Minnesota Swarm
1-2 (Home 1-1 Road 0-1)

at
Calgary Roughnecks
2-1 (Home 1-1 Road 1-0)

The How to Avoid Saddlesores at the Saddledome
Edition of Minnesota Swarm Lacrosse

January 27th, 2007 8:30pm CST
Pengrowth Saddledome
Calgary, Alberta

TV/Internet/Radio Coverage:

Live: B2 Networks: https://www.b2livetv.com/bp/nll.htm $6.00 per game
Minnesota Swarm website: http://www.mnswarm.com/
Minnesota Swarm message board: http://boards.mnswarm.com/forums/
Calgary Roughnecks website: http://calgaryroughnecks.com/
National Lacrosse League website: http://www.nll.com/
NLL message board: http://www.wingszone.com/nllmb/

Series

Overall: Swarm 1-0
Home Overall: N/A
Road Overall: Swarm 1-0

In the only meeting between the two teams, the Swarm won 12-8 in Calgary on January 20th, 2006. Nick Patterson made 47 saves on 55 shots earning the NLL Overall Player of the Week award for his performance.

East Division W-L (Division Record) [vs. Swarm] (Goal Differential)

1. Rochester Knighthawks 3-2 (2-1) [0-1] (+5)
2. Chicago Shamrox 2-1 (2-1) [1-0] (+2)
3. Buffalo Bandits 2-2 (2-0) [1-0] (+9)
4. Philadelphia Wings 1-2 (0-0) (-2)
5. New York Titans 1-2 (1-2) (-3)
6. MINNESOTA SWARM 1-2 (1-2) (-9)
7. Toronto Rock 0-2 (0-2) (-8)

West Division W-L (Division Record) (Goal Differential)

1. Colorado Mammoth 4-1 (2-1) (+13)
2. Arizona Sting 3-1 (3-1) (+9)
3. CALGARY ROUGHNECKS 2-1 (2-1) (+4)
4. Portland LumberJax 2-2 (0-2) (-7)
5. Edmonton Rush 1-2 (0-2) (-7)
6. San Jose Stealth 1-3 (1-1) (-6)

The Minnesota Swarm will arrive in Calgary after splitting two games last weekend. The Swarm won the first game at home against the Rochester Knighthawks 11-10 last Friday. This was the first victory at home in the month of January in the Swarm’s history. The next night saw the Swarm travel to Buffalo to play the Bandits. The Bandits were not gracious hosts as they pummeled the Swarm 22-13.

Calgary is on a two game winning streak heading into the upcoming game. Last Saturday, the Roughnecks gave the defending NLL Champion Colorado Mammoth their first loss of the season, 17-13, in Calgary.

The Swarm are looking to regroup after the loss to Buffalo, but a road game in Calgary is going to make that very difficult proposition. One area the Swarm will need to look at is getting a bit more consistency on offense. All three games this year, the Swarm have juggled the line up and have had long stretches without a goal. It maybe time for Head Coach Duane Jacobs to settle on seven forwards and stick with that group for a few games. The Swarm pride themselves on spreading the wealth on offense but maybe a bit too much for they own good. It sure isn’t helping on the power play, as the Swarm is second to last in the league only scoring on 6 of 17 opportunities. . The Swarm have to do a better job of controlling the ball on the power play because the Roughnecks have been very opportunistic in scoring five goals shorthanded so far this season.

However, who amongst the forwards should be out on the floor regularly? Generally, the Swarm go with seven forwards and with only one game on each of the next two weekends, these are seven who should be on the floor.

Right

• Ryan Ward 3g 8a
• Scott Stewart 3g 5a
• Kasey Beirnes 3g 3a
• Sean Pollock 1g 2a

Left

• Kelly Hall 6g 3a
• Spencer Martin 2g 6a
• Dean Hill 4g 1a/Jamie Taylor

All four righties are solid contributors. Stewart has been the most consistent and Pollock will take the ball to the net aggressively. Martin has fit in well with the team and Hall is looking like the player the Swarm’s first option to take the shot. A question many Swarm fans have is, why hasn’t Taylor played yet? He definitely was in good health while being sat for the Chicago game. Has that changed since then or is there a deeper issue? I think Taylor should be given a chance but if Jacobs isn’t going to play him, then D. Hill would be the next option based on his play this year.

