The Philadelphia Wings (6-1) will look to rebound and get back on the winning track this Saturday afternoon when they host the Toronto Rock (5-3). Faceoff at the Wachovia Center is at 1 PM and the game will be shown at 10:30 PM on Comcast SportsNet.
History
The Wings are 6-17 all time in regular season play against the Rock including their first season in 1998 as the Ontario Raiders. At home the Wings are 4-8 and have won the last two meetings here. Last season the teams each won at home. The Wings were victorious by a 10-9 score on January 27 with Geoff Snider scoring the tying and winning goal. On March 30, the Rock jumped out to an 8-0 halftime lead and never looked back in a 15-6 victory. Athan Iannucci (3G, 2A) and Jake Bergey (1G, 4A) each had five points for the Wings while 2007 Rookie of the Year Ryan Benesch led the Rock with 12 points (7G, 5A) while Aaron Wilson (5G, 5A) and Blaine Manning (2G, 8A) each chipped in 10 points in the two games.
Last Week
The Wings split their weekend games, winning 16-12 Friday at home vs. the New York Titans before seeing their season opening six game win streak stopped in Buffalo on Saturday by a 21-12 score. Toronto came back to defeat Calgary at home by a 9-7 score on Saturday night.
All Stars
The Wings will be represented by three players when the NLL meets in Edmonton on March 16 for the All-Star Game. Athan Iannucci, who has earned Player of the Month honors for both January and February, was selected to the East Division’s starting lineup. Taylor Wray and Geoff Snider were added to the East squad as reserves. This will be Iannucci’s first All Star appearance while it will be the second for Snider (2007). Wray will make his third All Star trip but his first as a member of the East team(2006 and 2007 as a member of the Calgary Roughnecks).
Trade
The Wings were part of a four team trade that included Edmonton, Chicago and Minnesota. When the smoke cleared, leaving the Wings were F Dan Marohl (Minnesota), F Keith Cromwell (Minnesota) and G Matt Roik (Chicago) along with 2 draft picks and the playing rights to Brad Self. Coming to Philadelphia were F A.J Shannon (Edmonton), G Brandon Miller (Chicago) and two draft picks.
Stats and Stuff
With their win Friday night, the Wings equaled last season’s win total(six).
Their next win at home will give the Wings six wins for the first time since 2003 when they went 6-2 at the Wachovia Center. This will also match their most wins at home in regular season play.
Quotes
(From the 2-29 game vs. New York)
Drew Westervelt: "It's a great atmosphere to play in. First indoor game, it was a blast. Couldn't ask for a better crowd or a better team to play for."
Geoff Snider: "New York's a good team. They're run and gun, they're fast, they play tough. It was a good win for us. We played like a group. We got a great game out of Athan, a great game out of Blazer, Everybody stepped up."
(From the 3-1 game at Buffalo)
Dave Huntley: "Hats off to them (Buffalo). They played great on the defensive end after we got off to a good start. It was a tough game. We certainly didn't help ourselves. We took too many penalties and that's been a problem for us all year. It was eventually going to bite us in the ass. Tonight was just one of those games that got away from us. I know these guys will answer the bell against Toronto and we'll be fine."
Next Game
The Wings will head into the All Star break with a home matchup against the San Jose Stealth Friday March 14 at 8PM.
