Wings earn win in house of horrors

by Tom Hoffman

Normally when the Philadelphia Wings visit Toronto's Air Canada Centre, the result isn't usually one fans like to talk about. Yeah, they did win the 2001 National Lacrosse League title here but regular season success has been very little. And after the woeful effort two weeks ago against the Rock in Philadelphia most fans could be forgiven for not exactly being positive for Saturday's rematch. But the old cliche of "that's why they play the game" was quite evident as the Wings owned the game's last 45 minutes en route to a convincing 14-8 victory over the Rock in their barn.

The Wings trailed 3-2 after the opening stanza and were behind 4-3 in he second when the offense and defense both woke up. Brendan Mundorf, Kevin Crowley and Dan Dawson were just about unstoppable as they combined for 11 goals and 15 assists. Brandon Miller had a stellar game in net for the Wings making 32 saves while former Wing Matt Roik gave up 13 of the Wings scores and was eventually replaced by Pat Campbell just about halfway through the fourth quarter. Drew Westervelt (two goals) and Ned Crotty completed the Wings scoring on the night.

With two wins in a row, the Wings will look to add to and build on these recent efforts in next week's visit to Edmonton to face the Rush.