Wings use strong first half and hold on to beat Mammoth

By Tom Hoffman

Much like last week's game in Denver, it was a tale of two halves for the Philadelphia Wings against the Colorado Mammoth. And much like last week the Wings would have the better half and thus were able to hold on for a 12-11 victory at home in front of a crowd of 8,616 at the Wells Fargo Center.

For the fourth time in five games this season the Wings got on the board first courtesy of Max Seibald, back in the lineup after sitting out Friday night in Boston as a result of his hit on Buffalo's Jon Harasym on January 15. After Colorado's Brian Langtry knotted the game at one, the Wings got scores from Athan Iannucci and Matt Alrich to take a 3-1 lead after 15 minutes. The Mammoth would tie the game at three before the Wings offense would come alive scoring seven of the next eight goals, briefly chasing Colorado goalie Chris Levis in favor of former Wing Rob Blasdell, to go into halftime with a seemingly comfortable 10-4 lead. Then, in the eyes of Wings coach John Tucker, the Wings took their foot off the gas pedal and all of a sudden the Mammoth were back in the game.

Colorado would shut out the Wings in the third quarter and thanks to a hat trick from Alex Gajic went into the game final stanza down by only two goals. Kyle Sweeney and Drew Westervelt would put the Wings up by four goals midway through the fourth but the Mammoth would not quit and following a power play goal from Cliff Smith with 2:27 left in regulation they would close to within a goal. And they thought they had the tying score with under two minutes to play but John Grant Jr was ruled to have been in the crease negating the score. The Wings would hold on and kill off the clock to put up their third win in a row.

Again the defensive star for Philadelphia was goalie Brandon Miller who had a 44 save night in playing his second game in as many nights. Athan Iannucci, after a four goal night in Boston on Friday, continued to shake the rust off with a three goal, three assist night while Drew Westervelt also chipped in with a hat trick. Grant led all scorers with eight points (2G, 6A) but that would not be enough for Colorado as they fell to 1-3 while the Wings improved to 3-2.

Next for the Wings will be a visit to Rochester to faceoff against the Knighthawks next Saturday afternoon as Philly will seek to add a fourth game to their win streak.

Wings ride a full 60 to victory

By Tom Hoffman

The Philadelphia Wings rode another solid effort from goalie Brandon Miller and brought their 2011 record to 2-2 as they defeated the Boston Blazers 11-5 Friday night at TD Garden. Athan Iannucci led the Wings with four goals while Alex Turner chipped in a hat trick. The Wings, who never trailed in the game, chased Boston keeper Anthony Cosmo late in the third quarter. Miller made 43 saves while shutting out Boston over the game's final 22 minutes and 26 seconds.

The Wings will look to extend their win streak to three on Saturday when they host the Colorado Mammoth.

2011 Wings Lacrosse (1-28-11 at Boston and 1-29-11 vs Colorado)

By Tom Hoffman

Following their first win of the 2011 season, the Philadelphia Wings (1-2) will look to add two more to the win column this weekend when they play their first set of back to back games. The weekend will begin Friday night with a visit to Boston to face the 2-2 Blazers at 7:30 PM before returning home to take on the Colorado Mammoth (1-2) at 7 PM on Saturday. Both games will be shown live on the NLL Network at NLL.com while Saturday's tilt with the Mammoth will also be shown live on the Comcast Network.

History

The Wings are 2-5 against the Blazers, 0-1 in 2011 following a season opening 10-6 loss on January 8 at the Wells Fargo Center. All time the Wings are 1-2 at TD Banknorth Garden and 0-2 against the current Boston franchise. The Wings played the original Blazers team there in 1997 and defeated Boston 12-11. Last season the Wings fell to the Blazers 11-9 in a January 30 matinee game.

After last week's game, the Wings-Mammoth series now stand at 6-3 (28-13 overall including Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Washington) and 3-1 (15-5) in Philadelphia.

Last Week

The Wings picked up their first victory of the 2011 season last Saturday by defeating the Mammoth 11-10 at Denver's Pepsi Center. The Wings trailed 7-3 at halftime but outscored Colorado 3-0 in the third quarter and 5-3 in the fourth to give John Tucker his first win as Wings coach. Max Seibald scored a hat trick and Paul Dawson added two scores, including the game winner. Brandon Miller again was solid in goal recording 41 saves. This was Colorado's lone game last weekend.

Boston played twice last weekend and went 0-2 with both games ending in overtime. Friday after scoring three times in a 94 second span late in the fourth to tie the game the Blazers fell in the extra session to the Toronto Rock 15-14 in Toronto. Saturday the Blazers again needed extra time and again were on the short end of the scoreboard losing 11-10 at home to the Rochester Knighthawks.

Trivia

Celebrating 25 years of Wings lacrosse and the 10th anniversary of the team's last championship in 2001, this week's trivia question is:

Name the members of the 2001 Wings who at one time also suited up for the original New England/Boston Blazers? The answer will be at the end of the preview.

Notes

The Wings are 1-2 all time on January 28 losing to the New York Saints 20-16 in 1989, defeating the Buffalo Bandits 17-10 in 1995 and falling to the Bandits in 2005 15-10. On January 29 the Wings are 1-1 winning in 2000 over Rochester 15-12 and losing at Buffalo in 2005 20-16.

The Wings have lost four straight home games dating back to last season (last home win March 27, 2010 against Boston 13-7). The Wings have never lost their first three home games of the season.

Next Game

The Wings hit the road on February 5 for a Saturday afternoon tilt in Rochester against the Knighthawks.

Trivia Answer

Three members of the 2001 Wings played for the original Blazers franchise: Kevin Finneran (1991), Tom Ryan (1995-1997) and Chris Panos (1997).