Minnesota Swarm (7-3 H 4-0 A 3-3)

at
Chicago Shamrox (2-7 H 1-4 A 1-3)

The Terrorize Their Turf Edition of Minnesota Swarm Lacrosse

Saturday, March 29, 2008 - 7:00pm CST
Sears Centre
Hoffman Estates, Illinois

Live Statistics

Minnesota Swarm Game Center

TV/Internet/Radio Coverage: None

Webcast: B2 Networks $7.00 per game

More Coverage of this game at:

Swarm v. Shamrox History:

The Swarm won the first of four this season between these teams on March 14 in St. Paul by a 13-9 score. Craig Point (21g 25a) scored four goals and two assists including the game winner at the 10:16 mark of the third quarter. The Swarm scored the first seven goals of the game for their second consecutive victory over the Shamrox.

Former Shamrox With The Swarm:

Former Swarm With The Shamrox:

• Brock Boyle (0g 5a 31 LB)
• Darryl Gibson (0g 0a 7 LB)

Jon Sullivan - Consecutive Game Streak - 44

Dean Hill v. Craig Point - Who's winning the side bet?

The Swarm had last weekend off after beating the Shamrox on March 14, 13-9. The Shamrox scored seven fourth quarter goals to come back to beat the Knighthawks (4-6) in Rochester last Saturday night. That was Chicago's first division win this year and first win on the road.

The acquisition of goaltender Matt Roik (1-1 11.50 GAA .800 Save %) earlier this month has given the Shamrox a shot of mojo for the rest of the year. He has made 92 saves in his two games for the Shamrox and kept them in the game in Rochester until the offense came around in the fourth. Can Roik keep it up? We shall see.

The Swarm defense will have to focus on Shamrox sharpshooter Jonas Derks (11g 12a) who scored the gamewinner last week and is averaging just under four points a game. Cody Jacobs (5g 4a) has scored all his goals in the last two games and Josh Wasson (7g 13a) has scored six goals in three games against the Swarm.

The return of Andy Secore (18g 27a) to the line up last game gave the Swarm offense some much needed juice that had been missing. With Secore out, Chad Culp (16g 17a) was the remaining legitimate threat on the left side which probably allowed defenses to concentrate a bit more on limiting the right side of the offense. With Secore back in, the Shamrox had to spread out their defense to counter both sides of the floor which let the Swarm carve them up.

Ian Rubel (0g 0a 3 LB) is expected to make his Swarm debut on Saturday. Acquired a few days before the last game, Rubel was unable to play due to visa issues but it is expected those issues will be resolved. Rubel has what no other player on the Swarm roster has and that is rings (the NLL variety), three of them to be exact, for winning the Champions Cup with Toronto in 2002, 2003 & 2005. Rubel will give the Swarm an experienced stay at home defender like Jon Sullivan (1g 4a 39 LB), Noah Talbot (0g 4a 34 LB) & Eric Pacey (1g 4a 31 LB).

The Swarm are back in the chase for the first seed in the East. Their schedule is favorable to achieve that outcome but as was seen last weekend, the Shamrox are more than equipped to play the spoiler role. The problem the Shamrox have is being able to solve Nick Patterson (7-3 11.91 GAA .770 Save %) who has given up no more than eleven goals per game against Chicago. Expect more of the same as the addition of Rubel will fortify the defense and the offense continues to regain their early season form.

Prediction: Minnesota Swarm 16 Chicago Shamrox 10