Wings sluggish in home opener loss

By Tom Hoffman

9,462 Philadelphia Wings fanatics were pumped up as they awaited the Wings home opener last night at the Wachovia Center. Afterwards it was hard to tell who was flatter, the fans or the Wings offense. The Wings struggled all evening as they fell to the expansion Boston Blazers 13-11 while also seeing Athan Iannucci go down to a possible re-injured knee early in the first quarter.

"Give credit to Boston, they played with a lot of energy," Wings coach Dave Huntley said. "They just played better than we did."

Even with Iannucci out on the floor the offense still seemed to struggle. The Wings didn't get on the board until the 11:07 mark of the first on a David Mitchell score. At that point it was Daryl Veltman 3, Wings 0 as the Blazers rookie was living up to his selection as the NLL's top pick in the entry draft. Philly trailed 4-1 after the first but quickly tied the game at 4 with Mitchell's second tally of the night sandwiched by scores from Merrick Thomson and Drew Westervelt. Boston would score three of the next four to take a 7-5 lead into halftime.

After Brett Queener scored 31 seconds into the third to give the Blazers an 8-5 lead, the Wings scored the next four to take their only lead of the night. Jordan Levine won't forget his first NLL goal as he picked up Anthony Cosmo's rebound of a Shawn Nadelen shot to put Philadelphia up 9-8. Boston got the the last two goals of the third to lead 10-9 and Mitch Belisle only needed 10 seconds to make the score 11-9 in the fourth. In the third Belisle had drawn the ire of the Wings Geoff Snider with a submarine hit in front of the Blazers bench that touched off a small fracas. The Wings would tie the game one last time when Mat Giles scored his third goal of the night followed by Westervelt's third of the game just 29 seconds later. Boston's Gary Bining would score the game winner at 7:15 of the fourth (his third goal of the night) before Veltman finished the scoring and sent the Wings fans running to the exits.

For the Wings, there is very little time to dwell on the loss as they face the Blazers again this evening in Boston. Huntley feels the team will respond.

"I think we'll bounce back," Huntley said. "I don't think anybody was pleased with their performance tonight."

One Wing who did play well was G Brandon Miller, who made 45 saves in the cage. Westervelt and Giles each had three goals and two assists to lead the Wings while Veltman (4G, 3A) and Dan Dawson (7 assists) led the Blazers. For former Wing and current Blazers coach Tom Ryan, it was his first win as an NLL coach in one of his favorite places to play.

"It's definitely fun to be back here," Ryan said. "It feels like home. It's just good to get a win anyway you can."

Wings 2009 Game 3 (vs Boston 1-23-09) and Game 4 (at Boston 1-24-09)

By Tom Hoffman

After a week off, the Philadelphia Wings (1-1) will get ready for a home and home weekend with the expansion Boston Blazers (0-2). Friday night the teams meet in Philadelphia, with faceoff at the Wachovia Center at 8 PM. On Saturday the scene shifts to Boston and the TD Banknorth Garden for a 7:30 PM faceoff. Both games can be seen on NLL.com.

History

While Friday's game will be the first meeting with the new Blazers, the Wings had a good history against the original Blazers franchise. Including the postseason, the Wings had an 11-3 record against the franchise that started as the New England Blazers (1989-1991) playing in Worcester, MA before moving to Boston. The Wings defeated the Blazers in 1990 for the franchise's second Major Indoor Lacrosse League title. The team played from 1992 to 1995 at Boston Garden before moving to TD Banknorth Garden, then called the Fleet Center, for the 1996 and 1997 seasons before the team was shutdown prior to the 1998 season. The Wings made one appearance at TD Banknorth, defeating the Blazers 12-11 on January 11, 1997.

Last Game

Behind solid goaltending from Brandon Miller and a balanced offense, the Wings earned their first win of the 2009 season by defeating the Rochester Knighthawks 16-13 at Blue Cross Arena on January 10th. The offense was spurred by the Thomson's, Merrick with four goals and an assist while rookie Sean added three goals in being named as the NLL Rookie of the Week. Kyle Wailes led the Wings with seven points (one goal, six assists) whiel Kyle Sweeney (2G, 2A) and David Mitchell (1G, 3A) each added four points. Miller made 36 saves and shut out the Hawks fo the games final 10:03. The highlight though was Geoff Snider's KO of Rochester's Troy Bonterre in the game's final minute. Boston opened their season with a pair of losses to the New York Titans, 19-14 at the Prudential Center in Newark on January 10th and 13-9 last Saturday in Boston.

Home Openers

The Wings are 13-9 all time in their home openers winning last year 19-11 over Chicago to stop a four game home opener losing streak. At the Wachovia Center the Wings are just 6-6. The original Blazers were the Wings home opening opponent three times (1989, 1991 and 1992), with the Wings winning two of the three matchups.

Dude's return (and others)

Tom Ryan, who played for the Wings from 2000 to 2003, returns to Philadelphia as the coach of the Blazers. Ryan played for the original Blazers from 1995 to 1997. Other former Wings on the Boston roster include Brenden Thenhaus (2007) and Bryan Bendig (2005) while Jake Bergey is currently on the Blazers protected player list after being selected in the expansion draft.

Next Game

Following this weekend and another week off, the Wings will return to action on February 6th when they host the Buffalo Bandits.