If you like hard hitting and defense. . .well, the 2011 NLL All-Star Game probably annoyed the heck out of you, as the game turned into a shootout, with the Eastern Division knocking off the West by a score of 30-26. Each team took 81 shots on goal, and each team only took one penalty over the course of the entire game.
↵The Minnesota Swarm had four players on the Western Division All-Star squad, and they acquitted themselves rather well. Forward Ryan Benesch tallied five points (two goals, three assists), and fellow Swarm forward Callum Crawford put up six points of his own (two goals, four assists). Andrew Watt notched a goal as well.
↵Goalie Nick Patterson had a bit of a rough day, as you might expect in a game where he faced more shots in the 30 minutes he played in his one half of action than he sees in most games. The East peppered Patterson with 38 shots, and he managed to stop 26 of them.
↵The game was tied at 20 going into the final period of play, but a 10-6 fourth quarter in favor of the East provided the final margin of victory. Forward Shawn Evans of the Rochester Knighthawks was named the game's MVP, as he finished the game with a whopping 12 points (four goals, eight assists).
↵Minnesota will kick off the second half of the 2011 NLL season in exactly the same place that they concluded the first half. . .at the Pepsi Center in Denver, taking on the Colorado Mammoth on Friday, March 4.
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