Swarming Strong Through 2008

June 16, 2008

A review of season four for Minnesota Swarm lacrosse is long overdue especially with quite a bit to review. Entering 2008, the Swarm had come off two straight playoff appearances and an improved record in each of its first three seasons. However, with those two playoff appearances came two early exits thanks to the despicable Buffalo Bandits on the road. Before the 2007 season, Swarm general manager Marty O�Neill made extremely few changes thinking that the team was ready to go further. The 2007 team ended in the same place as the year before, that being Buffalo on the end of another playoff loss. Marty realized, that the status quo would not work to advance the cause further in 2008.

The status quo was shaken up on September 1, 2007 with the entry draft when Marty made a move to acquire a future and present cornerstone of the franchise. That cornerstone was Craig Point. A lot (Brock Boyle, two first rounders in 2007 and a third rounder in 2008) was given up by the Swarm to get Point from the Boston Blazers and another newcomer to the Swarm by the name of Darren Halls. As Swarm fans found out, there was good reason that the Swarm had to pay big for Point. This guy is bang on, extremely talented, has a howitzer for a shot and takes face offs. The most important dynamic that Craig brings is that for a rookie he gave off a veteran aura that is not expected and rarely seen from first year players. That maturity helped Craig earn NLL rookie of the year with 27 goals and 34 assists and a force to be reckoned with for many years in Minnesota.

By the end of that day in September, Marty had brought in Point, Halls, draft picks Justin Norbraten, Chris Courtney and two first round picks in 2008 while letting go of popular and talented players of Swarm seasons of the past like Boyle, Kasey Beirnes, Spencer Martin and Michael Kilby. A couple of hours of draft day trading changed the Swarm significantly.

All of that dealing was almost for naught when October 15 arrived and the players and owners were at an impasse over the collective bargaining agreement. It got so bad that the league actually shut down the league for a year. That sure got everybody�s attention and, thankfully for most, both sides got together on an unprecedented seven-year agreement that hopefully will bring long-term stability to a league many of us love. It also brought some short-term instability as Boston and the Arizona Sting decided not to play in 2008 after practically shutting down operations during the impasse. The players on those teams were dispersed throughout the league in a draft and the Swarm picked up a gem in Andy Secore. Marty gave up long time goaltender Matt Disher to Edmonton to get the slot to pick Secore. Little used in Arizona in his first two seasons, my first impression was that Andy would be lucky to make the team and if he contributed, it would be a nice bonus. That�s why I am not the brightest knife on the tree. Marty knew that Andy just needed a chance to play and he would shine. Shine extremely bright was what Andy did as he became an all-star and scored the most points in a Swarm season with 76 points (28g 48a). He was the team�s most consistent player on offense as he averaged 5.5 points per game with his lowest point output being three points against Chicago on April 25. Andy more than surpassed expectations which makes losing him so difficult to deal with as his rights reverted back to Arizona at the end of the 2008 season. He may eventually have to enter a new dispersal draft later this year and believe me, it will be much harder for Marty to get him back in Minnesota where he belongs.

I have talked quite a bit about a couple new players that really added some punch to the Swarm in 2008 but Marty made sure to keep a core of players that have been here from season one and should be together for many years in the future. Many of those players continued to improve and establish themselves as stars in the NLL.

I am told that defense wins championships. The person who told me that is Ryan Cousins. I think he said that to me in 2006 and even though I don�t remember the exact date, that is what he told me. Who better to know than the two-time NLL Defensive Player of the Year? If anyone knows defense, it is the only captain in Minnesota Swarm history. Under Cousins� leadership, the defense became much stouter as the year progressed. More often than not at the end of the year, it was the defense, that won games for the team or at least kept them in games to the final whistle.

Early on in the season, Cousins showed off his clutchability with two overtime game winners. The first came in the season opener in Toronto against the Rock on January 11, when the Swarm came back from a 13-10 deficit to begin the fourth quarter to rally to tie it at the end of regulation. That is when the Swarm felt the Captain in them take charge as he scored off a rebound off a Mike Hominuck shot to win it 17-16. Captain Clutch, 5-0, Ry-Co, Cuz or whatever you want to call him, everyone has a nickname for him, had an overtime encore a month later on February 10 at the Xcel Energy Center against the Portland LumberJax. In a tight, back and forth game, Cousins finished the game on a breakaway in the first minute of overtime set up by his defensive brother in arms, Kyle Ross and Noah Talbot. Both of those victories were huge for the Swarm. The game in Toronto against a team many thought were playoff bound showed that the Swarm had the ability to come from behind in hostile territory. It gave the Swarm huge momentum to start the season and pretty much derailed the Rock for the rest of the season. The win over the LumberJax earned the Swarm a record sixth straight victory to begin the season. The 6-0 record after that game brought notice that the Swarm were to be major contenders throughout the season.

