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Swarm Game 6: Swarm-Stealth II an instant classic

Alas, I seem to have misplaced my notepad containing all my game notes. No matter though - this game turned out to be one I'll never forget. I don't need to tell you how badly the Swarm wanted or needed this one, or how tough it would be to get it against the last remaining undefeated team in the NLL, the Washington Stealth, who had just handed Minnesota a 12-9 loss last week in the Pacific Northwest. So let's just face off already!

First quarter: Kevin Croswell got the start in goal for the first time this season. Barely a minute into the contest he misplayed a Lewis Ratcliff shot to surrender the game's first goal, and it looked like the high-octane Stealth offense would be off to the races once again. But as it turned out, they didn't score again until almost the end of the quarter. In the meantime Cros settled down, his defense tightened up and the offense, which had been struggling most of the season, suddenly started clicking faster than a Geiger counter on top of a huge pile of yellowcake. Four different Swarm runners tallied in the opening quarter, including Tim Campeau twice. He and Callum Crawford were sort of afterthoughts in all the Swarm's wheeling and dealing over the offseason, yet they've turned out to be two of the most valuable contributors to the Minnesota attack this season. Swarm 5, Stealth 2.

FIGHT!!! I'm not sure what precipitated it, but just as the first quarter came to a close the Swarm's Sean Pollock got into it with Stealth goalie Tyler Richards. Fights involving goalies are pretty rare in this league, mainly because any runner who attacks an opposing goalie is bound to bring the wrath of the entire opposing team down on his head, which is exactly what happened here. The Stealth bench emptied quickly to come to Richards' aid, with the Swarm bench right behind. Next thing I knew, the turf was littered with gloves and sticks as the two sides battled it out across the turf. It took a couple minutes for the refs to regain control over the situation and a few more to sort out all the penalties, which ended up including game misconducts for Pollock and Joe Cinosky (for being the first man to leave his team's bench to join the fight) and Stealth defender Mike Grimes (ditto).

Second quarter: Jay Thorimbert scored just seven seconds into the quarter and the ensuing Swarm power play - his second straight unassisted goal of the night. But a couple minutes later he drew a five-minute major penalty for boarding Jamison Koesterer, enabling Ratcliff to cut the Swarm's four-goal lead in half with two quick goals, both through Croswell's 5-hole. Less than three minutes into the quarter and Ratcliff already had a hat trick, with Cam Sedgwick and Rhys Duch assisting on all three of his tallies. Aaron Wilson and Ryan Benesch struck to inflate the Blue Crew's cushion back to four goals, but the flying Duch-man added a goal of his own, as did Kyle Hartzell, to keep Washington in striking distance. Swarm 8, Stealth 6.

First-half video highlights

Third quarter: Benesch and Crawford quickly restored Minnesota's four-goal lead. Jeff Zywicki swooped in to cut it back to 10-7, but then a costly turnover allowed Crawford to feed Campeau who unleashed an overhand cannon shot past Richards through heavy traffic, to complete his hat trick. He would add another goal later, while Benesch turned a hat trick of his own as the Swarm slowly widened their lead. Duch also scored again during the period, but overall the Stealth offense has really looked off their game tonight, with passes and shots often completely missing their intended targets and resulting in turnovers instead. If the Swarm can just avoid a sudden fourth-quarter swoon like they had last week in Everett, this game is theirs! Swarm 13, Stealth 8.

Fourth quarter: Uh-oh... Luke Wiles scored and Ratcliff notched his fourth of the night and it's suddenly a three-goal game again. But just when I was afraid another Swarm collapse/Stealth rally may have been brewing, Crawford answered with a spin-o-rama past Jason Bloom to make it 14-10. The Stealth forwards continued to misfire at an alarming rate, and one particular missed shot by Duch set up what is undoubtedly the play of the season so far for the Swarm, if not for the entire league. The shot sailed wide right of the net, bounced off the end boards and back toward center-turf. Richards, already in the midst of an uncharacteristically weak performance in net for the Stealth, charged out of the goal crease to scoop up the loose ball with his stick... and whiffed on it! This left him a sitting duck for the Swarm's Jay Thorimbert, who promptly bowled Richards over, casually snatched the ball off the turf and slam-dunked it into the unguarded net to complete an unassisted hat-trick and seal Washington's fate. Another, more garden-variety empty-net goal by Eric Pacey and two garbage-time Stealth goals (the last of which left Croswell shaken up, so Nick Patterson came in to finish the game) padded the stat sheet but did nothing to change the ultimate outcome. Final score: Swarm 16, Stealth 12.

Second-half video highlights

Closing thoughts: The Swarm's highest single-game offensive output in at least the last three seasons, knocking off the last unbeaten team in the NLL, a bench-clearing brawl, a marriage proposal (accepted) at center-rink during halftime, a crazy play to seal the victory and (hopefully) jump-start the team's season... what's not to like? It wasn't the prettiest game you'll ever see by any means, but it's still one that won't be forgotten any time soon.

Official game box score