Minnesota Swarm

vs.
Toronto Rock

The Work Out The Kinks Edition of Minnesota Swarm Lacrosse

Exhibition Game
Saturday, December 15, 2007 - 6:30pm CST
General Motors Centre
Oshawa, Ontario

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TV/Internet/Radio Coverage: None

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Swarm v. Rock History:

This will be the second time that the Swarm and Rock meet in an exhibition game. Last year on December 9, 2006, they met in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Rock were able to hold off the Swarm for a 13-11 victory.

In the regular season, these two division rivals will play each other in a home and home series on January 11 and 12, 2008. The game on the eleventh will be in Toronto and the second game will be in St. Paul as the Swarm open their home part of their schedule.

Rosters:

Former Rock With The Swarm:

• Eric Pacey

Former Swarm With The Rock:

• Mike Attwood
• Kasey Beirnes
• Scott Campbell
• Jon Harasym
• Jamie Taylor

This past Sunday, both the Swarm and Rock played in closed scrimmages to the public against division rivals. The Swarm lost, 14-10, to the Rochester Knighthawks in Six Nations, Ontario. Craig Point scored a hat trick and Andy Secore notched two goals to lead the Swarm. The Rock were just as unfortunate as they lost to the Buffalo Bandits, 8-3, in Buffalo.

This game is two days after the 23 man rosters are set for the upcoming season. It will give both teams an excellent opportunity to see how they look before they open their regular seasons in January. Below are the actual departures and probable and/or possible newcomers in the line up since the playoff loss in Buffalo on April 22, 2007. As can be seen, the changes are extensive and give the Swarm more of a youthful appearance:

 

Departures	Pos	To	Arrivals	Pos	From
Matt Disher	G	Edmonton	Kevin Croswell	G	Practice Squad
Andrew Biers	D	Injured Reserve	Mark Miyashita	D	Injured Reserve
Brock Boyle	D	Chicago via Boston	Darren Halls	D	Boston
Riley Kemp	D	Injured Reserve	Chris Courtney	D	2007 Draft
Michael Kilby	D	Portland	Nick Inch	D	Toronto
Ashton McLean	D	Injured Reserve ?	Colin Achenbach	F	Free Agent
Spencer Martin	F	Portland	Andy Secore	F	Arizona
Kasey Beirnes	F	Toronto	Craig Point	F	Boston via 2007 Draft
Scott Stewart	F	Portland via Boston	Justin Norbraten	F	2007 Draft

The new players are led by Point. A righthanded forward from Six Nations in Ontario, Point was drafted third by the Boston Blazers in the 2007 entry draft but the Swarm made a trade during the draft to bring him to the Swarm. He is a natural goal scorer who can shoot from most anywhere, a force on the power play and should be a fixture in the Swarm line up for years to come. The Swarm also drafted a fellow righthander scorer in the first round by the name of Justin Norbraten to go with Point. Norbraten will be more of a transitional player who can score on occasion and take face offs. General Manager Marty O'Neill's plan is that these two additions will help offset the losses of Kasey Beirnes and Scott Stewart in the forseeable future.

Nick Patterson is the undisputed number one goaltender in Minnesota after being Second Team All-NLL the last two years. Disher, who had been original member of the Swarm in 2005, will be replaced by Kevin Croswell, who the Swarm drafted in 2006 and had on their practice squad in 2007.

The Swarm roster battles probably left to be decided before the roster deadline on the 13th, should be the last two or three defensive spots and the decision to carry either four lefty or five righty forwards or five lefty and four righty forwards.

The Toronto Rock have won five of the last nine NLL championships; however, like the Swarm have lost in the first round of the playoffs the last two years. They have added two excellent veteran defensemen in Cam Woods and Peter Lough and acquired Beirnes, in a trade from the Swarm this offseason, to add righthanded scoring punch to the Rock. The Rock still have the best assistman in the league in Josh Sanderson and Bob Watson has always been a thorn in the Swarm's side in between the pipes.

The Swarm will make their first appearance in Minnesota on Saturday, January 5th. That day, the Swarm will be hosting an open house for their fans, free of charge, at the Xcel Energy Center from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm CST. The highlight of the day will be a blue-white intrasquad scrimmage.

The Swarm's regular season begins on Friday, January 11th at 6:30 pm CST in Toronto against the Rock. Their home opener is the next night, Saturday, January 12th, at the Xcel Energy Center at 7:00 pm CST.