Minnesota Swarm (8-8 H 3-5 A 5-3)
	Portland LumberJax (11-5 H 5-3 A 6-2)

Couldn't cut down the big timber in the 2nd Half

Saturday, April 15, 2006
St. Paul, Minnesota
Attendance: 10,104

The Minnesota Swarm took one on the chin at the Xcel Energy Center last night, losing to the Portland Lumberjax 13-8. With the loss, the Swarm will be the fourth seed and play the Buffalo Bandits on the road next weekend. The date and time have not yet been announced, but considering arena commitments like Buffalo Sabre playoff games and concerts, it is looking like Sunday afternoon on April 23rd.

The season best crowd of 10,104 saw the Swarm start the game of well. The Swarm jumped out to a 4-2 lead after one quarter on goals by #44 Ryan Ward, #17 Sean Pollock, #73 Dean Hill and #15 Spencer Martin. The Swarm is very good at playing 5 on 5 and it was showing early. The Lumberjax, however, were fighting to win their division and with the biggest team in the league, kept on coming back. #73 Dean Hill notched his second goal and #19 Chad Culp netted one at the end of the half as the Swarm went to the locker room up 6-5.

Both teams traded two goals each in the third. Both of the Swarm goals were scored by #22 Kasey Beirnes, who admitted after the game, that he was having a lot of trouble catching passes in the 1st Half. He works down near the crease and I think he would have gotten a couple in the first half but he couldn't hold on to the ball. In the third, Beirnes remedied that problem. With the Swarm up 7-6, former Swarm, #14 Ryder Bateman, tied the game up at 8-8. A five minute major on Martin towards the end of the quarter turned the game in Portland's favor. The Lumberjax scored twice on the major penalty and never looked back. They were able to get some odd man rushes against the Swarm in the fourth to put it away. It also didn't help that the offense for the Swarm dried up in front of Portland goalie, #30 Matt King.

With the win, the Portland Lumberjax in their first year in the NLL, won the West Division at 11-5 and will host the Arizona Sting next weekend in the playoffs.

The Swarm (8-8) are looking forward to playing the Buffalo Bandits next weekend. #10 Brock Boyle says the Bandits are the best match up for the Swarm in that they believe they can run up and down the floor by them all night. In comparison, they struggle with John Grant when they play Rochester and aren't too thrilled defending the Toronto power play. Those sentiments were also echoed by numerous other Swarm players after the game. They are extremely proud and excited to bring a playoff team to the state of Minnesota.

#19 Chad Culp led the Swarm with one goal and five assists. Both #22 Kasey Beirnes and #73 Dean Hill scored two goals and an assist. For Hill, this is his first season in the league and he didn't play his first game until last weekend against the San Jose Stealth. In two games, Hill has scored six goals and one assist. #1 Matt Disher (2-6) made 33 of 45 saves but was pulled in the fourth quarter and as he entered the bench, he clearly showed his frustration. #93 Nick Patterson came in and finished the game making 5 of 6 saves.

Swarm scoring:

#19 Chad Culp (1g 5a)
#22 Kasey Beirnes (2g 1a)
#73 Dean Hill (2g 1a)
#17 Sean Pollock (1g 2a)
#39 Mark Miyashita (0g 3a)
#15 Spencer Martin (1g 0a)
#44 Ryan Ward (1g 0a)
#1 Matt Disher (0g 1a)
#10 Brock Boyle (0g 1a)
#16 Noah Talbot (0g 1a)
#40 Jamie Taylor (0g 1a)

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