Minnesota Swarm

Minnesota Swarm
Division	Western
Founded	2004
Home Arena	Xcel Energy Center
Based in	Saint Paul, Minnesota
Colors	Yellow, Blue, White
Head Coach	Mike Lines
Associate General Manager	Joe Sullivan
Local media	KARE, KFAN (AM), KXXR
Website	mnswarm.com
v · d · e

Minnesota Swarm is a box lacrosse team in the National Lacrosse League. The team plays on Treasure Island Field at Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

The team's previous owners (Minnesota Sports & Entertainment) who also own the NHL's Minnesota Wild purchased the rights to the inactive Montreal Express team on August 10, 2004. The name Swarm was selected over Thrill, Rush and Bullheads on October 25, 2004.

On July 16, 2008, John J. Arlotta and his son Andy Arlotta were officially announced as the team's new owners.^[1]

History

The Minnesota Swarm played their first exhibition game on December 10, 2004 against the Colorado Mammoth. The team drew over 14,000 fans — a record for an NLL preseason game, though most of the tickets were free. The Swarm's first regular season game was in Rochester against the Knighthawks on January 1, 2005, in which the Swarm won 12-11. Craig Conn scored the first goal in franchise history. Their first home regular season game was January 21, 2005 against the Buffalo Bandits. The coach of the team for the first season was Mike Simpson and the general manager was Marty O'Neill.

Forward Craig Conn and defenseman Ryan Cousins were named reserves for the East Division All-Star Team at the 2005 NLL All Star Game. Ryder Bateman ranked tied for second among NLL rookies in goals and third in scoring. The team finished the season with a 5-11 record. In August 2005, Adam Mueller was named as the head coach of the team.

The Swarm made the NLL playoffs after the 2006 season with an 8-8 record. In July 2006 Adam Mueller resigned as coach and was replaced on August 1 by Duane Jacobs. In 2007 the Swarm improved to a 9-7 record, again making the playoffs. General Manager Marty O'Neill was named NLL GM of the Year.^[2] Nate Lowery has been a high valued prospect attackmen that the Swarm have really been after. However, he has declined their offer to go pro and is going to Hood College to up his draft status.

In Week 7 of the 2008 NLL season, the Swarm established a league record by running up a 12-0 lead before the New York Titans broke their scoreless streak in the third quarter of the contest.^[3] For the third year in a row, the Swarm improved their record over the previous season, finishing with a 10-6 record. They lost to the New York Titans in the division semi-finals, but GM Marty O'Neill was once again named NLL GM of the Year,^[4] becoming the only multiple winner of this award.

Minnesota finished the 2009 season with a 6-10 record. The team failed to make it to the playoffs for the second time in franchise history. Kevin Buchanan led all Swarm rookies in goals (22), assists (23) and points (45). He received NLL Rookie of the Week honors twice and was named to the All-Rookie Team. After serving as an assistant coach from 2008-09, Mike Lines was named as head coach of the Swarm in August of 2009.

The Swarm finished the 2010 season with a 5-11 record, and advanced to the postseason were it fell 14-10 to the eventual NLL Champion Washington Stealth in the first round of the playoffs. During the 2010 season, Minnesota had three of the league’s Top 10 scorers in Callum Crawford, Aaron Wilson, and Ryan Benesch. Callum Crawford also set two Swarm records by tallying 96 points and 64 assists during the season.

Improving to an 8-8 record in the 2011 season, the Swarm advanced to the playoffs and was defeated 14-8 by the Washington Stealth for the second consecutive year in the first round of the playoffs. Ryan Benesch led the league as the Top Scorer with 95 points and also led the league with 46 goals, setting a new Swarm record. Representing the Swarm in the Western Division All-Star game, Ryan Benesch and Nick Patterson were selected as starters for the team and Callum Crawford and Andrew Watt were named as reserves.

Awards & honors

Year	Player	Award
2011	Ryan Benesch	NLL Scoring Title [5]
2009	John J. Arlotta	Executive of the Year [6]
2008	Marty O'Neill	GM of the Year [4]
	Tom Garrity	Executive of the Year [7]
	Ryan Cousins	Defensive Player of the Year [8]
	Craig Point	Rookie of the Year [9]
2007	Marty O'Neill	GM of the Year [2]
	Ryan Cousins	Defensive Player of the Year [10]

Roster

Minnesota Swarm rosterview · talk · edit
Active (23-man) roster				Inactive roster		Coaches
Goaltenders 93 Nick Patterson -- Anthony Cosmo -- Tyler Carlson -- Drew Dickie -- Evan Kirk Defensemen 4 Joe Cinosky 16 Noah Talbot 85 Matt Kelly -- Mitch Belisle -- Nik Bilic -- Tyler Collins -- Kiel Donahue -- Jason Duboe -- Jeff Gilbert -- Brian Karalunas -- Ben Salo		Forwards 7 John McClure 16 Jamie Shewchuk 21 Ryan Benesch 71 Kevin Ross 98 Callum Crawford -- Todd Baxter -- Jay Card -- Joel Henry -- Sean Robinson -- Pat Saunders -- Pat Smith -- Corbyn Tao Transition 9 Tyler Hass 11 Rich Morgan 15 Shayne Bennett 20 Andrew Suitor 22 Andrew Watt -- Greg Downing -- David Earl -- Jordan MacIntosh		Practice Squad Holdout		Head Coach Mike Lines Assistant Coaches Aime Caines Joe Sullivan Bob Keast Legend * Suspended list (C) Captain (A) Alternate captain Roster updated 2011-11-29 NLL Transactions

