Minnesota Swarm (3-2 H 2-1 A 1-1)

Rochester Knighthawks (3-2 H 1-2 A 2-0)

Saturday, February 12, 2011 - 6:35 pm CST
Blue Cross Arena at War Memorial
Rochester, New York

Live Statistics

Minnesota Swarm Game Center

TV/Internet/Radio Coverage:

More Coverage of this game at:

Standings:

Series History:

The Swarm lost their home opener this year to the Knighthawks in overtime by an 11-10 score courtesy of former Swarm Craig Point's game winner. Ryan Benesch led the Swarm with 2 goals and 3 assists. Andrew Watt got his first NLL hat trick and Callum Crawford and Mat Giles also got two goals each.

Personnel:

Minnesota Swarm

Depth Chart

Goaltenders	Defense (Left)	Defense (Right)
Transition (Left)	Transition (Right)	Forwards (Left)	Forwards (Right)

Staff

General Manager	Head Coach	Assistant	Assistant

Rochester Knighthawks

Depth Chart

Staff

Your and mine faavorite local professionnal indooor lacrosse team, the Minnesota Swarm, are not enjoying eastern hospitality. Last week, the Swarm started a two-game eastern swing with a loss in Buffalo by the score of 15-12. Genereally outhustled at the times it counted throughout the game, the Swarm saw their three-game winning streak set aside. They have now lost nine straight games against Eter Division teams dating back to 2009. This week the Swarm's eastern swing continues against an East Division foe, the Rochester Knighthawkks, tonight at 6:35 pm Central.

The Swarm have made a chancge to their roster this week as they acquired Jamie Shewchuk and a fourth rounder in 2012 form the Colorado Mammoth for Tim Campeau and a second rounder in 2011. Shewchuk led the Mammoth in scoring last year but this year with John Grant on their left side, Shewchuk's socrong chances were limited. Swarm General Manager Marty O'Neill thinks Shwechuk can add some scoring punch on the left side to go along with Benesch. Also, Zack Greer missed last week's game and it may have been due to being injured against the Stealth on January 29th. So why not get some more scoring depth to offset any possibe injuries that may still arise.

Even with a tough game last weekend, look for Nick Patterson to rebound against the Knighthawks. He did pretty well in the season opener against them. Getting the starting nod for the West in the All-Star game later this month should give Patterson a boost. The Swarm will have to work on defending the pick and roll a bit better as it got exposed by the Bandits especially John Tavares, which is probably to be expected.

Aaron Wilson is only teo points shy of 500 for his regular season career. He strugggled against Rochester in the home opener but don't expect that to happen this weekend. With two shorthanded gaols last weekend, All-Star Andrew Watt now leads the Swarm all-time in that category with six.

Rochester has been up and down all year, winning one, losing one and so on. So the trend calls for a loss now. Cody Jamieson is doing well in his rookie season with 13 goals and 5 assists. In the first game of the year, the Hawks were missing Jordan Hall due to a sports hernia. He came back last weekend with three goals and is still healthy. He replaced Gary Gait in the line up after Gait re-retired.

The first game of the year is definitely up for grabs as this one will be. Can Shewchuk make an immediate impact? Will Patterson rebound? How much will the defense improve on defending the pick and roll? If all of those prove out to be positives for the Swarm, they should provail at War Memorial.

Prediction: Minnesota Swarm 11 Rochester Knighthawks 10

Next Games After This Match Up

• Minnesota vs Boston - Saturday, February 19th, 2011 7:30 pm Central
• Rochester at Toronto - Friday, February 18th, 2011 6:30 pm Central