The Minnesota Swarm opened their home schedule last night with a 15-14 win over the first place Washington Stealth. They were led by Ryan Benesch and rookie Kiel Matisz who each scored three goals in the win.
Goaltender Evan Kirk made 44 saves on the Stealth in the victory including 16 alone in the fourth quarter. For the Stealth, goaltender Tyler Richards was back in action and he made 37 saves on 52 shots.
Washington led 4-3 after the first quarter, in which they were led by goals from Lewis Ratcliff, Bob Snider, Rhys Duch and Mike Grimes. At the half the Swarm would lead 10-6 after three goals in the second from Benesch.
Minnesota would lead 14-10 going into the fourth, and were held to just one goal in the final period, which was Andrew Suitor’s second of the game. Washington saw four goals in the fourth from Duch and three from Athan Iannucci, but it was not enough as they would fall 15-14.
Duch, Ratcliff and Iannucci each had hat tricks while Ratcliff and Duch each also had three assists each. Snider led the game with 17 loose balls to the Minnesota leader’s Sutior’s ten.
This game was the first win of the season for Minneosta and also their first home game where they won in front of nearly 9,000 fans. For Washington, after defeating Edmonton on Friday night they fell to 3-2 on the season, but are still in first place in the Western Conference.
Rookie Kiel Matisz had five points over all as the rookie has become one of the biggest scorers for the Swarm. Meanwhile, Callum Crawford picked up seven points, six of them being assists.
Washington travels to New York to face the Rochester Knighthawks next week who they defeated in their first game in Everett, and since then the Hawks have fallen to 0-3. Meanwhile, the Swarm face the 1-2 Colorado Mammoth next week in Denver.
