NLL Insider

Minnesota defender Travis Hill looks like he might be missing all of the 2010 NLL season (Photo: Dave Sanders)

In a series of interviews with Minnesota Swarm GM, Marty O’Neill, the Swarm’s official site is reporting that Swarm defender, Travis Hill, has tore his ACL while playing summer ball with the Six Nations Chiefs, potentially missing the entire 2010 National Lacrosse League season due to the injury.

“Travis Hill recently tore his ACL playing summer lacrosse and is probably going to miss the 2010 season so we were on the search for a face-off guy again,” said O’Neill, who implied the Swarm may be looking for a face-off taker in this September’s upcoming entry draft, although other options remain on the current Minnesota roster as well.

Hill, a staple in the Swarm’s own end for the past five years, last played for the Chiefs on July 4th in a 7-5 loss to the K-W Kodiaks, a game where newly traded for forward, Ryan Benesch, torched the Chiefs for five points.

O’Neill points out that the other main piece brought in through the Ryan Ward trade, Scott Self, will not only be one of their defensive leaders, it also gives the team another available option at the circle with Hill sidelined.

It also appears that Minnesota Swarm assistant coach, Mike Lines, is at the top of the list for potential replacements for Dewey Jacobs, who left his post as the team’s head coach earlier this off-season.

“We are happy with Mike Lines and the players that have performed for him,” O’Neill added in the interview. “Right now he’s number one in the interview process.

“We should make a decision soon. I’ve already talked to a number of other guys with experience in that position. We just wanted to step back after the Dewey Jacobs resignation, talk to the staff and players to get perspective.”

Lines, a Minto Cup winner as a player with the St. Catharines Athletics as well as experiencing success as a coach throughout the Niagara region at a variety of levels, has been on the Swarm’s bench for the past two seasons, previous to that serving as a scout with the Buffalo Bandits.

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