Minnesota Swarm (0-0)

at
Toronto Rock (1-1)

Exhibition Game

December 9th, 2006 7:30pm CST
MTS Centre
Winnipeg, Manitoba

Internet Coverage: B2 Networks: https://www.b2livetv.com/bp/nll.htm $6.00 per game and available to buy ten minutes prior to the start of the game. Need high-speed internet to watch but if you don't have high-speed internet you can listen to the audio.

Minnesota Swarm website: http://www.mnswarm.com
Minnesota Swarm message board: http://boards.mnswarm.com/forums/
Toronto Rock website: http://www.torontorock.com/
National Lacrosse League website: http://www.nll.com
NLL message board: http://www.wingszone.com/nllmb/

Series

Overall: Toronto 3-1
Home Overall: Toronto 2-0
Road Overall: Tied 1-1

Last Year, the two teams split in the regular season; the Rock won in Toronto on March 3rd, 2006, 13-8. The Swarm split the season series on April 1st, 2006 in St. Paul scoring eight unanswered goals to finish a 10-9 comeback against the Rock.

This is the first of two exhibition games for the Minnesota Swarm as they prepare for their third season in the National Lacrosse League. The Swarm are coming off an 8-8 2006 season which was fourth in the Eastern Division. It also led to the Swarm's first ever playoff appearance which resulted in a first-round loss to the Buffalo Bandits in Buffalo on April 23rd, 2006 by a score of 11-10.

The Toronto Rock are playing the third of three exhibition games this Saturday. In the first two, the Rock beat the Philadelphia Wings 10-8 and lost to the Arizona Sting 11-8 to comprise their 1-1 exhibition record. Last year, the Rock finished third in the Eastern Division at 8-8. They lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Rochester Knighthawks, 16-8, on April 22nd, 2006.

The Swarm start their third season with a team that remains almost unchanged except at head coach. The Swarm hired Duane Jacobs to be their third head coach in team history after last year's head coach, Adam Mueller, left to take over the expansion New York Titans. The Swarm have a core of fifteen players who were with the team in their inaugural 2005 season. With some key additions last year, the Swarm now have a young, talented team with memories of a tough playoff defeat last year to spur them on.

The Swarm are led on offense by leading scorer Ryan Ward (19g, 47a), Chad Culp (20g 35a) and Kasey Beirnes (24g 28a). The return of Scott Stewart (1g) from a season ending injury in his first game with the Swarm should be able to give an extra boost to an offense that struggled at key points last year.

The Swarm made the run for the playoffs last year behind the league's second best defense. Team captain Ryan Cousins (2g 6a), a physical defenseman and two-time All-Star for the Swarm, leads the defense. Brock Boyle (13g 11a) and Riley Kemp (3g 7a) provide goals on transition and Noah Talbot (8a 78LB) and Mark Miyashita (4g 10a 87 LB) are loose ball vacuums on defense.

The Swarm return their two-headed monster in goal with Matt Disher (2-6 10.92 GAA .773 Save %) and NLL Second-Team All-Pro Nick Patterson (6-2 10.40 GAA .790 Save%). Disher is known for being steady and no-nonsense in goal while his younger alter-ego, Patterson, is more flamboyant and not as averse to taking risks. This duo is probably the best combination in goal in net in the league and considering that Disher is only 30, also the oldest player on the team, and Patterson is 23, these two if they remain healthy, could be in Minnesota for a long time.

The roster deadline for all teams in the National Lacrosse League is on December 14th, 2006. All teams must set their 23-man active roster on that date. In addition, all teams can place three players on their practice roster. For a game, a team can dress no more than 18 players. Usually, a team will dress two goaltenders and whatever combination of forwards and defensemen they wish. In Winnipeg, the Swarm are going to play players that live out east (i.e. Ontario). In the Victoria game the following week, the Swarm will play players who live generally from the west (i.e. British Columbia). A few players will play in both games in order to get a proper balance between offense and defense. These two exhibitions will be Jacobs' best opportunity to see how his team has progressed in training camp and to get a gage on how some new players like Kevin Croswell, Dave Ellis, Eli Hill, and Kyle Ross react to live game action.

