Our favorite indoor lacrosse team, the Minnesota Rush (5-7), finish up the doubleheader this weekend at home on Saturday at 7:00 pm against Edmonton (4-8). Yes, I did say the Minnesota Rush. Leading up to the inaugural season in 2005, the team was looking for an identity. A name with some snap, crackle and pop. A name that would be hip with Generation X or whatever generation the youth of our nation are called these days. So in the first month of the franchise, Bob Naegele and MSE, already owners of the Mild, put forth the following four names to be voted upon by their embryonic fan base:

• Bullheads
• Rush
• Swarm
• Thrill

Obviously, on October 25, 2004, we all learned the new name was the Swarm. Neil Doddridge and Ray Guze were sporting the blue and gold at the unveiling, looking very sharp and five years later, players like Andrew Watt and Noah Talbot still look sharp in blue and gold.

But what if we, the fans, decided on Rush? The two positives I come up with for that question is at least we decided not to be called the Minnesota Thrill and Edmonton lacrosse would have been spared such a ghastly nickname. Needless to say, the Rush would have been dreadful. Fans should have been dipped in hot lava if we made that choice. What is a Rush? Isn't that what Chris Matthews had running up his leg during the election (video)... oh wait, that was a Thrill too. Without the Swarm, you couldn’t have The Hive, you would have the, the … I don’t know what we would have been called.

We have a pretty good blueprint of what happens when a team chooses the Rush nickname, as our opponent this Saturday did. The Edmonton Rush joined the NLL a year after the Minnesota Swarm and have been less than mediocre at best. In their fourth season, the Rush are now 15-45 in franchise history and have never made the playoffs. Every year, the experts see the Rush make numerous changes for the "better" and think that this is the year the Rush make the playoffs. As usual, it looks like that pattern will hold.

This year the Rush have a couple former Swarm players that played for the 2008 Swarm. Andy Secore (17g 30a) and Mike Hominuck (10g 24a) make their return to the X this weekend. Secore, the Swarm’s leading scorer last year, was lost to Edmonton in the redispersal of the Arizona Sting last summer. He started the season slowly as he was recovering from an off-season knee injury but has finally started to score like he did last year. Hominuck’s career with the Rush mirrors what happened with the Swarm. When Hominuck first came to the Swarm in mid-season 2007, he exploded onto the scene with big scoring outputs. Eventually, his production fell off and by mid-season 2008, he was traded to the Rush. With the Rush, he scored the overtime winner in his first game and everybody said the Rush got a steal, but Hominuck’s initial success has not been sustainable. Nonetheless, I figure both, especially Hominuck, will have huge performances if the Rush are to win.

The Rush’s leading scorer is Dan Teat (23g 28a), who started strong this season and made the All-Star game but had a mid-season lull like the rest of the offense. Between Secore, Teat, Hominuck and Ryan Benesch (12g 19a), the Rush can’t seem to get all four or even half of them to produce big at the same time. That's why the Rush have averaged just under ten goals per game for worst in the league.

The Rush defense generally keeps them in games or at least until the opponents offense tires them out due control of possession. They have perennial All-Star in Scott Self (3g 6a), whose only misfortune is the previous two teams in the previous two years have folded (Arizona and Chicago). Self handles the majority of face offs for the Rush. Both Chris McKay (1g 9a 127 LB) and Ian Hawksbee (3g 6a 112 LB) have more than 40 more loose balls than any player on the Swarm (Ryan Sharp-71). Another player to keep an eye on is Ryan McNish (2g 2a), team goon. A big strong guy who is actually a member of the Canadian Army, McNish has fought the best in the league with mixed success. Don’t be shocked if he tries to instigate something on Saturday night.

