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2012 Wings Lacrosse (1-27-12 at Buffalo)

2012-01-25T14:24:00.002-05:00

by Tom Hoffman

Coming off an exciting overtime win last Saturday, the Philadelphia Wings will hit the road for the first time in 2012 when they travel to First Niagara Center to face the Buffalo Bandits on Friday night. Game time is at 7:30 PM and can be seen on the NLL Network at NLL.com.

History

The Wings are 20-22 all time against the Bandits. In Buffalo, the Wings have a record of 9-12 but are 8-8 at First Niagara Center and have won their last two meetings there. In 2011 the Bandits won the season series 2-1 winning both games in Philadelphia (9-6 on January 15 and 16-7 on February 12) while the Wings won in Buffalo 10-9 on February 19.

Last Game

Kevin Crowley scored five goals, including the overtime winner as the Wings defeated the Washington Stealth 10-9 last Saturday at Wells Fargo Center. Drew Westervelt added a hat trick while Brendan Mundorf chipped in a pair of goals. Brandon Miller made 49 saves in goal.

The Opponent

The Bandits are 2-0 in 2012 following victories at home vs. the Toronto Rock (14-10) and on the road against the Rochester Knighthawks (12-9). John Tavares leads the team in scoring (6G, 9A) while Mike Thompson has been in goal in both games (9.50 GAA).

Familiar Faces

Former Wings on the Buffalo roster include Kyle Sweeney (played for the Wings from 2005-2011), Luke Wiles (2006), Ian Llord (2007), Jon Harasym (2009) and Mat Giles (2009-2010). Current Wing Mike Hominuck played for the Bandits in 2004 and 2005.

Stats and Stuff

John Tavares has had his greatest success in the National Lacrosse League against the Wings. In 41 regular season games against Philadelphia, Tavares has 109 goals and 142 assists. In 2011 he scored his 700th goal (2-12-110 and picked up his 1500th point (2-19-11) against the Wings.

On this date

The Wings are 3-0 on January 27 with all three wins coming at home. In 1996 the Wings defeated the New York Saints 23-8, in 2001 they defeated the Albany Attack 18-9 and in 2007 they defeated the Toronto Rock 10-9.

Next Game

The Wings return to the Wells Fargo Center to face the Toronto Rock on February 4.

Wings earn gritty OT win over Stealth

2012-01-21T23:52:00.003-05:00

by Tom Hoffman

After an awful opener last week, the Philadelphia Wings tightened up on defense, played solid transitional lacrosse and got another big production night from top draft pick Kevin Crowley as they defeated the Washington Stealth 10-9 in overtime Saturday at the Wells Fargo Center. Crowley tallied five goals including the OT winner 3:27 into the extra session.

"It was a great character win for our team," Crowley said. "We could've just deflated and gave up but the team brought it together. It was a good all around team win."

Crowley got the evening off to a good start with a first quarter hat trick that gave the Wings a 3-0 lead after the opening 15. The second quarter went the opposite way as the Stealth would score three goals to take the game to halftime even. Goals by the Stealth's Cam Sedgwick and Curtis Hodgson gave Washington a 5-3 lead in the third before the Wings ended an almost 35 minute scoreless drought on Drew Westervelt's first goal of the night. Paul Rabil would give the Stealth their two goal lead back but Westervelt's second of the night would take the Wings into the fourth trailing by only one goal.

The scoring would continue for the Wings as Brendan Mundorf's first two scores of the season were followed by Westervelt's third goal of the night to give the Wings an 8-6 lead. Sedgwick's second of the night brought the Stealth to within one but the Wings looked to have the game in hand when Crowley tallied his fourth of the night to give the Wings a 9-7 advantage with 7:35 to play. The Stealth did not quit though and would force the game into overtime on goals by Lewis Ratcliff and Matt Beers, Beers tying the game with 3:05 left in regulation. The end of regulation and the overtime then became the Brandon Miller show as Miller made a number of his 49 saves during that period to keep the Wings alive and set up the final heroics from the National Lacrosse League's top draft pick in the 2011 entry draft.

"When B. Miller plays like that, he gives us an opportunity to win," Wings Coach/GM Johnny Mouradian said.

Mouradian also had high praise for Crowley.

"He's a big game player," Mouradian said. "He's a rookie in the NLL but he's not a rookie as far as being a game breaker and a game changer."

And if Crowley can somehow maintain his two game pace (8 goals, 6 assists)over the full 16 game schedule, he could be well on his way to some post season hardware from the league. As far as overall play, Mouradian definitely was happy with the effort from his club.

"Our man down was superb. I thought we ran the floor really well. I thought we made some good decisions on transition," Mouradian said.

It was a huge lift for the Wings after the crushing loss last week to Rochester and the Wings will look to feed off of this win as they travel to Buffalo on Friday to face the Bandits.

2012 Wings Lacrosse (1-21-12 vs. Washington)

2012-01-19T14:03:00.001-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

The Philadelphia Wings look to rebound from a disappointing season opener when they host the Washington Stealth Saturday night at the Wells Fargo Center. Game time is at 7 PM, the game can be seen on the NLL Network at NLL.com and will also be broadcast on Z88.9 (Burlington County College) and online at www.z889.org.

History

The Wings are 8-3 all time against the franchise that has spent time in Albany, NY (2000-2003) and San Jose, CA (2004-2009) before moving to Everett, WA for the 2010 season. All time at home the Wings are 5-0 vs. the Attack/Stealth. The last meeting between the two teams occurred on March 14, 2008 when the Wings defeated San Jose 16-13 at the Wachovia Center. Current Wings who were on the game night rosters that evening were Pat Heim, Thomas Hajek and Brandon Miller (Philadelphia) and Paul Dawson and Steve Holmes (San Jose). Holmes scored two goals that night for the Stealth.

Last Game

After tying the game at six apiece early in the second quarter, the Wings were outscored 16-6 the rest of the game as they fell 22-12 to the Rochester Knighthawks in the 2012 season opener. Top draft pick Kevin Crowley had a solid debut with three goals and five assists while Dan Dawson chipped in a goal and added six helpers. Drew Westervelt also added a hat trick for the Wings.

The Opponent

The Stealth feature several players who helped the franchise to back to back Finals appearances and their first Champion’s Cup title in 2010. Anchoring the offense for Washington is 2010 Champion’s Cup MVP Lewis Ratcliff, 2009 Rookie of the Year Rhys Duch and Jeff Zywicki. Defensively the Stealth is led by Jeff Moleski and Matt Beers while Tyler Richards mans the net. Leading the Washington transition game is Paul Rabil.

Familiar Faces

Five members of the Wings have spent time in the Attack/Stealth organization. Brandon Miller played for Albany from 2000- to 2003 and in San Jose from 2004 to 2006. Playing for the team in San Jose were Matt Alrich (2005-2006), Paul Dawson (2007-2008) and Steve Holmes (2007-2009). Brett Manney spent the 2009 season with the Stealth in San Jose and played in the team’s inaugural season in Washington in 2010. The lone former Wing on the Washington roster is Bob Snider, who played for the Wings in 2010 after being chosen 16th overall in the 2009 Entry Draft.

On this date

The Wings are 2-0 on January 21. In 1989 the Wings defeated the Baltimore Thunder 14-13 in Baltimore and in 2006 defeated the San Jose Stealth 10-7 in San Jose.

Next Game

The Wings will be on the road for the first time in 2012 when they face the Buffalo Bandits on January 27.

For Wings, another makeover, another opening game loss

2012-01-15T10:00:00.003-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

Much like last season the Philadelphia Wings entered their Natioanl Lacrosse League season opener following a massive roster overhaul that again included a trade of a fan favorite. And once again the Wings gave their remaining faithful a sign that change doesn't grant immediate success. Except for a five minute flurry in the 2nd quarter and a Broad Street Bully-like final 26 seconds of play, the Wings looked lost in their 22-12 defeat to the Rochester Knighthawks before 8,813 at the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday night.

There were very few bright spots in a game in which the Wings never led. After Max Seibald brought the Wings within a goal just under six minutes into the first stanza, the Wings were lit up for four consecutive scores to trail 6-1 after the opening 15. Philly then had its first highlight moment of the evening when they ripped off five goals in a stretch of 4:28 to tie the game at six. Included in this run were the first Wings goals for Kevin Crowley, Mike Hominuck and Dan Dawson. Crowley's first NLL goal came 2:15 after his first NLL point, an assist on a Drew Westervelt goal. The good vibes on offense would end there as the Knighthawks would counter with three goals to take a 9-6 halftime lead and then add four more to start the third and turn the game into a rout and chase Wings goalkeeper Brandon Miller.

The remainder of the second half belonged to Rochester on the scoreboard and to the Wings on the penalty sheet. With 26 seconds to play in a game that was already settled the Wings decided to take a page from the Flyers old playbook and goon it up with the Knighthawks. In round one the Wings David Brock and Rochester's Kyle Laverty went at it twice while Thomas Hajek, in his return to the Wings, and Tyler Burton of Rocheste also squared off. Just nine seconds after that a second donnybrook took place, one which ended in a ridiculous goalie fight between the Wings Kurtis Wagar and the Knighthawks Jake Henhawk. When the dust cleared the two teams combined for over 210 penalty minutes and some likely suspensions.

Crowley tallied three goals and five assists in his NLL debut to highlight the game for the Wings. For the Wings it was the first time giving up 20+ goals in agame since the Knighthawks did it to them on March 29, in a 20-12 final. It was also the second most goals the Wings have given up in a game, the worst being a 26 goal pounding in 2001 at Buffalo. The Wings will need to tighten up on defense and look for more consistency next week as the Washington Stealth will be coming into town on Saturday.

2012 Wings Lacrosse (1-14-12 vs. Rochester)

2012-01-11T16:05:00.002-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

The Philadelphia Wings open their 26th season of play this Saturday evening when they host the Rochester Knighthawks at the Wells Fargo Center. Game time is at 7 PM, the game can be seen on the NLL Network at NLL.com and will also be broadcast on Z88.9 (Burlington County College) and online at www.z889.org.

History

The Wings are 15-23 all time against the Knighthawks, 10-9 at home. Rochester won all three meetings in 2011 (11-6 and 13-10 at Rochester, 10-6 at Philadelphia) and has won six straight against the Wings. The last Wings victory over Rochester was on January 10, 2009 (16-13 at Rochester) while the last time the Wings beat the Knighthawks in Philadelphia was a 15-14 decision on January 18, 2008.

Openers

The Wings have a 12-13 record in season openers but have lost their last three and four of the last five. At home, the Wings are 14-11 in openers yet are just 7-8 in openers at the Wells Fargo Center. The Wings have previously opened the regular season twice against the Knighthawks (2001 and 2004, both in Rochester and both victories for the Wings) while this game will be the third time opening at home vs. Rochester (18-17 win at the Spectrum in 1995 and a 17-11 loss in 2004).

Changes

Another year means more changes to the Wings roster. Notable additions for 2012 were the acquisitions of Dan Dawson (via the Boston Blazers dispersal draft), Brodie Merrill (from the Edmonton Rush in the Athan Iannucci deal) and Kevin Crowley (#1 pick in the 2011 NLL Entry Draft). Other new faces include Jordan Sealock (acquired from the Calgary Roughnecks), Steve Fryer (4th round selection in the 2011 Entry Draft), Ned Crotty (acquired from the Colorado Mammoth) and Mike Hominuck (free agent signing). Returning to the Wings after a year away is former captain Thomas Hajek. Besides Iannucci, other notables not back this season are Alex Turner (part of the Merrill trade), Ryan Boyle (released), Taylor Wray (Head Coach at St. Joseph’s University) and Shawn Nadelen (retired).

Changes have also taken place behind the Wings bench as GM Johnny Mouradian has taken over the coaching duties from John Tucker, who remains in the organization as a scout. Blane Harrison moves from offense to defense as Jim Milligan of the Major Series Lacrosse Peterborough Lakers will handle the offense.

The Visitors

Top returnees for the Knighthawks are 2010 top draft pick Cody Jamieson (28G, 25A), Jordan Hall (18G, 22A), Pat McCready (101 loose balls) and Matt Vinc (9.77 GAA). Key losses are Shawn Williams (traded to the Edmonton Rush) and Shawn Evans (traded to Calgary).

On this date

The Wings are 2-1 on January 14. In 1989 the Wings defeated the New England Blazers 19-8 at the Spectrum, in 1995 defeated the New York Saints 11-10 at Nassau Coliseum and lost 13-10 to the Minnesota Swarm in 2006 at the Wells Fargo (then Wachovia) Center.

Next Game

The Wings will return to action on January 21 when the face the Washington Stealth.

Wings fall to Rochester in exhibition game

2011-12-11T20:08:00.002-05:00

by Tom Hoffman

The Rochester Knighthawks scored six fourth quarter goals to comeback and defeat the Philadelphia Wings 11-8 Sunday afternoon at the Sun National Bank Center in Trenton, NJ. This was the first pre-season game for both teams.

The Wings led 4-2 at halftime behind solid defense and Brandon Miller's goaltending. After trading off goals in the third quarter, the Wings took a 7-5 lead into the final fifteen minutes but Rochester capitalized on special teams play scoring once shorthanded and four times with the man advantage. Three of the Knighthawk power play goals came as a result of a five minute major assessed to the Wings Max Seibald.

The Wings and Knighthawks will open the regular season on January 14 at the Wells Fargo Center.

Wings face Knighthawks in exhibition

2011-12-10T12:50:00.003-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

The Philadelphia Wings will give their fans a preview of the 2012 season when they face off with the Rochester Knighthawks on Sunday December 11 at the Sun National Bank Center in Trenton, NJ at 1 PM.

This will be the first preseason game for both squads and will be a chance for Wings fans to see the team's newest acquisitions in play for the first time. Expected to be in the lineup will be Dan Dawson (acquired in the Boston Blazers dispersal draft), Brodie Merrill (acquired from the Edmonton Rush in the Athan Iannucci deal) and #1 draft pick Kevin Crowley. This will be the Wings second visit to Trenton having lost here in March 2008 to the New York Titans 20-13 in what was a Titans home game.

The game can be heard on Z88.9 (Burlington County College) and at http://staff.bcc.edu/z889/

Interview with George Golding

2011-10-05T11:07:00.001-05:00

By Kevin Neibauer

Recently, I had the opportunity to catch up with the very entertaining George Golding. Golding is very much a multi-faceted man. A school teacher by day, lacrosse player and referee in the evening, George also assists with the Phillies ground crew on game days as well as being very involved with the Philadelphia Soul as their mascot, Soul Man, as well as the former Trenton Devils mascot, Scorch. Without further ado, let's meet George Golding.

KMN- Tell us about your officiating background.

