Minnesota Swarm
5-4 (Home 2-2 Road 3-2)

at
Philadelphia Wings
4-5 (Home 2-3 Road 2-2)

The Who Scares You More:
Wings Players or Wings Fans
Edition of Minnesota Swarm Lacrosse

March 17th, 2007 7:00pm CST
Wachovia Center
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

TV/Internet/Radio Coverage:

Webcast: B2 Networks: https://www.b2livetv.com/bp/nll.htm $6.00 per game
TV: Versus (Tape-Delayed) Monday, March 19th, 2007 9:00pm CST
Minnesota Swarm website: http://www.mnswarm.com
Minnesota Swarm message board: http://boards.mnswarm.com/forums/
Philadelphia Wings website: http://www.wingslax.com/
National Lacrosse League website: http://www.nll.com
NLL message board: http://www.wingszone.com/nllmb/

Series
Overall: Series tied 3-3
Home Overall: Tied 2-2
Road Overall: Tied 1-1

Riley Kemp playing in every Minnesota Swarm game count (including playoffs): 42

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

1. Rochester Knighthawks 8-2 (5-1) [0-1] (+24)
2. Buffalo Bandits 6-4 (6-2) [2-0] (+7)
3. MINNESOTA SWARM 5-4 (4-3) (+4)
4. PHILADELPHIA WINGS 4-5 (2-3) (+3)
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5. Toronto Rock 4-5 (3-4) (-3)
6. Chicago Shamrox 3-6 (2-5) [1-1] (-16)
7. New York Titans 2-8 (2-6) [0-2] (-15)

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

1. Colorado Mammoth 9-1 (7-1) (+37)
2. Arizona Sting 6-3 (4-1) (+10)
3. Calgary Roughnecks 5-4 (3-2) [1-0] (+4)
4. San Jose Stealth 3-5 (2-2) (-8)
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5. Edmonton Rush 3-5 (2-5) (-16)
6. Portland LumberJax 2-8 (0-6) [0-1] (-29)

The Minnesota Swarm had their four game winning streak ended by the Buffalo Bandits on Sunday, March 4, 16-15, at the Xcel Energy Center. Dean Hill (19g 12a) led the Swarm with five goals and three assists. The result switched the Swarm to third and the Bandits to second in the East Division.

The Philadelphia Wings lost at home to the East Division leading Rochester Knighthawks, 14-13, on Saturday, March 3. The loss was the third in a row for the Wings. Wings rookie Kyle Wailes (14g 17a) led the team in scoring with three goals and three assists.

Ryan Cousins (6g 11a) and Ryan Ward (16g 38a) represented the Swarm on the East Division team at this year’s All-Star game in Portland on Saturday, March 10th. Cousins, in his third consecutive All-Star game for the Swarm, notched three assists and two PIM while Ward, in his first All-Star game, was held scoreless with two shots. The East beat the West 20-16 with Buffalo’s Mark Steenhuis winning the MVP award with six goals.

This is an extremely pivotal weekend coming out of the All-Star break as the Swarm and Wings engage in a home and home series. If either team can sweep, they will have greatly increased their chances of being playoff bound while delivering a damaging blow to the other team’s playoff chances.

Starting this season, the experts were praising the Swarm’s defense and wondering if the offense would ever emerge. Halfway into the season, the opposite has occurred. The Swarm’s defense has been derailed while the Swarm’s offense is shining brightly. The defense is mostly intact with the exception of Ryan Sharp (1g 6a). They are nearly giving up three more goals a game from last season (10.69 to 13.44) and their penalty kill has only stopped the opposition from scoring on 49.2 of their chances. Both of those percentages place the Swarm twelfth in a thirteen team league. Swarm All-Star Cousins and Michael Kilby (1g 4a) will have to work on getting the defense back together again.

This weekend, the Swarm face a Wings team that has struggled offensively this year scoring only 11.33 goals per game which is tenth best in the league. Dan Marohl (14g 25a) leads the Wings again from the right side and second-year star Sean Greenhalgh (15g 22a) is the number one option from the left side. Two rookies, Wailes and Athan Iannucci (17g 10a) have injected additional young talent on the offense.

