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Minnesota Swarm Looking for a Momentum Shift against Edmonton

January 10, 2015 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Minnesota Swarm News Release


SAINT PAUL, Minn. - The Minnesota Swarm (0-1) will face its first road contest of the 2015 season tonight against the Edmonton Rush (0-1) at Rexall Place. Faceoff is set for 8 p.m. CT. This evening's game marks the start of a three-game road trip for the Swarm; Minnesota will also travel to New England (Jan. 24) and Buffalo (Jan. 30) in the coming weeks. Fans in both the U.S. and Canada can watch a live stream of tonight's game on NLL Live by visiting live.nll.com.

After a tough loss to the Colorado Mammoth last weekend during the team's home opener, Minnesota will be looking to bounce back in Edmonton and pick up its first 'W' of the season. Against Colorado, the Swarm managed to control the game's momentum for a majority of the first three quarters and led 10-9 entering the final quarter of play. The fourth quarter left the Swarm with a sour taste in their mouths however as the Mammoth won the quarter 11-3 to walk away with a 20-13 victory.

"There was actually a lot of positives; I mean unfortunately for us and our fans it didn't come out the way we wanted it to but we came out with the energy we wanted in the first half, and answered the bell with a quick run in the start of the third," Swarm coach Joe Sullivan said. "I think a lot of good things came of it and some opportunities on the floor showed us where we needed to clean things up and there's nothing too big that we can't fix."

One of the major positives in the home opener surrounded around the Swarm's balanced scoring attack on offense. Rookie F Miles Thompson lived up to his scoring reputation as he recorded three goals and one assist in his NLL debut and lefty forward Shayne Jackson led the Swarm with seven points (3g, 4a). Minnesota also received two goals each from forwards Callum Crawford, Dean Hill and Corbyn Tao.

"I thought there was a lot of positives that came out of the first weekend, obviously the score doesn't really indicate that but we kind of identified where we need to clean things up," Swarm transition player Jordan Macintosh said. "Going into this weekend we are going to focus on that in practice and obviously we are watching a lot of film and trying to get ready for a really strong Edmonton team."

The Rush will be looking to bounce back as well after opening up the season on the road with a close loss to Buffalo 9-8. After outscoring Buffalo in the first quarter, Edmonton couldn't hang on and were beaten in both the second and third quarters.

"They've just got such a good balance, and they've got great goaltending in (Aaron) Bold," Sullivan said. "They're dangerous and well coached."

Minnesota will have to be aware of the strong fourth quarter the Rush were able to put together in their last game and also their offense led by forwards Robert Church (2g, 3a), Mark Matthews (2g, 3a) and rookie Ben McIntosh (3g).

Edmonton leads the all-time series between the two teams at 6-5 and won the only meeting last season 14-9 at Xcel Energy Center. Minnesota's most recent visit to Rexall Place was on Feb. 22, 2013 and resulted in a 13-8 victory. The Swarm will host the Rush for the series finale on Saturday, April 25 at Ho-Chunk Nation Field.

The Swarm will return to Ho-Chunk Nation field at Xcel Energy Center on Feb. 6 at 7:30 p.m. CT to face the Rochester Knighthawks for Native American Heritage Night. The Swarm is proud to announce that 50-percent of all new season ticket revenue -- all purchases between Jan. 3 to Feb. 5 -- will be donated to Make-A-Wish Minnesota. This special offer can be found online by visiting www.mnswarm.com/seasontickets or by calling 1-888-MN-SWARM.



National Lacrosse League Stories from January 10, 2015


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