GG-"My family connection to officiating starts with my dad. I grew up watching him officiate basketball and football. He brought me on early, at the age of 6, as a scorekeeper/statistician for NESAC (North East Sports Athletic Conference). He then introduced me to football as an official with ARCO, finally working my way up to being a varsity football official (Referee and Line Judge) with the Central Board, with the PIAA. I continued with basketball as a ref and never pursued anything past high school rec leagues. In total I was involved for 30 years (15 years per sport). Once I tore my ACL, I worked the shot clocks for the PBLA and enjoyed it. Joe Fratoni gave me an opportunity to work the shot clock at a Barrage game, and he trusts me to work in the PBLA now. I am breaking into indoor lacrosse and hope to become an NLL official in a few years. My brother became an official as soon as he could and is returning to football after several seasons away from the game."

KMN-What is your sports background?

GG- "I grew up playing baseball and basketball, with baseball being my first love. I truly enjoy the game for the strategy, and the athletic ability it takes to play. I was recruited in high school to pitch in college, but decided to stay local and fulfill my dream of becoming a high school teacher. I began playing lacrosse when I turned 21, but I was a Wings season ticket holder for nearly 15 years. I loved watching the game and antagonizing visiting players. Through this, I became involved with Fann Cup because of two good friends, Keith Hennessy and Mike Barbera. I continued playing in the PBLA and have had opportunities to play in the Ales Hrebesky tournament in Prague and in the PILL".

KMN- How did you get involved with the grounds keeping and mascots?

GG- "While working for the Trenton Thunder (1999-2003, 2011) I gained some knowledge into grounds keeping and joined the Phillies organization in 2004 (2004-Present). I also work part-time with the Trenton Titans (formerly the Trenton Devils) during hockey season. My mascot connection goes back to 1999 when I started working for the Trenton Thunder. I became Boomer’s security guard and helped out when I could. I worked there for 5 years, and eventually had to take my position as a teacher. I was able to continue my mascot career, and help out Soul Man, with the Philadelphia Soul (2004-2008, 2011-Present). I assisted, and was part of, the 2008 Arena Football League Championship in New Orleans. I became a friend of the Trenton Devils (2007-2011) mascot, Scorch, until they suspended operations in April of 2011. I am fortunate now to work with the Trenton Titans and assist with game day duties. I owe my entertainment career to a great mentor, and wonderful friend Paul Devery."

"Attending Holy Ghost Preparatory was the greatest accomplishment of my educational life. I value everything that I have learned there and hold their teachings dear to my heart. Many teachers at HGP inspired me to become a teacher and continue their tradition in helping others as they have helped me. I am proud to say that I have earned my BA in Education, and absolutely love working with students."

KMN- What are your duties with the Phillies? Did you work the World Series? Describe a typical day in the life of a mascot.

GG-"My duties with the Phillies, since I'm game day, are to set up and break down batting practice, drag the field before and during the game, prepare the field (line, drag, paint, water) for the game, pull tarp for rain, and clean the field postgame. During the game we work under the stadium cleaning vehicles or watching the weather for the summer storms that pop up. I worked both World Series appearances in '08 and '09. The '08 win was the greatest moment in my life. Being a loyal Phillies follower since I remember, and suffering with my best friends for those years, winning it at home and celebrating on the field was so wonderful. My two friends I've had since I was 12 shared that experience with me."

“As for teaching I'm currently unemployed, thanks to the political uprisings in the neighboring state, though I teach high school English when I am employed. I worked at Medford Tech for 3 years and formed bonds with the terrific faculty there and taught some of the greatest kids in the world. I coached softball and helped lead the team to the first state playoff berth in school history. I love teaching and affecting lives of students. I believe in a philosophy that a teacher can make the content entertaining and students will want to learn more. So, that's what I try to do. Who knows, maybe one day I will have inspired someone to become a teacher like my teachers did for me at HGP."

"A day in the life of a mascot is tough because some days it embodies a couple of jobs running together. On a normal, school day, with a hockey game after, it involves packing the night before. All the essentials are prepped, packed and left by the door. I complete my job at school (not thinking about the game), and then after prepping for the next day of school, it's off to the arena. I arrive well before the public and before most of the front office. I am able to unpack the costume and personal items, and relax. I think about things that have happened during the day, and focus my energy as to what lies ahead tonight. I take a half hour nap, and then eat dinner. Following dinner, I get together with our emcee, Scott Cooney, and we talk about possible skits that could be interjected into promos. Once that's finished it's time to get dressed. I lead the team out prior to the anthem and then it's all improvisational skills after that. I try to be as crazy as I can be. My goal is to entertain the crowd, shake hands, meet as may people as I can, and leave them with a memory and a smile that they won't soon forget."

Thank You to George for taking time out of his busy schedule.

Wings release 2012 schedule

2011-09-12T18:44:00.004-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

The Philadelphia Wings will open the 2012 season at the Wells Fargo Center on January 14 when they host the Rochester Knighthawks. This will mark the debut of Dan Dawson and Brodie Merrill with the Wings, Dawson being acquired in the Boston Blazers dispersal draft and Merrill coming from the Edmonton Rush in the Athan Iannucci deal. Iannucci will return to Philadelphia on March 17 when the Rush make their first ever visit to Philadelphia. The Wings will face every team in the National Lacrosse League except for the Calgary Roughnecks.

Saturday, January 14 - 7:00 p.m. - Rochester at Philadelphia
Saturday, January 21 - 7:00 p.m. - Washington at Philadelphia
Friday, January 27 - 7:30 p.m. - Philadelphia at Buffalo
Saturday, February 4 - 7:00 p.m. - Toronto at Philadelphia
Sunday, February 12 - 4:00 p.m. - Buffalo at Philadelphia
Saturday, February 18 - 7:00 p.m. - Philadelphia at Toronto
Friday, February 24 - 9:00 p.m. - Philadelphia at Edmonton
Saturday, March 3 - 7:00 p.m. - Rochester at Philadelphia
Friday, March 9 - 7:30 p.m. - Philadelphia at Toronto
Saturday, March 17 - 7:00 p.m. - Edmonton at Philadelphia
Friday , March 23 - 9:00 p.m. - Philadelphia at Colorado
Sunday, March 25 - 4:00 p.m. - Colorado at Philadelphia
Friday, April 6 - 7:00 p.m. - Minnesota at Philadelphia
Saturday, April 7 - 7:30 p.m. - Philadelphia at Buffalo
Saturday, April 21 - 8:00 p.m. - Philadelphia at Minnesota
Saturday, April 28 - 7:30 p.m. - Philadelphia at Rochester

Home games in BOLD

Blockbuster deal caps off busy few weeks for Wings

2011-08-09T20:07:00.006-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

Last year it was Geoff Snider. Before that it was Sean Greenhalgh, Sean Thomson, Rob Van Beek, Ryan Ward, Luke Wiles and Chad Thompson. Now you can add Athan Iannucci to the list of former first round draft picks of the Philadelphia Wings to be sent packing in recent seasons following today's deal with the Edmonton Rush that saw Iannucci, Alex Turner and Brodie MacDonald sent West in exchange for 2011 2nd team All-Pro Brodie Merrill, Mike McLellan and Dean Hill. The Wings also picked up Edmonton's fifth round pick (#41) in this year's entry draft and the Rush's fourth rounder in 2013 while Edmonton gets the Wings #1 picks in 2012, 2013 and 2014. All of this on the heels of John Tucker resigning his spot as head coach and Tom Slate leaving his defensive coaching position with General Manager Johnny Mouradian adding the head coaching job to his resume, last season's offensive coordinator Blane Harrison moving to the defensive side (where he coached with NY/Orlando) and adding Jim Milligan of the Peterborough Lakers to run the offense.

Already this deal has sparked fan reaction, most of that towards the negative. If twitter response can be considered, some Wings players (Brandon Miller and Paul Dawson) seem to like the moves made. While Iannucci was a fan favorite and the team's top offensive player the Wings still managed to set a franchise low in 2011 averaging only 8.94 goals per game though to be fair he was still geting his legs back after missing part of the 2009 and all of 2010 recovering from knee surgery. Turner had a decent season but did not score a goal in the team's final five games while MacDonald was just one of several goalkeepers the Wings had in the mix. In Merrill, the Wings add one of the National Lacrosse League's best at getting to loose balls as well as one of the league's best transition players. Some have already hinted at the possibility of a transition with Merrill and Max Seibald. McLellan struggled in 2011 between Colorado and Edmonton but put up solid numbers in four season with the Titans. Hill could be looked to contribute to this squad much the same way Jason Crosbie and Jamie Rooney did with the 2008 Wings, a team that had very few problems on offense.

In one sense it is discouraging to see the team deal off players who have not only been fan favorites but also faces that even non-Wings fans might recognize. But when you miss the postseason in eight of ten seasons since winning their last NLL title in 2001 it's not like management is blowing up one of the best teams in sports history. The lack of winning is just one of a number of reasons Wings attendance has been on a downward spiral throughout the last decade, the last seven seasons being the seven worst attendance averages in Wings history. How this will all look on and off the field won't be known until the season gets underway in January. Will the players be right and this is the deal to start the Wings back on the road to respectability or do the fans have this one pegged as the beginning of the end for a once proud franchise? This question could be answered as early as the upcoming entry draft, one in which the Wings hold the top pick. The clock is ticking.

Twenty Five Year Tradition in the Lacrosse World Part 2

2011-07-08T13:02:00.004-05:00

By- Kevin M. Neibauer

Today we look at the long list of names that have participated in the League. We’ll let Frank Menschner do the honors.

Tom Slate, J.R. Castle, Paul French (Wings), Scott Joyner, Bill Curtis (USA 2003 1 Bronze medal each), Brad Kotz (Wings & Thunder), Mark Hoffman, Donny West (Wave), Kevin Forester (Wave & Thunder, now an NLL official) PBLA refs Joe Fratoni and Joe Fee both refereed in the NLL. and now Mickey Hover and Bob Snider, George Castle (Wings), Frank Menschner (USA 1980 (20yrs old) & 2007(47yrs old) 2 Bronze medals), Ginny Capichionni (Storm & USA 2011, 1 Bronze medal ), Pat Crosby (Slovakia 2011), Tim O'Connor, Joe Caufield, Mike Ryan (Ireland 2011) Graham D'Alvia (USA GM 2007 & 2011, 2 Bronze medals), Jacques Bagley (USA asst.GM 2007 & 2011, 2 Bronze medals) JUST TO NAME A FEW!

The PBLA even has an international connection, Many Iroquois Nation members have participated. The list includes, Tracy Shenandoah (coach 2011 silver medal), Sonny Shenandoah, Ray Lyons and the Cook brothers, who lived and worked in Philly on the high rise buildings (Liberty One to be exact) during the week and then back to the reservation at Onondaga (Syracuse) for the weekends. They were part of the first Reaper Championship Team in 1988.

I was told by the people that run the MABLL (D.C.) and BILL (Balt.) that we paved the way for their leagues. I took over for Bill Malizia in1987 with Doreen Menschner as Treasurer and scorekeeper. Doreen died of a brain aneurism in 1993. Each season, the league Champions are awarded a trophy that is known as the Doreen Menschner trophy.

Steve Innamarato took over as treasurer in 1992 and has been a huge part of our success and the glue that holds us together. In 1988 we started taking travel teams (PBLA All stars) around North America, playing in Baltimore, Washington D.C., Virginia, New Jersey., New York, and Delaware. From 1987 to 1994 we took teams to Canada. Peterborough, Whitby and Oshawa and also the Iroquois Reservation in Onondaga & Oneida N.Y.

Playing against the likes of Rex Lyons, Scott Burnam, the Shenandoah's, Paul and Gary Gait, Joe Hiltz, Terry Preston, Jim Wasson, John Grant, who in 1991 asked if his 14 year old son John Jr. could play with us. We let him and he turned out to be pretty good!

And all these towns would bring teams to play at Rizzo too. In 2000 we started sending teams’ abroad (USA PHILADELPHIA) and for 8 years competed in the Ales Hresbesky Memorial in Radotin Prague, Czech Republic. The biggest box lacrosse tournament in all of Europe 16 teams from 9 different countries! I have recently (April) played in my 11th consecutive Ales Hresbesky Tournament, which makes me the only American to do so.

My personal career started by playing BOX lacrosse in 1977 in the old PMLL (Phila. Men’s Lacrosse League) which ran from 1975-1982. Started playing in the PBLA in 1986 and have been going strong for 25 years, I played every game in goal for the Reapers in that time except two in 1994 on what would have been my 7th wedding anniversary June 20th. My wife passed in September of 1993.

The PBLA is celebrating their 25th Anniversary on Saturday, July 16 at Rizzo Rink. Many of the alumni are expected to attend and even play a bit of Lacrosse. The event is open to the public, so if you want to experience the gala, shoot down to Rizzo Rink and watch how the game should be played.

I want to thank Frank Menschner and the entire PBLA organization for their cooperation in this article.

Update

For those of you that may be wondering. (I know its been awhile), here is how the 25th Season of the PBLA played out. The Outlaws defeated the BeerWolves to win the title. The Beer Wolves were defending Champions.

As far as the players profiled, Frank Menschner's team, the Grim Reapers, as well as Steve Innamarato's squad, The Edge, both lost in the semi-finals.

Brendan Gilligan, the youngster we profiled in Part one was a member of the Championship squad. Congrats to all and looking forward to Season 26!!!

Twenty Five Year Tradition in the Lacrosse World

2011-07-07T12:10:00.001-05:00

By- Kevin M. Neibauer

Part 1

There has been a lacrosse league in existence in Philadelphia for twenty five years. Started by Bill Malizia, the Philadelphia Box Lacrosse Association continues its storied tradition with two games every Monday and Wednesday night thru August.

Located at Rizzo Rink, the league features an eclectic mix of youth and experience. Frank Menschner, the Commissioner has missed a total of two games in that quarter century. Menschner is proud of his achievements. Not only in that league, but his experiences in the Lacrosse world. Having traveled to far away places such as Prague, Menschner plays for the love of the game.

All of the participants hold down full time jobs or attend school. Ages vary from 18 to a few guys in their 40's.

The league can boast that some of the biggest names in the Lacrosse World as alumni. Former Philadelphia Wings Bob Snider and Mickey Hover either have or are currently playing.(Part 2 will deal with some more history and a partial list of some of the greats who have found their way on the floor of Rizzo Rink)

Playing in a non-air conditioned facility under I-95 in South Philadelphia; the atmosphere is far from glamorous. Yet not a single player notices the sometimes steamy conditions and the tremendous aroma from a local Steak House.

The Lacrosse players are more of a fraternity or brotherhood. All of the participants know each other well, travel together and even throw a few back together. On the floor, they are bitter rivals. As soon as the final horn sounds, high fives and hugs permeate the floor.

Its not just Menschner who has been around for twenty five years, Walt Bujak started out as a player and was on the first Championship team. Bujak is now acting as a referee.

"I played when it was basically pick-up games; I was on the first Championship team. Lots of great times,” Bujak said. “I realized that I was getting older, definitely slower and the kids were getting bigger and better so I stopped playing and became a ref."

What is it that draws individuals such as Budaj to keep coming out? "I love the game and I won't lie, the money is nice." Money? None of the players are playing for any money but for love. The officials are the only ones that get paid.

