Minnesota Swarm (6-3 H 3-0 A 3-3)

vs
Chicago Shamrox (1-6 H 1-4 A 0-2)

The Return of Brock Boyle Edition of Minnesota Swarm Lacrosse

Friday, March 14, 2008 - 7:00pm CDT
Xcel Energy Center
St. Paul, Minnesota

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:

Chicago made their NLL debut last year. In their second game, they ruined Minnesota's season and home opener with a 11-10 victory on January 13, 2007 on a Chris Panos game winning goal. The Swarm avenged that loss at the Sears Centre on February 24, 2007 with a 19-9 victory. The nineteen goals were the most ever scored in one game by a Minnesota Swarm team.

Rosters:

Regular Season Statistics:

2008 NLL Standings

Former Shamrox With The Swarm:

Former Swarm With The Shamrox:

• Brock Boyle (0g 4a)
• Darryl Gibson (0g 0a)

Jon Sullivan - Consecutive Game Streak - 43

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

Minnesota Swarm Promotions:

• The Junior Swarm Performance Team will perform at halftime.
• Eric Perkins, from KARE-11, will have his jersey, #66, retired after the greatest one game career in Minnesota Swarm History and the first 5,000 fans will have a reminder of Perkins' career when they receive an Eric Perkins bobblehead.

The Minnesota Swarm lost their third straight game last Saturday against the Bandits in Buffalo by a score of 11-7. The seven goals were a team worst this year and the three game losing streak is the longest in team history since 2005 when they had a seven game losing streak.

The Chicago Shamrox have an even longer losing streak then the Swarm at four. In their last game on March 1, they lost 18-8 to Rochester in Chicago. Their only victory this year was against the Edmonton Rush who also are 1-6 this season.

Last week, the Swarm brought in two new players (Keith Cromwell (1g 5a) & Dan Marohl (2g 7a))and welcomed back a familiar face in Andrew Biers back from a knee injury that ended his season last year. To make space on the roster, the Swarm traded Mike Hominuck (5g 16a) to Edmonton, released Chris Courtney (1g 1a) and placed Mark Miyashita (1g 3a) on the injured reserve list.

The player turnover for the Swarm may very well continue this week. According to NLL Insider's Paul Tutka, a trade to bring defenseman Ian Rubel (0g 0a 3 LB) from the Toronto Rock may be consummated later this week. In the same report, it was noted that Darren Halls (2g 1a 31/64 on faceoffs), Nick Inch (0g 0a 3 LB), Andy Secore (16g 25a) and Marohl may miss this Friday 's game due to injury. If that is indeed the case, it will leave the Swarm with just enough players for the eighteen player max limit to dress on Friday.

It looks more and more that Ryan Ward (20g 25a), Sean Pollock (13g 22a) and Chad Culp (16g 16a) will have to take their games to yet another higher level. All three have done well this season; especially Culp, but with the offensive line up being shuffled so much lately, these three will really have to take over. Culp only needs two more assists to reach 100 while playing for the Swarm. Pollock just crossed that threshold two games ago against Philadelphia.

Where the Swarm definitely have the advantage, is in net. Nick Patterson (6-3 12.24 GAA .770 Save %) remains on top of his game even after the tribulations of a three game losing streak. He held the Bandits to ten goals last weekend in maybe his best performance ever against that team. The Shamrox traded away their starting goaltender Brandon Miller last weekend. Miller was the first player the Shamrox chose to play for them last year and had started all 23 games in their history. He was sent to Philadelphia in exchange for goaltender Matt Roik. Roik played in last year's All-Star game but has been third string in Philadelphia the entire year and has not played a minute. So does the Shamrox play a goaltender that has not yet played or backup Derek Collins (0-4 11.30 GAA .762 Save %) who had not yet started one game for the Shamrox in their history.

The Shamrox offense traded their co-leading scorer Lindsay Plunkett (11g 11a) to Edmonton last weekend. That leaves them with their offensive core from a year ago with Mat Giles (12g 10a) leading the way. One player to watch out for is Jonas Derks (5g 8a) who has comeback from a serious auto accident just before the season. Derks is also the only player in NLL history to score a goal in overtime against the Swarm when he turned the trick on February 18, 2005 in a 17-16 victory for the Arizona Sting. Derks was assisted on that goal by fellow Shamrox teammate Jason Clark (4g 16a).

The Swarm may look a bit disheveled but they have to start to regroup now. They still have solid options on offense and Patterson will more than likely be the difference in victory or defeat. I like my chances with Patterson in net in this game compared with what the Shamrox have.

Prediction: Minnesota Swarm 14 Chicago Shamrox 10