The Swarm offense put up huge numbers again last Sunday. Sean Pollock (15g 26a) has already exceeded his career best forty-point season of last year in just nine games. Hill, the youngest player on the team, leads the Swarm in goals this season with nineteen. Ward is tenth in scoring and third in assists in the league. Mike Hominuck (17g 31a) has averaged six points in the four games he has played with the Swarm since coming over from Portland. Both Kasey Beirnes (13g 13a) and Scott Stewart (10g 16a) solidify the right side of the offense, while Spencer Martin (8g 14a) does the dirty work on the left side. The Wing defense, third in goals given up per game (11.22), has kept the team in every game this season. The Wings players to look for on defense, are team captain Thomas Hajek (3a) and Shawn Nadelen (1g 4a).

The Wings defense really begins on the face off. The Wings employ two dominant draw men as Peter Jacobs (55 of 78) and rookie Geoff Snider (116 of 159) team up to form the most feared face off duo in the league. Collectively, both have won just over 72% of their draws, which easily outpaces the rest of the league. They do so well that teams have even begun to concede face offs and depend on their defense to turn the ball over. The Swarm may catch a break on Saturday, since Snider is looking at having to sit a game because of his extra-curricular activities a couple weekends ago against Buffalo. Mark Miyashita (125 of 208) has done very well this year handling the face offs for the Swarm, who are third in face off proficiency at 57.6%. As Miyashita told me after the Buffalo game, he is looking forward to the challenge and has had experience facing off against Snider playing in the Western Lacrosse Association in the summer.

In goal, the Wings have starting East All-Star goaltender Matt Roik (4-3 10.76 GAA .753 Save %) in net. Roik started the first two games of the season on the bench due to injury but since then has enjoyed his best season to date. The Swarm will counter with Nick Patterson (4-3 12.23 GAA .764 Save %), who will be looking to redeem himself after a tough outing on March 4 against Buffalo in which he gave up six quick goals on twelve shots in the first quarter. Matt Disher (1-1 16.09 GAA .689 Save %) did well in relief of Patterson in that game and in his last two appearances has been strong after a slow start. Expect both goaltenders to get a start this weekend, while Roik will probably start both games for the Wings.

The Swarm offense should continue to shine and it will be enough to give them a victory on Saturday night in Philadelphia by a score of 15-12.

The Swarm and Wings resume their home and home series on Sunday, March 18 at the Xcel Energy Center at 5:00 pm CST

Minnesota Swarm

Head Coach: Duane Jacobs
General Manager & Assistant Head Coach: Marty O'Neill (former Wing)
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 (Former Wing)
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
26-D-L-Ryan Sharp
48-F-R-Scott Stewart
23-D-R-Jon Sullivan
16-D-L-Noah Talbot
44-F-R-Ryan Ward (A) (Former Wing)

Philadelphia Wings

Head Coach and General Manager: Lindsay Sanderson
Assistant Head Coach: Gregg McDonald
Assistant Head Coach: Terry Sanderson
Assistant Head Coach: Chris Sanderson

66-F-R-Jake Bergey (A)
82-D-R-Zach Burke
1-F-R-Jon Christmas
21-F-L-Keith Cromwell
25-D-R-Damien Davis
45-F-L-Kyle Fiat
19-F-L-Sean Greenhalgh
28-D-R-Thomas Hajek {C}
32-F-R-Athan Iannucci
24-D-R-Peter Jacobs (FO)
2-D-L-Ian Llord
27-F-R-Dan Marohl
29-G-R-Ken Montour
17-F-L-Marc Morley
34-D-R-Shawn Nadelen (former Swarm)
30-G-R-Jay Preece
90-F-R-Jeff Ratcliffe (A)
37-G-R-Matt Roik
9-D-R-Ian Rosenberger
4-D-R-Geoff Snider (FO)
7-D-R-Kyle Sweeney
77-F-L-Rob Van Beek
88-F-L-Kyle Wailes