One of the newer players is 18 year Brendan Gilligan. Gilligan is new to the game and many of the veterans have taken him under their wing, some of his mentors do not even play with his team. It is clear that Gilligan has been accepted into the PBLA family. Clearly, a blueprint has been laid out for his development. He is being brought along slowly, but is having the time of his life. To further show the Lacrosse family ties, Brendan’s mother Doreen has come on board as timekeeper/scorekeeper.

Later this week, more of the history and a partial list of the great players who have participated. Many hall of famers and current superstars proudly call themselves alumni.

2011 NLL Championship - Washington Stealth at Toronto Rock

2011-05-13T13:51:00.001-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

For the second consecutive season, the National Lacrosse League Championship game will feature the Washington Stealth and Toronto Rock. This season’s match will take place this Sunday at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre. The game will be shown live in the US on Versus and on TSN in Canada at 2 PM.

How they got here

Toronto defeated the Buffalo Bandits last Saturday 12-11 at HSBC Arena. The Rock never trailed in the game but had to hold on as the Bandits scored the game’s final four goals to make things interesting. Bob Watson made 35 saves while Garrett Billings paced the Rock offense with a six point (3G, 3A) evening. Washington trailed the Calgary Roughnecks 3-1 after the first quarter before outscoring them 7-1 in the second and third stanzas en route to a 10-8 victory at Calgary’s Scotiabank Saddledome. Lewis Ratcliff scored seven points (3G, 4A) for the Stealth while Tyler Richards made 44 saves in goal.

Playoff History

In addition to last season’s title game meeting that was won by Washington 15-11, the teams met back in the 2002 Championship when the Stealth were known as the Albany Attack. Toronto won that night 13-12 at Pepsi Arena. Six players have played in both Championship games. Colin Doyle (the 2002 Championship MVP), Bob Watson, Sandy Chapman and Blaine Manning all played for the Rock while Phil Sanderson and Cam Woods were in the Albany lineup.

Regular Season

The teams met on April 1 in Toronto with the Rock needing overtime to defeat the Stealth 13-12. Toronto’s Stephan LeBlanc scored with 1:12 left in regulation to send the game to overtime then scored the game winner in the extra session.

Stats and Stuff

Washington (203) again led the NLL in scoring this season. While the Stealth were next to last in goals against (198), their defense currently is tops (along with Calgary) among the eight playoff squads. This will be the final game of Bob Watson’s NLL career. Washington Rhys Duch was named to the league’s first team All-Pro squad while teammate Lewis Ratcliff and Toronto’s Stephan LeBlanc each made the second team. The Rock’s Aaron Pascas earned a spot on the All-Rookie team. Ratcliff and Duch finished second and third, respectively, in regular season scoring while the Rock placed four players (LeBlanc, Billings, Blaine Manning and Colin Doyle) in the top 20. Toronto is seeking its sixth NLL title which would tie them with Philadelphia.

The pick

If this game has the excitement of the regular season matchup this could be one of the best championship tilts in league history. Washington is looking join the 1997 Rochester Knighthawks and 1987 Baltimore Thunder as teams that won the championship playing all of their postseason matches on the road. The Stealth is also looking to win back to back titles for the first time since the Rock did so in 2002 and 2003. Toronto is looking to send Bob Watson off to retirement a winner. Look for the Champion’s Cup to stay out west.

Washington 12 Toronto 10

2011 NLL Division Finals Preview

2011-05-05T14:31:00.002-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

With four teams down and four left standing, the National Lacrosse League will determine the Champion’s Cup finalists on Saturday evening when both Divisional Finals games will take place. Both games can be seen live on the NLL Network at NLL.com while the Toronto-Buffalo match will also be shown Sunday at 2PM on Versus.

Eastern Division Final

Toronto Rock (11-6) at Buffalo Bandits (11-6), 7:30 PM at HSBC Arena

Regular Season: Buffalo won the season series 2-1.

Playoff History: This will be the third meeting in postseason. Toronto won last season’s East Semi-Final 13-11 at Air Canada Centre while Buffalo took a 19-10 decision in the 2004 East Final.

How they got here: Toronto scored seven straight goals after falling behind 3-1 and held on to defeat the Rochester Knighthawks 10-8 last Sunday at Air Canada Centre. Garrett Billings and Colin Doyle each put up three goals and three assists for the Rock. Buffalo got a goal from John Tavares with 40 seconds left in regulation to lead the Bandits to an 11-10 win at home over the Boston Blazers last Saturday. The game winner came after Boston scored four consecutive goals to tie the game. The goal was the third of the game for Tavares, who also added four assists while teammate Roger Vyse chipped in four goals.

X-Factors: Toronto does not want to be trailing at halftime or going into the fourth quarter as the Bandits are 9-0 when leading at the half and after three quarters (including playoffs) this season. Buffalo should feel the same way; the Rock has a 10-1 record when leading at halftime and 11-1 after three. The teams’ pre-season scrimmage and second regular season tilt both were fight filled affairs. While the playoffs are high spirited expect both teams to keep a lid on the extracurricular activities.

Western Division Final

Washington Stealth (9-8) at Calgary Roughnecks (12-5), 9:30 PM at Scotiabank Saddledome

Regular Season: Calgary won the season series 2-1.

Playoff History: This will be the third meeting in the postseason with Calgary having won the previous meetings (15-14 in 2004 and 17-5 in 2009).

How they got here: The defending champion Stealth defeated the Minnesota Swarm 14-8 last Saturday at Xcel Energy Center. Washington outscored the Swarm 8-2 in the second half to run away with the victory. Rhys Duch and Lewis Ratcliff each tallied three goals for the Stealth. Calgary won at home 10-6 over the Colorado Mammoth last Saturday night. A four goal second quarter was the difference for the Roughnecks, who were led by hat tricks from Dane Dobbie and Scott Ranger. Jeff Shattler added a goal and four assists for Calgary.

X-Factors: This will be the first matchup between the teams’ brotherly faceoff artists (Calgary’s Geoff and Washington’s Bob). These were the NLL’s top two teams (Washington 1st, Calgary 2nd) in scoring while both were near the bottom (Calgary 8th, Washington 9th) in defense. Washington has won three straight in Calgary since their loss in the 2009 DF. Both teams are undefeated when leading after three (Calgary 8-0, Washington 6-0). Both teams want to stay out of the penalty box (Washington 1st in Power play at 49.4%, Calgary 2nd at 45.4%).

LaxPhilly picks: Buffalo and Washington. Record of 2-2 last week.

2011 NLL Divisional Semi-Finals Preview

2011-04-28T19:17:00.005-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

With the 2011 regular season complete, the National Lacrosse League's postseason gets underway this weekend with three games on Saturday and one on Sunday. All games can be seen on the NLL Network at NLL.com. Here is a brief look at each of the opening round games.

Boston Blazers (10-6) at Buffalo Bandits (10-6)
Saturday, April 30 7:30PM at HSBC Arena

Regular Season: Buffalo won the season series 2-1.

Playoff History: Buffalo won the lone meeting in 2009 11-8.

Team Leaders

Boston: Goals - Casey Powell (34), Assists - Dan Dawson (59), Points - Dawson(90), GAA - Anthony Cosmo(9.66).

Buffalo: Goals - John Tavares (32), Assists - Tavares (46), Points - Tavares (78), GAA - MIke Thompson (9.67).

X-Factors: Buffalo dropped their last two games overall and last three at home while Boston won their final two games, one a 16-9 decision at Buffalo on April 16, after losing five straight. Will the real Bandits and Blazers please stand up?

Colorado Mammoth (5-11) at Calgary Roughnecks (11-5)
Saturday, April 30 8:30 PM at Scotiabank Saddledome

Regular Season: Colorado won the season series 2-1.

Playoff History: This will be the fifth meeting, Calgary has won three of the four previous meetings. The last matchup went to Calgary 15-8 in 2009.

Team Leaders

Colorado: Goals - John Grant (36), Assists - Grant (47), Points - Grant (83), GAA - Chris Levis (9.99).

Calgary: Goals - Dane Dobbie (34), Assists - Jeff Shattler (46), Points - Dobbie and Shattler (75), GAA - Mike Poulin (11.03).

X-Factors: Colorado went 4-3 after reacquiring Gavin Prout from the Edmonton Rush on March 15. Colorado is 5-0 when allowing less than 10 goals, 0-11 when allowing 10 or more. Will this be Calgary's last ever home game, or last ever game? Will all the talk of folding/relocating affect the Roughnecks?

Washington Stealth (8-8) at Minnesota Swarm (8-8)
Saturday, April 30 8:30 PM at Xcel Energy Center

Regular Season: Minnesota won the season series 2-1.

Playoff History: Washington won the only meeting last season 14-10.

Team Leaders

Washington: Goals - Rhys Duch (42), Assists - Lewis Ratcliff (51), Points - Ratcliff (92), GAA - Tyler Richards (11.61).

Minnesota: Goals - Ryan Benesch (46), Assists - Benesch (49), Points - Benesch (95), GAA - Nick Patterson (11.08).

X-Factors: Could be the highest scoring of the four opening round games, two high scoring offenses and two suspect defenses. The defending champion Stealth played better away from Comcast Arena though the Swarm won their last three home games.

Rochester Knighthawks (10-6) at Toronto Rock (10-6)
Sunday, May 1 3:30 PM at Air Canada Centre

Regular Season: Toronto won the season series 3-0.

Playoff History: This will be the seventh postseason match between the teams. Toronto holds a 4-2 edge though Rochester has won the last two meetings (2006 and 2007).

Team Leaders

Rochester: Goals - Cody Jamieson (28), Assists - Shawn Williams (53), Points - Williams (76), GAA - Matt Vinc (9.77)

Toronto: Goals - Stephan LeBlanc (33), Assists - Blaine MAnning (52), Points - LeBlanc (76), GAA - Bob Watson (10.09)

X-Factors: Rochester may have been the NLL's hottest team down the stretch winning their last three games and going 6-2 after a weekend sweep by the Rock. Toronto dropped their last three with two of the losses coming to the NLL's playoff outsiders (Philadelphia and Edmonton). Toronto was a league best 7-1 at home while Rochester tied with Buffalo having a 6-2 road record.

Picks to win: Buffalo, Rochester, Washington and Colorado.

2011 Wings Lacrosse (at Minnesota 4-16-11)

2011-04-13T15:13:00.003-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

The Philadelphia Wings (5-10) will conclude their 2011 National Lacrosse League season when they visit the Minnesota Swarm (6-8) at the Xcel Energy Center at 8:30 PM. The game will be shown live on the NLL Network at NLL.com.

History

The Wings are 7-7 all time in regular season play against the Swarm, this will be the lone meeting in 2011. On the road the Wings are 3-4 against Minnesota. In 2010 the Wings swept the season series from Minnesota with a 20-11 win in Philadelphia on March 13 and a 13-12 overtime win in St. Paul on April 17. Brandon Miller earned both wins last season making 81 saves over the two games.

Last Weekend

The Wings lost a pair of games to end their hopes for a playoff berth this season. On Saturday the Wings fell to the Boston Blazers 9-7 in Boston and on Sunday lost to the Rochester Knighthawks 10-6 at The Wells Fargo Center. In both games the Wings entered the fourth quarter trailing 7-5 but could never get the tying or go ahead goals. Brandon Miller took the loss in Boston despite a 30 save performance while Kurtis Wagar made his Wings debut on Sunday and made 34 saves. Minnesota lost in overtime 16-15 to the Washington Stealth in Everett, WA last Saturday.

Trivia

This season is the 25th season of Wings Lacrosse and the 10th anniversary of the Wings last championship victory in 2001. This column will feature a trivia question each week and will attempt to tie in the 2001 champions and/or other moments in Wings history, as well as that week’s opponent. This week’s question is:

Name the current Wing who was selected in the 2004 Expansion Draft by the Swarm? Answer at the end of the preview.

Notes

All time the Wings are 1-1 on April 16. In 1994 the Wings won their third Major Indoor Lacrosse League title defeating the Buffalo bandits 26-15. In 1999 the Wings suffered what may be the worst loss in their history when they fell 13-2 to the Toronto Rock in the NLL Semi Finals.

The Wings can top their 2010 record (5-11) by a game with a win over the Swarm. A win would also give them a .500 record away from Philadelphia. The last time the Wings finished .500 or better on the road was in 2004 (4-4).

Next Game

See you during the 2012 season.

Trivia Answer

Shawn Nadelen was chosen with the sixth pick in the 2004 Expansion Draft by Minnesota. Nadelen would be re-acquired by the Wings on February 8, 2005 (along with a first round draft pick in the 2005 NLL Entry Draft) with Ryan Ward and the Wings fourth round draft pick in the 2005 Entry Draft going to the Swarm.

Wings end home schedule passing quietly into the night

2011-04-10T18:45:00.002-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

Less than 24 hours after seeing their playoff hopes dashed in Boston, the Philadelphia Wings came home to the Wells Fargo Center and delivered what was their typical home performance for 2011. Looking tired and if they'd rather be elsewhere, the Wings again could find very little on the offensive end and ended their home schedule with a 2-6 record following Sunday's 10-6 loss to the Rochester Knighthawks.

As both teams played Saturday night and had to travel to Philadelphia, play was sluggish in the first quarter. Only one goal was scored in the game's first 15 minutes and it gave the Wings their only lead of the day when Drew Westervelt tallied 10:37 into the stanza. Wings backup Kurtis Wagar, making his first start of the season, stopped all 12 Knighthawk shots in the first and kept Rochester off the board until Shawn Williams tied the game 6:09 into the second. At that point the Knighthawk offense arose from its slumber to score the game's next five goals before the Wings Max Seibald scored in the final minute of the half to make it a 5-2 game.

The second half didn't start any better when Mike Accursi and Craig Point extended the Rochester lead to 7-2. Then, much like the previous night in Boston, the Wings scored the next three goals to go into the last 15 minutes down just 7-5. By the time the Wings scored goal number six though, the Knighthawks had broken the game open on scores by Jordan Hall, Jarrett Davis and an empty netter by Chris Driscoll.

Westervelt scored a hat trick for the Wings, who missed Athan Iannucci for the third straight game. Ryan Boyle added a goal and three assists while Wagar made 34 saves in his Wings debut. With one game remaining next week against the Minnesota Swarm, the Wings will look to at least finish a game better than they did in 2010. In what was likely a more frustrating season that the 2010 debacle of 5-11, that is about as positive as it gets. What to expect in 2012 is anyone's guess.

Too little too late = No playoffs for Wings

2011-04-09T21:43:00.002-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

The Philadelphia Wings will miss the National Lacrosse League's postseason for the third straight season and eighth time in the last nine seasons following Saturday's 9-7 loss to the Boston Blazers. Missing Athan Iannucci for the second straight game, the Wings offense struggled as they trailed 4-2 after one quarter, 6-2 at halftime and 7-2 early into the third stanza. Behind the efforts of Ryan Boyle and Drew Westervelt the Wings would score five of the game's next six goals but could not find the tying or go ahead scores needed. As it has been most of the season the star of the game for the Wings was goalie Brandon Miller. Miller made 30 saves and kept the Wings from being routed.

