Wings 2009 Game 15 (vs. Toronto 4-11-09)

By Tom Hoffman

Unofficially the playoffs have begun for the Philadelphia Wings (6-8), who need to simply win out in order to make it to the National Lacrosse League's postseason. The Wings will begin this quest Saturday evening when they host the Toronto Rock (5-9) at 7:30 PM. The game can be seen live and for free on NLL.com.

History

The Wings are 8-17 all time against Toronto (including when the Rock were known as the Ontario Raiders in 1998). In Philadelphia, the Wings are 5-8 against the Rock and have won three straight games at the Wachovia Center against Toronto. Last season the Wings swept a season series from Toronto for the first time in team history. Philadelphia used a 51 save performance from Rob Blasdell in taking the first meeting 11-9 at the Wachovia Center on April 6th. The Wings closed the regular season with a rare win at the Air Canada Centre 15-14 on a shorthanded goal by Athan Iannucci with less than a minute to play in regulation.

Last Week

The Wings split a back to back set with the New York Titans, winning the first game 11-7 Saturday night in Newark, NJ. Brandon Miller starred in net for Philadelphia with 45 saves while Drew Westervelt scored four goals. The Titans returned the favor the next day in Philadelphia, ourscoring the Wings 12-5 in the second half to take away a 16-13 victory and clinch a playoff spot for the second straight season. Kyle Wailes led the Wings with 10 points on the afternoon (3 goals, 7 assists). Toronto lost at home to the Boston Blazers 14-13 on Friday night.

Some familiar faces

Both sides have a number of players who have worn both teams jerseys. Toronto's Luke Wiles, Jason Crosbie, Chad Thompson and Jason Clark all once suited up for the Wings while Philly's Mat Giles, Jon Harasym and Rob Blasdell all were former members of the Rock. The Rock's Bill McGlone is from Swarthmore, PA and attended Ridley High School.

Playoff hopes

As stated earlier, the Wings need just to win their final two game to qualify for the NLL playoffs. A Toronto win would give them the tiebreaker with Phialdelphia and with some help could take the final spot in the East. Buffalo, New York and Boston all have clinched spots in the postseason while the Wings and Rock battle with the Rochester Knighthawks for the fourth berth in the East.

Next Game

The Wings will close out the 2009 regular season with a visit to Rochester's Blue Cross Arena to face the Knighthawks on April 18th.

Thirty minutes from weekend sweep, Wings flatten out, split with Titans

By Tom Hoffman

Heading into this weekend the Philadelphia Wings knew a sweep of the rival New York Titans would be important in their quest for a return to the National Lacrosse League postseason. Winning both games would've given Philadelphia the tiebreaker, a key in the super tight Eastern Conference. After Saturday's 11-7 win in Newark and with an 8-4 lead at halftime on Sunday, the Wings looked to be in great position to do just that. Unfortunately, the Wings who came out on the floor in the second half of Sunday's rematch looked nothing like the team from the previous 90 minutes of play and that enabled New York to come back and earn a split with 16-13 win to the disappointment of most of the 10,806 on hand at the Wachovia Center.

Saturday night started out like it was going to be a shootout with the teams combining for three goals in the game's first minute. Play would settle down and the game was tied at three after one quarter, a feather in the Wings caps as they had to kill off four New York powerplays during the opening stanza. The Wings would shutout the Titans in the second and led 6-3 at half, all three goals coming as a result of two five minute majors issued to the Titans Jeff Bigas and Jarett Park. The Titans would outscore the Wings 3-2 in the third but would get no closer the remainder of the evening. Brandon Miller was superb in the net for Philly, making 45 saves to lead the Wings to the all important "W", while Drew Westervelt's four goals and a five point night from Merrick Thomson (3G, 2A) paced the offense.

Sunday's quick turnaround was, as many expected, on the chippy side. Philly jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead and seemed to hit any and everything moving or not. New York closed to within a goal but the Wings seemed determined to bring both teams to a tie in the standings and eventually pulled out to an 8-3 lead before NY rookie Steve Ammann scored his first NLL goal to make the game 8-4 at halftime. From this point, the game stopped resembling the one of less than 24 hours ago and looked more like the teams' first meeting of 2009. The Titans scored the first three goals of the second half before Athan Iannucci stopped the bleeding with a score to give the Wings a 9-7 lead. The teams would trade tallies until, trailing 11-9, New York would score the last three goals of the third quarter, to go ahead for the first time all weekend at 12-11 with just 15 minutes to play. Brandon Miller was chased after the Titans ninth goal and was replaced by Rob Blasdell.

Philly would quickly regain the lead on scores from Iannucci and Kyle Wailes but that would be their final lead of the day. Brendan Mundorf put NY ahead for good with 6:17 to play, Casey Powell added insurance with 2:54 left and Bill Greer iced the Titans win with an empty netter with 17 seconds to play. Powell ended up with five goals Sunday, after being held to just one on Saturday night while Mundorf, who was held scoreless on Saturday, finished the second game with six points on three goals and three assists. Matt Vinc stopped 47 shots in this game, after making 36 saves on Saturday. Kyle Wailes scored 10 points (3G, 7A) in the losing effort.

The win for New York on Sunday clinched playoff spots for not only themselves, but for the expansion Boston Blazers as well. For the Wings, their record falls to 6-8 and means that they pretty much need to win their remaining two games (Home vs. Toronto, at Rochester) and get some help to lock up the fourth and final spot in the East.