The Swarm need Ryan Ward to score or at least I think they do. In the three games in March, Ward had eight assists and zero goals. His last goal came against Toronto on February 27. In the last five games, starting with Toronto, the team is 3-2 and the offense has actually been at its best this season with the Swarm’s all-time leading scorer (three points short of 300 for his Swarm career) off his game:

First Seven Games (2-5 70 Goals 10 per game) Last Five Games (3-2 63 goals 12.6 per game)

Aaron Wilson 5 GP - 17g 14a – 31 pts
Kevin Buchanan 5 GP -13g 14a – 27 pts
Sean Pollock 5 GP – 9g 18a – 27 pts
Dan Marohl 4 GP – 6g 8a – 14 pts
Chad Culp 4 GP – 3g 11a – 14 pts
Kevin Ross 5 GP – 8g 5a – 13 pts
Ryan Ward 4 GP – 1g 12a – 13 pts

With this being the last doubleheader weekend, fans may see Kevin Croswell in net, just to get him some playing time prior to the playoffs. He has not had significant minutes since he started against Buffalo on February 28. I see Nick Patterson starting in San Jose considering they are more of a threat to the Swarm’s fourth place spot in the division. Then I see Croswell coming in Saturday against the weaker Rush offense that is also playing the night before.

Some may wish that the Swarm play all their games on the road considering our lack of success at home, not only this year but in previous years. The Swarm enter the game on Saturday against Edmonton with a 1-4 home mark and have lost seven of their last eight at home dating back to last year. As you can see below, success for the Swarm is often gained away from the Xcel Energy Center. Even in their first year, the Swarm had a better road record:

2005: Home 2-6 Road 3-5
2006: Home 3-5 Road 5-3 Playoffs Road 0-1
2007: Home 4-4 Road 5-3 Playoffs Road 0-1
2008: Home 6-2 Road 4-4 Playoffs Home 0-1
2009: Home 1-4 Road 4-3
Total: Home 16-21 Road 21-18 Playoffs Home 0-1 Road 0-2

I have heard from players that they tense up a bit more at home than on the road. When they came out 6-0 at home to start the 2008 season, they just went out and played but as the crowds/expectations have grown, the team has once again struggled at home. It was noted in this week’s Turf Talk by the Professor Howard Green that this year’s home losses have come against the top teams in the NLL like Buffalo, Calgary, Boston and Colorado. Since we were competitive in those games, it practically excuses the team for their struggles at home. That argument is ridiculous in my mind. Those teams we lost to are at least .500 or better at home. The reason they are up top is because they take care of business at home. The reason the Swarm are buried deep in the standings is because we let teams pillage us at the X game in and game out. It’s tough enough to win on the road for any team, but add in the fact that you can’t defend your own turf adequately, makes for a long and unsuccessful season.

I know every team still has a shot for the playoffs. Any team can win on any given night in the NLL. The Rush did so last weekend with a franchise record 16 goals in victory over the Toronto Rock. In the end, the Swarm are simply the better team in all phases of the game and the Rush are probably the worst in most phases. The Rush have never been able to sustain success for more than a game or two in a row and I don’t see them starting now. But if the Minnesota Swarm lose to the Edmonton Rush this weekend at home, on the road or anywhere frankly, they should rename themselves the Thrill and get ready for summer ball north of the border.

Prediction: Minnesota Swarm 15 Edmonton Rush 9

Corporal

Minnesota Swarm Depth Chart

Forwards – Right
10 – Aaron Wilson (26g 23a 45 LB)
17 – Sean Pollock (17g 30a 52 LB)
7 - Dan Marohl (16g 22a 29 LB)
44 – Ryan Ward (18g 25a 39 LB)

Forwards – Left
22 – Andrew Watt (5g 11a 61 LB)
33 – Kevin Buchanan (15g 16a 36 LB)
71 – Kevin Ross (15g 18a 37 LB)
19 - Chad Culp (10g 18a 68 LB)
15 – Brad Favero (1g 4a 2 LB)
8 – Rory McDade (0g 4a 6 LB)

Goaltenders
93 – Nick Patterson (3-4 12.54 GAA .735 Save %)
31 – Kevin Croswell (2-3 10.86 GAA .784 Save %)

Defensemen – Right
50 – Ryan Cousins (3g 2a 63 LB)
34 – Nick Inch (0g 3a 32 LB)
23 – Jon Sullivan (1g 4a 37 LB)
47 – Travis Hill (1g 4a 36 LB)
21 – Kevin Fines (6g 4a 47 LB)
4 – Joe Cinosky (0g 2a 15 LB)
27 – Colin Achenbach (1g 4a 21 LB)
5 - Josh Funk (0g 0a 3 LB)

Defensemen – Left
16 – Noah Talbot (0g 1a 47 LB)
26 – Ryan Sharp (3g 3a 71 LB)
40 – Ian Rubel