With both teams coming off wins in their Pre-Season debuts, the Minnesota Swarm and Calgary Roughnecks took to the floor to do battle, with largely different rosters from the previous nights game. Out for the Roughnecks where Shawn Evans, Jeff Shattler, Curtis Dickson, Jon Harnett, Curtis Manning and Tor Reinholdt, while Minnesota was without, captain Andrew Suitor and Logan Schuss. The Minnesota Swarm ultimately took the game by a score of 19-12. Minnesota jumped out to a very quick 3 goal lead, with all three goals being scored by the diminutive but ultra talented Shayne Jackson. The Swarm continued to poor it on, chasing Roughneck starter Mike Poulin from the cage just 5 minutes into the first quarter, after rookie Shane MacDonald put the Swarm up 5-0. When the buzzer sounded at the end of the 1st quarter of play, the Swarm led 8-3. The Swarm showed no let up in their game, as the extended their lead to 14-6 by half time. Minnesota starter Zack Higgins was very impressive in the first half of play, making many timely and athletic stops, he also showed a great ability to coral his rebounds and quickly move the ball up the floor to the Swarm speedy transition players, which resulted in a number of odd man rushes.
The Swarm went with a split squad of sorts in this game, as 13 players played just a half of lacrosse. Sam Bradman, Marcus Holman, Shane MacDonald, Dean Hill, Eric Guiltinan, Jason Noble and Nick Cotter saw only first half action for the Swarm, while Zach Palmer, Dom Alexander, Andrew Casimir, Corbyn Tao, Joe Maracle, and Scott Jones came in for the 2nd half of play. The 2nd half saw the Roughnecks make a come back of sorts, although they ultimately came up short, losing the game by seven goals, they did narrow the lead to come with in 4 goals on two different occasions in the fourth quarter. The Roughnecks struggled offensively on Sunday afternoon, but that comes with little surprise as the Roughnecks did not dress Evans, Shattler or Dickson for the game, the 3 combined for 105 goals last season and sat 1st, 3rd and 4th respectively in Roughneck team scoring. Matt Dinsdale continued to impress offensively for the Roughnecks with his second straight four goal performance. Coming off a season where he had just 6 goals and 11 assists for 17 points in 14 games, Dinsdale looks primed for a breakout campaign. Veteran Dane Dobbie tallied five goals for the Roughnecks in the defeat, while free agent rookie signee Casey Jackson, Geoff Snider and Dan MacRae and all recorded single markers.
Who Stood Out ?
As far as players looking to crack their respective NLL rosters go, a few players definitely made noticeable impressions on Sundayafternoon. Rookie Shane MacDonald looked very impressive for the Swarm, he should great poise and patience when in possession of the ball, played with a confidence to his game, and was not afraid to be selfish and take the opportunities that where granted to him. He showed off his lethal outside shot, scoring both of his goals on beautiful underarm shots from the outside. Miles Thompson was also very impressive for the Swarm. He showed excellent vision, creativity and foot work as he was arguably the teams best right handed shot offensively on Sunday. I expect Thompson to make an immediate impact in the Swarm lineup in 2015. I came away really enjoying Nick Cotters game. Having taken last season off, Cotter looked as though he hadn’t missed a beat. Cotter shows great speed, athleticism and anticipation skills on the defensive end of the floor and an excellent ability to finish at the offensive end of the floor. Cotter has very quick feet, is shifty and hard to check in possession of the ball, and is blessed with a cannon of a shot. I really feel Cotter will help the Swarm’s transition game by leaps an bounds. While Zach Palmer played just a half of lacrosse, he was one of the best players offensively for the Swarm in the 2nd half. Palmer played the top on the power play on a few occasions, showed excellent vision in finding open teammates and worked very well with former Clarington Green Gaels and Whitby Warriors teammate Shayne Jackson. While he is small in stature, Palmer is extremely quick and very elusive, that combined with the way he sees the floor and his natural ability, allow him to thrive against plays much bigger then himself.
For the Roughnecks, Matt Dinsdale had a very impressive performance, the offense ran through him and Dane Dobbie on Sunday, and he looked very comfortable in that role. Dinsdale also excelled on the power play, and I expect that the Roughnecks coaching staff will present Dinsdale with more offensive opportunity this season as he played more of a transitional role with the club last season. Casey Jackson, while fairly quite on the offensive front, seemed to fit in very well as a role player on offense, he kept moving, was able to get guys open, scoop loose balls and finish when given the opportunity. While he may find himself in and out of the lineup during the regular season, do to the depth on the Roughnecks left side, he by all means is a player of NLL calibre and deserves to be in the league. Lastly the hulking Tyson Roe, faired very well in my opinion for the Roughnecks, while you’d like to see him make quicker decisions with the ball and play a more physical intimidating game, he was still very effective in his own right. Expect to see Roe in the Roughnecks lineup on a regular bases.
Goal Scorers
Minnesota – Shayne Jackson (4), Shane MacDonald (2), Miles Thompson (3), Jordan MacIntosh (2), Alex Crepinsek (1), Ian Crawford (1), David Earl (1), Callum Crawford (1), Kiel Matisz (1), Nick Cotter (1), Joe Maracle (1), Scott Jones (1)
Calgary – Dane Dobbie (5), Matt Dinsdale (4), Geoff Snider (1), Casey Jackson (1), Dan MacRae (1)