Sunday the Wings will host Rochester in their final home game of 2011 before finishing the season in Minnesota on April 23.

2011 Wings Lacrosse (4-9-11 at Boston and 4-10-11 vs Rochester)

2011-04-06T12:18:00.003-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

The Philadelphia Wings will take to the floor this weekend in a pair of games that could quite possibly clinch the team’s first National Lacrosse League playoff berth since 2008. The biggest game of the season takes place on Saturday when the Wings visit the Boston Blazers at 7:30 PM at TD Garden. Should the Wings be victorious they could then clinch a spot in the postseason when they host the Rochester Knighthawks Sunday at 2:30 PM. Both games will be shown on the NLL Network at NLL.com.

History

The Wings are 3-5 in regular season play against the Blazers and 1-1 in 2011. The Blazers won the season opener 10-6 at the Wells Fargo Center on January 8 while the Wings returned the favor on January 28 with an 11-5 win at TD Garden. The Wings are 2-2 all time at TD Garden, 1-2 against the current Blazers franchise. Against the Knighthawks the Wings are 15-22 all time in the regular season and 0-2 in 2011 with both losses taking place at Rochester’s Blue Cross Arena. The Wings are 10-8 at home vs. Rochester.

Last Week

The Wings used a six goal outburst in the fourth quarter to defeat the Toronto Rock 12-11 last Saturday at the Wells Fargo Center in front of a crowd of 9,044. Drew Westervelt and Brendan Mundorf chipped in hat tricks while Ryan Boyle added six assists. Brandon Miller held the potent Rock offense to just two second half goals. The Wings weekend opponents faced each other last Saturday in Boston with the Knighthawks defeating the Blazers 19-8.

Playoff Scenarios

According to NLL.com the playoff scenarios for the Wings and Blazers are pretty simple. A Boston victory on Saturday will eliminate the Wings while a Philly victory in Boston coupled with a win against Rochester will give the final spot in the East to the Wings. Otherwise it could come down to each team’s final game (Wings at Minnesota, Boston at Buffalo) to determine the four Eastern teams.

Trivia

This season is the 25th season of Wings Lacrosse and the 10th anniversary of the Wings last championship victory in 2001. This column will feature a trivia question each week and will attempt to tie in the 2001 champions and/or other moments in Wings history, as well as that week’s opponent. This week’s question is:

On March 26, 1994 Paul Gait set a new league record by scoring 10 goals in one game. What team did he set this record against?

Notes

Former Wings captain Thomas Hajek signed with the Blazers on March 5. He joins former 2008 teammate Jamie Rooney on the Boston roster.

The Wings are 0-1 all time on April 9 losing in 2005 to the Toronto Rock 15-11. On April 10 the Wings are 1-3 all time. The lone win on this date was in the 1994 playoffs over the New York Saints.

Next Game

The Wings will close out the regular season with a visit to the Xcel Energy Center to face the Minnesota Swarm on April 16.

Trivia Answer

Paul Gait scored 10 goals against the original Blazers franchise in a 16-10 Wings victory at Boston Garden.

Big fourth quarter leads Wings to win

2011-04-02T22:36:00.002-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

Trailing by four goals entering the final 15 minutes of play and playing without leading scorer Athan Iannucci, out with a finger injury suffered last week in Rochester, Philadelphia Wings fans could have been forgiven for thinking the night would not end well. The Wings had other ideas though and used a six goal outburst to defeat the Toronto Rock 12-11 at Wells Fargo Center. With the Wings victory and the Boston Blazers losing to Rochester Philly now has their playoff destiny in their own control.

The Wings came out playing some good physical lacrosse in what ended up an even opening 15 minutes of play and stayed close until they tied the game at five apiece on a shorthanded score from Drew Westervelt. Just 17 seconds after evening up the game the Rock's Garrett Billings tallied on the power play to break the tie and start a four goal Toronto run to give the Rock a 9-5 halftime lead. Each team scored once in the third and while the Rock seemed to ease up on the throttle, a four goal lead seemed to be a lock.

Once the fourth quarter began the Wings offense came to life and they finally began to solve Toronto backup keeper Pat Campbell, who started tonight after Bob Watson handled the Rock overtime win at home against the Washington Stealth on Friday. Westervelt got the scoring started in the fourth with a pair of goals to complete a hat trick. Brendan Mundorf finished off a hat trick of his own to pull the Wings within one before Max Seibald gave the Wings their first lead since Mundorf's goal to open the game.

The Wings would add goals from Ryan Boyle and Matt Danowski (in his first game as a Wing) and would then get some help from video review as a Toronto goal was reversed due to the Rock's Colin Doyle just slightly having his foot on the crease line. This would serve huge especially after Blaine Manning scored to make it a 12-11 game with 1:25 to play. The Philly defense would stop Toronto on their next possession and successfully kill off the clock and deliver the Wings just their second win at home in the 2011 season.

Boyle's seven point night (1G, 6A) would lead the Wings with Westervelt right behind with six (3G, 3A). The defense, meanwhile, held the Rock's dangerous sophomore duo of Billings and Stephan LeBlanc to a goal each. Brandon Miller, shaky in the second quarter, was very sharp in the second half only allowing a pair of goals and making 31 saves overall.

For the Wings, their playoff season begins Saturday night when they travel to Boston to face a Blazers team that has struggled mightily in their last five games. A win for the Wings would not only pull them even with Boston in the win column but would also give the Wings the all important tiebreaker in the season series. For a team that has struggled themselves for the majority of the season this would be a big boost for a young Wings squad looking to right their ship and find consistency.

2011 Wings Lacrosse (4-2-11 vs. Toronto)

2011-03-30T14:20:00.002-05:00

by Tom Hoffman

The Philadelphia Wings (4-8) will look to end an overall four game losing streak, a three game home losing streak and keep their slim postseason hopes alive when they host the Toronto Rock (9-3) at the Wells Fargo Center at 7 PM. The game will be shown live on the NLL Network at NLL.com.

History

The Wings are 9-21 all time in regular season play (0-2 this season) against the Rock including their first season in 1998 as the Ontario Raiders. At home the Wings are 6-10 against Toronto, 0-1 in 2011 following a 16-13 loss on February 26. The Rock also defeated the Wings in Toronto on March 4 by a score of 15-10.

Last Week

The Wings lost to the Rochester Knighthawks 13-10 last Saturday at Blue Cross Arena. The Wings were led by Brendan Mundorf with six points (2G, 4A) and a hat trick from Ryan Boyle. Drew Westervelt (2G, 3A) and Alex Turner (5A) each added five points. Toronto lost at Calgary 14-9 to the West leading Roughnecks last Friday. The loss ended a five game win streak for the Rock.

Trivia

This season is the 25th season of Wings Lacrosse and the 10th anniversary of the Wings last championship victory in 2001. This column will feature a trivia question each week and will attempt to tie in the 2001 champions and/or other moments in Wings history, as well as that week’s opponent. This week’s question is:

Only two American born players have played for the Toronto Rock and both have ties to the Wings. Who are they? Answer at the end of the preview.

Notes

All time the Wings are 1-1 on April 2. They defeated the Albany Attack 13-12 in overtime in 2000 and lost to Toronto 17-15 in 2005.

Three players in the National Lacrosse League’s top 10 scoring leaders will be on the floor in this game. Toronto’s Stephan LeBlanc is tied for fifth with 65 points while teammate Blaine Manning is tied for eighth with the Wings Athan Iannucci, each with 60 points. Iannucci is fourth in goals scored (29); one ahead of LeBlanc while Manning is tied for second with 41 assists.

The Wings are currently 1-5 at home. The only time the Wings have had just one win at home was in 1992 when they finished 1-3. This season will be the fifth time the Wings have had a sub .500 record at home (1992, 2004, 2005 and 2010).

Next Game

The Wings travel to Boston on April 9 to face the Blazers for the last time in the 2011 season to start a back to back weekend that ends on April 10 with a home tilt against Rochester.

Trivia Answer

Ex-Wing Kevin Finneran in 2003 became the first American player to suit up for the Rock while current Wings forward Bill McGlone was the second one. McGlone played for Toronto in 2009 following the dispersal draft of the Chicago Shamrox.

Wings shake up lineup

2011-03-23T13:31:00.001-05:00

By- Kevin M. Neibauer

Philadelphia, PA.- The Philadelphia Wings have made major changes to their roster in the past week and some of the moves have fans wondering what happens next.

The Wings have severed ties with veteran defensemen Kyle Sweeney and Taylor Wray. Shawn Nadelen was a healthy scratch for the game against the Calgary Roughnecks. After a listless and uninspired defeat to the Roughnecks, the Philadelphia club found itself with an extremely uphill battle. Forced to win all of its remaining games to have a shot at a playoff spot. The Wings now have seven defeats and are the outside looking in.

Rumors swirled after the Calgary game. Front Office Personnel and the Coaching staff were in a closed door meeting and no comments were being made. Rumor had it that several of the players confronted Head Coach John Tucker and aired several grievances. If that is true, then apparently Tucker won the battle. Team Captain Taylor Wray was released as well as Assistant Captain Kyle Sweeney. Sweeney has signed with Edmonton. A press release was issued stating that Sweeney was released with "no intention" of bringing him back.

Sources indicated that the Wray move was a paper only move, due to his unavailabilty for the teams game due to coaching commitments. Also the addition of Matt Zash mandated an open roster spot. It is thought that Wray will be brought back to the club, although, no announcements have been made. (Note: Wray was re-signed by the Wings on March 17).

The oddity is that Wray was "released" to make room for Zash even though the club is currently carrying three goaltenders on the active roster. (Brandon Miller, Ray Hodgkinson and Brodie McDonald). Common logic is that one of the goaltenders could have been put on the Practice Squad.

How will the shake-up affect the team? Philadelphia is in the second week of their two week bye and time will tell.

2011 Wings Lacrosse (3-26-11 at Rochester)

2011-03-23T13:29:00.003-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

The Philadelphia Wings (4-7) will take to the floor for the first time in three weeks this Saturday evening when they travel to Rochester, NY to face the Knighthawks (5-5) in a game important to the playoff hopes of both teams. Faceoff at the Blue Cross Arena is at 7:35 PM and the game can be seen live on the NLL Network at NLL.com.

History

The Wings are 15-21 all time against Rochester and are 5-13 at the Blue Cross Arena. The only previous meeting this season went to the Knighthawks on February 5th by a score of 11-6. The Wings trailed 9-2 after three quarters and never really got too close. The Wings last victory in Rochester was on January 10, 2009 by a score of 16-13. The teams will meet once more in 2011 on April 10th in Philadelphia.

Trivia

This season is not only the 25th season of Wings Lacrosse; it is also the 10th anniversary of the Wings last championship victory in 2001. To celebrate both, this column will feature a trivia question each week and will attempt to tie in both the 2001 champions, as well as that week’s opponent. This week’s question is:

Name the current Knighthawk who was a member of the Wings 2001 practice squad? The answer will be at the end of the preview.

When Last They Played

The Wings were defeated by the Calgary Roughnecks 13-7 on March 5th at the Wells Fargo Center. Rochester’s last game was also on March 5th when they travelled to Buffalo losing to the Bandits by a score of 11-8.

Notes

Several roster moves have occurred since the Wings last took to the floor. D Kyle Sweeney (released prior to the Toronto game on March 4th) was signed by the Edmonton Rush while D Taylor Wray was re-signed on March 17th after being released prior to the Calgary game due to coaching commitments at Lehigh University. G Kurtis Wagar and D Pat Heim were added to the roster after Brodie MacDonald and Dan Hardy were placed on the hold out list. Defensemen Jeff Bigas joins F Matt Danowski on the practice squad.

The Wings are 1-1 in games played on March 26th. They defeated the Boston Blazers in 1994 16-10 behind a 10 goal night from Paul Gait. In 1999 they lost 14-13 at Nassau Coliseum to the New York Saints.

Athan Iannucci remains among the NLL’s top 10 scorers. Iannucci is currently seventh with 56 points and is one of several players tied for second with 27 goals. Washington’s Rhys Duch leads all goal scorers with 29. Boston’s Dan Dawson is the league’s point leader with 68.

Next game

The Wings will return to the Wells Fargo Center on April 2 to face the Toronto Rock.

Trivia Answer

Current Knighthawk transition player Chris Schiller was a member of the Wings practice squad in 2001 along with Rich Brzeski and Joe Ceglia.

Weekend is a big zero for Wings

2011-03-05T23:11:00.002-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

For the Calgary Roughnecks, just playing tonight's game against the Philadelphia Wings certainly had to help take their minds off the fact that their season is on life support due to the franchise's current economic woes. By defeating the Wings 13-7 at the Wells Fargo Center, they just may have put the Wings season on life support.

If any of the 9,604 in attendance were disappointed by not seeing former Wing standout Geoff Snider in the Calgary lineup due to injury, the Wings effort would prove to be even more disappointing. After playing the league leading Toronto Rock almost even for three quarters on Friday night, the Wings carried over the spiritless fourth quarter from that game into tonight's tilt. The Wings, who have not held a lead since scoring the game winning goal at Buffalo two weeks ago, had to be lucky to be only trailing 3-2 after the first quarter as they were outshot 15-5 and easily outplayed. After Calgary's Dane Dobbie opened the scoring in the second, the Wings Brendan Mundorf would pull the Wings within a goal at 4-3 with just over 10 minutes until halftime. By the time Drew Westervelt would score the Wings fourth goal of the night at 9:32 of the third quarter the Wings had given up six consecutive scores and would see goalie Brandon Miller head to the bench to be replaced by Ray Hodgkinson.

While the Roughnecks season sits at day to day, the financial dark cloud they are under did not seem to affect the players on field performance as they gave a tough, spirited and emotional effort. The Wings hopefully took some notes as they will need to find that kind of effort if they want to earn a playoff berth in this 2011 season. They will have plenty of time to think about this game as they don't take the field again until March 26 against an equally desperate Rochester Knighthawk squad. The Wings will need to treat that game as a playoff since a loss there will not only cost them a tiebreaker with the K-Hawks but more than likely will sink any chances the team has of playing in the postseason.

2011 Wings Lacrosse (3-4-11 at Toronto and 3-5-11 vs. Calgary)

2011-03-01T15:05:00.002-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

The Philadelphia Wings (4-5) will open a weekend of back to back games on Friday night when they visit the Toronto Rock (8-2) at the Air Canada Centre at 7:30 PM. Saturday night the Wings return to the Wells Fargo Center for a 7 PM faceoff against former teammate Geoff Snider and the Calgary Roughnecks (5-3). Both games will be shown live on the NLL Network at NLL.com.

History

Following last week’s game the Wings are 9-20 all time in regular season play against the Rock which includes their first season in 1998 as the Ontario Raiders. On the road the Wings are 3-10 against Toronto (1-0 at Copps Coliseum, 0-1 at Maple Leaf Gardens and 2-9 at Air Canada Centre). The Wings last victory in Toronto was on April 27, 2008 (15-14).

