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The Minnesota Swarm (6-10) finished the 2009 season with a 12-10 loss to the New York Titans (10-6) Saturday night in front of 13,219 at the Xcel Energy Center. F Sean Pollock led Minnesota with five points (2-3=5), F Kevin Ross had four points (3-1=4) and G Kevin Croswell made 30 saves in the loss. F Casey Powell led the Titans with seven points (1-6=7), T Jordan Hall added six points (2-4=6) and G Matt Vinc made 50 saves in the win. The win, combined with Boston's 13-12 overtime victory over Buffalo gave New York the top spot in the East Division for the first time in franchise history.

"We really wanted to finish this season out with a win and we played hard tonight," said Head Coach Duane Jacobs. "If we had that kind of effort for 15 other games we'd be going to the playoffs. It's disappointing especially watching it, but we knew going in that you can only look after your own destiny; you really can't depend on anyone else because 9 times out of 10 it's not going to happen."

Minnesota has been a slow starting team all season and New York took advantage, jumping out to a 4-1 first quarter lead. Rookie F Kevin Buchanan scored the lone goal for Minnesota and the Titans had goals from four different players. Hall finished the quarter with a goal and an assist and Powell finished with three assists in the first quarter.

Despite the slow start, Minnesota rallied in the second quarter, scoring five un-answered goals to take a 6-4 halftime lead. Buchanan started the rally at 3:09 with his second goal of the game and 22nd goal of the season. "We started slow all season so it wasn't anything new to us," said F Dan Marohl. "We finally got some shots to fall and played the kind of offense we should have been doing all season, but we did it in spurts all year." Minnesota continued its second quarter spurt by taking advantage of a five-minute high sticking penalty. Ross scored back-to-back power-play goals to tie the score at four. The Swarm finished the half strong as Ross and Pollock scored in the final five minutes to extend the halftime lead to two goals.

The Titans turned up the pressure in the second half though, scoring five third quarter goals to regain the lead. D Josh Funk scored midway through the quarter and Pollock scored his second of the game late in the third to cut New York's lead to 9-8. F Dan Marohl tied the game at 2:58 of the fourth quarter before the Titans scored three consecutive goals to take a 12-9 lead. Marohl added his second of the game at 11:34 but the Swarm was unable to mount a final charge, ending with the 12-10 loss. Minnesota out-shot the Titans 60-43 on the night but Vinc stood tall in net for New York, improving to 9-6 on the season. The Swarm finished 2-for-7 on the power-play while the Titans went 3-for-5 on the night.

As the Titans advance to the first round of the playoffs, the Swarm will move to the off-season and begin to assess the season and changes for next year. "It's been a quandary of a season," said General Manager Marty O'Neill. "There haven't been any answers to our problems and it starts with our best players. They're the guys that really have to readjust and come back with a little bit more. We have a pretty high draft pick so we'll be looking to add some offensive and some size with that pick and we'll see what trade winds blow and where it takes us."

For information on 2010 Swarm season tickets or Swarm community programs call 888-MN-SWARM or visit Home Page - Minnesota Swarm.