BY DAVE CAMPBELL
Associated Press
ST. PAUL, Minn. - Though the NHL lockout has left dozens of arenas across North America dark on most nights, not all of them are lacking for events during the long labor stoppage.
The National Lacrosse League, which boasts 10 healthy franchises, plenty of scoring and some pretty serious fights, is trying to capitalize on pro hockey's hiatus and continue to grow interest in this relatively obscure game.
Without Wild games this winter at the Xcel Energy Center in Minnesota, the NLL's Swarm have set up shop and plopped their green artificial turf on top of the ice.
While a swirling snowstorm limited the actual crowd to 5,884, the Swarm sold 13,198 tickets to their regular-season home opener two weeks ago. And many patrons have been pleasantly surprised by a sport they knew next-to-nothing about.
"It was a good atmosphere. It was fun to watch. It was so similar to hockey, it was amazing," said Jim Daeffler, also a Wild season-ticket holder. "As a fan, the Wild situation we don't have any control over. I'm fairly positive the season is lost. Maybe even next year might be a problem. If they did come back next year, I would continue to keep my tickets for the Swarm as well as the Wild. It's one of those things that I thought would fill the void, and it's turned out to fill more than the void."
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