Minnesota Swarm 11 Buffalo Bandits 13 (2024)

	Minnesota Swarm (6-6 H 1-4 A 5-2)
	Buffalo Bandits (6-4 H 3-2 A 3-2)

This Buffalo Bandit victory brought to you by the Lum-led Officiating Crew

Friday, March 24, 2006
St. Paul, Minnesota
Attendance: 9,533

The final score of last night's game at the Xcel Energy center should have been the Minnesota Swarm 13 and the Buffalo Bandits 12. However, the Swarm lost 2-0 to the referees and Mark Steenhuis added an empty net goal with 20 seconds to go for a Bandit 13-11 victory. The loss drops the Swarm to 6-6 (1-4 at home) and tied for last with Philadelphia who lost to Arizona Saturday afternoon 13-12. However, the Swarm hold the tiebreaker against the Wings leaving the Wings outside of the playoff race. The win give the Bandits a 6-4 record and first place tie with Rochester before tonight's Buffalo and Rochester matchup in Buffalo. Also this afternoon, Toronto lost 11-9 to Calgary.

EAST DIVISION STANDINGS (Before tonight's Knighhawks-Bandits game):

1. Rochester Knighthawks 7-5
2. Buffalo Bandits 6-4
3. Toronto Rock 7-6
4. MINNESOTA SWARM 6-6
5. Philadelphia Wings 6-6

The Swarm's best crowd of the season at 9,533 saw a great game by the Swarm, lobotomized by the Three Stooge-like officiating crew of Rick Lum, Mark Trinaitsch and Brad Scibak. After the Swarm came back with four straight goals to tie the game at ten in the 4th quarter, #8 Rory McDade scores a goal on Bandit goalie Ken Montour. The initial call is a goal, however, after the usual Keystone Kop-like manner of officiating in the NLL, the goal is overturned. Montour backed in and moved the goal out of position. Play continued and Montour kept on playing the ball and didn't move the goal back into position. McDade then scored and the goal counted. The referees then decided to disallow it because McDade was behind the goal line which intersects the front of the goal and to the boards on each side. It is illegal to score behind the goal line; however, with play continuing and the goal out of position, the goal line also moved. The referees then made the case to the Swarm coaching staff that even with the goal of out position, the goal line stays the same. With the goal out of position, it gives the goalie, Montour, a decided advantage because it severely limits the Swarm in supposedly legal scoring angles based on the never moving goal line established erroneously by the referees.

Then with the Swarm down 12-11 at the 11:44 minute mark, #40 Jamie Taylor scored a goal to tie the game on a delayed penalty. The referees signaled goal then decided to waive the goal off even though the penalty still was delayed. The two goals that were disallowed handicapped the Swarm in a game they needed to win the tiebreaker against Buffalo and to stay in the playoff race. With the win, the Bandits have now won the series tiebreaker this year 2-1.

After a quick Bandit goal to start the game, the Swarm rallied to take a 4-3 lead after the 1st quarter on two goals by #22 Kasey Beirnes and one each by #19 Chad Culp and #17 Sean Pollock.

After goals by Culp and the new goal scoring machine #55 Michael Kilby who was assisted beautifully by #23 Jon Sullivan on a breakaway, the Bandits scored five straight to end the 2nd Quarter. Those goals help chase starting goaltender Steve Dietrich who was replaced by Montour. At one point in the 2nd, the Swarm held a 21-9 shot lead but by the end of the quarter, the Bandits had overtaken the Swarm 25-24 in shots and 8-6 on the scoreboard.

The Swarm gave up another two in the third to fall behind 10-6. That just gave the Swarm the impetus to stage a furious attack on the Bandits. #12 Eric Pacey scored his second of the season on a breakaway and Pollock added his second of the game to bring the Swarm within two at 10-8 after three.

The Swarm kept attacking in the 4th quarter with goals by #44 Ryan Ward and Culp. After the first disallowed goal, the Swarm had it tied at 10-10, when Beirnes scored his third of the night with a high-flying diving act parallel to the crease at 5:50. Buffalo scored two to take the lead back 12-11 and the referees nailed the Swarm in coffin with the second disallowed goal. Steenhuis finished with the empty netter and the Swarm were left with the loss and possibly with a chip on their shoulder for the rest of the season.

The Swarm had some jersey number changes going into this game. Andrew Biers acquired at the trading deadline from Calgary, played his first game last night with a fantastic behind the back catch on the run, is wearing #18. Spencer Martin, who used to wear #18 switched to #15. Even more startling for Swarm fans were the number changes for Brock Boyle and Chad Culp. After the trading deadline move of Darryl Gibson to Toronto, Culp took the vacated #19, a number he had grown up with all his life. He wasn't able to wear #19 last year because former Swarm Teddy Jenner wore it. After Culp's switched, Brock Boyle gave up the #24 jersey and took the vacated #10. Like Culp, Boyle has always worn the #10 growing up.

The Swarm were led by #19 Chad Culp in scoring with 3 goals and 2 assists. #44 Ryan Ward notched a goal and four assists. #22 Kasey Beirnes scored three goals and an assist. For Beirnes, this was his third straight game with three goals. #1 Matt Disher made 25 saves on 37 shots. The Swarm outshot the Bandits 57-38 which is rare since the Swarm rarely outshoot their opponents.

In addition the following Swarm made the scoresheet:

#17 Sean Pollock (2g 1a)
#40 Jamie Taylor (0g 3a)
#39 Mark Miyash*ta (0g 2a)
#12 Eric Pacey (1g 0a)
#55 Michael Kilby (1g 0a)
#8 Rory McDade (0g 1a)
#10 Brock Boyle (0g 1a)
#15 Spencer Martin (0g 1a)
#23 Jon Sullivan (0g 1a)
#77 Riley Kemp (0g 1a)

The Swarm next face the NLL defending champion Toronto Rock on Saturday April 1st, 2006 at 7pm CST at the Xcel Energy Center.

Game Statistics