Minnesota Swarm (1-0) 17 Toronto Rock (1-1) 16 OT
The Swarm Maybe Ejected but Not Out
Friday, January 11, 2008
Toronto, Ontario
Attendance: 13,317
This game will be shown tape-delayed on KSTC Channel 45 on Saturday, January 12th at 4:00 pm CST.
The Swarm have a reputation for playing a team game and never giving up throughout the league. Tonight's game at the Air Canada
Centre against the Toronto Rock clearly backed up that reputation with a 17-16 overtime win. Ryan
Cousins, Minnesota Swarm captain, scored the game winner 1:27 into overtime after scooping up a rebound off Rock goaltender Bob Watson on a
Mike Hominuck shot on a breakaway.
The Swarm had three players (Sean Pollock, Ryan Sharp
and Travis Hill) ejected for fighting during the game with Pollock and Sharp gone by halftime. That
put a lot of pressure on the rest of the team to stay disciplined and just "suck it up" as Swarm Head Coach
Duane Jacobs said while being interviewed at halftime. The Swarm came back from deficits of 3-1, 12-9, 13-10 and 16-14 to
beat the Rock for a second straight time in Toronto.
The first goal of the game didn't come until over half of the first quarter was completed as the Rock's Blaine Manning put
Toronto up 1-0. Sharp scored the first goal this season for the Swarm on a breakaway with 4:57 left in the first quarter to cut
the Rock lead to 2-1. Pollock was later ejected in the quarter afer getting in a fight with Cam Woods. Possibly, some words
directed at somebody after the fight may have ended Pollock's night prematurely.
After a lackluster first quarter, the Swarm got it on in the second quarter. Andy Secore scored
his first two goals as a member of the Swarm to tie the game at three. Chad Culp gave the Swarm their
first lead of the game and season, 4-3, as he dove across the crease to score on Watson. Ryan Ward, the
Swarm's leading scorer last year, got his first goal of the game to put the Swarm back up 5-4. Craig
Point notched his first ever NLL goal with 3:57 left in the second quarter with a wicked hard shot past Watson's left elbow to
give the Swarm a 6-5 lead. Ward finished the scoring for the Swarm in the second but Josh Sanderson tied the game at seven with
.7 seconds left in the half.
Ward continued scoring in the third with the first two goals for the Swarm to get the score tied at nine. The Rock then ran off
three goals to give them their largest lead at 12-9. Culp got his second to narrow the lead to 12-10 and Blaine Manning ended the
third quarter scoring with the Rock up 13-10.
The Swarm staged a furious comeback in the fourth as rookie Chris Courtney got his first goal off
a rebound. T. Hill wins the following faceoff and gets a pass back from Hominuck to narrow the
lead to 13-12. Dean Hill, the Swarm's leading goal scorer last year, got his first this year on the
power play with a nifty crease pass from Point to tie it at 13. After a Sanderson goal, Point tied it after Cousins won the loose
ball on the face off. By that time, Point was taking the face offs because T. Hill had been ejected earlier in the quarter after
he blindsided the Rock's Jim Veltman coming off the bench. Woods retaliated to protect the captain, Veltman, and both he and T.
Hill got in a vicious fight which led to both being ejected. As always for the Rock, Sanderson answers the call by scoring two
consecutive goals to put the Rock up 16-14. Unfortunately for the Rock, they called a timeout with 3:33 left but they didn't have
one to call so they went a man down. Another penalty a minute later put the Rock down two men and the Swarm took advantage with
goals by Dean Hill and Ryan Ward. The game went to overtime where the 2007 NLL Defensive Player of the Year, Cousins was the man
in the right spot at the right time to win it for the Swarm.
Point, the third overall pick in 2007 entry draft that the Swarm acquired in a trade from Boston, made quite an impression by
leading the Swarm in scoring with two goals and six assists. Ward led the Swarm with five goals and also got another two assists.
Secore scored two goals and four assists in his Swarm debut. T. Hill had a strong game on face offs and defense before his ejection.
Both goaltenders, Nick Patterson and the Rock's Watson each made over 40 saves as they were deluged
with shots. For the Rock, Sanderson got a sock trick with six goals. He also got an assist. Manning led the Rock in points with
three goals and five assists. Manning leads the league in points with sixteen and assists with nine.
Tensions were high, even Swarm General Manager Marty O'Neill incurred the wrath of referee Chet
Couture in the fourth quarter after O'Neill offered some kinds to Couture after T. Hill's ejection. I don't know if both teams are
sharing the same flight to Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport but they will be meeting tomorrow night for a rematch at the Xcel Energy
Center at 7:00 pm CST.
