Minnesota Swarm (6-2) 8
Philadelphia Wings (5-0) 17

Swarm Fall to Second Place After Miserable Fourth Quarter

Friday, February 22, 2008
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Attendance: 10,342

For three quarters, the Minnesota Swarm were playing with fire as they held a 7-6 lead. The fourth quarter against the Philadelphia Wings left the Swarm with third-degree burns as the Wings oustcored the Swarm 11-1 to cruise to a 17-8 victory in Philadelphia on Friday night. The eleven goals in the fourth were the most the Swarm have given up in any quarter in their history. The fourteen goals given up in the second half is also a Swarm record of ill repute. With the loss, the Swarm now have a two game losing streak after winning their first six of the season. They are now in second place behind the Wings, who remain the only team in the National Lacrosse League with an undefeated record.

The beginning of the game gave no clue as to what would happened at the end of the game. After Rob Van Beek (4g 2a) got sent to the box after retailiating for a hit on a teammate by Chad Culp (13g 15a) at the start of the game, Craig Point (17g 22a) scored on the ensuing power play to put the Swarm up 1-0. The good start continued with a goal midway through the quarter by Sean Pollock (12g 20a) and after Dean Hill's (9g 10a) seventh power play goal of the year, the Swarm had a 3-0 lead after the first. The first quarter shutout by Nick Patterson (6-2 12.52 GAA .768 Save %) was the second time this month that he held the opponent scoreless in the first.

The start of the second quarter saw the Wings finally get one, I mean, two straight past Patterson to cut the lead to one. The first Wings goal was scored shorthanded by Jamie Rooney (10g 10a) which is a league leading eighth goal the Swarm have given up this season. After Athan Iannucci (25g 11a) cut the lead to one, Point put one of his trademark lasers past Wing goaltender Rob Blasdell (5-0 11.99 GAA .772 Save %) to put the Swarm up 4-2. Both Iannucci and Point traded goals again in the quarter to send the game to the half with the Swarm up 5-3. By halftime, the Wings were gradually, but in a very quick way, gaining control of the game. Patterson had already faced 35 shots and was for all intents and purposes keeping the Swarm in the lead. Meanwhile, apart from Point, the Swarm offense was rarely threatening Blasdell as they had only sixteen shots on net.

The Wings started the third quarter with three straight goals, the last by Jason Crosbie (3g 18a) right after an officials time out, to grab their first lead of the game at 6-5. It was not until the fourteen minute of the quarter, that Mike Hominuck (5g 16a) finally broke back through the Blasdell wall to tie the game. Culp then put the Swarm up by one with 7 seconds left in the quarter with a Wings defender all over him.

Even with the one goal lead after three, the Swarm were extremely fortunate. The Wings were nearly outshooting the Swarm 2 to 1 and if a ball was loose on the floor, inevitably the Wings were the team picking them up. As usual, the Wings were winning the face off battle with Geoff Snider (3g 11a) and Peter Jacobs (0g 1a) and the Wings still looked relatively fresh compared to the Swarm. Patterson had already made 47 saves and that was without the Wings not always getting shots on goal. That set up what turned out to be the most embarrassing quarter in Minnesota Swarm history.

The Wings momentum rolled quickly right off the opening face off of the quarter, as Van Beek scored the third quickest goal against the Swarm to begin a quarter. Within the next 37 seconds, the Wings were up 9-7 and down a man after a penalty. Ryan Ward (19g 22a) scored his second shorthanded goal in his Swarm career to temporarily stop the bleeding and keep the Swarm within one. When I said temporarily, I meant it. Patterson made an initial save on a David Mitchell (1g 0a) shot but the managed to dribble over the goal line for Mitchell's first ever NLL goal. Van Beek got his hat trick less than thirty seconds later to put the Wings up 11-8. Iannucci, who leads the NLL in goals scored, took over as he scored three of the next four goals to record his second career sock trick. The last goal finally ended Patterson's night as he was pulled for Kevin Croswell (0-0 21.82 GAA .722 Save %). The only other player to score during that run was Jim Borell (1g 6a) who ended up being the second Wing player in the quarter to score his first ever NLL goal. After Patterson left, the Wings were up 15-8 and had effectively embarrassed the Swarm. The Swarm were finally outpaced in the fourth quarter and even with the goaltender change that maybe should have occurred a two or three goals earlier, were still not able to stem the roll as the Wings continued their undefeated season with the 17-8 victory. Notwithstanding the fourth quarter, Patterson was absolutely brilliant and deserved a better outcome than what he got. He faced a Swarm goaltender record of 69 shots and saved a record 54 of them. He was pretty much the only line of defense as the Swarm defense looked stuck in the mud all night against the new and improved Wings. The Swarm definitely missed Andy Secore (16g 25a) who came into the weekend second in scoring in the league. Secore was in the second to last pre-game warm up of the night but the team decided that he was not able to go for the game. Missing Secore left a huge gap on the left side of the offense that was not effectively replaced. After a strong first half, the Swarm's only offensive star of the night, Point, was held scoreless the rest of the game which left the Wings sitting pretty.