Calgary’s defense has improved in each of their first three games as they are beginning to adjust to a few new players this year in order to increase overall team speed. Taylor Wray (3a) who has a good combination of size and speed leads their defense. They also have former Swarm Nolan Heavenor (3g 3a) who is young and talented two-way player. Heavenor combines with Devan Wray (2g 2a) to handle face off duties throughout each game.

The Swarm defense had a rude awakening against Buffalo. Their man-down defense gave up nine goals on nine opportunities. This season the Swarm have given up 16 goals on 21 power plays which is dead last in the league. The defense is solid even up but can’t afford to get in penalty trouble, because the defense has proven that it can’t kill penalties effectively. The league average for penalty killing is 54% and the Swarm are an anemic 24%. Withstanding the Buffalo game, the Swarm still only killed 42% of all power play chances, which would leave them second to last.

In addition, the Swarm have to improve their loose ball count. They are second to last in the league averaging only 64 per game. The eleventh team in the league, Chicago, gets six more a game, which may have been the difference in that match up earlier this month. Calgary averages 20 more per game, which gives Roughneck scorers like Lewis Ratcliff (12g 9a) and Tracey Kelusky (6g 13a) second and third opportunities to score. Limiting Ratcliff and Kelusky will be up to players like Ryan Cousins (4g 2a) who has been the Swarm’s best player this year.

Jacobs appears to be in favor in using Nick Patterson (1-2 11.99 GAA .781 Save %) in goal more often than not. If there is only one game a weekend, expect Patterson to get the nod those weekends. Calgary counters with Andrew Leyshon (2-1 13.15 GAA .739 Save %) in net. This is Leyshon’s first chance to be a full-time starter in this league. Leyshon was in the Swarm’s first ever training camp but didn’t make the team. So far, the verdict on Leyshon is incomplete but the Roughnecks don’t appear confident enough to give backup Ryan Avery time in net yet.

The only thing you learn from losing is that winning is much better. In addition, the Swarm are learning that they’re in a hole when it comes to playoff positioning and no time can be wasted digging out of that hole. Expect Jacobs to have the team back on track this weekend. If Leyshon continues to be vulnerable, the Swarm should win 15-13.

The Swarm will continue their four game road trip on Friday, February 2nd, 2007 in Portland against the LumberJax. Game starts at 9:30 pm at the Rose Garden.

Minnesota Swarm

Head Coach: Duane Jacobs
General Manager & Assistant Head Coach: Marty O'Neill
Assistant Head Coach: Derek Moffat

22-F-R-Kasey Beirnes
18-D-R-Andrew Biers (former Roughneck)
10-D-L-Brock Boyle
50-D-R-Ryan Cousins {C}
19-F-L-Chad Culp
1-G-L-Matt Disher
11-F-L-Kelly Hall
73-F-L-Dean Hill
47-D-R-Travis Hill (FO)
77-D-L-Riley Kemp
55-D-R-Michael Kilby (A)
15-F-L-Spencer Martin
8-F-L-Rory McDade
6-D-L-Ashton McLean
39-D-R-Mark Miyashita (FO)
12-D-R-Eric Pacey
93-G-R-Nick Patterson
17-F-R-Sean Pollock
48-F-R-Scott Stewart
23-D-R-Jon Sullivan
16-D-L-Noah Talbot
40-F-L-Jamie Taylor
44-F-R-Ryan Ward (A)

Calgary Roughnecks

Head Coach: Chris Hall
General Manager: Kurt Silcott
Assistant Head Coach: Earl Caron
Assistant Head Coach: Geoff Conn

24-F-L-Scott Anderson
60-G-L-Ryan Avery
85-F-R-Shawn Cable
7-D-R-Brenan Day
26-D-L-Craig Gelsvik
19-F-L-Kyle Goundrey (A)
40-T-R-Nolan Heavenor (former Swarm)
34-F-R-Luke Hinton
17-F-R-Tracey Kelusky {C}
41-G-R-Andrew Leyshon
37-D-R-Andrew McBride
11-D-R-Ryan McNish
14-D-L-Jeff Moleski
20-D-L-Andy Ogilvie
74-T-L-Jesse Phillips
71-F-R-Scott Ranger
42-F-L-Lewis Ratcliff
16-F-R-Jamie Rooney
77-F-L-Jeff Shattler
84-F-R-Kerry Susheski (former Swarm)
9-F-R-Kaleb Toth
4-T-R-Devan Wray (FO)
44-D-R-Taylor Wray (A)