The Wings are 2-1 all time against Calgary with a 19-13 victory on March 22, 2003 in Calgary’s lone visit to Philadelphia. Last season the Roughnecks defeated the Wings 15-7 on March 6 at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

Last Week

The Wings dropped a 16-13 decision to the Rock at Wells Fargo Center. Brendan Mundorf and Athan Iannucci each tallied four goals and five assists for the Wings, who could not overcome an early 5-0 deficit. Calgary last played on February 20 defeating the Edmonton Rush 12-11 at Edmonton’s Rexall Place.

Trivia

This season is the 25th season of Wings Lacrosse and the 10th anniversary of the Wings last championship victory in 2001. This column will feature a trivia question each week and will attempt to tie in the 2001 champions and/or other moments in Wings history, as well as that week’s opponent. This week’s question is:

In the 2006 Entry Draft the Wings chose Geoff Snider with the fourth overall pick and with the eighth overall pick chose Athan Iannucci. The Wings also had the fifth overall pick in that draft, name the player the Wings selected with that pick? Answer at the end of the preview.

All Star Game

Last Sunday the East defeated the West 30-26 at the NLL All-Star Game which took place at the Turning Stone Casino Resort in Verona, NY. Brandon Miller started the game for the East and made 26 saves in his 30 minutes of play while Max Seibald chipped in a goal for the East.

Stat Leaders

Athan Iannucci leads the Wings in goals (22, fifth in the league), assists (25) and points (47, ninth in the league). Iannucci is also the NLL leader in points on the power play with 21. Drew Westervelt is tied for third in points on the power play. Jeff Reynolds is tied for fourth with 85 faceoff wins. In goal, Brandon Miller is eighth in goals against average (10.72), second in saves (342) and tied for third in save percentage (.788)

Next Game

Following the Calgary game the Wings will not return to action until March 26 when they travel to Rochester for their second meeting of the season with the Knighthawks.

Trivia Answer

The Wings selected Ian Llord with the fifth overall choice in the 2006 draft. Llord played 11 games for the Wings in 2007 before being dealt as part of a three way trade involving Calgary and the Buffalo Bandits on July 27, 2007 that brought Taylor Wray to the Wings.

Philadelphia Wings....Same old same old

2011-02-28T12:58:00.002-05:00

By- Kevin M. Neibauer

Philadelphia,PA- Just past the halfway point in the 2011 season, it has become clear that the Philadelphia Wings are in the same position they have been in for the last six seasons. Each year, the team starts off slowly based on a number of issues, including, having the new faces mesh as a cohesive functioning unit. Slowly, they get their legs and begin to improve. Generally, the team fails to make the playoffs and management responds by bringing in a lot of new faces. The cycle continues year after year.

This off-season indicated storm clouds on the horizon. New Coach John Tucker clearly was putting his finger prints on this team. John Mouradian, one the great minds in the game, was brought in to be the GM. Issues began almost immediately. Geoff Snider was sent packing in a controversial trade. Dispersal draft saw Philadelphia sitting with the pick that could have been Casey Powell. Instead, they moved the pick. Newcomers would include Paul Dawson who has been a good addition. Brendan Mundorf, who finally found his scoring touch. Ryan Boyle, who has been a major disappointment. Thomas Hajek was not brought back and the defense seemed to be strong in the early going without his presence. Lately, it has been a different story. But, the defense would not be as heavily counted on if the offense was a bit more effective. Far too many dropped or missed passes and far too many bad decisions on shots. After all, a cadaver can stop a shot from 25 feet that is right in his stomach.

The past week, Toronto bested Philadelphia, 16-13. Actually, it was more like the Wings gave the Rock a victory. A team simply cannot give up a 5-0 lead in the first quarter in their own building. Throw in a Toronto short handed goal on a 5 on 3 and it is easy to see why this team is on the bottom looking up. Brandon Miller, who had been outstanding all season, simply was not on his "A" game. Moreover the defense who plays Toronto at least twice a year for the past decade simply cannot understand that Toronto plays a "pick and roll', nothing fancy, a pick and roll.

At the halfway point the reality is that Philadelphia simply cannot afford to lose more than two more games. 10-6 is going to be the playoff cutoff. Too many teams are too good. Look at the Division, the Wings can play with any of the teams. But shorthanded goals and 5-0 deficits are not getting it done.

Slow start dooms Wings

2011-02-27T00:24:00.004-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

For the first time this season the Philadelphia Wings did not score the first goal of the game at home. And by the time they did get on the board they were already facing a five goal deficit that they would not be able to overcome in a 16-13 loss to the league leading Toronto Rock Saturday at the Wells Fargo Center. While the 13 goals scored was a season high, the Wings would set an all time low for attendance as only 7,082 were there to witness the game.

Brandon Miller may be starting the All Star Game tomorrow for the East but he did not look anywhere close to an All Star in this game, struggling to make just 24 saves and failing to make a key save when the Wings could've really used one. And there were certainly more than a few times that a big save might have helped turn the tide in a key divisional matchup. For the second straight home game the Wings would come back to close to within a goal but could not equalize or go ahead. Tonight the moment would occur in the late moments of the first quarter and first seven minutes of the second quarter when Brendan Mundorf and Drew Westervelt, with two goals each, would help the Wings cut a 6-1 Rock lead down to 6-5.

For Mundorf, who did not suit up last week in Buffalo, those two goals equalled his output in his first seven games. Yet much like their last game at home the Wings rally would be muted by a run by their opponent, in this case a Toronto run of five goals that extended their lead to 11-5 just 30 seconds into the 2nd half. Athan Iannucci would start a three goal run for Philly but after a Garrett Billings goal that survived a challenge by Wings coach John Tucker, the teams would end up trading goals the rest of the evening.

Mundorf's night would see him add two more goals and finish with a nine point evening (4G, 5A), as did Iannucci while Alex Turner would chip in with a hat trick. Billings would lead all scorers with 10 points for Toronto while career Wing killer Colin Doyle quietly notched nine points.

For the Jekyll and Hyde Wings, a big back to back weekend awaits starting with a Friday night rematch with the Rock in Toronto before heading home to face former teammate Geoff Snider and the Calgary Roughnecks who will just be happy to still be playing lacrosse following this week's news that the franchise may not be able to finish the season due to lacking finances. If the Wings are to secure a postseason berth they may very well have to sweep this weekend set; a tall task given their lackluster history at Toronto's Air Canada Centre and their dismal record (1-4) this season in front of the home fans.

2011 Wings Lacrosse (2-26-11 vs. Toronto)

2011-02-23T14:08:00.000-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

The Philadelphia Wings (4-4) will open the second half of their 2011 National Lacrosse League schedule this Saturday night when they host the Toronto Rock (7-2). Faceoff at the Wells Fargo Center is at 8 PM and the game will be shown live on the Comcast Network and on the NLL Network at NLL.com.

History

The Wings are 9-19 all time in regular season play against the Rock including their first season in 1998 as the Ontario Raiders. At home the Wings are 6-9 against Toronto. Last season the Rock swept the season series from the Wings. Toronto defeated the Wings 19-11 on February 5, 2010 at the Air Canada Centre and won 13-6 on April 3, 2010 in Philadelphia. NLL Rookie of the Year Stephan LeBlanc led all scorers in the two games with 19 points (8 Goals, 11 Assists).

Last Week

The Wings defeated the Buffalo Bandits 10-9 last Saturday at HSBC Arena. Drew Westervelt scored the game winning goal with 1:18 remaining in regulation. Westervelt also added four assists while Athan Iannucci and Dan Hardy each chipped in with hat tricks. Toronto swept a home and home with the Rochester Knighthawks winning 10-5 Friday in Toronto and 13-6 Saturday in Rochester.

Trivia

This season is the 25th season of Wings Lacrosse and the 10th anniversary of the Wings last championship victory in 2001. This column will feature a trivia question each week and will attempt to tie in the 2001 champions and/or other moments in Wings history, as well as that week’s opponent. This week’s question is:

Dallas Eliuk was named the Most Valuable Player in the Wings 2001 Championship Game victory, how many saves did he make that evening? Answer at the end of the preview.

All Stars

On Sunday afternoon at 2 PM the NLL All-Star Game takes place at the Turning Stone Casino Resort in Verona, NY. The game will be shown live on Versus with the Wings being represented by Brandon Miller and Max Seibald. For Seibald this will be his first trip to the ASG while it will be the second ASG appearance for Miller (2007 ASG at Portland).

Wings at Mid-season (since 2007)

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

Next Game

After the All-Star Game the Wings will head to Toronto to face the Rock on Friday March 4 to open a back to back weekend that will conclude with a home match against Geoff Snider and the Calgary Roughnecks on March 5.

Trivia Answer

Dallas Eliuk made 40 saves in leading the Wings to a 9-8 victory over the Rock and their sixth indoor lacrosse title (four in the Major Indoor Lacrosse League and two in the NLL).

2011 Wings Lacrosse (2-19-11 at Buffalo)

2011-02-15T19:45:00.002-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

The Philadelphia Wings (3-4) will look to reach the .500 mark at the season's midpoint when they travel to Buffalo for their third and final regular season matchup with the Bandits (4-2). Faceoff at HSBC Arena is at 7:30 PM and the game can be seen live on both the NLL Network at NLL.com and on the Comcast Network.

History

The Wings are 19-22 against the Bandits and 0-2 in 2011 with both losses coming at the Wells Fargo Center. All time the Wings are 8-12 in Buffalo with a win in their last visit, 15-11 on February 27, 2010.

Last Game

The Bandits outscored the Wings 9-1 after the Wings had closed to within a goal in last Saturday's 16-7 Buffalo victory. John Tavares scored his 700th National Lacrosse League goal and had nine points in leading the Bandits to victory. The Wings had two goal nights from Athan Iannucci, Alex Turner and Drew Westervelt.

Trivia

This season is the 25th season of Wings Lacrosse and the 10th anniversary of the Wings last championship victory in 2001. This column will feature a trivia question each week and will attempt to tie in the 2001 champions and/or other moments in Wings history, as well as this week's opponent. This week's question is:

In the Wings 1994 championship game win over the Bandits, who was the Game MVP? The answer will be at the end of the preview.

Notes

Wings transition player Max Seibald was added to the Eastern Division All Star team joining teammate Brandon Miller. The game is on February 27 in Verona, NY.

After scoring his 700th goal, John Tavares needs just one point for 1500 in his career and five assists for 800.

The Wings are 1-1 all time on February 19. They defeated the Baltimore Thunder 20-17 in 1994 at the Baltimore Arena and lost 9-7 to the Toronto Rock at Maple Leaf Gardens in 1999.

Stats Leaders

Athan Iannucci: 10th in the NLL in points (32), tied for third in power play goals (5), fourth in power play points (12).

Alex Turner: Tied for third in power play goals (5).

Brandon Miller: Leads the NLL in saves (278), second in save percentage (.806) and seventh in goals against average (10.18).

Next Game

The Wings return home on February 26 to take on the Toronto Rock.

Trivia Answer

Paul Gait was the MVP of the 1994 championship game with an 11 point performance (8 goals, 3 assists).

Tavares, Bandits KO Wings

2011-02-12T23:09:00.003-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

Paul Dawson may have thrown a knockout punch when he dropped Buffalo's Travis Irving in the fourth but the more convincing knockout was delivered by the Bandits offense and John Tavares as Buffalo used a 9-2 second half to defeat the Wings 16-7. A season high 9,649 witnessed the carnage, pink jerseys on the Wings and some history at the Wells Fargo Center.

The Wings, for the fifth game this season, scored first on a power play tally from Alex Turner. The fans then got to see some history made when Tavares became the first player in National Lacrosse League history to score 700 goals when his goal with the man advantage tied the score. He would add two more goals in the quarter while assisting on a Tracey Kelusky score to give Buffalo a 4-1 lead after 15 minutes. After Athan Iannucci and Chad Culp traded goals, the Wings would score the next three goals to even things up a five apiece but woul;d trail 7-5 at half following Bandit scores from Culp and Kelusky.

Dan Hardy would get the Wings within a goal just :56 into the third session but that would end up as close as the Wings would get the rest of the evening. Buffalo would run off seven straight goals to effectively put the game away. But at the 2:39 mark of the fourth the Wings fans had their last real moment to cheer when Dawson connected on his punch that left Irving quite woozy and needing medical attention. While it fired up the fans it did nothing to wake up a lackluster Wings effort. After Drew Westervelt stopped the Buffalo scoring streak, Mark Steenhuis would score on a five minute major to the Wings Jeff Reynolds and in the process help chase All-Star starting goalie Brandon Miller for the second straight game and second time since getting the All-Star nod. By the time Steenhuis scored again with under a minute to play, many had already headed for the exits.

The ageless Tavares would end up adding to his Hall of Fame bound totals with a nine point evening on five goals and four assists in leading the Bandit attack. For the Wings, it was once again a frustrating night of little offense and poor fundamentals as they dropped many passes and failed to corral ground balls and rebounds. Now, as the Wings head to Buffalo to reach the season's mid point next weekend, they have to wonder which team will show up: the team that dominated the Boston Blazers a few weeks ago in Boston or the squad that has looked harried and hopeless in losing their last two games.

2011 Wings lacrosse (2-12-11 vs. Buffalo)

2011-02-08T13:54:00.000-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

The Philadelphia Wings (3-3) will look to get back on the winning track when they host the Buffalo Bandits at 7 PM on Saturday February 12 at the Wells Fargo Center. History could possibly be seen that night as Buffalo’s John Tavares needs just one goal to have 700 for his career. The game can be seen live on the NLL Network at NLL.com.

History

The Wings are 19-21 against the Bandits, 11-9 at the WFC. The Wings are 0-1 in 2011 against Buffalo following a 9-6 loss in Philadelphia on January 15. After playing to a 3-3 tie after one quarter the Wings were outscored 3-0 over the next 30 plus minutes and could not catch the Bandits. Athan Iannucci and Drew Westervelt each scored two goals for the Wings while John Tavares, Tracey Kelusky and Chad Culp each tallied twice for Buffalo.

Trivia

This season is the 25th season of Wings Lacrosse and the 10th anniversary of the Wings last championship victory in 2001. This column will feature a trivia question each week and will attempt to tie in the 2001 champions and/or other moments in Wings history, as well as that week’s opponent. This week’s question is:

The Wings record for most goals scored in a game first occurred against the Bandits while their record for most goals given up in a game also occurred against the Bandits. What was the number of goals scored/given up and what seasons did each occur? The answer will be at the end of the preview.

Last Weekend

The Wings were defeated by the Rochester Knighthawks last Saturday at the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester. The Wings were shut out for two quarters and trailed at one point 9-2 in seeing their three game win streak come to an end. Athan Iannucci and Drew Westervelt led the Wings with two goals each while Brandon Miller was pulled from a game for the first time this season after making 23 saves and giving up eight goals. Ray Hodgkinson made his NLL debut and gave up two goals on four shots. The Bandits defeated the Minnesota Swarm 15-12 last Friday night in Buffalo. Mark Steenhuis and Chad Culp each scored a hat trick for Buffalo.

