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

Calgary Roughnecks (6-5 H 4-3 A 2-2)

Patterson and Benesch Break Records and the Necks

Friday, March 26, 2010
Calgary, Alberta
Attendance: 10,486

In the third quarter of the game between the Minnesota Swarm and the Calgary Roughnecks, it was raining cats and dogs all over Swarm goaltender Nick Patterson. One thought how can Patterson withstand the deluge which appeared to be unstoppable. Don't know he did it but Patterson sure did as he stopped a team record 59 shots on goal to lead the Swarm to a huge division victory over the Roughnecks by a score of 17-13 at the Pengrowth Saddledome.

Patterson's 59 saves broke his own record of 54 against Philadelphia on February 22, 2008.   Ryan Benesch set Swarm single game records of nine assists and eleven points.  Former Swarm Ryan Ward held both records at seven and ten respectively at least until Friday night.  Benesch assisted on five straight goals from the end of the third through most of the fourth quarter.

The key stretch for the Swarm was in the third quarter when Noah Talbot went to the box for two minutes for holding  and Richard Morgan followed just over a minute later was hit with a five minute crosschecking penalty.  The Roughnecks scored just as the Talbot penalty ended; however, after at least thirteen shots covering the remaining 4:50 of the Morgan penalty, Patterson turned them all away including a period of nearly two minutes when the Swarm could not even scoop up a loose ball to gain a sliver of possession.  That time of perseverance changed the game and the Swarm outscored the Roughnecks 10-5 the rest of the way.

Benesch led the Swarm with eleven points as mentioned above but others did well too.  Callum Crawford had two goals and seven assists.  Aaron Wilson, who will wear the "C" for the rest of season due to Ryan Cousins' firefighter training led the Swarm with four goals and two assists.  Kevin Ross had a hat trick.  Jay Thorimbert got his first ever game winning goal in his NLL career.  Jon Sullivan notched his shorthanded goal of the season at the end of the game, which puts him in a tie for first in the NLL. 

The Roughnecks, who were missing Tracey Kelusky, Kaleb Toth and  Scott Carnegie, were led by ever talkative Dane Dobbie who had five goals and an assist.

The win clinched the season series for the Swarm between the two teams, 2-1.  The series win is the second for the Swarm in the West as they won the series versus Colorado also. The win puts the Swarm only a game behind Saturday night's opponent Edmonton for second place in the West.

Game Links

Next Games After This Match Up

• Minnesota at Edmonton - Saturday, March 27th, 2010 8:00 pm Central
• Calgary at Toronto - Friday, April 2nd, 2010 6:30 pm Central