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1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q OT F
Minnesota Swarm Minnesota Swarm
(0-1)		 3 1 5 3 12
Toronto Rock Toronto Rock
(1-0)		 4 2 4 3 Blank 13

Exhibition
Rock just a little bit better Saturday night

Saturday, December 9, 2006
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Attendance: 3,500

With 3,500, according to a staffer at MTS Centre, in attendance, the Toronto Rock held off a couple furious Minnesota Swarm rallies to win 13-12 on Saturday, December 9th. Sean Pollock got a hat trick, while Jamie Taylor and Kasey Beirnes got two goals for the Swarm. Aaron Wilson, Rusty Kruger and Chris Driscoll each got three for the Rock.

The first quarter was relatively even with good action up and down the floor but the Driscoll goal to end the first quarter came on a Swarm defensive breakdown which left Driscoll all alone on Swarm goaltender Nick Patterson. That goal seemed to the most important in my mind in the game as it was the first of many times the Rock one-upped the Swarm as the Swarm tried to take the lead.

The 2nd Quarter saw Kevin Croswell make his first appearance in goal for the Swarm. After a shaky start, Croswell reoriented himself and did well after the five minute mark making numerous saves. At the 5:16 mark of the quarter, the Swarm’s Eric Pacey and the Rock’s Tim O’Brien started to mix it up. Pacey didn’t back down from the very formidable O’Brien and was able to get the takedown. This got the fans in Winnipeg quite excited. For the Swarm, it was about the only highlight of the quarter as the team struggled getting quality shots on net and when on net, the Rock’s Bob Watson was up to the test.

The 3rd quarter started with both teams four on four; however, the Swarm started the quarter off immediately with a delay of game penalty over what appeared to be miscommunication as to when the quarter was to start. The Swarm did shake it off as Brock Boyle got loose on a breakaway to make the game 6-5. After Jamie Taylor tied it at six, the Rock reeled off three quick goals including another goal by Driscoll who once again caught the Swarm defense off guard to give the Rock a 9-6 advantage. The Driscoll goal was shorthanded after the Swarm’s Travis Hill was able to induce the Rock’s Colin Doyle into a double minor at 8:27 of the quarter. The Swarm once again rallied to close the quarter behind 10-9. In the rally, the Swarm’s Scott Stewart scored his first goal since having his season end after one game with the Swarm last season. Stewart did get roughed up early on a play but looked well recovered from his injury. He moved quickly and was able to start and stop with ease.

The 4th quarter started with an exchange of words between Doyle and the Swarm’s Spencer Martin. Doyle got a minor but Martin got rung up for a five minute major. That with a penalty later on the Swarm’s Kasey Beirnes put the Swarm a man down with little opportunity to get back in the game in the first part of the quarter. Only with fantastic goaltending by Patterson, the Rock were only able to get one goal during this crucial time of the game. With two minutes left in the game, the Rock had a 12-10 lead until Pollock narrowed the lead to 12-11 on a power play goal. Doyle notched the eventual game winner about a minute later to give the Rock a 13-11. After the face-off, the Rock had possession and called a time out with 37 seconds to go. In a gutsy move, Swarm head coach Duane Jacobs brought Patterson to the bench. He was countered by Rock Head Coach Glenn Clark who pulled Rock goaltender Mike Poulin to the bench. It was four on four, neither goaltender in net, the Rock had the ball and a two goal lead. The move by Jacobs reaped benefits very quickly as Boyle pressured the Rock into a turnover by the Rock bench. The Swarm got the ball quickly downfield to Kasey Beirnes who scored to make it 13-12. Unfortunately for the Swarm, the Rock’s Brad MacArthur won the face-off against the Swarm’s Travis Hill and the Rock were able to whittle enough time off the clock to prevent the Swarm to get much of any chance to tie the game up.

As mentioned in the above paragraph, Travis Hill handled the face-offs against the Swarm. He showed well against a superb face-off specialist in MacArthur. The goaltending by both teams was pretty solid. Patterson had his best quarter in the fourth without a doubt. The Swarm have to make sure to keep track of the odd opponent laying in wait on transition; otherwise, the defense did a good job. The offense definitely missed Ryan Ward who would have been able to help the Swarm get more open shots on net with his distribution of the ball. The Swarm were able to do better with Rock on four on four but not quite enough to get the victory.

