Minnesota Swarm (6-3) 7 Buffalo Bandits 11 (7-4)
Swarm Steamrolled in the Second Half, Again
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Buffalo, New York
Attendance: 12,313
The Minnesota Swarm did a very good job defensively as they held the Buffalo Bandits to eleven goals. However, the Swarm
offense was off the mark as they only scored a season low seven goals in a 11-7 loss to the Bandits on Saturday night. The loss
is the Swarm's third straight after starting the season at 6-0. The Bandits have won four straight and have swept the season
series between the teams for the fourth consecutive year. Overall, the Bandits are 11-1 (seven straight wins) against the Swarm
which includes two playoff victories.
The Swarm started well Chad Culp (16g 16a) beat Bandit defenseman Chris White and buried a shot over
Bandit goaltender Ken Montour's left shoulder to put the Swarm up 1-0 at the 1:42 mark of the first. The rest of quarter belonged
to the Bandits as they got goals from Clay Hill and Dan Teat to put them up 2-1. Later on in the quarter,
Travis Hill (1g 3a) took on Pat McCready in fight which he won decisively. As they fought occurred, another popped up between
Jon Sullivan (0g 3a) and Rusty Kruger, which lasted a bit longer. The problem with that fight was
that it started as time was stopped, so when it finished both Sullivan and Kruger were given ten minute misconducts on top of the
five each for fighting and ejected from the game. The five minutes that T. Hill got for his fight increased his league lead in
penalty minutes to 74.
The Swarm started well in the second quarter as Ryan Ward (20g 25a) scored on a shorthanded goal to
tie the score at two. Culp scored his second goal right out of the official timeout at the 7:43 mark to regain the lead for the
Swarm at 3-2. The Bandits regrouped and scored twice within the next minute and a half on goals by Roger Vyse and Delby Powless
which gave the lead back to the Bandits at 4-3. Coming out of the next official timeout, Sean
Pollock (13g 22a) scored the first Swarm power play goal of the night with 22 seconds remaining on the penalty. Overall in
the first half, both teams had done very well controlling each other's transition games and both goaltenders, Montour and the
Swarm's Nick Patterson (6-3 12.24 GAA .770 Save %) were stellar in net as the game went to half
tied at four.
White got call for a crosscheck early in the third to give the Swarm a power play opportunity. Keith
Cromwell (1g 5a), who was acquired in a trade earlier this week from Philadelphia, made the Bandits pay with a rocket from
top center to give the Swarm a 5-4. For Cromwell, that was his first goal as a member of the Swarm and of the season. That was
the last highlight of the quarter for the Swarm as the Bandits converted on two straight power plays to take the lead for good
and after Powless' third goal of the night on a very nice behind the back shot, the Bandits had a 7-5 lead going into the fourth.
The first three quarters, the Swarm opened the scoring. Unfortunately, that was not the case for the fourth quarter as Mark
Steenhuis scored 31 seconds into the quarter to open the lead up at 3. John Tavares scored on the power play to the left of
Patterson and C. Hill's second goal of the game helped double up the Swarm 10-5. Dan Marohl (2g 7a),
who was acquired in the same trade as Cromwell, scored his first goal as a Swarm as he beat Rich Kilgour to the net and
put it over Montour's right shoulder. Culp got his hat trick with 7:35 left in the game after scooping up a loose ball behind the
net, coming around in front and beating Montour. That was it for the Swarm as they continued to either miss the net or hit the
post with regularity. The Bandits defense smothered the Swarm when they weren't getting shots off and Steenhuis' empty net goal
with 2:06 to go ended the scoring 11-7 in favor of the Bandits.
Culp ended the night leading the Swarm with three goals and one assist and Ward had one goal and three assists. Cromwell scored
one goal and assist twice and Marohl got a goal in their Swarm debuts. Andy Secore (16g 25a) missed
his second game in a row with a knee injury and rookie of the year candidate Craig Point (17g 23a) was
held without a goal for the first time in his career as only 6 of his 14 shots were on goal. Patterson turned in a fine performance
making 38 saves on 48 shots. Darren Halls (2g 1) held his own on face offs winning 9 of 14. This
was only the second time this year the Swarm either tied or won more faceoffs than their opponents (11 of 22). The only other time
that happened was in the season opener on January 11 in Toronto when they won 19 of 36 face offs. Even though he was ejected in
the first quarter, Sullivan has now tied Riley Kemp for the longest consecutive game streak in
Minnesota Swarm history at 43.
Powless led the Bandits with three goals and three assists. Tavares and Steenhuis had two goals and three assists each. Clay
Hill killed the Swarm again coming out the back end with two goals and two assists. His ability to step up for a suspended Billy
Dee Smith and Montour's 49 saves on 56 shots ultimately doomed the Swarm again in this series.
The good news is that this disastrous road trip is finally over for the Swarm. They started it 6-0 and finished it 6-3. They
are now in third place behind Philadelphia (6-1) and Buffalo (7-4). They will definitely need to pick up their game to get the
chance to host a playoff game since they have lost the tiebreaker against Buffalo. Fortunately, the opportunity is still in reach.
Five of their last seven are at home beginning next Friday night against the Chicago Shamrox (1-6) at 7:00 pm CST at the Xcel
Energy Center. Get used to seeing a lot of green as they will play the Shamrox in four of their last seven games. If they don't
start scoring especially in the second half (outscored 31-11 during the three game losing streak), the Swarm won't beat the Shamrox
either.
