Minnesota Swarm (5-5 H 1-3 A 4-2)
	Buffalo Bandits (4-3 H 3-1 A 1-2)

Saturday, March 4, 2006
Buffalo, New York
Attendance: 10.961

The Swarm spoil John Tavares night in Buffalo with a 11-8 victory. Even though, Tavares broke the NLL all-time points record which now stands at 1.093, he only got two assists and was held without a goal. Great job by the Swarm defense on Tavares. Matt Disher was shining star tonight as he made 46 of 54 shots often with Tavares and Mark Steenhuis taking target practice. No rust on Disher as he hadn't played since January 29th. This is the first ever Swarm win over Buffalo after losing in the first four games against them in team history.

The defense looked very well on transition as Michael Kilby, Jon Sullivan and Brock Boyle scored on breakaways. For Kilby, it was his first of the year and first in his NLL career. The defense continues to carry the day for the Swarm as they always seem to be in good defensive position.

The offense did better tonight compared to in Toronto but more can be expected. Kelly Hall with his second hat trick of the weekend ended up with three goals and two assists to lead the Swarm. Hall had seven goals and two assists this weekend. Five of his seven goals were on the power play. I would believe it would be in the best interest of the Swarm to have him in the line up for every game the rest of the season. Kasey Beirnes also had three goals, two on the power play, and two assists to tie Hall for the night. Kasey is getting more comfortable down near the crease each game. As is usually the case for the Swarm, Ryan Ward is finding the open guy as he led the Swarm with four assists.

With Mark Miyashita's return to the team, the Swarm seemed to have a bit more pep and Rory McDade in his first ever game in the NLL was very active and had some near misses as he attacked the net. FYI to Swarm management. lets not release Mark again this season. Congratulations on your first ever point , Rory, an assist and on your perseverance this season.

The Toronto Rock lost 14-12 to the Philadelphia Wings tonight in Philadelphia and the Rochester Knighthawks beat the Portland Lumberjax earlier today in Portland 18-16. With the weekend over in the East Division, this is how it stacks up:

Rochester Knighthawks 6-3
Toronto Rock 6-5
Philadelphia Wings 5-4
Buffalo Bandits 4-3
MINNESOTA SWARM 5-5

If the Swarm beats Buffalo on March 24th at the Xcel Energy Center, the Swarm will win the tiebreaker. The Swarm won the tiebreaker against the Wings and lost it to the Knighthawks. It is anybody's division and each of the top four spots for the playoffs in the East is up in the air. Like Sean Pollock told me Tuesday night after the taping of Swarm Inside Scoop, the Swarm were looking for a split and they got it. I was predicting a sweep but is it no wonder that it is Sean who plays for the Swarm and I sit in the stands and watch.

As always, the Swarm will take it one game at a time which means the Swerm go to the Rose City, Portland, Oregon, on March 17th to face the Portland Lumberjax at 9:30 pm CST. I, however, will be attending the game at 7:30 PST in Portland and will give a full report sometime that weekend.

Swarm scoring:

Kelly Hall 3g 2a
Kasey Beirnes 3g 2a
Ryan Ward 0g 4a
Ryan Cousins 2g 1a
Jon Sullivan 1g 1a
Jamie Taylor 0g 2a
Brock Boyle 1g 0a
Michael Kilby 1g 0a
Tony Henderson 0g 1a
Rory McDade 0g 1a
Riley Kemp 0g 1a
Matt Disher 0g 1a and 46 saves on 54 shots.

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