The crowd was projected at 2,000 in the Winnipeg Free Press on Saturday morning but a decent walkup boosted the numbers. With a bit more work on advertising than what I heard was done, they probably would have got over 5,000 in my opinion. It can work in Winnipeg but I think it will take a few more years before a franchise starts up there.

The Swarm are now 0-1 in the exhibition season. Next Saturday, December 16th, 9:05 pm CST, the Swarm travel to Victoria, British Columbia to battle the Portland LumberJax in the Swarm’s last exhibition game before the regular season opener at home against the expansion Chicago Shamrox on Saturday, January 13th, 2007 at 7:00 pm CST. The Rock finished their exhibition season with a 2-1 record. They open their season on January 13th on the road against the Rochester Knighthawks at 6:35 pm CST.

I wrote down who scored to the best of my abilities. I didn’t keep track of assists. The game moves pretty fast and I am not the sharpest bulb in the drawer.

Goaltenders:

1st Quarter: Minnesota - Nick Patterson; Toronto – Bob Watson
2nd Quarter: Minnesota – Kevin Croswell; Toronto – Bob Watson
3rd Quarter: Minnesota – Nick Patterson; Toronto – Mike Poulin
4th Quarter: Minnesota – Nick Patterson; Toronto - Mike Poulin

Goal Scoring

1st Quarter

Toronto - Sean Kimpinski 3:18 SH Toronto 1-0
Minnesota – Dean Hill PP 4:01 Tied 1-1
Toronto – Aaron Wilson 6:56 Toronto 2-1
Toronto – Rusty Kruger PP 11:38 Toronto 3-1
Minnesota – Ryan Cousins SH 11:54 Toronto 3-2
Minnesota – Andrew Biers 12:01 Tied 3-3
Toronto – Chris Driscoll 12:49 Toronto 4-3

2nd Quarter

Toronto – Aaron Wilson 2:23 PP Toronto 5-3
Toronto – Rusty Kruger 4:16 Toronto 6-3
Minnesota – Sean Pollock 14:26 Toronto 6-4

3rd Quarter

Minnesota – Brock Boyle SH 2:01 Toronto 6-5
Minnesota – Jamie Taylor 2:31 Tied 6-6
Toronto – Chris Driscoll 7:20 Toronto 7-6
Toronto – Aaron Wilson 7:54 Toronto 8-6
Toronto – Chris Driscoll SH 8:45 Toronto 9-6
Minnesota – Kasey Beirnes PP 10:36 Toronto 9-7
Minnesota – Scott Stewart 11:21 Toronto 9-8
Toronto – Josh Sanderson 11:47 Toronto 10-8
Minnesota – Sean Pollock 13:39 Toronto 10-9

4th Quarter

Toronto – Blaine Manning 3:19 Toronto 11-9
Toronto – Rusty Kruger 6:34 Toronto 12-9
Minnesota – Jamie Taylor PP 7:06 Toronto 12-10
Minnesota – Sean Pollock PP 13:03 Toronto 12-11
Toronto – Colin Doyle 14:03 Toronto 13-11
Minnesota – Kasey Beirnes 14:29 Toronto 13-12

The Swarm dressed the following:

Eric Pacey
Spencer Martin
Sean Pollock
Andrew Biers
Chad Culp
Kasey Beirnes
Jon Sullivan
Brock Boyle
Dave Ellis (wore 39)
Shawn Summerfield
Jamie Taylor
Travis Hill
Scott Stewart
Ryan Cousins
Eli Hill (wore 28)
Dean Hill
G-Nick Patterson
G-Kevin Croswell (wore 1)

The Rock dressed the following:

Sean Kimpinski (wore 4)
Dan Ladouceur
Colin Doyle
Aaron Wilson
Blaine Manning
Phil Sanderson
Josh Sanderson
Rusty Kruger
Mike McLeod (wore 22)
Derek Suddons
Jim Veltman
Scott Campbell
Ian Rubel
Brad MacArthur (wore 41)
Tim O’Brien
Chris Driscoll
G-Bob Watson
G-Mike Poulin