Game Statistics
Box Score
Minnesota Swarm Game Center
| # | Minnesota |
G |
A | Pts |
PIM |
PPG | SHG |
S |
LB | FO |
|
# | Buffalo |
G |
A | Pts |
PIM |
PPG | SHG |
S |
LB | FO |
| 19 | Chad Culp |
3 |
1 |
4 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 9 |
6 |
0-0 |
|
99 | Delby Powless |
3 |
3 | 6 |
0 |
1 | 0 |
4 |
2 | 0-0 |
| 44 | Ryan Ward |
1 |
3 |
4 | 0 |
0 |
1 | 16 |
5 |
0-0 |
|
9 | Mark Steenhuis |
2 |
3 | 5 |
2 |
0 | 0 |
15 |
9 | 0-0 |
| 11 | Keith
Cromwell | 1 |
2 |
3 | 0 |
1 |
0 | 7 |
0 |
0-0 |
|
11 | John Tavares |
2 |
3 |
5 | 0 |
2 |
0 | 6 |
5 |
0-0 |
| 17 | Sean
Pollock |
1 |
2 | 3 |
0 |
1 | 0 |
12 |
5 | 0-0 |
|
15 | Dan Teat |
1 |
4 | 5 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
3 |
1 | 0-0 |
| 7 | Dan Marohl |
1 |
0 | 1 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
3 |
3 | 0-0 |
|
5 | Clay Hill |
2 |
2 | 4 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
5 |
5 | 0-0 |
| 8 | Rory
McDade | 0 |
1 |
1 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 2 |
2 |
0-0 |
|
81 | Roger Vyse |
1 |
2 | 3 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
10 |
2 | 0-0 |
| 9 | Craig
Point | 0 |
1 |
1 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 14 |
5 |
0-0 |
|
6 | Chris White |
0 |
1 | 1 |
2 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
2 | 0-0 |
| 50 | Ryan
Cousins | 0 |
1 |
1 | 2 |
0 |
0 | 5 |
6 |
0-0 |
|
12 | Brandon Swamp |
0 |
1 |
1 | 2 |
0 |
0 | 1 |
5 |
0-0 |
| 93 | Nick
Patterson | 0 |
1 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
1 |
0-0 |
|
72 | Cory Bomberry |
0 |
1 | 1 |
2 |
0 | 0 |
5 |
4 | 10-19 |
| 12 | Eric
Pacey | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
1 |
0-0 |
|
2 | Ian Llord |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
2 |
6 | 0-0 |
| 16 | Noah
Talbot | 0 |
0 |
0 | 2 |
0 |
0 | 1 |
2 |
0-0 |
|
10 | Pat McCready |
0 |
0 | 0 |
7 |
0 | 0 |
1 |
6 | 0-0 |
| 20 | Kyle Ross |
0 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
3 |
0-0 |
|
16 | Rich Kilgour |
0 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
2 |
0-1 |
| 23 | Jon
Sullivan |
0 |
0 | 0 |
15 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
2 | 0-0 |
|
17 | Kyle Laverty |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
5 | 0-0 |
| 24 | Justin
Norbraten | 0 |
0 |
0 | 2 |
0 |
0 | 4 |
3 |
2-7 |
|
18 | Phil
Sanderson |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
3 | 1-2 |
| 26 | Ryan
Sharp | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 1 |
3 |
0-0 |
|
20 | Rusty Kruger |
0 |
0 | 0 |
15 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0-0 |
| 28 | Darren
Halls | 0 |
0 |
0 | 2 |
0 |
0 | 1 |
3 |
9-14 |
|
24 | Kyle
Schmelzle |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
2 |
4 | 0-0 |
| 31 | Kevin
Croswell | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0-0 |
|
29 | Ken Montour |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0-0 |
| 47 | Travis
Hill | 0 |
0 |
0 | 5 |
0 |
0 | 5 |
3 |
0-1 |
|
66 | Mike Thompson |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0-0 |
| # | Minnesota | MIN |
GA | Saves | Shots |
|
# | Buffalo | MIN |
GA | Saves | Shots |
| 93 | Nick Patterson | 60:00 |
10 | 38 | 48 |
|
29 | Ken Montour | 60:00 |
7 | 49 | 56 |
| 31 | Kevin Croswell | 0:00 |
0 | 0 | 0 |
|
66 | Mike Thompson | 0:00 |
0 | 0 | 0 |
| | Empty Net | 0:00 |
1 | | 1 |
|
| | |
| |
|
| Scoring by Quarter | 1 | 2 |
3 | 4 | F |
| Minnesota | 1 | 3 |
1 | 2 | 7 |
| Buffalo | 2 | 2 |
3 | 4 | 11 |
| Team Stats | Power Play | SHG |
PIM | LB | Saves/Shots |
SOG |
SOFF |
Face Offs |
| Minnesota | 2/5 | 1 |
30 | 53 | 38/49 |
56 |
24 |
11/22 |
| Buffalo | 3/5 | 0 |
30 | 61 | 49/56 |
49 |
5 |
11/22 |
| Scratches | | |
| | |
| Minnesota | Andrew Biers | Andy Secore |
Colin Achenbach | Nick Inch | Dean Hill |
| Buffalo | Billy Dee Smith | Andrew Lazore |
Joe Smith | Kevin Dostie | Brandon Francis |
| 