Defense can not stop all the shots but Nick Patterson pretty much stopped all the rest this season. Even in high scoring games like the season opener, Patterson made the saves when they counted late in games. For the first three years of Swarm lacrosse in net, the team had a nice combination of veteran goaltending in Disher who helped mold the talented young swashbuckler that is Patterson. But Disher was traded before the season, which meant that Nick was the big enchilada in net in 2008. If there was one sure thing to count on in 2008, it was Nick Patterson in net for every minute (except for 63 minutes and 56 seconds) of every game. I think everyone knew that Nick established dominance of the number one position in net on January 12 this year in the Swarm�s home opener against the Rock. The previous night saw Cousins� game winner in a high scoring, fight filled game but when the two teams came back to play again the next night, Patterson demoralized the Rock by saving 40 of 44 shots in a 11-4 victory. Other memorable performances by Nick were on February 8 at home against New York when he shut out the Titans for the first 36 minutes and 16 seconds for a 16-9 win and holding Chicago scoreless for the first 27 minutes and 8 seconds in a 13-9 victory at home on March 14. Even in defeat, Nick had some great performances. On February 22 in Philadelphia, he made a Swarm record 54 saves on 69 shots in a 17-8 loss. The Wings controlled the tempo throughout the game with their run and gun style and only through Nick�s performance did the Swarm manage to be up 7-6 at the end of three quarters.

I mentioned earlier that Ryan Cousins was Captain Clutch-like. If Ryan is the Captain of Clutch then Sean Pollock is General Clutch. Five game winning goals this year (tied for the league lead) and like Cousins, two of them came in overtime in games where the Swarm jumped out to big early leads but rallied late to win. In Rochester on January 26, the Swarm flew out to a 12-5 halftime lead against the defending NLL champions. However, the Knighthawks rallied to take a 17-16 late in the game. That is when Pollock not only got the tying goal to send it to overtime, he also got the game winner at the 6:30 mark of overtime to beat Rochester, 18-17. The other overtime game-winner came on April 12 at the X on Hawaiian night against the Wings when the Swarm showed off their fantastic, one of kind Hawaiian jerseys. The Swarm jumped out to a 10-3 halftime lead but the Wings came back to eventually take a 14-13 lead late in the fourth. Dan Marohl tied the game with two seconds on a Pollock assist to send it to overtime to set the stage for maybe the most exciting moment at the X this past season as Pollock went hard to the net at the 1:12 mark of OT to avenge an earlier loss to the team from Philly. He also got both game winners against the Titans during the regular season and his game winner in the last game of the season in Chicago secured for the Swarm their first home playoff game.

Not all was warm and fuzzy for the Swarm in 2008. After sprinting out to 6-0 record, the Swarm went East on a three game road trip with two games in Buffalo (February 16 and March 8) that sandwiched a game in Philadelphia (February 22). The Bandits continued to thwart the Swarm as they swept the season series and now have won 11 of 12 overall against the Swarm. Those two losses and the rough fourth quarter in Philly in which the Wings routed the Swarm 11-1 on their way to a 17-8 victory dropped the Swarm to 6-3. That road trip saw injuries began to mount as Mark Miyashita, Dean Hill and Halls each saw their seasons end. Miyashita had made quite a comeback for his knee injury in 2007 but his luck ran out when he reinjured that same knee and has quite a bit of work to do to make a comeback. Dean made quite a statement in 2007 with a Swarm single season record of 32 goals but asthma finally grounded his season but expect him to come back strong with his quick stick near the crease. Halls had really started to emerge on that road trip with his face offs and his defense but an injury on March 8 in the fourth quarter against Buffalo abruptly ended his season. I know Marty really believes in Halls� ability to play in the NLL so like Dean, expect Darren to make quite an impression in 2009.

During that time, Marty made some deals to get them out of the rut knowing the road to the championship was going to have to go through Buffalo and to add depth after the injuries noted above. On March 5, the Swarm participated in a four team mega trade. They sent a first round pick in 2008, which they originally got from Toronto for Darryl Gibson in 2006, and Mike Hominuck to Edmonton for A.J. Shannon and a second rounder in 2009. Shannon then was traded along with a draft pick to Philadelphia for Dan Marohl and Keith Cromwell. According to Marty, Hominuck was struggling with his shot and Marty figured a new scene in Edmonton may help him out. At the same time, he knew Marohl and Cromwell were available and he had a strong relationship with both in his days as GM in Philadelphia. Basically, Marty ended up getting two big veteran forwards for one. The first round pick in 2008 that he gave up may hurt since it will be the somewhere between fourth and sixth overall but the team still has three in that same round.

