- 11/29/13 - The Swarm open training camp today in Oakville, Ontario to kick off the tenth anniversary season. First thing they took care of was
re-signing Corbyn Tao to an one-year contract. Tao will be entering his third year with the Swarm and will be in a battle for
a righty forward spot on the team. Last year, Tao did a lot of mucking for the likes of Callum Crawford and Kiel Matisz which caused him to sacrifice a bit of
his numbers from the 2012 season but endeared him to players and coaches for his work freeing up space. Along with Nicholas Jonas, Tao is living and working
year round in Minnesota and representing the organization well in public.
The status of JJ Laforet, a 2013 draftee is uncertain, but if he is not a camp then it appears that the Swarm have all the players signed that they have planned
to bring to camp now.
- 11/28/13 - The Swarm announce three more signings prior to camp.
Kiel Matisz re-signs with the Swarm for two years. The Stoney Creek, Ontario native returns for his second year after scoring
a Swarm rookie season record 29 goals last year which earn him NLL All-Rookie honors along with Shayne Jackson. "Moose" is expected to be even better this year on the right side.
Ryan Masters is back with an one-year contract. The Peterborough, Ontario goaltender will be battling Zach Higgins for the backup
position behind Tyler Carlson. Masters spent all of last year on the Swarm's practice roster.
Michael Teeter is the first and only Swarm free agent signing this offseason. Teeter, from Orangeville, Ontario, was drafted
by the Swarm in 2012 but cut in last year's training camp. After successful 2013 seasons in CLAX and the MSL, Teeter is getting another shot at the NLL as a
lefty forward.
- 11/28/13 - The Swarm start their tenth training camp tommorrow in Oakville, Ontario
at the Toronto Rock Athletic Centre.
Read a small preview with updated roster and depth chart entering camp - Read Here
- 11/27/13 - Team Leadership for the 2014 Minnesota Swarm season:
- 11/27/13 - Historic Day of Signings by the Minnesota Swarm:
- Andrew Suitor - Five Years
- Callum Crawford - Two Years
- Alex Crepinsek - Two Years
- David Earl - Two Years
- Josh Gillam - Two Years
- Shayne Jackson - Two Years
- Jordan MacIntosh - Two Years
- Greg Downing - One Year
- Jeff Gilbert - One Year
- Tyler Hass - One Year
- Brock Sorensen - One Year
Read more detail about today's signing's here.
- 11/25/13 - The Minnesota Swarm announced the signings of Logan Schuss for two years and Jordan Houtby for one year.
Logan Schuss was selected with the first overall pick in the 2013 NLL Entry Draft by the Swarm. He is the highest draft pick in
team history. The native of Ladner, British Columbia, Schuss played collegiately at The Ohio State. During the summer, the lefty forward plays for the
New Westminster Salmonbellies of the WLA and the Ohio Machine of the MLL. Schuss is expected to replace Ryan Benesch as the top lefty scorer on the team for the future.
Those are high expectations but Schuss appears to have the ability and drive to meet those and it wouldn't be a surprise to see him exceed those expectations.
Jordan Houtby was selected with the 29th overall pick (5th round) in the 2013 NLL Entry Draft by the Swarm. A righthanded defender
out of St. Catharines, Ontario, Houtby played collegiately at Detroit Mercy and plays for the Brooklin Redmen of the MSL in the summer. Houtby will be battling for a spot
the final roster with fellow rookies like Reid Acton, JJ Laforet, Dominique Alexander and Nicholas Jonas. My hunch is that the Swarm keep three righty defensemen on
the active roster with the first two being Alex Crepinsek and Mitch Belisle. Either Houtby or Acton is projected to get that third spot.
With today's signings, the Swarm have thirteen players under contract with a projected seventeen to sign leading up to camp this Friday in Oakville, Ontario.
