71 | 35/49 |
54 |
23 |
2/33 |
| Philadelphia | 2/4 | 0 |
10 | 82 | 39/54 |
49 |
23 |
31/33 |
| Scratches | | |
| | |
| Minnesota | Chris Courtney |
Keith Cromwell |
Andrew Biers | Justin Norbraten |
Ian Rubel |
| Philadelphia | Peter Jacobs |
Brian Beisel |
Jay Preece | Shawn Nadelen |
Jake Bergey |
| 