Game Statistics
Box Score
Swarm Game Center
| # | Minnesota |
G |
A | Pts |
PIM |
PPG | SHG |
S |
LB | FO |
|
# | Toronto |
G |
A | Pts |
PIM |
PPG | SHG |
S |
LB | FO |
| 9 | Craig
Point | 2 |
6 |
8 | 2 |
0 |
0 | 14 |
8 |
5-10 |
|
16 | Blaine
Manning |
3 |
5 | 8 |
2 |
1 | 0 |
15 |
10 | 2-3 |
| 44 | Ryan Ward |
5 |
2 |
7 | 0 |
1 |
0 | 10 |
7 |
0-0 |
` |
19 | Josh
Sanderson |
6 |
1 | 7 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
14 |
5 | 0-0 |
| 21 | Andy
Secore | 2 |
4 |
6 | 0 |
1 |
0 | 12 |
3 |
0-0 |
|
10 | Aaron Wilson |
2 |
4 |
6 | 2 |
1 |
0 | 14 |
3 |
0-0 |
| 19 | Chad Culp |
2 |
2 | 4 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
7 |
3 | 0-0 |
|
21 | Ryan Benesch |
3 |
1 | 4 |
9 |
1 | 0 |
9 |
8 | 0-0 |
| 73 | Dean Hill |
2 |
1 | 3 |
0 |
2 | 0 |
10 |
5 | 0-0 |
|
22 | Cam Woods |
1 |
2 | 3 |
34 |
0 | 0 |
1 |
6 | 0-0 |
| 90 | Mike
Hominuck | 0 |
3 |
3 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 13 |
8 |
0-0 |
|
14 | Rob Marshall |
0 |
3 | 3 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
1 |
6 | 0-0 |
| 26 | Ryan
Sharp | 1 |
1 |
2 | 17 |
0 |
0 | 2 |
5 |
0-0 |
|
33 | Kasey Beirnes |
0 |
3 | 3 |
2 |
0 | 0 |
9 |
4 | 0-0 |
| 50 | Ryan
Cousins | 1 |
1 |
2 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 1 |
9 |
0-0 |
|
20 | Jay Winder |
1 |
1 |
2 | 4 |
0 |
0 | 1 |
2 |
0-0 |
| 3 | Chris
Courtney | 1 |
0 |
1 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 1 |
8 |
0-0 |
|
9 | Jon Harasym |
0 |
1 | 1 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
5 |
7 | 0-0 |
| 47 | Travis
Hill | 1 |
0 |
1 | 30 |
0 |
0 | 6 |
8 |
14-26 |
|
23 | Matt Carroll |
0 |
1 | 1 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
3 | 0-0 |
| 12 | Eric
Pacey | 0 |
1 |
1 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 1 |
7 |
0-0 |
|
27 | Peter Lough |
0 |
1 |
1 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
7 |
15-33 |
| 17 | Sean
Pollock | 0 |
1 |
1 | 17 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0-0 |
|
6 | Dan Ladouceur |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
1 |
3 | 0-0 |
| 20 | Kyle Ross |
0 |
1 | 1 |
2 |
0 | 0 |
1 |
6 | 0-0 |
|
7 | Derek Suddons |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0-0 |
| 31 | Kevin
Croswell | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0-0 |
|
15 | Mark Scherman |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
1 | 0-0 |
| 16 | Noah
Talbot | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
5 |
0-0 |
|
29 | Bob Watson |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0-0 |
| 23 | Jon
Sullivan | 0 |
0 |
0 | 2 |
0 |
0 | 2 |
6 |
0-0 |
|
30 | Mike Poulin |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0-0 |
| 34 | Nick Inch |
0 |
0 |
0 | 2 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
1 |
0-0 |
|
32 | Jim Veltman |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
14 | 0-0 |
| 93 | Nick
Patterson | 0 |
0 |
0 | 2 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
1 |
0-0 |
|
93 | Chris
Driscoll |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
3 |
10 | 0-0 |
| # | Minnesota | MIN |
GA | Saves | Shots |
|
# | Toronto | MIN |
GA | Saves | Shots |
| 93 | Nick Patterson | 61:27 |
16 | 41 | 57 |
|
29 | Bob Watson | 61:27 |
17 | 40 | 57 |
| 31 | Kevin Croswell | 0:00 |
0 | 0 | 0 |
|
30 | Mike Poulin | 0:00 |
0 | 0 | 0 |
| Scoring by Quarter | 1 |
2 |
3 | 4 |
OT | F |
| Minnesota | 1 |
6 |
3 | 6 |
1 | 17 |
| Toronto | 3 |
4 |
6 | 3 |
0 | 16 |
| Team Stats | Power Play | SHG |
PIM | LB | Saves/Shots |
Face Offs |
| Minnesota | 4/8 | 0 |
80 | 90 | 41/57 |
19/36 |
| Toronto | 3/10 | 0 |
57 | 89 | 40/57 |
17/36 |
| Scratches | | |
| | |
| Minnesota | Rory McDade | Justin Norbraten |
Colin Achenbach | Darren Halls | Mark Miyashita |
| Toronto | Nathan Sanderson | Scott Campbell |
Ian Rubel | Jamie Taylor | Matt Taylor |
| 
