A Washington Stealth Fan Blog
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Saturday night’s lacrosse game between the San Jose Stealth (2-2) and the Minnesota Swarm (3-0) falls in to the two must win categories for the Stealth winning in the West. First, it is a home game and second, it is a game vs. an Eastern conference opponent. The Stealth can win the game if they maintain the effort laid out on Thursday in New York, especially the effort shown in the transition game. A lackluster effort in transition like we saw all last weekend will simply lead to a Stealth loss against this Swarm squad who beat Rochester last weekend.
This is also the fourth Stealth game in the last 8 days. Based on Thursday’s performance it might be helping the Stealth ‘click’ with all the time on the floor together. But a rested Minnesota team will expose any weakness in the Stealth squad caused by fatigue, particularly in the transition game. But the Stealth got to sleep in their own beds last night after returning from New York, so the extra day off between games should mitigate the fatigue. Hell, I’m tired from the games and I didn’t have to go to New York two days ago.
Face-offs should go in the Stealth’s favor tonight. Tim Booth had a good battle on Thursday against big Jamie Hanford, so the smaller Swarm face-off man should feel like a vacation comparatively. Based on the stats the Swarm have had three different people taking their draws in their three games. This makes it harder for Booth to prepare for a single man, but it also shows that they don’t like any of their current options. Once Booth controls the clamp it’ll be up to his teammates to ensure the ball in controlled. I’m hoping to see Steve Panarelli in the lineup after splitting games last weekend. Panarelli is an athletic ground ball machine who impresses me with each game he plays in.
The Swarm are lead by goalie Nick Patterson, defenseman Ryan Cousins who nllinsider.com calls the best individual defender in the league right now, leading scorer Ryan Ward, last week’s NLL Overall and Offensive player of the week Sean Pollock and early Rookie of the Year candidate Craig Point. Like the New York Titans, the Swarm have a balanced offensive attack with 6 players having double digits points after just three games. When I looked at that stat by the Titans I fooled myself in to thinking they are better than they are and changed my prediction in that game (I originally thought it’d be around 14-8 but then saw all the points the Titans had put up and changed it to 16-13). This time though, the Swarm are a legitimate scoring threat.
The X Factor:
This time around it’s not a single player, but has become the Stealth Power Player. Thursday night they were 0 for 7, lowering their already league worst 33% conversion rate. If the Stealth can’t convert on the PP they’ll certainly make the playoffs, but I can’t imagine the team advancing the playoffs without formidable PP (see the Colorado Mammoth last year).
Prediction:
I just don’t have a strong feeling about this game. If the Swarm win I won’t be surprised, they’re 3-0 and having been player a better game so far this season. But two of those wins were against the Toronto Rock who are not a powerhouse. It could be that the Swarm simply played a perfect game in that Rochester victory. The Stealth need to play like they did on Thursday night or it’ll be a loss, no bout a doubt it.
I need to see a stellar Stealth performance in person, so I’m picking the Stealth to win 17-15. Almost an OT game, but the Stealth will seal the game with an empty netter at the end.
Go Stealth!