Notes

Wings goalie Brandon Miller was named the starter for the East squad in the upcoming National Lacrosse League All Star Game on February 27. This will be Miller’s second All Star appearance. Reserves will be named later this week.

The Wings are 1-1 on February 12. In 1989 they defeated the Baltimore Thunder 14-9 at the Spectrum while in 2005 they dropped a 16-15 decision in Rochester.

John Tavares scored his 400th career point (a goal) against the Wings in 1999.

Next game

The Wings travel to Buffalo for their final regular season matchup with the Bandits on February 19.

Trivia Answer

The Wings have scored 26 goals in two games but did it for the first time on April 16, 1994 when they defeated the Bandits 26-15 at the Aud in Buffalo to claim their third title in the Major Indoor Lacrosse League. The Wings would equal that output in 1996 in a 26-11 win against the Charlotte Cobras at the Spectrum. 26 would be the Bandits lucky number against the Wings on January 20, 2001 at HSBC Arena when they handed Philly a 26-18 shellacking.

2011 Wings Lacrosse (2-5-11 at Rochester)

2011-02-01T14:23:00.001-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

The Philadelphia Wings (3-2) will look to extend their winning streak to four games this Saturday afternoon when they travel to Rochester, NY to square off with the Knighthawks (2-2). Faceoff at the Blue Cross Arena is at 2 PM and the game can be seen live on the NLL Network at NLL.com.

History

The Wings are 15-20 all time against Rochester and are 5-12 at the Blue Cross Arena. In 2010 the Knighthawks swept the season series from the Wings taking a 12-6 decision in Philadelphia on February 20 and completing the sweep with a 15-12 victory on April 10 in Rochester. The Wings last victory in Rochester was on January 10, 2009 by a score of 16-13

Trivia

This season is not only the 25th season of Wings Lacrosse; it is also the 10th anniversary of the Wings last championship victory in 2001. To celebrate both, this column will feature a trivia question each week and will attempt to tie in both the 2001 champions, as well as that week’s opponent. This week’s question is:

Name the Wing who scored the game winning goal in the 2001 Semi-Final against the Knighthawks? The answer will be at the end of the preview.

Last Weekend

The Wings swept a back to back weekend beginning last Friday in Boston when they held a potent Blazers lineup to just five goals in an 11-5 victory. Athan Iannucci scored four goals while Brandon Miller made 43 saves. Saturday night Iannucci added three more goals and Miller made 44 saves as the Wings jumped out to a 10-4 lead in the first half and held on to defeat the Colorado Mammoth 12-11 at the Wells Fargo Center. Rochester played at home on Saturday and struggled against Boston falling to the Blazers by a score of 16-7.

Notes

The Wings three game win streak is their longest since they won their first six games of the 2008 season.

The last time the Wings played on February 5 was last season when they were defeated by the Toronto Rock 19-11 at the Air Canada Centre. Overall the Wings are 3-2 on this date (they lost in 1994 15-11 to the Buffalo Bandits while defeating Buffalo 13-11 in 1999, the New York Saints 15-13 in 2000 and the San Jose Stealth 14-13 in 2005).

The NLL All-Star Game will be held on February 27 at Turning Stone Casino in Verona, NY. Wings players on the ballot (http://www.nll.com/allstar/) are Brandon Miller, Shawn Nadelen, Athan Iannucci, Drew Westervelt, Max Seibald and Taylor Wray. Voting ends on February 7.

Next game

The Wings return to the Wells Fargo Center on February 12 to face the Buffalo Bandits.

Trivia Answer

Tom Marechek scored with 1:29 to play in regulation to give the Wings a 12-11 win over Rochester on April 20, 2001 and put the Wings in the NLL Final against the Toronto Rock.

Wings use strong first half and hold on to beat Mammoth

2011-01-29T23:51:00.002-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

Much like last week's game in Denver, it was a tale of two halves for the Philadelphia Wings against the Colorado Mammoth. And much like last week the Wings would have the better half and thus were able to hold on for a 12-11 victory at home in front of a crowd of 8,616 at the Wells Fargo Center.

For the fourth time in five games this season the Wings got on the board first courtesy of Max Seibald, back in the lineup after sitting out Friday night in Boston as a result of his hit on Buffalo's Jon Harasym on January 15. After Colorado's Brian Langtry knotted the game at one, the Wings got scores from Athan Iannucci and Matt Alrich to take a 3-1 lead after 15 minutes. The Mammoth would tie the game at three before the Wings offense would come alive scoring seven of the next eight goals, briefly chasing Colorado goalie Chris Levis in favor of former Wing Rob Blasdell, to go into halftime with a seemingly comfortable 10-4 lead. Then, in the eyes of Wings coach John Tucker, the Wings took their foot off the gas pedal and all of a sudden the Mammoth were back in the game.

Colorado would shut out the Wings in the third quarter and thanks to a hat trick from Alex Gajic went into the game final stanza down by only two goals. Kyle Sweeney and Drew Westervelt would put the Wings up by four goals midway through the fourth but the Mammoth would not quit and following a power play goal from Cliff Smith with 2:27 left in regulation they would close to within a goal. And they thought they had the tying score with under two minutes to play but John Grant Jr was ruled to have been in the crease negating the score. The Wings would hold on and kill off the clock to put up their third win in a row.

Again the defensive star for Philadelphia was goalie Brandon Miller who had a 44 save night in playing his second game in as many nights. Athan Iannucci, after a four goal night in Boston on Friday, continued to shake the rust off with a three goal, three assist night while Drew Westervelt also chipped in with a hat trick. Grant led all scorers with eight points (2G, 6A) but that would not be enough for Colorado as they fell to 1-3 while the Wings improved to 3-2.

Next for the Wings will be a visit to Rochester to faceoff against the Knighthawks next Saturday afternoon as Philly will seek to add a fourth game to their win streak.

Wings ride a full 60 to victory

2011-01-28T21:59:00.002-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

The Philadelphia Wings rode another solid effort from goalie Brandon Miller and brought their 2011 record to 2-2 as they defeated the Boston Blazers 11-5 Friday night at TD Garden. Athan Iannucci led the Wings with four goals while Alex Turner chipped in a hat trick. The Wings, who never trailed in the game, chased Boston keeper Anthony Cosmo late in the third quarter. Miller made 43 saves while shutting out Boston over the game's final 22 minutes and 26 seconds.

The Wings will look to extend their win streak to three on Saturday when they host the Colorado Mammoth.

2011 Wings Lacrosse (1-28-11 at Boston and 1-29-11 vs Colorado)

2011-01-24T19:42:00.002-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

Following their first win of the 2011 season, the Philadelphia Wings (1-2) will look to add two more to the win column this weekend when they play their first set of back to back games. The weekend will begin Friday night with a visit to Boston to face the 2-2 Blazers at 7:30 PM before returning home to take on the Colorado Mammoth (1-2) at 7 PM on Saturday. Both games will be shown live on the NLL Network at NLL.com while Saturday's tilt with the Mammoth will also be shown live on the Comcast Network.

History

The Wings are 2-5 against the Blazers, 0-1 in 2011 following a season opening 10-6 loss on January 8 at the Wells Fargo Center. All time the Wings are 1-2 at TD Banknorth Garden and 0-2 against the current Boston franchise. The Wings played the original Blazers team there in 1997 and defeated Boston 12-11. Last season the Wings fell to the Blazers 11-9 in a January 30 matinee game.

After last week's game, the Wings-Mammoth series now stand at 6-3 (28-13 overall including Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Washington) and 3-1 (15-5) in Philadelphia.

Last Week

The Wings picked up their first victory of the 2011 season last Saturday by defeating the Mammoth 11-10 at Denver's Pepsi Center. The Wings trailed 7-3 at halftime but outscored Colorado 3-0 in the third quarter and 5-3 in the fourth to give John Tucker his first win as Wings coach. Max Seibald scored a hat trick and Paul Dawson added two scores, including the game winner. Brandon Miller again was solid in goal recording 41 saves. This was Colorado's lone game last weekend.

Boston played twice last weekend and went 0-2 with both games ending in overtime. Friday after scoring three times in a 94 second span late in the fourth to tie the game the Blazers fell in the extra session to the Toronto Rock 15-14 in Toronto. Saturday the Blazers again needed extra time and again were on the short end of the scoreboard losing 11-10 at home to the Rochester Knighthawks.

Trivia

Celebrating 25 years of Wings lacrosse and the 10th anniversary of the team's last championship in 2001, this week's trivia question is:

Name the members of the 2001 Wings who at one time also suited up for the original New England/Boston Blazers? The answer will be at the end of the preview.

Notes

The Wings are 1-2 all time on January 28 losing to the New York Saints 20-16 in 1989, defeating the Buffalo Bandits 17-10 in 1995 and falling to the Bandits in 2005 15-10. On January 29 the Wings are 1-1 winning in 2000 over Rochester 15-12 and losing at Buffalo in 2005 20-16.

The Wings have lost four straight home games dating back to last season (last home win March 27, 2010 against Boston 13-7). The Wings have never lost their first three home games of the season.

Next Game

The Wings hit the road on February 5 for a Saturday afternoon tilt in Rochester against the Knighthawks.

Trivia Answer

Three members of the 2001 Wings played for the original Blazers franchise: Kevin Finneran (1991), Tom Ryan (1995-1997) and Chris Panos (1997).

Wings earn first win of season with strong second half

2011-01-22T23:49:00.003-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

The Philadelphia Wings used an 8-3 second half to earn their first win of the 2011 National Lacrosse League season as they defeated the Colorado Mammoth 11-10 Saturday night at Pepsi Center. The game started out badly for the Wings who trailed 4-0 early in the game and were down 7-3 at halftime.

Max Seibald was the scoring star for the Wings with a three goal night. Paul Dawson added two goals, including the game winner with 90 seconds remaining in regulation. Brandon Miller was, once again, solid in net for Philadelphia with a 41 save performance.

The Wings now get ready for their first weekend of back to back games. They will travel to Boston to face the Blazers on Friday before returning to the Wells Fargo Center for a rematch with the Mammoth.

2011 Wings Lacrosse (1-22-11 at Colorado)

2011-01-17T14:47:00.002-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

Off to their first 0-2 start since 2007, the Philadelphia Wings will once again seek their first win of the 2011 National Lacrosse League season Saturday January 22 when they visit the Colorado Mammoth at 9 PM at Denver’s Pepsi Center. The game can be seen live on the NLL Network at NLL.com and will also be shown live on the Comcast Network.

History

The Wings are 27-13 against the Colorado franchise including their previous seasons in Baltimore (1987-1999), Pittsburgh (2000) and Washington (2001-2002). Since the team’s move to Denver the Wings are 5-3 overall and 2-2 at the Pepsi Center having won their last two visits to the Mile High City. In 2010 the lone meeting between the two teams was in Philadelphia with the Mammoth heading home with a 12-11 overtime win on a power play goal by Alex Gajic just 2:19 into the extra session. Colorado forced the overtime with two goals 54 seconds apart late in the fourth quarter after a four goal Philadelphia run had given the Wings an 11-9 lead.

Trivia

This season is not only the 25th season of Wings Lacrosse; it is also the 10th anniversary of the Wings last championship victory in 2001. To celebrate both, this column will feature a trivia question each week and will attempt to tie in both the 2001 champions, as well as that week’s opponent. This week’s question is:

Name the members of the Wings 2001 team who also helped the Mammoth to the 2006 NLL championship? The answer will be at the end of the preview.

Last Weekend

The Wings fell to the Buffalo Bandits 9-6 last Saturday at the Wells Fargo Center. Brandon Miller made 41 saves but the Wings offense again stumbled. Athan Iannucci and Drew Westervelt each scored twice for the Wings. The Mammoth won on the road 8-7 against the Calgary Roughnecks Saturday evening. Cliff Smith scored with three seconds remaining in regulation to give Colorado the victory. Chris Levis made 54 saves in goal for the Mammoth.

Notes

The Wings last 0-3 start occurred in 1999 (final record that season was 5-7).

The last time the Wings played on January 22 they were defeated by the Pittsburgh Crossefire 16-15 at Pittsburgh’s Mellon Arena in 2000. Overall the Wings are 1-2 on this date (lost in 1999 at home against the Rochester Knighthawks 15-12 and defeated the Boston Blazers 12-9 in 1993 at Boston Garden).

The Wings are 11-13 in road openers. Their last opening win away from Philadelphia occurred in 2008 over Colorado 15-13.

Next games

The Wings head to Boston for a rematch with the Boston Blazers on January 28 opening a home and home weekend that concludes at the Wells Fargo Center on January 29 against Colorado.

Trivia Answer

Jamie Hanford, Jay Jalbert and David Stilley were part of the Wings squad who defeated the Toronto Rock 9-8 to take home the NLL Champion’s Cup in 2001. All three also helped lead the Mammoth to the 2006 NLL title over Buffalo.

Offense fails Wings again

2011-01-15T23:41:00.002-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

For the second straight game the Philadelphia Wings were betrayed by their offense, again being held to six goals and wasting another solid effort from the defense and goalie Brandon Miller. The Buffalo Bandits kept the Wings off the scoreboard for over 30 minutes and left the Wells Fargo Center with a 9-6 victory before a crowd of 7,764.

The Wings again scored the game's first goal when Drew Westervelt went across the crease to beat Bandits goalie Mike Thompson. After Buffalo racked up the game's next three goals, the Wings showed a little life in tying the game on scores by Max Seibald and Westervelt. This would end up as the Wings highlight of the evening as following Westervelt's game tying goal the Wings would not score again until the fourth quarter, a span of almost 34 minutes. The defense and Miller did their job, holding the Bandit offense to just two goals over the second and third quarters but entered the fourth trailing 5-3.

The Bandits would take advantage of a five minute major to Seibald laste in the third when Frank Resetarits scored just :32 into the final period. Athan Iannucci would snap the Wings scoreless streak but goals by Tracey Kelusky and John Tavares would give the Bandits an 8-4 cushion they would hold on to on the way to their first win of the 2011 season. After the Wings got within a pair at 8-6, Mark Steenhuis would ice the game with an empty net score.

While Coach John Tucker was generally pleased with the effort, his frustration with the team's offense was quite evident. The players seemed to be just as frustrated as well. The Wings will try to awaken their offense on the road when they visit Denver and the Colorado Mammoth next Saturday.

Boston Blazes into Wells Fargo Center and defeats Philadelphia, 10-6

2011-01-13T14:28:00.002-05:00

By- Kevin M. Neibauer

Philadelphia, Pa. - Two teams with new looks opened the 2011 NLL season in Philadelphia on Saturday evening.

The Boston Blazers, featuring the triple headed monster of Casey Powell, Dan Dawson and Josh Sanderson took very little to exhibit their incredible talents.

