Knighthawks continue to have the Wings number

by Tom Hoffman

Through three quarters it was starting to look like the Philadelphia Wings might have found a way to finally defeat the Rochester Knighthawks as they entered the game's final 15 minutes all even at seven. But the Wings could not stop Mike Accursi and ended up falling to the Knighthawks for the eighth straight time in an 11-8 final disappointing the crowd of 8,906 who came out to see the Wings retire the jersey of Hall of Fame goalkeeper Dallas Eliuk.

The start to Saturday's game was much like that of the season opener between the two teams as Rochester jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the game's first 12 minutes. The Wings did make it a one goal game at halftime (5-4) but missed a great opportunity in the latter part of the first stanza and early minutes of the second after Rochester's Mike Kirk was called for a five minute high sticking penalty, scoring only once during the power play.

The Wings did tie the game and take their first lead of the night early in the third on a score from Brendan Mundorf and a "goal of the year" candidate from Dan Dawson, a one handed and underhand shot with his back to the net. After former Wing Brad Self tied the game at six, Kevin Crowley would give the Wings their final lead of the evening. Craig Point would tie the game at seven to set up the Accursi show in the fourth as Rochester's number 44 scored twice early in the quarter to give the Knighthawks the lead. By the time Crowley scored his third goal of the evening with 1:44 left in regulation, the game was out of the Wings reach. A large part of the Wings struggles in the game's final frame was poor shot selection that certainly did not go unnoticed.

"Offense really struggled in the fourth to create some shots and bury the ball when we needed to," Wings forward Dan Dawson said. "Sometimes when we get in tight situations we try to do too much, whether we're going too early in the shot clock or looking for that perfect shot."

Wings coach Johnny Mouradian was equally as frustrated with the team's fourth quarter shooting.

"We were making some poor shot selections," Mouradian said. "We weren't sharp enough shooting. We're either rushing a shot or we're shooting too late."

The loss tightened up the East division even more, especially with the Toronto Rock and Buffalo Bandits both losing their games on Saturday. As the Wings and Rock are tied at 4-4 in the standings, it puts this Friday's final regular season match between the two teams in the all important "must game" category as the winner will have the tiebreaker in the division. For the Wings players, it will also be a chance to show what the team is made of character wise.

"I think this is really going to be a definite turning point in our season," Dan Dawson said. "Define ourselves how we respond from two losses in a row."

2012 Wings Lacrosse (3-3-12 vs. Rochester)

by Tom Hoffman

The Philadelphia Wings (4-3) will reach the midpoint of their 2012 National Lacrosse League season Saturday when they host the Rochester Knighthawks (3-5) at the Wells Fargo Center. Game time is at 7 PM and can be seen on the Comcast Network as well as the NLL Network at NLL.com. The game will also be broadcast on Z88.9 (Burlington County College) and online at www.z889.org.

History

The Wings are 15-24 against the Knighthawks in regular season play and are 10-10 at home. In 2012 the Wings are 0-1 having lost the season opener to Rochester 22-12 on January 14 at the Wells Fargo Center. The Wings have lost seven consecutive games against Rochester and haven’t beaten the Knighthawks in Philadelphia since 2008 (15-14 on January 18).

Last Game

The Wings two game win streak ended with a 12-10 loss to the Edmonton Rush at Rexall Place. Kevin Crowley scored four goals while Drew Westervelt added a hat trick and three assists. Brandon Miller made 36 saves in goal.

The Opponent

Rochester lost to the Toronto Rock last Friday 16-12 at the Air Canada Centre. Cody Jamieson leads the Knighthawks in scoring with 20 goals and 24 assists while Matt Vinc has a goals against average of 12.35.

All Star Game

The West Division defeated the East 20-18 in the 2012 All Star Game on February 25 at Buffalo’s First Niagara Center. All four Wings representatives made it onto the score sheet. Dan Dawson led the Wings contingent with a goal and six assists, Brodie Merrill had four assists, Kevin Crowley tallied two goals and one assist and Max Seibald added a pair of goals.

Honoring #35

The Wings will add a second retired jersey banner to the ceiling of the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday when they retire Dallas Eliuk’s #35. Eliuk will join Tom Marechek (#42) as the only numbers retired by the Wings franchise. Eliuk played for the Wings from 1991 to 2005 before finishing his career with the Portland LumberJax. He was inducted into the NLL Hall of Fame in 2009.

Midseason

The Wings record the last five seasons at the midpoint:

2011 4-4
2010 2-6
2009 3-5
2008 7-1
2007 4-4

On this date

The Wings are 1-1 in games played on March 3. In 1990 they defeated the Pittsburgh Bulls 9-8 in overtime at Pittsburgh and in 2007 they lost to the Rochester Knighthawks 14-13 in Philadelphia.

Next Game

The Wings head back to Toronto to face the Rock on March 9.