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

at
New York Titans
1-5 (* MSG 1-0 NC 0-1 Road 0-4)

*The Titans have a unique situation in which the play four of their home games at Madison Square Garden and the other four at Nassau Coliseum.

The Adam Mueller Who? We have Duane Jacobs!
Edition of Minnesota Swarm Lacrosse

February 17th,, 2007 6:30 pm CST
Madison Square Garden
New York City, New York

TV/Internet/Radio Coverage:

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/
New York Titans website: http://www.nytitanslacrosse.com/
National Lacrosse League website: http://www.nll.com
NLL message board: http://www.wingszone.com/nllmb/

Series

This is New York’s first year in the NLL. The head coach for the Swarm last year, Adam Mueller, is the Titans first Head Coach. Also, the Swarm’s Director of Scouting last year, Paul Stewart, joins the Titans as an assistant to Mueller. Stewart also will be the head coach of the Irish National Team at the World Indoor Lacrosse Championships in Halifax, Nova Scotia which occur from May 14 to May 20 this year.

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

1. Rochester Knighthawks 5-2 (4-1) [0-1] (+14)
2. Philadelphia Wings 4-2 (2-0) (+7)
3. Chicago Shamrox 3-3 (2-3) [1-0] (-3)
4. Buffalo Bandits 3-4 (3-2) [1-0] (+1)
5. Toronto Rock 2-3 (2-3) 0
6. MINNESOTA SWARM 2-3 (1-2) (-7)
7. NEW YORK TITANS 1-5 (1-4) (-13)

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

1. Colorado Mammoth 6-1 (4-1) (+26)
2. Arizona Sting 4-2 (3-2) (+8)
3. Calgary Roughnecks 4-2 (3-1) [1-0] (+6)
4. Edmonton Rush 2-3 (1-3) (-14)
5. Portland LumberJax 2-4 (0-3) [0-1] (-14)
6. San Jose Stealth 1-5 (1-2) (-11)

Both the Swarm and the Titans meet in a home and home series this weekend. Last weekend, both teams had the weekend off.

The Swarm last played on February 2nd in Portland, beating the LumberJax 11-8 to end a two game losing streak. Sean Pollock (5g 7a) led the Swarm with four goals and two assists. Nick Patterson (2-3 11.24 GAA .782 Save %) was stellar in goal saving 41 of 49 shots.

The Titans also last played on February 2nd in Arizona, losing to the Sting 16-15. The Titans have lost three straight after that game. Casey Powell (10g 29a) scored four goals and five assists and Ryan Boyle (13g 18a) scored four goals and four assists to lead the Titans.

Both teams may have had the past weekend off but that didn’t stop either team from making news. The Swarm made two trades this past week. The first on February 7th, involved trading forward Kelly Hall to the Portland LumberJax for forward Mike Hominuck (6g 18a). Both are lefthanders and each wanted to be closer to home. For Hall, that is Victoria, British Columbia and for Hominuck, it is Welland, Ontario. Hominuck, 25, should fit into the Swarm’s offense very well. He was the LumberJax’s leading scorer at the time of the trade. This is Hominuck’s fourth year in the league and the Swarm is his third team.

The second trade the Swarm made occurred on February 9th, when they traded a first and second round pick in 2007 and a third round pick in 2008 to the LumberJax for defenseman Ryan Sharp (0g 5a, 40 LB). Sharp, 24, is in his third season and the Swarm are his third team. Last year, Sharp was a Western Division All-Star scoring 16 goals, 14 assists and scooping up 137 loose balls which was seventh in the league. Sharp will be a welcome addition to the Swarm’s transition game. The question for all Swarm fans is did General Manager Marty O’Neill give up to much in future picks for Sharp? To make space on the roster, the Swarm released forward Rory McDade (2a).

Meanwhile on February 8th, the Titans traded their starting goaltender, Curtis Palidwor and fifth round pick in 2008 to the Edmonton Rush for a first round pick in 2007. With Palidwor gone, the Titans will go with Matt Vinc (0-3 15.30 GAA .703 Save %) and Nick Schroeder (0-1 13.87 GAA .714 Save %). This is Vinc’s second season but he didn’t see any action last year in San Jose, but he is gaining much needed experience over the last few games and is expected to the Titans future in the net.