Philadelphia was stymied by a close checking Boston defense and the always stellar goaltending of Anthony Cosmo. Cosmo didn't have to be brilliant because the Blazers minimized the Philadelphia offensive threats, Athan Iannucci and Drew Westervelt.

The contest went back and forth in the first half, with Boston taking a one goal halftime lead. Philadelphia could do very little the second half and only recorded two goals.

The Wings enter the season with an entirely new team, a new GM (John Mouradian), new Head Coach (John Tucker) and a host of new players. The biggest addition was defenseman Paul Dawson. The aforementioned, Athan Iannucci is finally healthy and looking to add some punch to the Wings offense.

Philadelphia has been floundering the past few seasons and expectations run high coming into this season. "We played well, we made some mistakes, but, I take responsibility and we will improve each game," Head Coach John Tucker exclaimed after the contest.

Brandon Miller chimed in, "This is a great team, we are vastly improved."

Philadelphia named defenseman Taylor Wray as its new Captain. Former Captain Thomas Hajek did not return to the team.

How much improvement will be made and how fast? Starting the season with two home games against Division rivals will surely be a big test.

With the folding of the Orlando franchise, every team has added depth to their rosters. Philadelphia added Ryan Boyle and Brendan Mundorf from Orlando. Steven Peyser was claimed but is not currently on the roster.

This week, the Buffalo Bandits visit the City of Brotherly Love.

2011 Wings Lacrosse (1-15-11 vs. Buffalo)

2011-01-11T11:44:00.002-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

The Philadelphia Wings will look to pick up their first win of the 2011 National Lacrosse League season when they host the Buffalo Bandits at 7:30 PM on Saturday January 15 at the Wells Fargo Center. The game can be seen live on the NLL Network at NLL.com and will also be shown live on the Comcast Network with a replay on Sunday, January 16 on Comcast SportsNet.

History

The Wings are 19-20 against the Bandits, 11-8 at the WFC. In 2010 the Wings went 1-1 against Buffalo, each team winning in the other teams building. On February 13, 2010 in Philadelphia, the Bandits broke an 8-8 tie in the third quarter and went on to defeat the Wings 13-11. The Wings would return the favor on February 27, 2010 defeating the Bandits 15-11 at HSBC Arena in Buffalo. In that game the Wings never trailed and would break a five game losing streak.

Trivia

This season is not only the 25th season of Wings Lacrosse; it is also the 10th anniversary of the Wings last championship victory in 2001. To celebrate both, this column will feature a trivia question each week and will attempt to tie in both the 2001 champions, as well as that week’s opponent. To begin, here is this week’s question:

Which member of the Wings 2001 team was also a member of the Bandits 1996 championship team? The answer will be at the end of the preview.

Last Weekend

The Wings were defeated by the Boston Blazers 10-6 last Saturday at the Wells Fargo Center. Bill McGlone and Alex Turner each scored twice for the Wings while Brandon Miller made 39 saves. The Bandits fell 10-9 to the Calgary Roughnecks on Saturday in Calgary. Roger Vyse led Buffalo with six points while Mike Thompson stopped 28 Calgary shots.

Notes

The Wings last 0-2 start occurred in 2007 (final record that season was 6-10).

The last time the Wings played on January 15 they defeated the Baltimore Thunder 17-14 at the Spectrum in front of a crowd of 16,274.

During the offseason the Bandits picked up Scott Self and Jay Thorimbert from the Minnesota Swarm and former Wing Brenden Thenhaus from Boston but their biggest acquisition was getting Tracey Kelusky in a deal with Calgary.

Next game

The Wings travel to Denver to face the Colorado Mammoth on January 22.

Trivia Answer

Tom Phair was a rookie on the 1996 Major Indoor Lacrosse League champion Bandits squad that defeated the Wings 15-10 at the Aud in Buffalo. In 2001 Phair contributed 2 goals to help the Wings defeat the Toronto Rock 9-8 to take home the NLL Champion’s Cup.

New season, same results for Wings

2011-01-08T23:44:00.002-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

Following a franchise low 5-11 season in 2010 the Philadelphia Wings underwent, with apologies to the TV show, an extreme makeover to go into their 25th season of pro lacrosse. Jugding by the results though it appears that the spirits of 2010 were still in the building. After playing a solid first quarter against a high powered Boston Blazers squad the Wings saw the offense go cold and the Blazers walked out of the Wells Fargo Center with a 10-6 victory.

Wings coach John Tucker was happy with the defensive effort and the play of goalie Brandon Miller. "Offensively, we have work to do," Tucker said. "We got away from our game plan."

The Wings opened the scoring for 2011 with a goal from Drew Westervelt and would hold three other one goal leads in the first but were matched each time by Boston with the first 15 minutes ending in a 3-3 tie. The Blazers would hold the Wings to just three more goals the rest of the evening while their new acquisitions made their presences known. 2010 league MVP Casey Powell scored three of the four Blazers goals over the second and third quarters while Kevin Buchanan tallied the other goal. Josh Sanderson would score twice in the fourth while Powell added one more for his fifth of the night. The Wings, held to 31 shots on goal for the night, couldn't catch up.

Dan Dawson led the way for Boston with eight assists while Powell put up seven points and Sanderson added six. The lone bright spots for the Wings offensively were newcomer Alex Turner with two goals and an assist and a two goal night from Bill McGlone. In his first game since 2009 Athan Iannucci was held to a goal and two assists. The Wings defense, most notably Paul Dawson, showed a more physical side while Miller had a solid evening with 39 saves.

With Buffalo next on the schedule, the Wings will need to find a way to perk up the offense while continuing the physical play on the defensive side. Tucker "guaranteed" the offense would be better against the Bandits. If not, 2011 could be as bad, or worse, than 2010. Not the preferred way to celebrate the team's 25th Anniversary season.

Notes

The attendance of 7,940 was the smallest in the Wings history for a home opener and just missed being the smallest overall in team history (7,723 last season vs Buffalo).

Scratches for the Wings were Matt Alrich, David Mitchell and Brodie MacDonald.

This was John Tucker's first game as a National Lacrosse League head coach since 2000 when he guided the Pittsburgh Crossefire to a 6-6 record.

2011 Wings Lacrosse (1-8-11 vs. Boston)

2011-01-03T15:10:00.003-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

The 25th season of Philadelphia Wings lacrosse gets started on Saturday, January 8 as the Wings host the Boston Blazers at 7 PM at the Wells Fargo Center. The game can be seen live on the NLL Network at NLL.com and will also be shown live on the Comcast Network with a replay on Sunday, January 9 on Comcast SportsNet.

History

The Wings are 2-4 against the current Blazers franchise, 2-2 at the WFC. In 2010 the Wings went 2-1 against Boston to win the season series. On January 16, 2010, the Wings defeated the Blazers 12-8 in Philadelphia outscoring Boston 4-1 in the second half to secure the victory. On January 30, 2010 in Boston, the Blazers never trailed in defeating the Wings 11-9. The final matchup, on March 27, 2010, was a fight filled affair that was won by the Wings 13-7. As in the first meeting, the Wings owned the second half by outscoring the Blazers 9-2.

New look Wings

Following the worst season in Wings history (5-11), the coaching staff and roster were overhauled. Coach and General Manager Dave Huntley was let go following the 2010 season and was replaced behind the bench by last season’s offensive coordinator John Tucker. The GM spot was filled by longtime NLL executive Johnny Mouradian. This season’s 23 man roster includes 12 newcomers. Picked up in the Orlando Titans dispersal draft were forwards Brendan Mundorf (28G, 31A in 2009 with New York) and Ryan Boyle (21G-39A in 2010) while another former Titan, Matt Alrich (10G, 9A in 2010) was picked up after being released by the Edmonton Rush on November 16, 2010. A key newcomer on defense is former Blazer Paul Dawson who was picked up from the Calgary Roughnecks in October. Dawson, along with Brett Manney (acquired from the Washington Stealth) and ex-Buffalo Bandit Joe Smith should help solidify the defense around goalie Brandon Miller.

Among the Wings returnees, the biggest ones will be Athan Iannucci and Shawn Nadelen. Iannucci, the National Lacrosse League’s 2008 Most Valuable Player, sat out the entire 2010 season recovering from knee surgery while Nadelen missed all but 2 games in 2010 also due to a knee injury. The team’s leading scorer in 2010, Drew Westervelt (32G, 40A) also is back in the Wings lineup. The most notable Wings gone from 2010 are Geoff Snider (traded to Calgary) and Kyle Wailes (on the Physically Unable to Perform list). Also, Merrick Thomson continues to be sidelined by post-concussion symptoms from an injury suffered in the 2009 Major League Lacrosse season.

Shakeup in Beantown

The Blazers also see an overhauled lineup for 2011 after finishing 8-8 in 2010 and losing to Orlando in the Divisional Semifinal. In addition to Paul Dawson, gone is Boston’s second leading scorer from last season Daryl Veltman (dealt to Calgary). The Veltman deal did bring the Blazers Josh Sanderson (34G, 70A with Calgary) in return. Boston also benefitted from the Titans dispersal draft picking up the NLL’s 2010 MVP in Casey Powell (44G, 36A with Orlando). The biggest change may have occurred on December 23 when Coach Tom Ryan was let go and replaced 5 days later by Toronto Rock assistant (and 2009 Wings head scout) Matt Sawyer.

Opening numbers and notes

The Wings are at .500 (12-12) in season openers having lost 3 of their last 4. The Wings are 14-10 in home openers and have won 2 of their last 3. This will be the third straight season opening at home with Boston (Boston won 13-11 in 2009) and is just the second season in the last eleven that the Wings have opened the season at home (last time in 2008 against the Chicago Shamrox).

Saturday’s game will feature the last 3 players to win the NLL’s MVP award. In addition to Iannucci in 2008 and Powell in 2010, Boston’s Dan Dawson won the award in 2009. Dawson, Powell and Sanderson were all on the 2010 NLL First team All-Pro squad. Sanderson led the NLL in 2010 with 104 points and 70 assists.

Next game

The Wings return home to face the Buffalo Bandits in January 15.

2011 Wings Schedule released

2010-09-02T18:46:00.003-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

The Philadelphia Wings will celebrate their 25th season of indoor lacrosse when they open the 2011 National Lacrosse League season on January 8 against the Boston Blazers. Below is the entire schedule for the upcoming season.

Home games in Bold. All times Eastern.

Saturday January 8 Boston 7 PM
Saturday January 15 Buffalo 7:30 PM
Saturday January 22 at Colorado 9 PM
Friday January 28 at Boston 7:30 PM
Saturday January 29 Colorado 7 PM
Saturday February 5 at Rochester 2 PM
Saturday February 12 Buffalo 7 PM
Saturday February 19 at Buffalo 7:30 PM
Saturday February 26 Toronto 7:30 PM
Friday March 4 at Toronto 7:30 PM
Saturday March 5 Calgary 7 PM
Saturday March 26 at Rochester 7:35 PM
Saturday April 2 Toronto 7 PM
Saturday April 9 at Boston 7:30 PM
Sunday April 10 Rochester 2:30 PM
Saturday April 16 at Minnesota 8:30 PM

Wings trade Snider...........Why? What's next?

2010-08-06T13:15:00.001-05:00

By- Kevin M. Neibauer

The Philadelphia Wings have traded their most marketable and arguably their most popular player to the Calgary Roughnecks for the Number 8 pick in the Orlando Titans dispersal draft.

Hoping that Philly would offer a package to move up and land Casey Powell, I am now questioning the reasoning of the organization.

The fan base is already fragile. Attendance has been steadily declining and certainly events of last season were not going to help things.

The insanity began when the organization decided to stop selling second tier seats and sold only first level seats. Not a big deal right? But, if you have a family of four who attend on a regular basis, it is an increase of $20 per game. In these economic times, that is a big hit to absorb to see a far less than .500 team.

Not one single giveaway night last season. Unless of course if you count some of the games that the Wings handed to the opposition.

Granted, the team was without Athan Iannucci and Merrick Thomson. Dan Teat got injured as well as Shawn Nadelen. However, the team was rarely competitive and with the exception of very few players seemed to not care.

Geoff Snider was their catalyst, He did everything that was asked of him and did it well. He was a leader on the field and in the locker room. Snider wore his heart on his sleeve and hating the losing.

So, are the Wings better without him? Not by a long shot. Thomson probably won't return and who knows the quality of Iannucci when he returns?

As a result of the deal, the Wings will look to the brother of Geoff, Bob Snider and or Pat Heim to become their face-off specialist or loose ball leader.

The season ticket base will surely take a beating for this move. The Wings will be lucky to put 5,000 in the building next season.

The only saving grace is that there is still a lot of off season left and things could change. You know like trading AI and Westervelt for the rights to Mikko Red Arrow.

NOTE: The Wings acquired Ryan Boyle from the Titans dispersal draft with the pick acquired in the Snider deal. Also picked by the Wings in the draft were Brendan Mundorf, Stephen Peyser (likely to be the faceoff replacement), Jeff Bigas and Dan Cocoziello. (Tom Hoffman)

2010 NLL Championship Preview

2010-05-13T19:11:00.002-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

The last two are standing and only one will be able to call themselves National Lacrosse League champions. Saturday night at 10:30 ET the Toronto Rock will face the Washington Stealth at the Comcast Arena in Everett, WA live on the NLL Network and on TSN in Canada. Versus will show the game Sunday afternoon at 2 PM.

How they got here

Toronto defeated the Orlando Titans last Saturday 15-10 at Amway Arena. The Rock trailed 5-4 at halftime before outscoring the Titans 7-1 in the third quarter to take control of the game. Kasey Beirnes's three goals led a balanced Toronto offense while Bob Watson made 38 saves. Washington took a 9-6 lead into the final quarter against Edmonton but the Rush would not go quietly into the night scoring five of the seven goals in the final 15 minutes to force overtime. The extra stanza would only last eight seconds as the Stealth's Paul Rabil scored the game winner to send Washington to the title game.

Playoff History

Back in 2002 when the Stealth were known as the Albany Attack, the teams met at Albany's Pepsi Arena in that season's Championship Game, won by Toronto 13-12. Six players from that game are on the playoff rosters for this year's tilt. Colin Doyle (the 2002 Championship MVP), Bob Watson, Sandy Chapman and Blaine Manning all played for the Rock that evening while Phil Sanderson and Cam Woods suited up for the Attack.

Stats and Stuff

Washington (211) and Toronto (197) were the NLL's top two scoring teams in 2010. Washington's Lewis Ratcliff finished second in the league in scoring while the Rock's Bob Watson led the NLL in lowest goals against average. The top three playoff goals scorers are the Stealth's Rhys Duch and Jeff Zywicki (eight each) and Toronto's Stephan Leblanc (seven). Leblanc is the NLL's 2010 Rookie of the Year while Duch took home the award last season. Washington's Chris Hall shared Coach of the Year honors with Edmonton's Derek Keenan. Toronto has won five NLL titles trailing only Philadelphia (six).

