The Minnesota Swarm went in to Comcast Arena last night and once again laid an egg early in the game and came out in the losing effort. The Swarm lost to the Washington Stealth 11-8. Much like last weekend against the Rush, the Swarm came out slow and very unenergetic. This forced them down early and gave Washington the chance to extend their lead in the West.
The Stealth, lead by Athan Iannucci (4g,1a) and Brett Bucktooth (3g,3a), was only down once in the game and that was so early in the game that anyone would be hard pressed to remember that the Swarm scored before the 5 minute mark of the 3rd quarter. Tyler Richards once again played extremely well behind a good Stealth defense. He had 43 save on 51 shots with a save % of 84.3%.
The Swarm, albeit down early, did play ok after the halftime. Now I attribute this to either good coaching or the fact that the team finally decided to wake up and get in the game. The Swarm had very little offense but it was spread out a thru a number of players. They were lead by Callum Crawford (2g,1a), Shayne Jackson (1g,1a), and Jordan MacIntosh (1g,1a) .
The Swarm also had 8 players with 1 point. Now goalie Tyler Carlson got the start over Evan Kirk, and played okay in the lose. He faced 47 shots and had a save % of 76.6%. Not an amazing game for Carlson but one that definitely could have been an effort that the Swarm could have won with.
The Stealth have improved their record to 6-4 and a 1 game lead in the West. While the Swarm fall to 3-6. Both teams will be playing next weekend, the Swarm will take on the 2nd place Calgary Roughnecks in Calgary. This is while the Stealth take on the Philadelphia Wings in Philly.
