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Saturday, March 27, 2010 - 8:00 pm CST
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| West | W | L | GB | +/- | East | W | L | GB | +/- | |
| Washington | 7 | 3 | - | 15 | Orlando | 6 | 4 | - | 14 | |
| Edmonton | 6 | 4 | 1.0 | -15 | Toronto | 6 | 5 | 0.5 | 30 | |
| Calgary | 6 | 4 | 1.0 | 24 | Boston | 6 | 5 | 0.5 | 4 | |
| Minnesota | 4 | 5 | 2.5 | -5 | Rochester | 5 | 5 | 1.0 | -8 | |
| Colorado | 2 | 7 | 4.5 | -31 | Buffalo | 5 | 6 | 1.5 | -11 | |
| Philadelphia | 3 | 8 | 3.5 | -17 | ||||||
| Minnesota | Overall | Home | Road | Home-2009 | Road-2009 |
| vs Edmonton | 2-0 | 1-0 | 1-0 | 1-0 | |
| vs Edmonton-Playoffs | |||||
| Total | 2-0 | 1-0 | 1-0 | 1-0 |
| Numerical Roster | Picture Roster | Stats |
| Goaltenders | Defense (Left) | Defense (Right) | Forwards (Left) | Forwards (Right) |
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| General Manager | Head Coach | Assistant | Assistant |
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| Roster | Picture Roster | Stats |
| Goaltenders | Defense (Left) | Defense (Right) | |
| 1-Matt Disher | 88-Ian Hawksbee | 43-Rory Glaves | |
| 00-Brandon Atherton | 7-Derek Suddons | 2-Brett Mydske | |
| 6-John Lintz | 5-Ian Crashley | ||
| 15-Chris McElroy | 49-Bruce Alexander | ||
| 11-Ryan McNish | |||
| 12-Pat Jones | |||
| Transition (Left) | Transition (Right) | Forward (Left) | Forward (Right) |
| 17-Brodie Merrill | 8-Scott Stewart | 21-Andy Secore | 44-Ryan Ward |
| 81-Jimmy Quinlan | 9-Gavin Prout | ||
| 20-Dane Stevens | 22-Ryan Powell | ||
| 45-Corey Small | 4-Scott Tinning | ||
| 73-Dean Hill |
| GM/Head Coach | Assistant Coach | Assistant |
| Derek Keenan | Todd Lorenz | Jeremy Tallevi |
The last time we saw our heroes from our local professional indoor lacrosse team, the Minnesota Swarm (4-5), they were snared in a diabolical trap that only Batman in the campy 1960's TV series could get out of. Unfortunately, the Swarm were not Batman as the Jokers, Penguins and Riddlers of the Philadelphia Wings (3-8) used a dastardly third quarter trap that foiled anything the Swarm had in their utility belts.
After there second March weekend off doing whatever professional indoor lacrosse teams do on off weekends, the Swarm embark on the Alberta Clipper to the province of Alberta, where some of the people are looking for independence. For the Swarm, their opponents in their first two game weekend of the season are staying in the NLL and are directly above the Swarm in the West Standings. Friday night they play the Roughnecks (6-4) in Calgary. The following morning they hop a bus to the Alberta capital in Edmonton to play the Rush (6-4) on Saturday night.
As of right now, there is no public word on when or if Minnesota's captain, Ryan Cousins, will return to the line up. He has missed the last two games as he is doing his best Dennis Leary impression training to become a firefighter. If he does not come back this weekend, who will rally the defense after giving up a season high 20 goals in their last game. Will it be Eric Pacey and Jon Sullivan who have been with the team since day one or maybe Scott Self, who has been on the league's top defensemen for the last six years but is only in his first Swarm season. Like earlier in this season in the first home game against Colorado, the Swarm were victimized by the Wings' transition. They will have to slow the other team up to have a better chance at victory.
With Dan Marohl back in the line up, the Swarm have had to juggle the offense a bit when it was hitting their stride in the February home games. The time off this month has not helped get the spark back but they will need to find it rather quickly this weekend. With Marohl in the lineup, the Swarm have rotated Zack Greer and Kevin Ross in and out of the line up. Both will probably at least play once this weekend but is that the way to go. The Swarm are investing the future into Greer and getting him continued playing time for the rest of the season is probably more important than rotating him in and out with Ross.
Noah Talbot is expected to break Jon Sullivan's Swarm consecutive game streak against Edmonton where we expect him to don the blue and gold for the 52nd straight game. Talbot has been a fixture defending top right-handers for the Swarm since 2006 and there is no reason to expect him not to continue. I think I even predict a goal this weekend for Noah for the first time since 2007.
I would not be surprised to see both Nick Patterson and Kevin Croswell get a start each this week in net. I expect Nick to start in Calgary as that is the more crucial of these highly crucial games due to the tiebreaking issues.
Edmonton is coming off a disappointing 12-5 loss last weekend at home to the Boston Blazers. One player that did shine in that game was former Swarm Andy Secore who scored four of the team's five goals. The Swarm's all-time leading scorer Ryan Ward will make his first appearance against his former team. Ward leads the Rush in scoring this year. Of course, the big return for Ward is at the X next weekend, which I will over hype at that time. In the net for the Rush, is former Swarm Matt Disher, who has done well for himself since leaving Minnesota. He has started every game this season for the Rush, who with a win will reach their seventh victory of the season, which would break the record of six in 2008. This franchise started as the Syracuse Smash in 1998, then became the Ottawa Rebel in 2001. The Rebel stopped play after the 2003 season and the rights to the team were bought by and brought to Edmonton in 2006. All those seasons, they have had a losing record and missed the playoffs. This season the Rush just may break through.
These teams have played twice all time with the Swarm winning both games including last year beating the Rush at the X by a score of 9-7. The other game in 2006 was only a 7-6 victory for the Swarm, so I would not be surprised to see the same of type of low scoring affair. I am sure the Rush will want to redeem themselves in front of their home crowd, but I think the momentum of the Calgary game will carry out for the Swarm on Saturday night for a victory led by the defense.
Thank God, only one more weekend until the boys are back in town.
