Wings Miss Playoffs....Again

By- Kevin M.Neibauer

The Philadelphia Wings missed out on the post-season, again.

This season, more than any other was a more bitter pill to swallow than usual.

All the draft picks, three goaltenders, experience, defense, goal scoring all figured to make this the season that the Black and Silver would finally be competing for the National Lacrosse League Championship.

Things however were quickly throttled with an uninspired opening night road loss against Edmonton.

Lack of discipline, too many penalties and a lack of big goals when it counted would become an ominous albatross around the neck of the team.

It is rare that one gets a sense that the season is lost on Opening night.

Portland came in and easily handled the Wings. Again, a lack of goal scoring and lack of discipline would doom any shot of a victory.

Bottom line is this...this team needs to make serious and major changes if ownership expects anyone to attend games next season (except of course, the lucky ones who received a free ticket as a result of the Minnesota fiasco)

Let's look at the roster as it stands and examine who returns and who doesn't.

Geoff Snider, Sean Greenhalgh, Dan Marohl, Athan Iannucci, Ian Llord and Rob Van Beek clearly deserve to come back.

After that, let's take a look at the rest, starting with the goaltenders.

Matt Roik...Roik can be completely dominating and then be totally horrible.
Usually, in the same game. The problem with Roik, who put up impressive numbers and played in the All-Star game is that he doesn't make the big save when needed.

For instance, the Wings go a two or three goal run. That's when the next save is crucial. Roik doesn't seem to make it often enough.

Will Roik be back? Clearly that will be decided by management. (We'll get to this shortly.)

Ken Montour..."Monster" was exactly what a team wants in a back-up goalie. He bridged the gap, never really seemed to give a really "bad" goal and to me, deserves to be back.

Can he challenge for the starting job? Again....TBD

Jay Preece...like Montour, played well when called on. Truly a tough one to figure here. Is Philadelphia happy with him or is he on the roster to be exposed for the expansion draft?

On to the backline....Thomas Hajek, Kyle Sweeney, John Christmas and Ian Llord should be asked to come back.

Damian Davis rarely saw the floor and when he did, his inexperience showed.

Forwards....truly a quandry. Marohl, Greenhalgh, Geoff Snider and Athan Iannucci are clearly the best hope at the position.

Mark Morley? Seemed to be oversized and outmuscled most of the season.

Keith Cromwell? Almost non-existant this season.

Kyle Wailes?Played well enough to return but seemed to fall out of favor with Lindsay Sanderson at the end of the season. This one again, is up in the air.

Jake Bergey? Had a great season, but is getting a bit long in the tooth. Bergey without question, deserves a shot to come back. But, his injuries and his age may make him contemplate hanging it up.

Clearly, this is Jake's call. He should be back (unless something different comes along....maybe a coaching slot?)

Jeff Ratcliffe...had a good season, but was banged up a bit. Has a new baby and has seemed to lose a bit of his fire. Again, it should be up to Rat to decide his future.

The Wings hold the Portland Number one draft pick. Maybe it's time to give up the coveted rookie draft and use the pick to bring in a scorer.

Front Office? Something will be done here. Will Lindsay Sanderson remain behind the bench? Doubtful. Will he remain as the GM?

Who goes behind the bench? Jake Bergey? Tom Marechek? Tom Ryan? Kevin Finneran?

That is a big question. Ryan will NOT be taking the job, he is involved with too much to dedicate the time needed.

Marechek? Probably not, he retired to start a family. He probably won't want to take away from that.

We will have a long off-season......

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