- 11/21/13 - Sam Bradman tweeted today that he will not be playing for the Minnesota Swarm this year. Bradman was taken in the third
round of the 2012 NLL Entry Draft with the 24th overall pick. He has committed to playing for Team STX in the LXM Pro series for the last two years. If Bradman does
not sign with the Swarm or the Swarm do not protect him in some way by the 2014 NLL Entry Draft, Bradman will become an unrestricted free agent.
This is the tweet that Bradman responded to today.
- 11/19/13 - The Minnesota Swarm today announced the signings of Jason Noble and Cameron Flint for two years and one year each for Scott Jones and Zach Palmer.
Jason Noble was the Swarm second pick in the 2013 NLL Entry Draft taken second overall. The lefthanded defenseman from
Orangeville, Ontario played collegiately at Cornell. He plays summer box in Kitchener-Waterloo of the MSL and plays in the MLL for the Hamilton Nationals. Noble will
immediately step into a prominent defensive role with the Swarm and be a day-one starter.
Cameron Flint was taken in the first round by the Swarm in the 2013 NLL Entry Draft with the fourth overall pick. The righthanded
transition player from Georgetown, Ontario played collegiately at Denver University and plays in the MLL with the Boston Cannons. Flint will be battling for a transition spot
with players like Tyler Hass. If Andrew Suitor is brought along slowly to begin the season, Flint may end
getting those minutes that Suitor doesn't play. The Swarm are deep in transition so the battle for Flint to get a spot will be tough but my guess is Flint makes the roster.
Scott Jones was taken in the first round by the Swarm in the 2013 NLL Entry Draft with the seventh overall pick. The righthanded
forward from Port Coquitlam, British Columbia played collegiately at UMBC and plays summer box with Burnaby. Jones is expected to play immediately alongside
Callum Crawford on the right side of the offense, helping to get Callum open and working down low with
Kiel Matisz against the big defenders of the NLL.
Zach Palmer was taken in the third round by the Swarm in the 2013 NLL Entry Draft with the 23rd overall pick. The lefty forward
from Kleinburg, Ontario played collegiately at Johns Hopkins. Palmer took the summer off to work, etc. but he expects that the time off will have no ill effect
upon his game. He is battling for a fourth lefty spot on the roster with Matt Gibson. It is not known if the Swarm will carry three
or four lefties on the active roster, but if not, Palmer may end up on the practice roster.
With today's four signings, that brings eleven players signed to a contract for at least the 2014 season. With a week and half until training camp starts on
November 29th, look for signings in bunches during that time to bring the Swarm up to an estimated thirty man roster for camp.
- 11/12/13 - A correction to yesterday's signings. Dominique Alexander and Nicholas Jonas
each signed contracts for two years each. I mistakenly wrote one year both.
- 11/11/13 - The Minnesota Swarm re-signed Dan Ball for one-year and Zach Higgins for three years. The Swarm also
signed the first of the the draft picks as the inked one-year contracts with Dominique Alexander and Nicholas Jonas.
Dan Ball will enter his third season with the Swarm after he was signed out of the Swarm
s 2011 Free Agent Tryout Camp. The defenseman from Barrie, Ontario has played 33 games (4 in the playoffs) with 1 goal
and 9 assists as he scooped 61 loose balls.
Zach Higgins will enter his second season with the Swarm. The Courtice, Ontario goaltender
was signed as a rookie free agent last off-season spending the first half of the 2013 season on the practice roster. Higgins
was activated to the active roster on March 12, 2013 but did not dress for any games. Higgins is the leading candidate to be
the number two goaltender going into the 2014 seaason.
Dominique Alexander was selected by the Swarm in the 2013 NLL Entry Draft with the
39th overall pick in the fifth round. The defenseman from Baldwin, New York played at The Ohio State in college and with
the Ohio Machine of the MLL this summer.
