Native Heritage Night Highlights Swarm-Riptide East Division Clash

DULUTH, Ga. (February 10, 2022) – The Georgia Swarm (3-5) and New York Riptide (1-6) go head-to-head for the second time this season on Saturday, Feb. 12 at 6:00 P.M. ET. The Swarm and their fans celebrate Native Heritage Night at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino and Resort Field at Gas South Arena, and the pregame cultural events and educational discussions begin at 3:00 P.M. ET to anyone who has a ticket to the game.

Both teams enter the matchup coming off a loss: the Swarm fell to the Albany FireWolves, 13-11, last Saturday night, and the Riptide are riding a two-game losing streak that keeps them mired in the East Division cellar. Georgia claimed its first victory of the season over New York, 14-10, on Dec. 12, marking Lyle Thompson’s first double-digit performance of the season, as he scored five goals and registered five assists. Shayne Jackson logged six points, landing three shots between the pipes and dishing out three assists.

The Riptide’s lone win of the season was over the Philadelphia Wings on Jan. 23. New York and Philly were deadlocked 8-8 at halftime, but the Riptide were able to pull off a 14-13 victory to mark their second win in franchise history.

New York entered the NLL as an expansion team during the 2019-20 season, and the all-time series between the two teams stands at 3-1 in Georgia’s favor. The Swarm was the Riptide’s first-ever victory in franchise history as they bested Georgia, 13-12, in overtime on Jan. 18, 2020.

Tonight’s game also marks the return of Riptide Head Coach Dan Ladouceur, who was named the Riptide’s second head coach in franchise history on July 10, 2020. The last time Ladouceur coached a game at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Field he roamed the Swarm bench.

Ladouceur joined the Riptide after spending the last four seasons as the offensive coordinator with the Georgia Swarm. In his first season behind the bench in Georgia, the Swarm set a new NLL record for the most goals scored with 266 and captured the 2017 Champions Cup.

Offensive players to watch tonight are Lyle Thompson and Shayne Jackson from the Swarm and the Riptide’s Callum Crawford and newcomer Jeff Teat. All four players rank top-20 in NLL points as Thompson leads the crowd with 48 points and Crawford sits in third recording 45. After only playing in five games this season, Teat has put up 34 points (10g, 24a) placing him ninth on the NLL leaderboards. Jackson landed 15 shots between the pipes and gave out 16 assists totaling 31 points ranking him 14th overall.

There is a .005 difference between starting goaltenders Mike Poulin and New York’s Steven Orleman’s save percentage. Poulin has the higher percentage saving .759 shots while Orleman posts a .754 save percentage. Additionally, Poulin also has a lower goal-against average (11.37) than Orleman (13.63).

Saturday’s game features the league’s second-best power-play conversion team in New York, and the NLL’s second-best overall penalty killing squad, Georgia. The Riptide scored on 22-of-38 opportunities (57.9 percent) this season and is 11-for-15 (73.3 percent) on the road. The Swarm’s backline killed 22-of-32 (68.8 percent) man-up opportunities against foes, stopping 6-of-9 (66.7 percent) at home.

Following the Swarm vs. Riptide matchup, Georgia takes an away trip to Halifax, Canada, to face the Thunderbirds on Sat. Feb. 19. then returns two weeks later after a bye week to Harrah’s Cherokee Casino and Resort Field at Gas South Arena to host the Rochester Knighthawks on Fri. March 4, at 7:30 P.M. ET.

Milestones:

Chad Tutton: Needs to cause one more turnover to achieve his 100th career forced turnover; he will become the second Swarm player to do so since 2011

Jordan Hall: Is 10 points away from reaching the 800th of his career

Jordan MacIntosh: Needs 15 faceoff wins to pass Stephen Hoar for 4th place in league history with 1,651

Mike Poulin: Is three wins away from his 100th career win, making him the fourth NLL goalie to do so all time

Mike Poulin: Needs 59 saves to become the sixth goalie all-time with 6,000 career saves

Last Time We Faced the Riptide (Sunday, Dec. 12, 2021):

• The Swarm earned its first victory of the 2021-22 season after topping the Riptide, 14-10
• Lyle Thompson went off recording five goals, five assists and six loose balls; this marked his first double-digit performance of the season
• Shayne Jackson scored his second-straight hat trick of the season after netting three; Jackson also gave out three assists and picked up four loose balls in the win
• Chad Tutton led the defense in caused turnovers with three; Tarbell and Jordan Hall followed with two each
• Hall and Jordan MacIntosh registered four points apiece after they both assisted two goals and scored two of their own
• The Riptide took one extra shot than the Swarm, outshooting them 47-46; Thompson and Jackson took 12 shots each
• The Swarm’s defense held the Riptide’s offense to only one man-up goal; Georgia’s backline only allowed New York to score on 1-of-7 (14.2 percent) of power-plays
• Georgia’s offense sunk 5-of-7 (71.4 percent) of man-up goals; Jackson scored two while Brendan Bomberry, Thompson, and Hall recorded one each
• Mike Poulin totaled 37 saves in net producing a .787 save percentage; New York’s goaltender, Steven Orleman made 32 saves and had a .695 save percentage
• The Riptide had control of the majority of the faceoffs as Jay Thorimbert claimed 19-of-28 (67.8 percent); Vaughn Harris (6-for-15, 40.0 percent) and Kason Tarbell (3-of-9, 33.3 percent) stepped up to take the faceoffs for the team
• The league’s ninth ranked points leader, Jeff Teat, did not play in the contest for New York and will be on the turf this time around; Teat ranks ninth in NLL points totaling 34 (10g, 24a) despite only playing in five games
• Kieran McArdle and Tyson Gibson recorded six points each; McArdle earned a hat trick and dished out three assists while Gibson scored two goals and gave out four assists

Swarm Spotlight

• Lyle Thompson is the league’s leader in points (48), goals (21) and shots (95); Thompson also ranks fifth in assists (27) and second in shorthanded points (4)
• Mike Poulin leads the NLL goaltenders in minutes played, logging 474:48; the starting netminder also sits second in saves, totaling 283
• Among rookies, Ethan Walker ranks 10th in points with 14 (5g, 9a); Walker also sits second in rookie shots taken, with 49
• Newcomer Connor Kirst ranks second in rookie loose balls after collecting 37; Kirst also sits second in rookie faceoff wins with 23, while TJ Comizio is fourth, totaling 12 wins
• Brendan Bomberry tops the defender standings in points (26), goals (11), power-play goals (5), and power-play points (9)
• Jordan MacIntosh ranks second among league defenders in points with 24, while Bryan Cole sits fifth with 12
• The Swarm’s backline ranks second in power-play kills, stopping 22-of-32 (68.8 percent) including, stopping 6-of-9 (66.7 percent) at home
• Georgia is 15-for-36 (41.7 percent) on man-up goals; Bomberry and Shayne Jackson landed five power-play goals each between the pipes
• Jackson is second on the team in points (31) and goals (15), while ranking third in assists (16); Jackson sits 14th overall in league points
• The defense is led by Chad Tutton’s 10 caused turnovers, while Kason Tarbell follows with nine

Where To Watch

• ESPNEWS – The Swarm vs. Riptide game will be broadcasted live on ESPNEWS at 6:00 P.M. ET
• ESPN+ – Use your ESPN+ account (or create a new one) to watch the game live Saturday, February 12, 2022, and all season long
• Watch in person at six Gwinnett County Taco Mac locations: Buford, Cumming, Duluth, Johns Creek, Lawrenceville & Suwanee