2012 Wings Lacrosse (2-18-12 at Toronto)

by Tom Hoffman

Hitting the road for just the second time this season, the Philadelphia Wings (3-2) will look to add to their win total when they visit the defending NLL Champion Toronto Rock (3-2) Saturday night at the Air Canada Centre. Game time is at 7 PM and can be seen on the NLL Network at NLL.com.

History

The Wings are 10-22 all time against the Rock and 0-1 in 2012 following a 15-6 loss at the Wells Fargo Center on February 4. The Wings are 3-11 on the road in the regular season vs. Toronto (1-0 at Copps Coliseum, 0-1 at Maple Leaf Gardens and 2-10 at the Air Canada Centre). The Wings last victory in Toronto was on April 27, 2008 (15-14). The Wings only other road win against the Rock came in the 2001 National Lacrosse League championship game (9-8).

Last Game

Dan Dawson had a goal and nine assists, Kevin Crowley tallied four goals while Brodie Merrill and Drew Westervelt each notched hat tricks as the Wings defeated the Buffalo Bandits 14-13 last Saturday at the Wells Fargo Center. Dawson earned the National Lacrosse League’s Offensive Player of the Week award while Merrill was named Transition Player of the Week.

The Opponent

Toronto has been idle since defeating the Wings 15-6 in Philadelphia on February 4. The two teams will meet one more time in Toronto on March 9. In the game two weeks ago Toronto was led by Garrett Billings (1G, 8A) and Josh Sanderson (3G, 6A) with nine points each. Stephan Leblanc added four goals while Matt Roik shut out the Wings in the second half.

Notes and Stuff

Thomas Hajek is the only current member of the Wings who has played in both regular season Wings victories at the Air Canada Centre. Including the game in Hamilton in 1998 and the 2001 championship game, Jake Bergey is the lone Wings player to have appeared in all four Wings road wins vs. the Rock

On this date

The Wings are 1-2 in games played on February 4. The Wings defeated the Detroit Turbos 19-10 at the Spectrum in 1989 while losing at home to the Rochester Knighthawks 14-13 in 2005 and to the Portland Lumberjax 15-12 in 2006.


Next Game

The Wings will head to Edmonton on February 24 to face the Rush.