2012 Wings Lacrosse (3-9-12 at Toronto)

by Tom Hoffman

Trying to halt their first two game losing streak of the season, the Philadelphia Wings (4-4) will head to where they won their last game when they visit the defending NLL Champion Toronto Rock (4-4) Friday night at the Air Canada Centre. Game time is at 7:30 PM and can be seen live on the NLL Network at NLL.com and ESPN3. The game will also be shown on tape delay on March 10 on Comcast SportsNet (7 PM) and on March 11 on the Comcast Network (4 PM).

History

The Wings are 11-22 all time against the Rock and 1-1 in 2012 with the Rock defeating the Wings 15-6 at the Wells Fargo Center on February 4 and the Wings returning the favor with a 14-8 win on February 18 at the Air Canada Centre. The Wings are 4-11 on the road in the regular season vs. Toronto (1-0 at Copps Coliseum, 0-1 at Maple Leaf Gardens and 3-10 at the Air Canada Centre).

Last Game

The Wings were tied at 7-7 entering the fourth quarter but were outscored 4-1 in falling to the Rochester Knighthawks 11-8 last Saturday at the Wells Fargo Center. Kevin Crowley scored three goals and added two assists while Dan Dawson chipped in a goal and four assists. Brandon Miller made 39 saves in the losing effort.

The Opponent

Toronto fell last Saturday to the Washington Stealth 14-9 at the Air Canada Centre. Stephan Leblanc leads the Rock with 15 goals while Garrett Billings leads Toronto in assists (33) and points (46). Matt Roik has a GAA of 11.79.

Stats and Stuff

A Wings victory would give them the season series edge vs. Toronto for the first time since 2009 and the divisional tiebreaker. The Wings have the tiebreaker against Buffalo while Rochester owns the tiebreaker against the Wings.

Kevin Crowley has 24 goals through eight games. Last season Athan Iannucci led the Wings with 29 goals in 13 games. Dan Dawson has 43 assists in eight games, last season's Wings leader was Brendan Mundorf with 34. Dawson's 51 points at midseason are 10 fewer than Iannucci's team leading 61 from 2011.

East Standings

WINGS 4-4
Toronto 4-4
Rochester 4-5
Buffalo 2-5

On this date

The Wings are 2-1 in games played on March 9. The Wings defeated the Pittsburgh Bulls at Civic Arena 15-7 in 1991 and beat the Charlotte Cobras 26-11 in 1996 at the Spectrum. In 2002 the Wings were defeated 19-12 by the Washington Power at the Capital Centre.


Next Game

The Wings return home on March 17 to face the Edmonton Rush.