Wings miss morning wake up call, get crushed by Knighthawks

By Tom Hoffman

The Wings played in front of a sparse
 and disappointed crowd Friday.

It was a dreary day outside the Wells Fargo Center on Friday.  Inside it somehow managed to be even worse as the Philadelphia Wings played their second straight stinker of a home game, falling to the Rochester Knighthawks 20-10.  Fortunately not many decided to witness the Wings first (and possibly last) 11 AM Lacrosse in Education game as a franchise low gathering of 5,139 passed through the turnstiles.  Those who took the day off from work were probably looking to go back to work while those who were part of the school groups in attendance learned why the Knighthawks are the National Lacrosse League’s defending champions.

Counting last season’s playoff match Rochester came into the game with 10 straight wins over the Wings dating back to January 10, 2009 and quickly served notice that number 11 was on its way.  Rochester led the game 2-0 before the Wings got on the board courtesy of former Knighthawk Jordan Hall’s power play goal.  The Rochester lead would increase to 5-1 when Kevin Buchanan added an extra man tally.  And that would be as close as the Wings would get the rest of the day as the Knighthawks closed out the half with six goals and added two more in the third to lead 13-2 before the Wings attempted to wake up.  To Wings Captain Brodie Merrill, the three straight losses all had a common denominator.

“For whatever reason the last three games we’ve gotten off to poor starts,” Merrill said.  “It seems like we’re chasing the play from there.  You get down by 4, 5, 6 goals inevitably you have to change your game plan.  When you do that you kinda leave yourself vulnerable.  It went from bad to worse, it just kept snowballing in the wrong direction and we couldn’t seem to stop it or have any answer for it.”

The Wings did score five of the last seven goals in the third to make it a 15-7 game but Rochester exploded again in the fourth with four straight goals to stomp out any hopes of a Wings miracle comeback.   While Brandon Miller was not sharp in net and was replaced twice by Kevin Croswell, Wings coach Johnny Mouradian instead turned the magnifying glass on his defense.

“We just had a very porous defense,” Mouradian said.  “We didn’t give Brandon Miller an opportunity on a lot of those goals.  They scored far too many inside shots, they scored some transition goals; they had reverse transition opportunities so we were very porous.  You can’t win letting in that many goals.”

The Wings did win the shots on goal total outshooting Rochester 59-50 but Merrill felt that number was deceptive.

“We may have outshot them but I would say they had a lot more quality opportunities than we did,” Merrill said.

Looking at the huge pre season deal that sent Dan and Paul Dawson to Rochester for Paul Rabil, Joel White, Jordan Hall and Rob Campbell, the Knighthawks certainly had the better of it Friday.  While Hall did tally four points (2G, 2A) for the Wings, Dan Dawson had as many points today (11 on four goals and seven assists) as he had in Rochester’s first four games.

Now the Wings have another weekend off before returning to another back to back weekend which starts in Rochester against these same Knighthawks.  And Mouradian realizes what the Wings need to do.

“We have to get better against that club,” Mouradian said.  “For some reason this Rochester club has us.”  

One on One with Matt Toth

By Kevin Neibauer

Recently I caught up with Matt Toth. Matt is a mainstay for the Outlaws in the Philadelphia Box Lacrosse Association, and is a member of the Baltimore Bombers of the North American Lacrosse League.

KMN-"Can you tell us your lacrosse background?"

MT- "I started playing Lacrosse when I was really young and when High School came around I had to make a decision about whether I would continue to play or not. I decided to continue and eventually ended up at Neumann University. I started playing box early in my lacrosse career and slowly transcended to field until my sophomore year of college when I played for the US Developmental team and started playing more box than field. After college I continued to play some club ball when the opportunity to play in the NALL came about and I jumped on the chance. I ended up playing for the Reading Rockets in the PLL (Professional Lacrosse League) this past year and now I am on the Baltimore Bombers of the NALL".

KMN-"We have seen you play a few seasons in the PBLA, tell us about the league and why you play"

MT- "The PBLA is a great league to play in. The competition is great and I have made a lot of friends through the league that I would not have made otherwise. I play in the league because it's a great way to get a run in during the summer and seeing all of my friends makes it that much better".

KMN-"You scored a high light reel goal the other night, those who know your game were surprised that you showed the acrobatics, what was going on that made you react like that?"

MT-"It was more luck than anything. I picked up a loose ball in the corner and rolled away from the pressure and just jumped and hoped for the best. I'm lucky it went in because I'm pretty sure I had my eyes closed the whole time"

KMN-"Can you tell us about a typical game day routine for a NALL player?"

MT-"A typical game day routine would be meetings in the mornings for the offense and defense to go over match ups and the game plan. Then just relax and wait until we have to be at the arena. I'm not a very superstitious person so I just take it easy all day and try to stay as relaxed as possible."

KMN-" Chris Collins, Ethan Farrell...both from similar backgrounds as yourself, are they an inspiration?"

MT- "Chris and Ethan are both phenomenal players and they are definitely an inspiration to me. Just to see how hard they worked to get where they are is definitely something to look up to. They are both stand-up guys off the floor which is even more reason to try to strive to get where they are and do the things they have done in their Lacrosse careers."

KMN-"Where do you see yourself going in the Lacrosse world?"

MT- "I hope to continue playing as long as I can. If that means local recreational leagues or the NLL, I'll be happy with either direction. After playing, I would like to continue coaching. I have had so many great coaches in my career to guide me and put me on the right path, it would be great to give something back to the Lacrosse world and share some of the knowledge that they gave me with the next generation of players."

KMN-".Tell us about the Outlaws from the PBLA.  What does the future hold for them?

