When Minnesota travels to New England, the Black Wolves lay their undefeated start on the line and hope to make it 3-0 in their inaugural season. It would be great for the franchise to open with three straight home wins to begin creating a fan base. This should be a fantastic game. With regards to styles, these teams match up well in that it should be an extremely fast paced game.
For New England, there are two things to watch. The first is what scheme their offense employs against the Swarm and the second is their transition game. Regarding their offense, New England has spent an entire game, against Buffalo, working for outside shots and peppering Anthony Cosmo all night. That worked well for them as they came away with the win, but they went a totally different route against Rochester.
For the Knighthawks game, they worked their way to the middle of the defense and had most of their scoring happening from either on the crease or diving through it. Nearly every single goal in this game as assisted as well which speaks volumes to the chemistry their forwards have already created on this young team.
Since Rochester isn’t a big transition team, they weren’t exposed too much in this part of the game. Buffalo was a totally different story. In reverse transition, goalie Evan Kirk bailed them out multiple times, which was probably the difference in that game. They allowed way too many fast breaks from a team that really takes pride in their ability to run the floor. The big problem is they really struggled with clearing as well. The forwards weren’t able to get open after getting on the floor which left the defenders coming over the midfield line stranded and stuck with double teams in many situations.
Minnesota makes no effort to hide the fact they like to run, so if New England falls back to their week one form, this could be a long day for the Black Wolves. New England has been playing outstanding team defense so far this year. If they can slow the break and force 5v5 games, they’ll be in good shape.
Minnesota has two things so far that also stick out with them. Their goalie play hasn’t been what they really hoped it would, but the bigger issue is they need to play four full quarters of lacrosse. The Swarm started the season with Brodie MacDonald in net. He had a fantastic preseason, so this wasn’t a surprise at all. In their opener against Colorado, he allowed 19 goals. Colorado is loaded with shooters, but 19 goals is still a lot to try to match in this league. His save percentage here was a mere 66. Against Edmonton, he got the start again, but through the first half and a little of the third quarter, he was only at 70 percent before they went to Zach Higgins. Higgins finished up with just under 94 percent for most of the second half and the Swarm came away with the win. I’d expect to see Higgins get the start against Minnesota, so it’ll be interesting to see how he responds.
Even though it is an overused sports cliché, the Swarm really need to play all four quarters. The main stories from both of their first games are runs. In their loss to Colorado, they ended the game on the wrong side of a 13-3 run. It was very competitive up until that point, but they could never stop the bleeding. Lacrosse is a game of runs, but that was a bit of an extreme.
The next week against Edmonton, they were on the other side of things as they ended the game on an 11-1 run. It worked out well for them, but a third week of this is not something they want to see again. They have the talent and energy to play a full game against anybody in this league and come away with a win, but they just need to do it.
Last year, Minnesota’s only road wins came against the Philadelphia Wings, so they will be anxious to play them in their new form in New England. Both of these teams are trying to make a name for themselves in the loaded eastern division. New England will have a great start on the division if they can come away with a win here.
