The Minnesota Swarm stayed a perfect 3-0 in the NLL pre season as they defeated the Colorado Mammoth 16-15 in an overtime shootout. The Swarm trailed 15-14 going into the late fourth quarter when Kiel Matisz tied it. The league decided that instead of overtime the game would go to a shootout, the first OT shootout that meant something this pre season.
Shane MacDonald and Jordan MacIntosh scored hat tricks for the Swarm but John Grant Jr scored seven goals to lead all players this weekend. Matisz and Dean Hill also scored two times each. Also scoring for the Swarm were Miles Thompson, Shayne Jackson, Jason Noble, Corbyn Tao, and Callum Crawford.
For Minnesota, Brodie MacDonald gave up six goals in the first half while Zach Higgins gave up nine in the second half. The Mammoth saw their starter Dillon Ward give up six and Alexis Buque give up nine. Buque has taken over as the favorite for the backup role as it seems Tye Belanger will end up on the practice roster.
Other goals for the Mammoth include two from Adam Jones, and then one each from Alex Turner, Athan Iannucci, Joey Cupido, Sean Pollock, and Eli McLaughlin.
Mitch Belisle returned for the Swarm while Logan Schuss was still nowhere to be seen.
In the shootout, MacIntosh opened the scoring for the Swarm before back to back goals from Grant and Drew Westervelt. Zach Higgins stopped Mammoth scorer Adam Jones before rookie Shane MacDonald notched the game winner.
