Solid second half leads Wings to victory

By Tom Hoffman

The Philadelphia Wings held the Boston Blazers to one goal in the second half and got just enough offense to earn their first win of the 2010 season, 12-8 over the 0-3 Blazers in front of 9,330 at the Wachovia Center Saturday night. The win improves the Wings to 1-1 early in the 2010 season.

"We played a really good second half," Wings coach Dave Huntley said. "We finally got all of our pre-season stuff out of the way and cleaned things up."

The first half was almost like watching two different games. The first quarter both sides appeared sluggish, in Boston's case no real surprise as they had played in Toronto the night before dropping an overtime decision to the Rock. After playing to a 1-1 draw in the first, the second quarter was run and gun with the Wings outscoring Boston 7-6 enroute to an 8-7 halftime lead.

After Jason Crosbie tallied his second goal of the night to give the Wings a 9-7 advantage, Boston's Daryl Veltman cut the lead to 9-8 on a powerplay score with 9:50 left in the third. This was significant on two fronts: it was the first time in their first three games that the Blazers scored more than seven goals. It would also be their final goal of the evening. The Wings would outscore the Blazers 3-0 the rest of the way to send their faithful fanatics home happy.

The Wings were led offensively by four two goal scorers (Drew Westervelt, Jason Crosbie, Dan Teat and Kyle Wailes). Westervelt, Mat Giles and Geoff Snider also chipped in with three assists while Brandon Miller made 41 saves. Boston's Mike Poulin amtched Miller in the save department while Nick Cotter (3 goals, 2 assists) and Daryl Veltman (2 goals, 3 assists) lead the Boston offense.

The Wings will look for win #2 when they face the Colorado Mammoth next Saturday at home.

2010 Wings Lacrosse Game 2 (vs Boston 1-16-10)

By Tom Hoffman

The Philadelphia Wings will look to recover from an opening night loss in Orlando when they host the Boston Blazers in the Wings 2010 home opener on Saturday night. Faceoff at the Wachovia Center is at 7 PM. The game can also be seen on the NLL Network free of charge.

History

The Wings struggled against the expansion Blazers in 2009 losing all three meetings. On January 23, the Blazers won their first ever NLL game 13-11 over the Wings in Philly's 2009 home opener. Boston rookie Daryl Veltman scored four goals that night while league MVP Dan Dawson had seven assists. The following evening the Blazers dominated the Wings 11-7 at TD Banknorth Garden. Boston jumped out to a 5-0 in this game and never looked back. The Wings did close to within a goal at 8-7 before the Blazers scored the game's last three goals to ice the win. Matt Lyons tallied five goals while Dan Dawson added a goal and seven more assists earning Offensive Player of the Week honors for Week four of the 2009 season. The final meeting is a game Wings fans would like to forget as they were held to just one goal over three quarters as they were embarrassed by Boston 8-4 on February 13. The Wings trailed 7-1 with just over ten and a half minutes to play before scoring three of the games last four goals. The lone highlight for Philadelphia was a 48 save night by goalie Brandon Miller.

Last week

The Wings were defeated 13-8 by the Orlando Titans in front of 8,145 fans at Orlando's Amway Arena last Friday. After taking a 2-1 lead in the first quarter, the Titans reeled off seven straight goals to put the game out of reach. Casey Powell led the Titans with four goals while Jordan Hall added six helpers. The Wings leaders were Drew Westervelt with three goals and Dan Teat with two goals and two assists while Brandon Miller made 33 saves.

Boston's opener was just as tough as they fell at home to the Toronto Rock 17-7 on Saturday. Dan Dawson scored three goals and added two assists while Daryl Veltman had four points (2G, 2A). Both Anthony Cosmo (12 Goals Against) and Mike Poulin (5 GA) struggled in net for Boston. Before coming to Philly the Blzaers will travel Friday to Toronto for a rematch of opening night.

For Openers

The Wings have a home opening record of 13-10, only 6-7 at the Wachovia Center. In addition to last years loss, the Wings were 2-1 in home openers against the original Blazers (1989-1997).

Next Game

The Wings will return to the Wachovia Center on January 23 to host the Colorado Mammoth.