The Minnesota Swarm (1-1) defeated the Buffalo Bandits (2-2) 19-11 on Treasure Island Field in front of 8,232 fans during its home opener at Xcel Energy Center. Scoring 19 times, the Swarm tied a franchise-high in goals that was set in 2007 in Chicago. Prior to tonight’s win, the Swarm had never defeated the Bandits at home, having gone 0-6 in previous matchups. This marks only the third victory over Buffalo in the team’s history. Buffalo leads the all-time series 13-3.
Another noteworthy event from the game's action was the ejection of ten players. According to Chris Ryndak of Bandits.com:
As the horn ended the second quarter, at least three fights broke out in a benches-clearing brawl between the two teams.
For the Bandits, defensemen Billy Dee Smith and Scott Priolo, transition players Mark Steenhuis and Jon Harasym and forward Brandon Francis received game misconducts and were ejected from the game. Thompson received a five-minute roughing major and had to start the second half in the penalty box. Swarm captain Andrew Suitor, transition players Richard Morgan and Greg Downing and defensemen Jeff Gilbert and Mitch Belisle picked up game misconducts and were thrown out as well.
View videos of the massive brawl below...
View more game results and photos from Adam Crane on Mnswarm.com and mnlaxhub.com.