Dave Huntley on Wings Home Opener

Correspondant, Kevin M. Neibauer continues his post game interviews the Coach of the Philadelphia Wings.

New Season, New Coach...Dave Huntley returns to Philadelphia to begin his second reign as the head guy behind the Wings bench.

Huntley was kind enough to take a few minutes to analyze the 19-11 Wings blowout of the Chicago Shamrox.

We also have a short interview with the Commissioner of the National Lacrosse League, Jim Jennings. Jennings spoke on a variety of topics. But first, heeeere's Dave.

KMN-" 72 shots.....19 goals, 13 goal second half...".

DH-"Obviuosly, it was a great start, we played seven new faces tonight in our line-up, that's not common in this league. I thought the new guys were terrific.

The old guys, in particular, Jake Bergey had a great night, we are very happy for him, he played very well. Everybody played great."



KMN-"Did you expect the performance of Merrick Thomson?"

DH-"Yeah, I did. To be honest with you, we drafted Merrick number two, He was the second pick in the draft, so obviously we thought he was real good. What we found since training camp is that he is, and I have told everybody who would listen, is that he is actually better than we thought he was. We thought he was real good anyway, and was better tonight. I don't know when he is going to stop getting better."



KMN-"At the end of the first half, you had a nice little roll going and Merrick took that five minute penalty, that was obvioisly a rookie mistake, but he rebounded very nicely and it didn't seem to bother him."

DH-"Yeah, I think maybe he should only get a two minute call for that, it was amazing how quick that the guy got up, but that happens, it wasn't that hard of a blow, when your setting a pick like that it can happen, but he didn't let it get him down. The credit for that really goes to Jason Crosbie, he is like a coach on the floor. We brought him in from Buffalo and he has been absoultely terrific with Merrick and sure enough, the first guy that talked to Merrick after he came back to bench was Jason to make sure he was wired in, because he felt bad, we were on a good roll, but, he got right back to business."



KMN-"Not an older guy, but a bit of a veteran guy, Johnny Christmas seemed like he was all over the place tonight. Your thoughts?"

DH-"Absolutely. We've given John a transition role this season, we work our transitions into the offense and the defense, and John tonight, as well as all our transition guys, Chicago gets out of their zone quickly and like to speed things up, the guys who had to stop that tonight were our five transition guys, John, Brendan Thenhaus,Jimmy Borell, Geoff Snider and Pat Heim, and they did a great job...John in particular. John was great for us, offensively,he had a huge hit, unfortunately, he got a penalty. It was a great hit to kill a break, but that's the kind of energy and play that I am very excited about."


KMN-"Wings down two men, Rob Van Beek picks up the ball, lowers his shoulder, plows one player, continues on and plows another, then it culminates with him drawing a penalty. How big of a lift was that?"

DH-"When you're down like that and you get that kind of physical play, that's the kind of play that everybody is expecting from Rob, thats leadership, the willingness to put yourself out tlike that, we got a great reward for his hustle....everybody made plays tonight."



KMN-"The last few seasons, the team goes on a two or three goal roll, get momentum and allows a goal to kill momentum. Matt Roik is a great golaie, but at times, he just didn't make that big save when you needed it. Rob Blasdell didn't have to be spectacular, just make the save when it was needed, tonight, he did....Your thoughts?"

DH-"It was tough thing for Matt when we drafted Rob, and Matt is still on the roster. We brought Robbie in for a reason, and he was solid tonight, I was kind of hoping that we would hold them under ten, not that it really matters, but it would have been nice to get an eight or nine goal night."

"Our defense made it a lot easier as well, I think we have the most athletic defense in the league but also the most offensive skill and it showed tonight, we were very, very good at picking up loose balls, getting out the lines of fire and not giving up second chances, I think any goalie likes that."



KMN-"Nedless to say, a big game coming up Friday.."

DH-"Eddie Comeau is probably one of my better friends in the Coaching business, I have all the admiration in the World for him. They will be well prepared. They won't be surprised by anything that we do. Look at the talent on that team, Shawn Williams, John Grant, both the Evans brothers,
Stevie Toll, Regy Thorpe, the list just goes on and on. Steven Hoar, who I would be remissed if I didn't say, played for me in 2006. It's a real good team. But, you know what? I think we have a real good team. It's gonna be a great test for our guys."



KMN-"The officials called a lot in the first quarter, then seemed to level off...thoughts"

DH-"I think the referees have been directed to be really careful with the high hits, To be honest, if a guy is getting hitting the head then I am glad they are calling it. It could ruin a guy's career, they were probably a little tight with some of the other stuff, but the game still had good flow to it, I think the refs did a good job....you always do when you win.



Thanks Dave Huntley.


Now, onto Jim Jennings.


KMN-"Thoughts on the upcoming season?"

JJ-"We're expecting a lot of really good things, the crowds have been good, we had a sell-out in Buffalo last night, so were excited about that.
Toronto had a really good crowd, the fans seem to be coming back, Calgary is expecting a good crowd tonight."


KMN-"The collective bargaining, that's all put to bed?"

JJ-"Yeah, we don't have to deal with that for at least five years anyway. We have a seven year agreement, but they (The Players) have an option
to open it up again after five.'



KMN-"Arizona and Boston, what is their status?"

JJ-"Boston will back for sure, Arizona is up for sale. So we don't know what's going to happen with them. Hopefully we can find a way to keep Arizon there"



KMN-"The players drafted in the dispersal draft will go back if Arizona comes back, if not they are free agents?"

JJ-"Yeah, that's right."



KMN-"Strong teams? Weak teams?"

JJ-"It's hard to say, with two teams not playing this year. With Arizona dispersing their players, there is a lot more parity in the league."

"The Wings looked very strong tonight. They have a great coach there. Dave Huntley is a great coach, so i think they will do very well this year."



KMN-"I guess as commissioner, you love the parity?"

JJ-"Yeah parity is always good, you always like to see that. That's gonna continue in this league, even as we expand. As more colleges get lacrosse were going to see more players."



KMN-"Expansion is in the plans?"

JJ-"Yes, we have applications from Dallas, Orlando, St.Louis and Seattle. Our goal is to get into cities and turn people onto the game."


Thanks to the NLL and Jim Jennings....


From the Did You Notice File......

Tom Hajek will be available to play Friday against Rochester, apparently, he was serving a one game suspension for a pre-season incident.


Dan Finck was in the building. He is sitting out the season (for now) in an effort to get his Green Card.


Nick Schroeder in the building? He has "officially" retired.....but, didn't seem too convincing of it.


Jake Bergey's dad, former Eagle, Bill was in attendance as usual, with new Lacrosse and Wings fan, Philadelphia Eagles Tight End, Brent Celek.


Tom Ryan and Randy Fraser both in the building, probably scouting.

Kyle Wailes has still b\not worked out his VISA problems with Canada.

And finally.........THE BARRAGE LIVE!!!!!!!

Highly placed league offiicals have confirmed that the League will be taking over the franchise and running things. At least four "Home" games are scheduled much like the showcase event the league ran before it officially debuted.

Raleigh-Durham and Portland are listed as possible neutral site "home games"


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