Minnesota Swarm at Vancouver Stealth Game Preview and Thread

This Saturday at 9:00 PM CST in Vancouver, the Swarm take on the Vancouver Stealth at the Langley Events Center. As usual, the game can be found on YouTube (The Lacrosse Network) or on the Minnesota Swarm homepage. This is the only meeting between the two teams this year.

Both teams are off to a 0-1 start. The Swarm were defeated by the Rochester Knighthawks 8-6 in a low scoring opener. The Stealth just barely lost to the Mammoth is a 13-12 game in Colorado. This game will be the home opener for the Stealth as well as their first game in Vancouver. (They were in Washington last year).

The Swarm have their goaltending and defense locked up, if the game on the 28th is any indication. They held the Knighthawks to 34 shots, and the offense did get a fair number in on Matt Vinc. The goal on Saturday will be shutting down Alex Gajic and Rhys Duch while keeping an eye on rookie Tyler Digby. Tyler Richards does have similar numbers to Vinc, so there will be another challenge in the net.

Leading things off for the Swarm are Tyler Hass with 2 goals, Jordan MacIntosh with 2 assists, Callum Crawford with 3 points and Shayne Jackson with 11 shots on goal. The rookies are also making an appearance. Logan Schuss has a goal and an assist, and Scott Jones has an assist. Tyler Carlson, going into Saturday, has a GAA of 8.00 and a SV% of 7.65.

When these teams last met, it was March of 2013. The Swarm defeated the Stealth 12-5 that night. On that night, Ryan Benesch became the Swarm's all time leading goal scorer with 132 goals. Callum Crawford set the Swarm record for assists with 202 as well as scoring his 100th goal and 300th point. Tyler Carlson only allowed 5 goals, which was the fewest allowed at that point in the season.

And finally this game's Hockey Wilderness player to watch is #46, Kiel Matisz. Matisz had a goal and an assist in the season opener in Rochester. He took 3 shots, all of which did go on net. Last season, as a rookie, he had 29 goals an 33 assists through 16 games. 11 of his goals were power play goals and 1 was short handed. He was rookie of the week 4 times, rookie of the month, and named to the All-rookie team. He is a fast, dominant, assertive player who should be just as enjoyable to watch in his sophomore season as he was last year.