Big fourth quarter leads Wings to win

By Tom Hoffman

Trailing by four goals entering the final 15 minutes of play and playing without leading scorer Athan Iannucci, out with a finger injury suffered last week in Rochester, Philadelphia Wings fans could have been forgiven for thinking the night would not end well. The Wings had other ideas though and used a six goal outburst to defeat the Toronto Rock 12-11 at Wells Fargo Center. With the Wings victory and the Boston Blazers losing to Rochester Philly now has their playoff destiny in their own control.

The Wings came out playing some good physical lacrosse in what ended up an even opening 15 minutes of play and stayed close until they tied the game at five apiece on a shorthanded score from Drew Westervelt. Just 17 seconds after evening up the game the Rock's Garrett Billings tallied on the power play to break the tie and start a four goal Toronto run to give the Rock a 9-5 halftime lead. Each team scored once in the third and while the Rock seemed to ease up on the throttle, a four goal lead seemed to be a lock.

Once the fourth quarter began the Wings offense came to life and they finally began to solve Toronto backup keeper Pat Campbell, who started tonight after Bob Watson handled the Rock overtime win at home against the Washington Stealth on Friday. Westervelt got the scoring started in the fourth with a pair of goals to complete a hat trick. Brendan Mundorf finished off a hat trick of his own to pull the Wings within one before Max Seibald gave the Wings their first lead since Mundorf's goal to open the game.

The Wings would add goals from Ryan Boyle and Matt Danowski (in his first game as a Wing) and would then get some help from video review as a Toronto goal was reversed due to the Rock's Colin Doyle just slightly having his foot on the crease line. This would serve huge especially after Blaine Manning scored to make it a 12-11 game with 1:25 to play. The Philly defense would stop Toronto on their next possession and successfully kill off the clock and deliver the Wings just their second win at home in the 2011 season.

Boyle's seven point night (1G, 6A) would lead the Wings with Westervelt right behind with six (3G, 3A). The defense, meanwhile, held the Rock's dangerous sophomore duo of Billings and Stephan LeBlanc to a goal each. Brandon Miller, shaky in the second quarter, was very sharp in the second half only allowing a pair of goals and making 31 saves overall.

For the Wings, their playoff season begins Saturday night when they travel to Boston to face a Blazers team that has struggled mightily in their last five games. A win for the Wings would not only pull them even with Boston in the win column but would also give the Wings the all important tiebreaker in the season series. For a team that has struggled themselves for the majority of the season this would be a big boost for a young Wings squad looking to right their ship and find consistency.

2011 Wings Lacrosse (4-2-11 vs. Toronto)

by Tom Hoffman

The Philadelphia Wings (4-8) will look to end an overall four game losing streak, a three game home losing streak and keep their slim postseason hopes alive when they host the Toronto Rock (9-3) at the Wells Fargo Center at 7 PM. The game will be shown live on the NLL Network at NLL.com.

History

The Wings are 9-21 all time in regular season play (0-2 this season) against the Rock including their first season in 1998 as the Ontario Raiders. At home the Wings are 6-10 against Toronto, 0-1 in 2011 following a 16-13 loss on February 26. The Rock also defeated the Wings in Toronto on March 4 by a score of 15-10.

Last Week

The Wings lost to the Rochester Knighthawks 13-10 last Saturday at Blue Cross Arena. The Wings were led by Brendan Mundorf with six points (2G, 4A) and a hat trick from Ryan Boyle. Drew Westervelt (2G, 3A) and Alex Turner (5A) each added five points. Toronto lost at Calgary 14-9 to the West leading Roughnecks last Friday. The loss ended a five game win streak for the Rock.

Trivia

This season is the 25th season of Wings Lacrosse and the 10th anniversary of the Wings last championship victory in 2001. This column will feature a trivia question each week and will attempt to tie in the 2001 champions and/or other moments in Wings history, as well as that week’s opponent. This week’s question is:

Only two American born players have played for the Toronto Rock and both have ties to the Wings. Who are they? Answer at the end of the preview.

Notes

All time the Wings are 1-1 on April 2. They defeated the Albany Attack 13-12 in overtime in 2000 and lost to Toronto 17-15 in 2005.

Three players in the National Lacrosse League’s top 10 scoring leaders will be on the floor in this game. Toronto’s Stephan LeBlanc is tied for fifth with 65 points while teammate Blaine Manning is tied for eighth with the Wings Athan Iannucci, each with 60 points. Iannucci is fourth in goals scored (29); one ahead of LeBlanc while Manning is tied for second with 41 assists.

The Wings are currently 1-5 at home. The only time the Wings have had just one win at home was in 1992 when they finished 1-3. This season will be the fifth time the Wings have had a sub .500 record at home (1992, 2004, 2005 and 2010).

Next Game

The Wings travel to Boston on April 9 to face the Blazers for the last time in the 2011 season to start a back to back weekend that ends on April 10 with a home tilt against Rochester.

Trivia Answer

Ex-Wing Kevin Finneran in 2003 became the first American player to suit up for the Rock while current Wings forward Bill McGlone was the second one. McGlone played for Toronto in 2009 following the dispersal draft of the Chicago Shamrox.