The Swarm will have a tough assignment defensively against the Titans who average over thirteen goals a game which is second in the league. Powell and Boyle along with Pat Maddalena (17g 17a) combine to lead the offense. They have scored 40 of 81 goals this year for the Titans and taken 45% of their shots. Also, rookie and first round draft pick Brendan Mundorf didn’t play the first two games but in four games has scored nine goals and seven assists. With the addition of Sharp to the defense, the Swarm get an extra hand on deck to deal with the Titan offense. Two players who will have to step up on defense this weekend are Michael Kilby (1a 19 LB) and Eric Pacey (4 LB). Both lead the Swarm in penalty minutes with twelve each and both are the two most physical players on the team. They will have to take the lead on outworking and stopping the Titan offense.

The Swarm offense gets a new face on the left side with Hominuck. He replaces Hall who led the Swarm with eight goals this season. The Swarm are the only team in the league with a player who has not yet scored double-digit goals this year; however, they do spread the wealth around a bit. With the departure of Hall, Ryan Ward (7g 18a) and Dean Hill (7g 3a) now lead the team in goals. Another five players have at least five goals including Hominuck six with the LumberJax. Basically, the Swarm design their offense not to rely on just a couple of goal scorers. They leave their options open and usually a couple players will step up like Pollock did in the last game. It may not help the fantasy lacrosse player but it works for the Swarm.

The Titans defense is led by Jeff Spano (2g 4a 48 LB) and Jarrett Park (4g 5a 44 LB). Both get to loose balls regularly and are dangerous on transition. Even with Spano and Park, the Titan defense has struggled giving up nearly sixteen goals a game. Most of the Titans defense, if not most of the team, is made up of American born players who don’t have a lot of indoor lacrosse experience compared to their Canadian brethren. Most of Titans have been very successful in the professional outdoor league, Major League Lacrosse. The Titans want to establish a team more reliant on American players and to do that, they have experienced growing pains especially defensively and in net.

With two games this weekend, expect both teams to use both of their primary face off men this weekend. Size wise, the Swarm’s Travis Hill (27 of 49) and the Titans’ Joseph Ghedina (47 of 95) are both 5’ 10” while the Swarm’s Mark Miyashita (43 of 77) at 6’ 1” may match up better with the Titans’ Anthony Kelly (46 of 97) at 6’ 4”. Kelly was a member of the Swarm’s three-man practice roster last year and finally got his chance to show his talents with the Titans this year.

In addition to the face off men, the Swarm may use both Patterson and Matt Disher (0-0 20.28 GAA .621 Save %) in net this weekend. I believe that Head Coach Duane Jacobs will want to get Disher back on track after a tough start to his season. Disher will be needed down the road this season and it is very important that he gets his game back when he is called upon.

The Swarm are in a tight race for the fourth and last spot in the playoffs in the Eastern Division. After regrouping in Portland and assimilating the new acquisitions into the team, expect the Swarm to come out strong at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, February 17th. The Swarm win the first of the home and home, 14-13.

The Swarm will next travel to Chicago to play the Shamrox at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. The game will start at 7:30 pm CST on Saturday, February 24th. The Titans will next host the San Jose Stealth on Saturday, February 24th at 6:30 pm CST at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York.

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
73-F-L-Dean Hill
47-D-R-Travis Hill (FO)
90-F-L-Mike Hominuck
77-D-L-Riley Kemp
55-D-R-Michael Kilby (A)
15-F-L-Spencer Martin
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
26-D-L-Ryan Sharp
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)

New York Titans

General Manager & Head Coach: Adam Mueller (former Swarm)
Assistant Head Coach: Paul Stewart (former Swarm)
Assistant Head Coach: Randy Fraser
Assistant Head Coach: Paul Deniken

7-F-R-Matt Alrich
41-D-R-Bryan Barrett
14-F-R-Ryan Boyle (A)
32-D-L-Rich Brzeski (A)
3-F-R-Roy Colsey
71-D-L-Keevin Galbraith
45-D-L-Joe Ghedina (FO)
4-F-R-Bobby Horsey
34-D-R-Anthony Kelly (FO) (former Swarm)
42-F-L-Pat Maddalena
19-F-R-Mike McLellan
26-F-R-Blake Miller
2-F-L-Brendan Mundorf
56-D-?-John Orsen
12-D-L-Jarrett Park
20-F-?-Greg Peyser
1-F-R-Casey Powell {C}
24-F-L-Gewas Schindler
66-G-R-Nick Schroder
47-D-R-Jeff Spano
10-F-L-Brian Tower
48-G-R-Matt Vinc
16-D-?-Matt Zash