Nicholas Jonas was selected by the Swarm in the 2013 NLL Entry Draft with the
51st overall pick in the sixth round. The defenseman from St. Louis Park, Minnesota played at the University of Minnesota
and is attempting to be the first Golden Gopher to play for the Swarm.
- 11/08/13 - The Minnesota Swarm released their training camp schedule to prepare for the 2014 NLL season today.
The Swarm will be practicing on three consecutive weekends starting November 29th in Oakville, Ontario at the
Toronto Rock Athletic Center in Oakville, Ontario - the home of Swarm favorites Jordan MacIntosh and
Alex Crepinsek.
Read more details about Minnesota Swarm training camp including which teams the Swarm will play exhibtions against at:
2013-14 Minnesota Swarm Training Camp Schedule
- 11/08/13 - Minnesota Swarm first round pick Scott Jones tweeted today that he should be signing his Swarm contract soon.
See Scott's tweet and follow him at BonesJones09.
- 11/07/13 - The Minnesota Swarm released Joe Cinosky, Matt Kelly, Jason Duboe and Sean Robinson today.
Cinosky played for the Swarm from 2009 - 2012. He was the last pick (13th overall) in the 2008
NLL Entry Draft from Maryland. He played 46 games (2 playoffs), scored 1g and 19a with 96 loose balls. He did not play last year
as he took a volunteer assistant coach position with Duke, where he helped win the 2013 NCAA Division I title. He is returning to
Duke for the 2014 season. He played for Team USA in 2010 as they won the WFLC in England.
Kelly played for the Swarm from 2011 - 2012. He was the 54th pick in the 6th round of 2009 NLL Entry Draft
from Virginia. He spent 2010 rehabbing from a knee injury suffered trying out for the UVA football team but went to camp for the 2011
season and made the Swarm. He won the 2006 NCAA title with Virginia. Matt played in 20 games with an assist and 36 loose balls. He now
works I believe as a commodity trader in Chicago.
Duboe was selected by the Swarm in the 2011 Boston Blazers Dispersal Draft but never
went to camp with the Swarm. He played for the Blazers in 2011 in two games scoring a goal.
Robinson was signed as a free agent in 2011 but never went to camp with the Swarm. He plays for
New Westminster of the WLA in the summer.
- 11/07/13 - The Minnesota Swarm announced that two home games in the 2014 season have had their start times changed:
- Saturday, Febuary 15th against the Edmonton Rush will now start at 6:00 pm Central as the Minnesota Roller Girls will play after the Swarm that night. I believe this will be
at least the third straight year of the Swarm/Rollergirl doubleheader
- Sunday, March 23rd against the Buffalo Bandits will now start at 1:00 pm Central. This means Swarm fans have one less hour to wait to see
the return of Ryan Benesch and the Andrew Watt to The Hive. The Swarm did not state why the Buffalo
game was moved.
Updated 2014 Minnesota Swarm Schedule
- 11/04/13 - Letter to John Arlotta
I have over the soon-to-be ten years of Minnesota Swarm lacrosse inquired as to the sanity of player
personnel moves or ways to market the team like installing blue turf, reinstating the Swarm Performance Team, schedule
magnets and other things that most may have been found fanciful or ludicrous and probably with good reason. But I have never
demanded that the Swarm fire a coach, general manager or person in management.
That changes today.
In order for the Swarm to go forward on the road to recovery and a long-term future in Minnesota, the next step must be to fire
Co-Owner and President of the Minnesota Swarm, Andy Arlotta. Not after the upcoming season, not next year, not next month, not
next week but immediately.
- 11/02/13 - A Minneapolis Star Tribune article on October 11, 2013
states by Mike Kaszuba states that the sponsorship deal between the Minnesota Swarm and Treasure Island Resort and Casino will not continue
into the 2014 season. Swarm Co-Owner and President Andy Arlotta says the team has had "big talks" with the
Mdewakanton Sioux to take over the sponsorship. There is no indication an agreement has been reached or if both sides are still in talks.
