Minnesota Swarm
1-3 (Home 1-1 Road 0-2)

at
Portland LumberJax
2-3(Home 1-1 Road 1-2)

The Punxsutawney Phil Will See His Shadow
Meaning There Will Be Another LumberJax Loss This Week
Edition of Minnesota Swarm Lacrosse

February 2nd, 2007 9:00pm CST
Rose Garden
Portland, Oregon

TV/Internet/Radio Coverage:

Audio: The Fan 1080 http://www.1080thefan.com/home.asp
Audio: Sirius Satellite Channel 123
Webcast: 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/
Portland LumberJax website: http://www.portlandjax.com/
National Lacrosse League website: http://www.nll.com/
NLL message board: http://www.wingszone.com/nllmb/

Series

Overall: Tied 1-1
Home Overall: LumberJax 1-0
Road Overall: Swarm 1-0

Both teams played each other twice last year, which was the first for Portland. Minnesota won in Portland 13-8 on March 17th and Portland won in Minnesota on April 15th, 13-8. In December, the two teams had an exhibition in Victoria, British Columbia that the LumberJax won 15-13.

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

1. Rochester Knighthawks 4-2 (3-1) [0-1] (+9)
2. Chicago Shamrox 3-1 (2-1) [1-0] (+3)
3. Philadelphia Wings 3-2 (2-0) (+4)
4. Buffalo Bandits 2-2 (2-0) [1-0] (+9)
5. MINNESOTA SWARM 1-3 (1-2) (-10)
6. New York Titans 1-4 (1-4) (-12)
7. Toronto Rock 0-3 (0-3) (-9)

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

1. Colorado Mammoth 5-1 (3-1) (+17)
2. Arizona Sting 3-1 (3-1) (+9)
3. Calgary Roughnecks 3-1 (2-1) [1-0] (+5)
4. PORTLAND LUMBERJAX 2-3 (0-3) (-11)
5. Edmonton Rush 1-2 (0-2) (-7)
6. San Jose Stealth 1-4 (1-1) (-7)

The Minnesota Swarm will arrive in Portland on a two-game losing streak after losing in Calgary to the Roughnecks, 15-14 on Saturday, January 27th. Ryan Ward (7g 14a) led the Swarm with four goals and six assists.

The Swarm’s two-game losing streak is trumped by the Portland LumberJax’s three-game losing streak after they started the season winning their first two. Their last loss was in Colorado to the Mammoth on January 25th, by a score of 15-11.

The Swarm played much better in Calgary than in Buffalo two weekends especially offensively. Ward tied a record he set himself last year in Portland with ten points. His shot is getting better every game this year which only makes his passing even better. Scott Stewart (5g 6a) is developing into a solid contributor on the right side and often can get his shot off in unorthodox ways. The power play is also improving after a seven of ten performance against the Roughnecks. On the flip side, they did give up four shorthanded goals in that game which contributed greatly to the loss. The Swarm need to be more aggressive grabbing loose balls after shots in order to keep possession and prevent the quick transition that the Roughnecks killed them with. Portland has a very sound defense that will be more physical than Calgary which relied more on transition. The defense is led by Brodie Merrill (3g 6a), last year’s NLL rookie of the year and tied for the league lead with Rochester’s Steve Toll in loose balls with 71. Also Merrill and Bruce Alexander (2g 9a) will often not hesitate to join the set offense.

The Swarm defense is influx. The first two games they gave up only 21 goals, but nearly double that, 37 goals, in the last two games. Even with these issues, Andrew Biers (4g 2a) has started to shine more than most with his work on defense. He has the size to defend aggressively and is becoming a very dangerous threat on transition. Fortunately for the Swarm, the LumberJax offense has struggled to score this year, averaging less than ten goals a game. Their leading scorer is Mike Hominuck (5g 15a) with Ryan Powell (9g 10a) right behind him. Former Swarm, Ryder Bateman (6g 6a), is having a good season, after last year’s season of transition which saw him miss the first month of the season for the Swarm before getting traded to the LumberJax for Stewart.

After a very good start of the season, the Swarm’s Nick Patterson (1-3 12.35 GAA .765 Save %) has struggled to keep the Swarm in the last two games. Both him and Matt Disher (0-0 20.28 GAA .621 Save %) have both been replaced by each other in the last two games as the Swarm have tried to plug the dike defensively. Expect this trend in the last two games to end, with Patterson getting the start on Friday and turning in a much improved performance. The LumberJax will counter with the league’s greatest ever goaltender, 42 year old Dallas Eliuk (2-2 12.87 GAA .751 Save %). Even in the midst of their three game losing streak, Eliuk has continued to be very solid in net limiting the damage to some extent.

These two teams match up against each other well. Both offenses are very balanced, each team’s goaltending is spectacular more often than not and the defenses are generally regarded to be each team’s strength. I do think the Swarm offense is coming around a bit better than the LumberJax and that will be the difference. In a low scoring game, the Swarm will right the ship and prevail 10-9.

After this game, both the Swarm and LumberJax will take the following weekend off. The Swarm will next play the New York Titans in a home and home series on February 17th and 18th. The game on Saturday the 17th will be at Madison Square Garden at 7:00 pm CST, and then both teams come to the Xcel Energy Center the next night, again at 7:00 pm CST. The LumberJax will resume play on Thursday, February 15th at home against the Colorado Mammoth.

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
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 (former LumberJax)
23-D-R-Jon Sullivan
16-D-L-Noah Talbot
40-F-L-Jamie Taylor
44-F-R-Ryan Ward (A)

Portland LumberJax

General Manager & Head Coach: Derek Keenan
Assistant Head Coach: Jeremy Tellevi
Assistant Head Coach: Jeff McComb

49-D-R-Bruce Alexander
14-F-R-Ryder Bateman (former Swarm)
20-D-L-Adam Bysouth
5-D-R-Ian Crashley
36-D-R-D.J.Driscoll
35-G-R-Dallas Eliuk
2-D-L-Ray Guze (former Swarm)
3-F-R-Del Halladay (A)
37-F-R-Tyler Heavenor
11-F-R-Matt Holman
90-F-L-Mike Hominuck
12-D-R-Pat Jones {C}(FO)
30-G-R-Matt King
8-F-L-Ryan Marshall
24-F-L-Scott Mazuren
17-D-L-Brodie Merrill (A)
44-F-L-Peter Morgan
33-D-L-Richard Morgan
7-D-R-Graham Palmer
22-F-R-Ryan Powell
1-F-L-Jed Prossner
26-D-L-Ryan Sharp
10-D-L-Scott Stapleford