The Minnesota Swarm are two games into the 2015 season and are already struggling between the pipes. In the offseason the Swarm swapped goalies with the Edmonton rush, trading Tyler Carlson and in return getting Brodie MacDonald.
Macdonald got the start in the season/ home opener on January 3rd against a very talented Colorado Mammoth team. While Macdonald spent most of the game keeping the Swarm in the contest, they gave up a number of special teams goals in short succession but overall looked light years better than the Swarm net minders did last season. He then got the start in the Swarm’s second game of the season against the Edmonton Rush.
Macdonald ended up allowing nine goals on 30 shots in just over 32 minutes of play. Macdonald was then replaced by backup goalie Zach Higgins. Higgins went on to garner a win with roughly 27 minutes of play, in which he gave up one goal on 15 shots. Higgins was also helped out by a fourth quarter rally by his Swarm compatriots that saw a 9-1 goal run.
The Swarm are now faced with the challenge of going with a somewhat struggling Macdonald or the upstart Higgins for their next match up against the NLL’s newest franchise New England Black Wolves.
Realistically the Swarm don’t have a win/win situation due to the fact that neither goalie has ever held down a full starters position. Macdonald backed up Aaron Bold in Edmonton and Higgins played in the revolving door for the Swarm last season along with Tyler Carlson.
In this instance, the safe bet would be to go with a more talented Macdonald that has gotten some poor help in front of him. Especially going up against a Black Wolves team that has put a lot of goals on the board in their first two games this season. Macdonald will be able to keep this young Swarm team in the game long enough for the guys up front, like Miles Thompson, Callum Crawford, Logan Schuss, and Shayne Jackson, to get going and reek some havoc on the New England defense.