Point led the Swarm in scoring with three goals and one assist. Iannucci led the Wings with his sock trick and an assist. Crosbie had a goal and five assists. Jake Bergey continued his big games against the Swarm with two goals and three assists and Van Beek gave Iannucci a run for his money as the best player on the floor with three goals, one assist and eleven loose balls. Blasdell continued his undefeated season with 32 saves on 40 shots and is the only goaltender in the league who has played every minute of every game for his team.

After the game, the Swarm players I talked to in general were embarassed with their performance. The way the game went was totally out of character for this year's team and nearly unexplainable except for the fact that the Wings outperformed them in nearly all aspects of the game. The Swarm have the upcoming weekend off and will use that time to rest up and prepare for a rematch against the Buffalo Bandits (5-4) on Saturday, March 8, 2008 in Buffalo. After speaking briefly with Swarm Head Coach Duane Jacobs, his confidence in his team has not wavered one bit and he expects to see a much better performance from his team in Buffalo.

It is tough to be positive about the game against the Wings, but remember the Swarm are still 6-2. They still have the most victories of any team in the league. They have four wins in the division and have not incurred any significant injuries after the start of the year. They play five of their last eight at home with four of those home games in April as the regular season winds down. They also get a chance to redeem themselves against the Wings on April 12th at the Xcel Energy Center. The loss hurts, that there is no doubt, but the season is far from over and the Swarm are still in a strong position to win the East. The second half of the season starts in Buffalo in two weeks and I expect to see a Swarm team rejuvenated for the stretch run.

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
9	Craig Point	3	1	4	0	2	0	9	5	0-1		23	Athan Iannucci	6	1	7	2	1	0	32	11	0-0
44	Ryan Ward	1	2	3	0	0	1	9	3	0-0		54	Jason Crosbie	1	5	6	0	0	0	7	9	0-0
73	Dean Hill	1	2	3	0	1	0	7	1	0-0		66	Jake Bergey	2	3	5	2	0	0	15	9	0-0
17	Sean Pollock	1	1	2	0	0	0	9	2	0-0		77	Rob Van Beek	3	1	4	7	0	0	4	11	0-0
19	Chad Culp	1	1	2	4	0	0	7	11	0-0		14	Jamie Rooney	2	2	4	2	1	1	9	8	0-0
50	Ryan Cousins	0	2	2	4	0	0	2	9	0-0		4	Geoff Snider	0	3	3	0	0	0	9	9	20-26
90	Mike Hominuck	1	0	1	0	1	0	7	5	0-0		2	Jim Borell	1	1	2	4	0	0	1	1	0-0
12	Eric Pacey	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	2	0-0		25	Pat Heim	1	1	2	0	0	0	2	6	0-0
26	Ryan Sharp	0	1	1	2	0	0	1	8	0-0		7	Kyle Sweeney	0	2	2	0	0	0	1	9	0-0
93	Nick Patterson	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	3	0-0		22	David Mitchell	1	0	1	0	0	0	9	9	0-0
16	Noah Talbot	0	0	0	2	0	0	1	6	0-0		21	Keith Cromwell	0	1	1	0	0	0	6	2	0-0
20	Kyle Ross	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	0-0		24	Peter Jacobs	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	3	2-3
23	Jon Sullivan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	9	0-0		31	Rob Blasdell	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	2	0-0
24	Justin Norbraten	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	2-9		34	Shawn Nadelen	0	1	1	2	0	0	1	6	0-0
28	Darren Halls	0	0	0	5	0	0	2	4	3-5		44	Taylor Wray	0	1	1	4	0	0	2	7	0-0
31	Kevin Croswell	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0-0		15	Brett Moyer	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0-0
34	Nick Inch	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	2	0-0		28	Thomas Hajek	0	0	0	2	0	0	1	9	0-0
39	Mark Miyashita	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	2-14		30	Jay Preece	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0-0

#	Minnesota	MIN	GA	Saves	Shots		#	Philadelphia	MIN	GA	Saves	Shots
93	Nick Patterson	54:10	15	54	69		31	Rob Blasdell	60:00	8	32	40
31	Kevin Croswell	5:50	2	6	8		30	Jay Preece	0:00	0	0	0

Scoring by Quarter	1	2	3	4	F
Minnesota	3	2	2	1	8
Philadelphia	0	3	3	11	17

Team Stats	Power Play	SHG	PIM	LB	Saves/Shots	SOG	SOFF	Face Offs
Minnesota	4/11	1	21	84	60/77	40	15	7/29
Philadelphia	2/10	1	25	114	32/40	77	22	22/29

Scratches
Minnesota	Chris Courtney	Rory McDade	Andy Secore	Colin Achenbach	Travis Hill
Philadelphia	Jon Christmas	Merrick Thomson	Brendan Thenhaus	Dan Marohl	Matt Roik