The Minnesota Swarm are moving into Washington to take on the West leading Stealth tonight at 6 pm EST. The Swarm are coming off a weekend split against the Edmonton Rush where each team won away from home. While the Stealth are coming off a huge win over the Calgary Roughnecks, who they were tied with for the lead in the West.
The Swarm come in at 4th in the West and looking to improve their stock before it gets too late in the season. They will have to do this without team captain Andrew Suitor who will be out for the rest of the season because of an ACL/MCL tear suffered last weekend against the Rush. The Swarm will have to look to their young rookies to lead the offense. They will also look to the return of Callum Crawford who came back last weekend. If the Swarm want to make any run down the stretch they will definitely need to have some improved goaltending from Evan Kirk and Tyler Carlson. The revolving door will need to stop and one of the two has to step up and be the #1 guy, both have the capability but neither have really stepped up and taken the mantle.
The Stealth are coming into this game in command of the West. They’re coming off an impressive weekend where they took over sole possession of 1st place in the West. The Stealth are being lead by Rhys Duch with 51 pts. They also are being lead by Lewis Ratcliff (16g, 19a) and Athan Iannucci (16g, 19a). The Stealth netminder Tyler Carlson is one of the top goalies in the league, and he’ll look to continue it tonight at home.
In this game the guys that we need to keep a watch on are obviously Rhys Duch with his 51 pts, and Iannucci and Ratcliff both of which have 35pts. For the Swarm we need to keep an eye on Kiel Matisz (15g, 15a), Shayne Jackson (12g, 20a) and Callum Crawford (8g, 25a).
This is a huge game for Minnesota, every game from here on out is going to feel like a playoff game for the Swarm. For Stealth this game is a way to extend their lead in the West, which is only half a game ahead of Calgary. This will be an interesting battle in Everett tonight.
