Minnesota Swarm (0-1 H 0-1 A 0-0)

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

Swarm Out-Point-ed in Overtime

Saturday, January 8, 2011
St. Paul, Minnesota
Attendance: 8,242

The Minnesota Sawrm opened up the 2011 season at The Hive with much anticipation but the ending was all to familiar as they lost in overtime to the Rochester Knighthawks by a 11-10 score. Former Swarm Craig Point assisted on the game tying goal to force overtime and his dribbler past Swarm goaltender Nick Patterson three minutes into overtime brought victory to the visitors.

The game started slowly for both teams on offense with the first highlight a fight between Swarm first round draft pick Andrew Suitor and the Knighthawks Chandon Hill. Suitor won decisively and Hill never returned after suffering a broken jaw. Andrew Watt scored two goals on breakaways in the quarter and Zack Greer scored on a low rocket in between the Watt goals. Rochester also had three in the first ending the quarter tied at three.

Rochester's Codhy Jamieson, the first pick in the 2010 Entry Draft, scored his first ever NLL goal to give the Knighthawks the lead at 4-3. After a Point goal, last year's leading Swarm scorer, Callum Crawford, got his first of the year to send the game to halftime down one at 5-4.

Jamieson scored his second to start the third. Afterwards, the Swarm's Rory Smith took on the Hawks' Troy Bonterre in the second fight of the night. This was much closer but Smith showed himself well. Gary Gait scored later to give the Knighthawks their biggest lead of the night at 7-4. The Swarm rallied at the end of the quarter with Ryan Benesch and then Andrew Watt notching his first NLL hat trick to cut the deficit to one. Point ended the quarter with his second and the Knighthawks went to the final stanza leading 8-6.

Crawford scored 33 seconds into the fourth and then Benesch scooped up a loosie to tie it at eight at the 2:15 mark. Jamieson then was assessed a five minute major with a head butt on Travis Hill and that set up two power play goals from Swarm newcomer Mat Giles. The first Giles goal was challenged by the Hawks but it was upheld under review. AFter the second Giles goal with 2:44 left, the Swarm were up 10-8 but the Knighthawks scored two quick goals, the last from Shawn Williams five seconds off the face off after the first one from Shawn Evans to tie the game with 2:04 left. The game went to overtime where Point notched his hat trick to win it three minutes in.

Benesch led the Swarm with two goals and three assits. Watt had the hat trick and an assist. Both Crawford and Giles had two goals and two assists. Nick Patterson played in goal and stopped 27 of 38 shtos. For Rochester, Point had three goals and an assist and Williams had a goal and five assits. Matt Vinc was in goal for the Hawks and stopped 40 of 50 shots.

The loss for the Swarm is their eighth straight dating back to last year, including the playoff loss to the Stealth. It is their fifth staright home loss, with all five of those losses by one gaol and four of those five losses being in overtime. Next Friday, the Swarm go on the road to face the NLL Champs, the Washington Stealth (1-1), on January 14, Friday night at 10:00 pm Central.

The eight months to wait to watch the Swarm again was about 99% rewarded with only losing in OT being the downer. Smith and Suitor definitely excited the crowd with their play and Suitor is already has racked up one broken jaw as he took sent to Chandon Hill to the hospital for some dental work. Suitor also forced a few turnovers. Great debut for the first rounder.

Andrew Watt was lightning fast and deadly on transition. He may have been the best player on the floor last night. He kept us in the game early as the offense was slow to go.

Nick Patterson did pretty well in net, a good start to the season.

I think the offense needs a little bit of time to get all on the same page. It has been a while since they practiced in Six Natiions and there were some bumps in the roads especially early. They definitely got better as the game went on as Crawford and Benesch got their groove on. You can see what Marty sees in Mat Giles. A strong first game for the new assistant captain.

Zack Greer doesn't get pushed around anymore. He got a fine game overall. He laid out a Knighthawk with a solid hit. Took care of Dylan Evans in a fight along the boards. Scoresheet should show it as a fighting major. Also had a solid shot for his goal on the night.

I think Marty has a gem in Tyler Hass. Hass told me he had some nerves going into his first NLL game and got better as it went. The first game experience he says should help be even better by the next game.

I thought we had this game wrapped up and maybe the team also as they finally took the lead in the fourth. We were up two, Jamieson in the box for five and another penalty on Schiller in addition during that time. We were up two by the time by the time we scored on Schiller's penalty and maybe we let up or we just are jinxed. They scored to cut it down to one and then Craig Point did a great job on the face off right after with the scoop and pass to Shawn Williams for the tying goal in just five seconds.

I think all of us thought that Point's game winner was a no goal but Joe Sullivan explained that the crease rule changed this year. Last year it would be a no goal as Point was in the crease as the ball dribbled behind Patty into the net. This year; however, the crease call is based on when the shot is taken and in this case Point was outside the crease when the shot was taken. His momentum took him into the crease while the ball rolled toward the line but that is not a violation in this year's NLL.

Game Links

Next Games After This Match Up

• Minnesota Swarm at Washington Stealth on January 14, 2011 at 10:00 pm CDT
• Roechester Knighthawks vs Toronto Rock on Januray 15, 2011 at 6:35 pm CDT