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Minnesota Swarm Comes up Empty-Handed in Home-And-Home Series

February 14, 2015 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Minnesota Swarm News Release


TORONTO - The Minnesota Swarm (3-4) fell to the Toronto Rock (6-1) by a score of 14-9 Saturday evening at Air Canada Centre. Minnesota entered the weekend with a chance to move into first place in the East Division, but instead dropped both contests to the Rock in a home-and-home series.

After losing at The Hive on Friday night, Minnesota came out looking for revenge Saturday in Toronto and certainly put forth a better effort on the floor despite falling short in the win column. Forward Logan Schuss (3g) tallied the game's opening goal and both teams sat tied at three after the first quarter. Toronto managed to take an 8-5 lead at halftime after a five-goal second quarter, which saw the Swarm swap goalies as Brodie MacDonald replaced Zach Higgins.

In the opening minutes of the third quarter, captain T Andrew Suitor brought the Swarm within two at 8-6 after a five-hole score in transition on Rock goalie Nick Rose. Toronto would respond however and maintained its three-goal lead at the end of the quarter, 10-7. Rookie forward Shane MacDonald (1g, 1a) scored the Swarm's final goal in third -- his first in the NLL -- on a beautiful dive shot from behind the net to give the team some momentum heading into the fourth. MacDonald also stood his ground when he dropped the mitts with Rock D Billy Hostrawser in the first quarter; Hostrawser was later ejected for a game misconduct penalty.

In the final quarter of play, the Rock came out firing, scoring four goals in a six-minute span to build a 14-8 lead. Schuss tallied the game's final score at the 2:28 mark, which marked his second hat trick performance this season.

Forward Shayne Jackson led the Swarm with five points (5a), and D Kiel Matisz posted a season-high four points (2g, 2a) on the evening. Three Rock players finished with hat tricks: forwards Stephan Leblanc (3g, 4a), Kasey Beirnes (3g, 1a) and Brett Hickey (3g, 1a).

Swarm forward Callum Crawford (1a) left the game midway into the first quarter with a lower body injury and did not return. Crawford leads the Swarm with 33 points (12g, 21a) on the season.

Minnesota has a bye next weekend, and will play next in Vancouver on Saturday, Feb. 28 for a 9 p.m. CT showdown.

The Swarm returns to Ho-Chunk Nation Field at Xcel Energy Center on Saturday, March 14 for a contest against New England. Faceoff is set for 7 p.m. CT. The first 3,000 fans at the gate will receive Hawaiian Leis (Yellow or Blue) to celebrate Hawaiian night. Tickets can be purchased by calling 1-888-MN-SWARM or by visiting www.mnswarm.com.



National Lacrosse League Stories from February 14, 2015


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