All time Record

Season	Division	W-L	Finish	Home	Road	GF	GA	Coach	Playoffs
2005	Eastern	5-11	5th	2-6	3-5	188	231	Mike Simpson	Missed playoffs
2006	Eastern	8-8	4th	3-5	5-3	158	171	Adam Mueller	Lost in division semifinals
2007	Eastern	9-7	3rd	4-4	5-3	200	207	Duane Jacobs	Lost in division semifinals
2008	Eastern	10-6	1st	6-2	4-4	199	176	Duane Jacobs	Lost in division semifinals
2009	Western	6-10	5th	2-6	4-4	174	198	Duane Jacobs	Missed playoffs
2010	Western	5-11	4th	3-5	2-6	189	201	Mike Lines	Lost in division semifinals
2011	Western	8-8	2nd	5-3	3-5	187	180	Mike Lines	Lost in division semifinals
Total	7 seasons	51-59		25-31	26-30	1,295	1,364
Playoff Totals		0-5		0-2	0-3	44	64

Playoff Results

Season	Game	Visiting	Home
2006	Division Semifinal	Minnesota 10	Buffalo 11
2007	Division Semifinal	Minnesota 8	Buffalo 14
2008	Division Semifinal	New York 11	Minnesota 8
2010	Division Semifinal	Minnesota 10	Washington 14
2011	Division Semifinal	Washington 14	Minnesota 8

Team Records

Single Season

Category	Player	Count	Year
Goals	Ryan Benesch	46	2011
Assists	Callum Crawford	64	2010
Points	Callum Crawford	96	2010
PIM	Travis Hill	86	2008
Loose Balls	Jay Thorimbert	152	2010
Saves	Nick Patterson	598	2008

Publicity

As a promotional stunt for the 2007 season opener, local sports newscaster Eric Perkins signed a one-game contract to play for the Swarm. Commercials were aired on NBC showing Perkins at a news conference taunting the Chicago Shamrox. He did end up getting 8 seconds of playing time in the 11-10 loss. In 2008, The Swarm announced that they would be retiring Perkins' number 66. ^[11][12]

References

1. ^ "Swarm Introduce New Ownership". NLL.com. July 16, 2008. http://www.nll.com/article.php?id=3549. Retrieved 2008-07-21. 
2. ^ ^{a b} "Marty O'Neill Named GM of the Year". NLL.com. May 3, 2007. http://www.nll.com/article.php?id=2928. Retrieved 2008-05-08. 
3. ^ "Minnesota routs New York, 16-9". NLL.com. February 8, 2008. http://nll.com/article.php?id=3277. Retrieved 2008-02-14. 
4. ^ ^{a b} "Marty O'Neill Named GM of the Year". NLL.com. May 8, 2008. http://www.nll.com/article.php?id=3474. Retrieved 2008-05-08. 
5. ^ "2011 Regular Season - All Players". NLL.com. http://stats.nll.com/stats/statdisplay.php?type=top_scorers&season_id=54. Retrieved 2011-09-07. 
6. ^ "John J. Arlotta Named Executive of the Year". NLL.com. May 6, 2009. http://nll.com/article.php?id=3957. Retrieved 2009-05-06. 
7. ^ "Tom Garrity Named Executive of the Year". NLL.com. May 6, 2008. http://www.nll.com/article.php?id=3469. Retrieved 2008-05-06. 
8. ^ "Cousins Named Edge Defensive Player of the Year". NLL.com. May 12, 2008. http://www.nll.com/article.php?id=3479. Retrieved 2008-05-12. 
9. ^ "Point Named Rookie of the Year". NLL.com. May 13, 2008. http://www.nll.com/article.php?id=3482. Retrieved 2008-05-13. 
10. ^ "Cousins named Defensive Player of the Year". NLL.com. May 1, 2007. http://www.nll.com/article.php?id=2924. Retrieved 2007-05-01. 
11. ^ "Eric Perkins Jersey to be retired". MNSwarm.com. http://www.mnswarm.com/news/news.asp?news_id=349. Retrieved 2008-03-04. 
12. ^ Chavez, Bob (March 4, 2008). "Swarm to retire jersey of a legend". NLLInsider.com. http://www.nllinsider.com/2008/03/04/swarm-to-retire-jersey-of-a-legend/. Retrieved 2008-03-04. 

See also

• Minnesota Swarm seasons