Minnesota Swarm Acquires Forward Ryan Ward From Philadelphia

by **Neighbours** on Tue Feb 08, 2005 8:34 pm

SAINT PAUL/MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Minnesota Swarm general manager Marty O’Neill announced today that the National Lacrosse League (NLL) team has acquired forward Ryan Ward and the Philadelphia Wings fourth round draft pick in the 2005 NLL Entry Draft in exchange for Shawn Nadelen and the Swarm’s first round draft pick in the 2005 NLL Entry Draft.

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by **Rob Graff** on Fri Feb 11, 2005 11:49 pm

While I'm told this is a good pick up for the future, he was fairly ordinary the first game. Swarm's attendance was down from last game. They need to win some games at home.
Rob

by **Aaron** on Tue Feb 15, 2005 9:26 pm

Rob Graff wrote:While I'm told this is a good pick up for the future, he was fairly ordinary the first game. Swarm's attendance was down from last game. They need to win some games at home.
Rob

I was in attendance for the first two home games and it seemed as if the only people that were really into the game happened to be those wearing sweatshirts or jackets from area lacrosse teams. I agree they need to win a few at home, nobody wants to watch a team lose, especially fans new to the game.

by **Frank Clark** on Fri Feb 18, 2005 2:56 pm

I agree with both of you! Keep in mind it is not only a new organization, but a young team that dosent get much time to practice together.

by **Rob Graff** on Tue Mar 15, 2005 12:52 am

Practice helps.

Ward has been their hardest working offensive player after the first game he played.

And he's a upstanding guy.

Rob

by **Kojima** on Wed Mar 16, 2005 6:23 pm

ward is an outstanding guy, and probably the best player i've ever played with. the only reason he went 3rd overall a couple years back in the nll draft, and not 1st or 2nd, is cause he wanted to stay in the states for jop opps. or so they say. 03 man cup mvp ... nll rookie team 04 ... also played field at butler and with rochester of the mll ... he'll help minny.

what kindof numbers is minnesota really getting anyways?

by **Rob Graff** on Wed Mar 16, 2005 9:52 pm

So long as we don't get a major snow storm (which happened opening night), they've been filling the lower deck, with about 35% of the lux boxes having people in them, and some upper level (but not many) seats.

Legitimately between 7-10 thousand per game. They do need to win a game or two at home though. This is a crowded sports market....

by **onpoint** on Wed Mar 16, 2005 10:35 pm

I'm curious why Denver seems to draw so well for the Mammoth. There is a pretty loyal following of non-lax people that just love going to the games because they are fun. Then of course, you have the lacrosse crowd to fill it in, but for the most part, I would say that fans don't have a big affiliation with lacrosse at all. A big part of it is the way the team markets itself to the city. One of the big radio personalities is the team's PA announcer (sometimes annoying, but he seems to be a fan favorite) and they are always having Mammoth players on our big Clear Channel rock station out here for interviews, etc. I would think that Minneapolis would be a great place to see similar numbers, but I guess not, at least yet. If they just could have lured Mr. Katz away from his Israel sabbatical, they could have had a homegrown kid on the floor.