Minnesota Swarm (7-4 H 4-0 A 3-4)
	Chicago Shamrox (3-7 H 2-4 A 1-3)

The Swarm Got Jac(obs)ked Up

Saturday, March 29, 2008
Hoffman Estates, Illinois
Attendance: 4,036

The Minnesota Swarm started fast and strong again against the Chicago Shamrox. These teams have met four times and in each game the Swarm have at least scored four times to start the game before the Shamrox have answered. This time, the Shamrox more than answered, they turned back the tide and routed the Swarm 15-10 at the Sears Centre on Saturday night.

As I mentioned above, the Swarm started fast and strong. Sean Pollock (16g 26a) started it just 50 seconds into the game. Ryan Ward (22g 28a) and Rory McDade (2g 4a) soon followed to give the Swarm a 3-0 lead before the first officials timeout. Keith Cromwell (3g 7a) increased the lead to four on the Swarm's first power play of the game when his shot went off the back of Shamrox's goaltender Matt Roik's left leg and in. Bobby McBride finally got the Shamrox onto the scoreboard at 10:12 on a breakaway. Cromwell scored his second power play of the goal just before the end of the quarter to give the Swarm a seemingly safe 5-1 lead after one.

That just set up the Cody Jacobs show which began in the second quarter. The second year player got his game on with his first goal at 3:27 to cut the Swarm lead to 5-2. He got the Shamrox within one on a power play at 8:59 and then got his second quarter hat trick at 13:51 to give the Shamrox their first lead at 6-5. By the end of the quarter, the Swarm were shut out by Roik and the Shamrox were flying high. The second quarter shutout is the first time the Swarm have been shutout in that quarter since February 11, 2005 in a 15-9 loss to Toronto at the Xcel.

Jacobs was not done yet as he scored at 1:53 of third to increase the lead to two. The only fight of the game came 19 seconds later as Swarm repeat offender Travis Hill (2g 6a) and Drew Candy tangled. Candy, who fought Kyle Ross (3g 6a) to a draw in the previous game, quickly got the better of Hill, who still leads the league in penalty minutes with 81. Jacobs got his fifth goal at 4:08 then off the subsequent face off, Callum Crawford scooped up the loosie to put the Shamrox up 9-5. That led to a goaltender change for the Swarm as Nick Patterson (7-3 12.18 GAA .769 Save %) was replaced by Kevin Croswell (0-1 14.74 GAA .750 Save %). This was the first time that Croswell entered a game before the fourth quarter. The Swarm then got a big opportunity to cut the lead when Mat Giles was called for a high sticking major at 6:07. However, the Swarm were unable to convert on the crucial five minute power play while Crawford was able to score shorthanded with 15 seconds before the penalty expired. The Swarm only were able to get off nine shots in total in the third quarter even with the five minute power play and were shut out again. It is second time in Swarm history that the team was shut out for two consecutive quarters.

Giles started the fourth with the Shamrox's tenth consecutive goal to increase their lead to 11-5. The Swarm finally got a goal when Andy Secore (20g 32a) scored at 1:20 of the fourth. The Swarm then rallied with two additional goals on the power play from Craig Point (22g 27a) and Pollock to pull within three. However, the Shamrox replied with three of their own. Giles scored the first of the three and that prompted the Swarm to bring back Patterson in order to better employ an extra attacker offense to get back in the game. It did not work well as the Shamrox got two more before Secore answered to make it 14-9. Giles got his third of night on an empty netter before Ward finished the scoring on the night with 58 seconds left in the game.

Secore led the Swarm with two goals and five assists. Pollock, Ward and Cromwell also got two goals. Jacobs led the Shamrox with six goals and one assist. Jacobs is the tenth player to score a sock trick against the Swarm and the fourth this year. Patterson and Croswell faced a combined 61 shots and saved 47 while Roik made 45 saves on 55 shots. The Swarm's transition was completely missing with Ross and Ryan Sharp (7g 6a) out due to injury. The Swarm only had a couple transition attempts on net while Shamrox got transition goals from Scott Self and McBride. According to Ward, the Swarm seemed a step slow all night especially getting after loosies and noted the lack of practice time (zero) he has had with the team since the season started since he lives in Twin Cities while half the team is in Ontario The game sure did not seem to start that way but once the Shamrox got into the game, they just couldn't be stopped. It was definitely the most disappointing loss of the season because the Swarm had the opportunity to get back in first place. The incentive to win was great but it just seemed like the wind was taken out of their sails. The Swarm were outscored 9-5 in the second half which is the fifth straight game they have been outscored (49-21) in the latter half. The loss is the Swarm's fourth in five games and fourth straight loss on the road. Even with the loss, the Swarm remained in second place, only a half game behind Philadelphia.

