Say what you will about the Minnesota Swarm, but they know who they are, and they know how to win. That’s something missing from the Twin Cities sports scene right now, and yet somehow, they continue to fly under the radar. Even being in second place in the West after a win on the road over the Calgary Roughnecks is unlikely to make them headline news in the area.
Which is a real shame, since their captain, Andrew Suitor, literally had the shirt ripped off his back while leading his team to victory. For all you major league sports fans, this isn’t your average day in the park. In other sports, they would just run to the locker room and grab one of the other dozen back up jerseys they brought along.
This is the NLL. Suitor finished the game wearing Joe Cinosky’s number 4 jersey (Cinosky was inactive for the game). No big deal, though. The Swarm don’t care what number Suitor wears, just so long as he is out on the field with them. He was. In force. As always.
As the broadcast team for the Roughnecks mentioned, the Swarm’s best players were their best players tonight. Ryan Benesch had his customary four goals and three assists. Ho-hum. Just another day in the park. Of course, Calgary made it easy, right? They forgot Benesch was on the field and let him score on empty nets at the end of the game, yes?
Swarm coach Joe Sullivan said, “Calgary has a heck of a good defense and when they had the opportunity, they sent doubles to him. He was lined up typically with their best checkers.” Like was mentioned, just another day in the park.
Callum Crawford add two goals and two assists, Jordan MacIntosh and Kevin Ross matched those numbers, and Rich Morgan, the Zdeno Chara of the NLL, added his first goal fo the year in the effort as well. Scoring from multiple sources, big time scoring from the big time players. Minnesota Swarm lacrosse.
Tyler Carlson, a bit of a surprise starter after Evan Kirk landed two awards earlier in the week, was stellar once again in net. Which goalie will start in any given game is anyone’s guess, and if you took the names and numbers off the back (avoid doing so as Suitor would do), you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.
Scoring. Defense. Goaltending. Again, Minnesota Swarm lacrosse.
They won’t make headlines in the Twin Cities newspapers, but if you’re looking for something different than mediocrity and abject terrible play… look no further. With the 15-11 win, the Swarm are in second place in the West, and are proving countless doubters in the lacrosse world more and more wrong with each passing game.
An impressive, gritty road win for the Swarm. Ho-hum. Just another day in the park.