MT- "Hopefully the future holds another championship. We have a great group of guys on the team and we hope to keep together as much as we can for the next few years. It's amazing to play with the group of guys we have because we all consider each other friends on and off the floor."

KMN-"Professionally, where do you see lacrosse taking you?"

MT- "I would like to see my lacrosse career turning into the direction of coaching when I am done playing. I would like to coach just to pass on the game and keep it going in a positive direction".

Thank You Matt!!!

 

The Changing Role of the Equipment Manager

By Mike Fox

I have been very fortunate in my 40+ years of being involved in sports.  My father passed along his passion for sports and I was able to pass that along to my sons who grew up on sidelines when they were not participating themselves in sports.

Recently I was able to have this conversation with my youngest son that had been hired as the Equipment Manager for the Reading Rockets.

I asked Chris to tell me what the number 1 job of the equipment manager is. He responded with the answer, To manage equipment. I then asked him to answer again without using the same words in the answer that were in the question. I got a puzzled look. I then said I will give you clues, our number 1 responsibility is the same as the athletic trainer and the head coach.  Now he appeared a little more perplexed when he said that the number 1 responsibility was to win games. I smiled and said that while I do my job, that really isn’t my first responsibility, nor is it theirs.

Our number 1 responsibility is to prevent injury. If I do my job correctly, where I properly fit the athlete with the proper gear I will prevent injury. If the Athletic Trainer, with preventative taping, conditioning, nutrition, and proper recovery they will prevent injury. And with the coach, teaching proper techniques, strategies and enforcing what we do, will prevent injuries.

Slowly I started to get the head nod as I went on.

How often do you hear an athlete say he gave 100%? Without waiting for the answer I then explained how us doing our job helps the athlete achieve that. Let’s say that in a lacrosse game there are 60 shifts and with shifts etc a player will appear in 40 shifts. Now without any problems, if he gave 100% and was in all shifts, he was 100% effective. But say he broke some equipment or was cramping and missed 10 shifts, and he still says he gave 100%, he really only was 75% effective because he missed time on the floor. So he was 100% effective 75% of the time.

Often you hear people address this issue with, if only this guy was there or that guy the outcome could have been different. There is a cost with the athlete missing time, or the game. A number of teams in all sports chart the +/- of each athlete on the team and how effective he is when is in there. That chart gives you the hard cost of what is lost when an athlete misses shifts.

If we take our job responsibility to the next step, and can minimize any downtime, then we are helping them be 100% effective 100% of the time with no extraneous cost to the team, like defender A missing a shift and the person who is his responsibility now scoring.

Our job is more than attaching face masks and counting shorts. It is doing what we can to eliminate any issues the team might have so that they can stay on the floor as long as possible, so they can achieve the 100-100.

Wings Lacrosse 2013 (2-8-13 vs. Rochester)

By Tom Hoffman

Following a bye week and back to back losses, the Philadelphia Wings (2-2) will host the defending champion Rochester Knighthawks (1-3) on February 8 in a first time weekday matinee game. Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is at 11 AM and the game can be seen live at www.youtube.com/thelacrossenetwork.


History

The Wings are 15-26 all time against the Knighthawks in regular season play, 10-11 in Philadelphia. The Knighthawks swept the season series in 2012 and have won nine consecutive regular season games against the Wings and have won their last four visits to Philadelphia. Rochester won 22-12 on January 14 and 11-8 on March 3, both games at the Wells Fargo Center. The Knighthawks won the season finale 9-7 on April 28 at the Blue Cross Arena. In addition, on May 4 the Knighthawks defeated the Wings 14-13 in the opening round of the 2012 National Lacrosse League playoffs.

Last Time Out

The Wings were swept in back to back games on January 26th and 27th. On the 26th the Wings traveled to Buffalo’s First Niagara Center and lost a 14-13 heartbreaker on a Luke Wiles goal in the game’s final minute. Kevin Ross tallied four goals for the Wings while Drew Westervelt and Jordan hall each chipped in with three. On Sunday the 27th the Wings lost at home to the Calgary Roughnecks 16-8 behind three goals from former Wing Geoff Snider. Paul Rabil scored three times for the Wings with Kevin Ross and Kevin Crowley each adding a pair of goals. Brandon Miller started the game in Buffalo and Kevin Croswell started against Calgary. Croswell was lifted after surrendering seven goals in almost 20 minutes of play.

Rochester won for the first time this season last Saturday night with a 7-6 home victory over the Washington Stealth. Matt Vinc stopped 42 shots to lead the defending champions to their first win since the 2012 Champions Cup Final.

Trivia

What three current Wings were in the lineup when the Wings last defeated the Knighthawks on January 10, 2009? Answer will be listed below.

Notes and stuff

The last time the Wings won a game with Matt Vinc in the opposing goal was April 4, 2009 when the Wings defeated the New York Titans 11-7 at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ.

On this date

The Wings are 1-2 on February 8. In 1992 they defeated the Detroit Turbos 16-15 at Joe Louis Arena. In 2003 the Wings fell to the Rochester Knighthawks 12-9 at the First Union Center and in 2009 the Wings were defeated by the New York Titans 15-12 at the Prudential Center.

Answer

The three Wings in the lineup in Rochester on January 10, 2009 were Drew Westervelt, Pat Heim and Brandon Miller. Westervelt had two goals and an assist while Heim tallied a goal. Miller made 36 saves to pick up the 16-13 win.

Next Game

The Wings will return to action for another weekend of consecutive games starting with a rematch with the Knighthawks on February 23 before returning home to face the Colorado Mammoth on February 24.