The Swarm will now play four straight at Xcel with the first of those four on Saturday, April 5 when they host the New York Titans (6-5), who have won five of six, at 7:00 pm CDT on Hawaiian Night. The Shamrox next game is on the same day as they host Philadelphia.

Game Notes

Scoring
Time	MN	CHI	Team	Goal	1st Assist	2nd Assist	Notes
First Quarter
0:50	1	0	Minnesota	Sean Pollock	Travis Hill	Andy Secore
3:07	2	0	Minnesota	Ryan Ward	Craig Point	Chad Culp
4:43	3	0	Minnesota	Rory McDade	Chad Culp	Eric Pacey
7:32	4	0	Minnesota	Keith Cromwell	Sean Pollock		PP
10:12	4	1	Chicago	Bobby McBride
14:51	5	1	Minnesota	Keith Cromwell	Andy Secore		PP
Second Quarter
3:27	5	2	Chicago	Cody Jacobs	Jason Clark	Jonas Derks
7:06	5	3	Chicago	Scott Self	Kevin Fines
8:59	5	4	Chicago	Cody Jacobs	Bobby McBride	Mat Giles	PP
10:42	5	5	Chicago	Jonas Derks	Thomas Montour
13:51	5	6	Chicago	Cody Jacobs	Mat Giles
Third Quarter
1:53	5	7	Chicago	Cody Jacobs	Jason Clark	Bobby McBride
4:08	5	8	Chicago	Cody Jacobs	Mike Hobbins
4:15	5	9	Chicago	Callum Crawford
10:40	5	10	Chicago	Callum Crawford	Bill McGlone	Thomas Montour	SH
Fourth Quarter
0:52	5	11	Chicago	Mat Giles	Bobby McBride	Matt Roik	GWG
1:20	6	11	Minnesota	Andy Secore	Craig Point	Keith Cromwell
5:45	7	11	Minnesota	Craig Point	Andy Secore	Chad Culp	PP
6:15	8	11	Minnesota	Sean Pollock	Ryan Ward	Andy Secore	PP
8:04	8	12	Chicago	Mat Giles	Cody Jacobs	Kevin Ross	PP
10:46	8	13	Chicago	Jonas Derks	Mat Giles	Bill McGlone
11:59	8	14	Chicago	Cody Jacobs	Bobby McBride	Mike Kirk
12:21	9	14	Minnesota	Andy Secore	Sean Pollock
13:21	9	15	Chicago	Mat Giles			EN
14:02	10	15	Minnesota	Ryan Ward	Andy Secore	Rory McDade

Penalties
Time	Team	Player	Penalty	Bench	Duration
First Quarter
6:06	Chicago	Mat Giles	Unsportsmanlike Conduct		2:00
13:08	Chicago	Thomas Montour	Holding		2:00
14:43	Chicago	Mat Giles	Goalie Interference		2:00
Second Quarter
8:47	Minnesota	Jon Sullivan	Checking from Behind		2:00
14:19	Chicago	Mike Kirk	Roughing		2:00
14:19	Minnesota	Noah Talbot	Roughing		2:00
14:32	Minnesota	Eric Pacey	Boarding		2:00
14:32	Minnesota	Ryan Cousins	Unsportsmanlike Conduct		2:00
Third Quarter
2:12	Chicago	Drew Candy	Fighting		5:00
2:12	Minnesota	Travis Hill	Fighting		5:00
6:07	Chicago	Mat Giles	High Sticking		5:00
10:52	Minnesota	Travis Hill	Unsportsmanlike Conduct		2:00
Fourth Quarter
0:00	Chicago	Jason Clark	Illegal Stick		2:00
0:00	Chicago	Jason Clark	Unsportsmanlike Conduct		2:00
0:11	Minnesota	Chad Culp	Holding		2:00
4:07	Chicago	Jonas Derks	Delay of Game		2:00
5:18	Chicago	Callum Crawford	Goalie Interference		2:00
7:48	Minnesota	Ryan Cousins	Illegal Cross Checking		2:00
13:21	Minnesota	Chad Culp	Unsportsmanlike Conduct		2:00

Referees
Crew Chief	Assistant Referee	Technical Referee
4-Roy Condon	59-Ty Wilkinson	70-Jim Weingarten