The Swarm really started to grow a spirited rivalry with the Chicago Shamrox this past season. They played each other four times in 2008 and split the series with each team winning once at home and once on the road. The second game of the season series in Chicago on March 29 may have been the worst the Swarm looked all season. They had a 5-1 lead after the first quarter but they gave up ten straight goals and did not answer again until the 1:20 mark of the fourth. That game was for the taking if the Swarm would have showed up and played with more energy. These two met for the last two of the season in a home and home on April 25 and 26. The Shamrox took the first game in St. Paul, which pretty much ended the Swarm�s chances to win the East regular season title when the Shamrox came back from another 4-0 deficit to score seven straight to lead them to victory. Fortunately for the Swarm the next night in Chicago, they righted their ship behind Ryan Ward�s four goals, a renewed focus for the team after the night before and Pollock�s game winner to win 12-11 to end the Shamrox�s season.

The losses to Buffalo eventually cost the Swarm the chance at home field advantage throughout the playoffs. They both finished 10-6 in the East, along with New York and Philadelphia but Buffalo got the tiebreaker and used their home field advantage to help them become NLL champions. Minnesota got the second seed and were slotted to host the Titans from New York on May 3. Leading up to that game, the Swarm had been 4-0 overall against New York and had the home field, (6-2 during the season, best ever in Swarm history) but New York had won 9 of 11 going into the playoffs while the Swarm were a .500 team for the second half the season.

The playoff game against the Titans was a tight battle throughout as it was tied after both the first and second quarter. Secore scored two goals in the first half to lead the Swarm. We put 26 shots on goal in the half compared the Titans who only mustered 18 shots on goal on Patterson but the Titan goaltender stood firm. The Titans took a 7-5 lead midway through the third but with five minutes to go in the game, the Swarm had come back to tie it at eight. But the Titans came out of the last TV timeout and capitalized on their chances while the Swarm did not to pull out an 11-8 victory to advance to the next round.

The game was a fantastic watch and gave most Swarm fans their first chance to see NLL playoff lacrosse live and up close. Even though victory was not achieved, I think the playoff atmosphere was thrilling and will only mean better things in the future. Just like they had all season, 11,088 Swarm fans showed up in force for the playoff game. Those are torsos, not a count of arms and legs like Minneapolis Star Tribune columnist Patrick Reusse often believes is how the team counts fans. Throughout the regular season, the team averaged 11,405 per game, which was an increase of 2,000 from the previous year and the smallest crowd was 10,104, which occurred on the home opener. The largest crowd was on March 14 against Chicago when 13,004 showed up after the team had not been in town for over a month. Those are solid numbers in the NLL and they show that fans in Minnesota are more than willing and able to support the best pro team in town.

The Swarm achieved a record ten wins this year, won a record six home games, for the third straight season finished .500 or better on the road and earned their first home playoff game. We saw Ward, Swarm�s all-time scoring leader continue to rewrite the team record books as he broke the Swarm single season goal record in 2008 with 33. We saw the continued emergence of Jon Sullivan as maybe the best pure defender on the team. Travis Hill got the opportunity to play the full season as he put up a record four goals, thirteen assists and finished second in the league with 86 penalty minutes. We also learned that if you mess with Travis or the team, Travis will mess you up.

Two newcomers to the team really stepped up when they were asked to in the second half after spending the first half on season in suits. The first player was Nick Inch, who showed off his size, speed and aggressiveness on defense. The second player was Colin Achenbach, who became the first Minnesotan-born player in the NLL. Achenbach, an indoor neophyte, quickly adapted and overcame the large learning curve in the NLL, to become a dangerous transition threat. Both have great futures with the Swarm.

In the upcoming weeks, I will be writing about what challenges Marty is facing to put together the team for the 2009 season. There is a bit of uncertainty right now about who will be back to play for the team in 2009, which teams the Swarm will be playing in 2009 and even which division the Swarm will be playing in. Even with the success of 2008, always know that the Minnesota Swarm are looking forward and looking to improve to achieve the ultimate goal, winning the NLL Champions Cup!!!

SWARM IT UP!!!