The Toronto Rock have a rich history in the NLL. They have won the Champions Cup in five of the last eight years; however, last year the team struggled to a 0-4 start and got bushwhacked by Rochester in the first round of the playoffs. Fans in Toronto are wondering if last year was an aberration or a blip on the radar screen. The Rock have former player Glenn Clark, who retired after last season, behind the bench for his first try at head coaching in the league. Clark, a fantastic defenseman in his day, will probably have the Rock emphasize defense and being quick on and off the floor much more this year in order to get them back where they believe they belong. What Clark does have on his side, are some of the most talented veterans in the league.

On defense, it starts and ends with Jim Veltman (6g 36a) who is the league's all-time leader in loose balls with 2,152 in his career. He once again led the league last year with 226 and generally the player in second place is far behind Veltman. The Rock also have a solid veteran goaltender in Bob Watson (8-8 11.21 GAA), who generally starts slow but turns it on later in the season. Offensively, the Rock have a quartet of star offensive power that maybe unmatched in the league. The key master is Josh Sanderson (29g 69a), who regularly has led the league in assists. He also led the league in scoring last year. When Sanderson is looking for someone to pass to, he generally finds 2005 MVP Colin Doyle (43g 53a) , Aaron Wilson (39g 21a) and Blaine Manning (28g 52a) available to take the shot on net.

The league is experimenting with a radical rule change in exhibition games this year. In the second half of each game, the teams instead of playing five on five, will play four on four. The league competition committee has a myriad of reasons for doing this from increasing scoring to possibly making it more exciting for television. There have been two exhibition games so far this season and it really hasn't looked too good. It just seems to be confusing players if anything. Of course, the large majority fans and players are against four on four because why change something that doesn't need fixing in order to please television. The game as it is great and can stand on its own without such a radical change. It is extremely unlikely four on four will happen but you can not say never.

My prediction is the Swarm 12 Rock 10. Ward is not playing but Beirnes and a hopefully healthy Stewart will give a huge lift to the offense. Meanwhile, the Rock haven't quite been hitting on all cylinders this exhibition season. The Swarm looked very focused during training camp this past weekend and are ready to get to work starting Saturday in Winnipeg, which is better known as the birthplace of Swarm General Manager and Assistant Head Coach Marty O'Neill.

Minnesota Swarm: Head Coach Duane Jacobs

* - Projected to play on Saturday vs. Toronto

Goaltenders

43-R-Kevin Croswell *
1-L-Matt Disher
93-R-Nick Patterson *

Forwards

22- L-Kasey Beirnes *
19-L-Chad Culp *
11-L-Kelly Hall
73-L-Dean Hill *
66-R-Eli Hill *
15-L-Spencer Martin *
8-L-Rory McDade
11-L-Eric Perkins (KARE -11)
17-R-Sean Pollock *
48-R-Scott Stewart *
40-L-Jamie Taylor *
44-R-Ryan Ward

Defensemen

18-R-Andrew Biers *
10-L- Brock Boyle *
50-R-Ryan Cousins *
28-R-Dave Ellis *
47-R-Travis Hill (FO)*
77-L-Riley Kemp
55-R-Michael Kilby
39-R- Mark Miyashita (FO)
12-R-Eric Pacey *
20-R- Kyle Ross
23-R-Jon Sullivan *
33-R-Shawn Summerfield *
16-L-Noah Talbot

Toronto Rock: Head Coach Glenn Clark

Goaltenders

30-R-Mike Poulin
29-L-Bob Watson
90-R-Phil Wetherup

Forwards

7-L-Colin Doyle
L-Sean Kimpinski
20-L-Rusty Kruger
44-Justin Kulla
22-R-Mike McLeod
16-R-Blaine Manning
19-L-Josh Sanderson
24-R-Matt Shearer
10-R-Aaron Wilson

Defensemen

37-L-Scott Campbell
23-Matt Carroll
93-R-Chris Driscoll
L-Darren Halls
21-L-Chet Koneczny
6-L-Dan Ladouceur
41-R-Brad MacArthur (FO)
14-R-Rob Marshall
9-R-Patrick Merrill (FO)
77-L-Tim O'Brien
Bryan Riddell
40-L-Ian Rubel
18-L-Phil Sanderson
27-L-Derek Suddons
32-L-Jim Veltman