The pick

Both teams were boosted by their preseason trade sending Doyle back to Toronto with Ratcliff heading West to Washington. Regardless of who wins both teams can be considered winners of that trade. Washington has a good exciting young squad but only Ratcliff has an NLL ring (Calgary, 2004). Toronto brings a ton of championship experience as Doyle and Watson have played on all five of the Rock's title teams while Chapman, Manning and Sanderson were all part of the Rock's last NLL championship in 2005. The fan in me is pulling for the Stealth as a championship could go a long way towards boosting a fan base that has been slow to embrace this franchise (Albany, San Jose and Everett). The gut, however, seems to tell me this one's going North of the Border.

Toronto 14 Washington 12

2010 NLL Division Finals Preview

2010-05-06T18:58:00.005-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

Down to the final four, Saturday night will determine who will play for the National Lacrosse League's Champions Cup in 2010. Both games can be seen live on the NLL Network.

Eastern Division Final

Toronto Rock (10-7) at Orlando Titans (12-5), 7:30 PM at Amway Arena

Regular Season: Orlando won the season series 2-0.

Playoff History: This will be their first meeting.

How they got here: Toronto came back from a 6-0 deficit to defeat the Buffalo Bandits 13-11 at Air Canada Centre. The Rock overcame a six goal night from the Bandits Mike Accursi behind a five goal performance from Stephan Leblanc and four from Colin Doyle for Toronto's first postseason win since taking the 2005 title game against the Arizona Sting. Orlando also came from behind to defeat the Boston Blazers 12-11 at Amway Arena. The Titans trailed 7-4 at halftime and 9-8 after three quarters before Jordan Hall scored the game winner with 4:02 left in regulation. Casey Powell led the Titans with five goals.

X-factors: For the second straight game, Orlando's Matt Vinc will oppose a goaltender who finished the season ahead of him, Toronto's Bob Watson led the NLL with a 9.31 GAA. Orlando (9.63) and Toronto (9.75) were the NLL's top two defensive teams. Will the Titans defense be able to contain Toronto rookie snipers (Leblanc and Garrett Billings) as they did during the regular season?

Western Division Final

Edmonton Rush (11-6) at Washington Stealth (12-5), 10:30 PM at Key Arena

Regular Season: Edmonton won the season series 2-1.

Playoff History: This will be their first meeting.

How they got here: Washington never trailed as they defeated the Minnesota Swarm 14-10 at Comcast Arena. Rhys Duch led the Stealth with six goals while Jeff Zywicki added five tallies. Tyler Richards made 49 saves for Washington. Edmonton's first ever postseaon game was a success behind the effort of goalie Matt Disher. Disher made 60 saves as the Rush defeated the defending champion Calgary Roughnecks 11-7 at Pengrowth Saddledome. Ryan Ward dished eight assists for the Rush including helpers on all three goals by Dean Hill and two goals each from Gavin Prout and Andy Secore.

X-factors: Edmonton was the only team to defeat the Stealth twice this season. Will Washington's league leading offense dominate over Edmonton's tied for last defense? The Stealth will be playing this game at Seattle's Key Arena due to their current home (Comcast Arena) being unavailable.

2010 NLL Playoff Previews - Divisional Semi-Finals

2010-04-29T14:24:00.002-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

With the National Lacrosse League’s 24th regular season now in the books, it’s on to the postseason. On Saturday May 1 all eight teams will be in action as the quest to see who will hoist the Champions Cup gets underway. Following are the previews for each of the opening round matchups.

Eastern Division

#4 Boston Blazers (8-8) at #1 Orlando Titans (11-5), 7:35 PM at Amway Arena

Regular Season: Boston won the season series 2-1.

Playoff History: First meeting

Team Leaders

Boston: Goals: Dan Dawson (36), Assists: Dawson (52), Points: Dawson (88), GAA: Anthony Cosmo (9.50).

Orlando: Goals: Casey Powell (44), Assists: Jordan Hall (58), Points: Powell (80), GAA: Matt Vinc (9.51).

X-Factors: Cosmo and Vinc were second and third in Goals Against Average while Orlando was tops in the league in Goals Against Per Game (9.63) with Boston coming in third (10.13). Boston finished tenth in Goals Per Game (10.06) while Orlando averaged the fewest Shots on Goal Per Game (44.44).

#3 Buffalo Bandits (8-8) at #2 Toronto Rock (9-7), 7:30 PM at Air Canada Centre

Regular Season: Buffalo won the season series 2-1.

Playoff History: Buffalo won the lone postseason meeting 19-10 in 2004 at Toronto.

Team Leaders

Buffalo: Goals: Mark Steenhuis (36), Assists: Steenhuis (54), Points: Steenhuis (90), GAA: Mike Thompson (9.92).

Toronto: Goals: Stephan Leblanc (36), Assists: Colin Doyle (62), Points: Doyle (84), GAA: Bob Watson (9.31).

X-Factors: No one would have picked this matchup based on the team’s respective starts: Toronto opened 6-1 while Buffalo struggled at 1-5. Bandits were 7-3 after John Tavares returned to the lineup following an injury. Back to back weekends turned the season for both teams: Buffalo winning a pair of road overtime games (at Toronto and Boston) while Toronto stopped a five game losing streak with wins against Calgary and Philadelphia on consecutive nights.

Western Division

#4 Minnesota Swarm (5-11) at #1 Washington Stealth (11-5), 10:30 PM at Comcast Arena at Everett

Regular Season: The teams split their two meetings.

Playoff History: First meeting.

Team Leaders

Minnesota: Goals: Aaron Wilson (40), Assists: Callum Crawford (64), Points: Crawford (96), GAA: Nick Patterson (12.29).

Washington: Goals: Lewis Ratcliff (46), Assists: Rhys Duch (53), Points: Ratcliff (97), GAA: Matt Roik (10.50).

X-Factors: No drop for the Stealth after sending Colin Doyle back to Toronto for Ratcliff. Stealth was the NLL’s top scoring team (211 goals) and tops in Penalty Killing. Minnesota lost their final six games during the regular season and was 0-4 in overtime including their final two games.

#3 Edmonton Rush (10-6) at #2 Calgary Roughnecks, 3:00 PM at Pengrowth Saddledome

Regular Season: Calgary won the season series 2-1.

Playoff History: First meeting.

Team Leaders

Edmonton: Goals: Ryan Ward (31), Assists: Ward (43), Points: Ward (74), GAA: Matt Disher (12.92).

Calgary: Goals: Dane Dobbie (38), Assists: Josh Sanderson (70), Points: Sanderson (104), GAA: Mike Poulin (9.79).

X-Factors: Edmonton is making their first ever postseason appearance. Calgary looking to defend their championship and win their third title overall. Edmonton tied (with Minnesota and Colorado) for worst team GAA. Calgary finished tenth in Penalty Killing.

A disappointing end to a disappointing season

2010-04-23T23:33:00.004-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

The Philadelphia Wings closed out their worst season since the National Lacrosse League schedule went to 16 games Friday night falling to the Orlando Titans 11-5 before a sparse gathering announced at 8,656 at the Wachovia Center. The Wings looked like a team that was eliminated from playoff contention as their effort in the season finale was quite sluggish and uninspired.

Actually neither team looked like they wanted to be playing as the first half was listless, the teams tied at two after the first 15 minutes and still tied, this time three all, at halftime. Philly was lucky to be tied at half as the Titans were outshooting them 30-24 in the first half. The third quarter was where the game began to fall apart for the Wings as Orlando, behind Game MVP Casey Powell, outscored the Wings 4-0 and held a 15-9 shot advantage. Powell scored three of the four Titan goals in the third while adding his third assist of the night on Tim O'Brien's fourth quarter goal that gave the Titans a 9-3 lead and sent may of the Wings fans to the exits. The teams split the game's final four goals but the clock finally ran out on a Wings Season many would like to forget.

Drew Westervelt led the Wings puny offense with a pair of goals and an assist while Brandon Miller made 43 saves. The Titans, playing back to back games this weekend and heading to Minnesota Saturday, gave Matt Vinc the night off and Kurtis Wagar responded with a 40 save performance. For the Wings, a long offseason now begins and it's an offseason of much uncertainty. Not exactly how they wanted to head into the franchise's 25th season. The final record of 5-11 is the teams fewest wins in a 16 game season and their fewest since going 5-7 in 1999

2010 Wings Lacrosse Game 16 (vs Orlando 4-23-10)

2010-04-19T18:41:00.002-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

The Philadelphia Wings (5-10) will seek to bring the 2010 National Lacrosse League season to an end on a winning note when they face the Orlando Titans Friday night at 7 PM at the Wachovia Center. The game can be seen on the NLL Network.

History

The Wings are 4-6 overall against the Titans including an 0-2 mark this season. Orlando won both previous meetings at home, opening the 2010 season with a 13-8 victory on January 8 and following that up with an 11-9 win on March 12. Drew Westervelt leads the Wings against Orlando in 2010 with six goals and two assists. while Jordan Hall leads the Titans with 11 points on two goals and nine assists. The Wings are 2-2 at home against Orlando but have lost the last two meetings in Philadelphia.

Last Game

After seeing an early 3-0 lead evaporate, the Wings came from behind in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Minnesota Swarm 5-2, to tie the game at 12 and force overtime. Geoff Snider scored his fourth goal of the night 3:12 into the extra session and gave the Wings a 13-12 win over the Swarm Saturday evening at the Xcel Energy Center. Orlando defeated Buffalo 9-7 last Friday at Amway Arena in the Titans regular season home finale. The Titans will be the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

Wings Home records (last five seasons)

2009: 4-4

2008: 7-1

2007: 4-4

2006: 5-3

2005: 3-5

Notes

With a hat trick last week at Minnesota, John Christmas set a new career high in goals (7) in one season (previous was 5 in 2008) while Geoff Snider also set a high in goals scored (19) with his four goal evening.

Drew Westervelt, with 30 goals and Bill McGlone, with 18 goals, each need five goals to establish new career highs.

Brandon Miller needs to play 41 minutes to set a career high in minutes played (previous was 865 in 2007).

Next Game

The 2011 season.

2010 Wings Lacrosse Game 15 (at Minnesota 4-17-10)

2010-04-13T18:35:00.002-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

After being eliminated from making the National Lacrosse League playoffs, the Philadelphia Wings (4-10) will look to end their season on a positive note starting with their final road game of 2010 when they travel to St. Paul, Minnesota to face the Swarm (5-9). Faceoff Saturday night at Xcel Energy Center is at 8:35 and the game can be seen live on the NLL Network.

History

The Wings are 6-7 all time vs Minnesota including this season's previous meeting, a 20-11 Wings victory on March 13 at the Wachovia Center. On the road the Wings are 2-4 and have lost three straight at Xcel Energy Center.

Last Week

The Wings jumped out to a 6-1 lead after the first quarter but could not hold the lead, eventually falling to the Rochester Knighthawks 15-12 last Saturday at the Blue Cross Arena. The Swarm lost twice last weekend, falling Friday at home to Rochester 12-11 before losing at Boston on Saturday 13-8.

Wings on the road (last five seasons)

2009: 3-5

2008: 3-5

2007: 2-6

2006: 3-5

2005: 3-5

Notes

Kyle Wailes's next point will set a new career high. David Mitchell's next goal will also set a personal career high.

Next Game

The Wings will conclude the 2010 season at home when the face the Orlando Titans on April 23.

2010 Wings Lacrosse Game 14 (at Rochester 4-10-10)

2010-04-07T18:31:00.002-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

The Philadelphia Wings (4-9) will look to get back in the win column when they begin their final road swing of 2010 with a game in Rochester against the Knighthawks on Saturday evening. Faceoff at Blue Cross Arena is at 7:30 and the game can be seen live on the NLL Network.

History

The Wings are 15-19 in regular season play against the Knighthawks, including this season's earlier meeting, a 12-6 Rochester victory at the Wachovia Center on February 20. Last season the Wings were 1-1 at the BCA, winning 16-13 on January 10, 2009 and dropping the season finale on April 18, 2009 11-8. All time in Rochester the Wings are 5-11 and have lost six of the last seven visits.

Last Week

Any momentum the Wings had gained during their two game win streak came to a halt when they fell 13-6 at home Saturday against the Toronto Rock. Geoff Snider led the Wings with two goals and Kyle Wailes added three assists while Rookie of the Year candidate Stephan LeBlanc had a ten point evening (5G, 5A) for the Rock. Rochester dropped their fourth straight game last Saturday, losing 11-9 at home against the Calgary Roughnecks. The Knighthawks will open this weekend with a Friday night matchup on the road against the Minnesota Swarm.

Wings Leaders

Goals: Drew Westervelt - 25

Assists: Westervelt - 35

Points: Westervelt - 60 (tied for 15th in league)

Loose Balls: Geoff Snider - 194

Power Play Goals: Kyle Wailes - 6

Next Game

The Wings play their final road game of the 2010 season when they travel to St. Paul, Minnesota to face off against the Swarm on April 17.

Wings done in by LeBlanc, Rock

2010-04-03T23:11:00.002-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

Between Garrett Billings and Stephan LeBlanc, the Toronto Rock should easily take home the National Lacrosse League's rookie of the year honors. Based on his play against the Wings in 2010, LeBlanc would seem to the hand down choice. After putting up nine points in the Rock's 19-11 win over Philly earlier this season, LeBlanc was even better Saturday night scoring five goals and dishing out five assists to lead Toronto to a convincing 13-6 win over the Wings, silencing the Wings modest two game win streak and any playoff momentum that might have followed.

The game was very low scoring in the first half, Toronto scoring the game first four goals before the Wings Pat Heim stopped the shutout with 5:23 left before halftime. Toronto continued to pour it on in the second half making the score 6-1 just over two minutes into the third quarter before the Wings tried to show some life on scores from Kevin Huntley and Geoff Snider. By the time the Wings got goal number four for the evening, the Rock took complete command of the game, going up 11-3 and chasing Wings keeper Brandon Miller after the tenth goal while sending many of the 10, 246 in attendance to the exits. The Wings would score three of the games final five goals but the result was never in doubt for Toronto.

Geoff Snider and Miller may have been the Wings lone bright spots, Snider with two goals and Miller making 32 saves before yielding to Rob Blasdell. For the Wings, it's off to Rochester next week to face a squad struggling just as badly as the Wings are.

Inside the Game

2010-04-01T14:37:00.000-05:00

By Kevin Neibauer

After a spirited fight-filled Wings win over their division rivals, the Boston Blazers, I had the opportunity to get insight from several of the key players. Keep in mind five fights, several game misconducts, stitched up players and cheapshots by Boston dominated the evening. So, without further ado, let's hear from Coach Dave Huntley.

KMN- Your thoughts tonight?

DH- "I thought we carried over from the way we played against Minnesota. We had a real good first half...our guys kept working. I think we are playing pretty good right now."

On the extracurriculars:

"I'll be honest with you, I think it was unfortunate. Tom Ryan has never had a fight in his life and he sends out his guys to try to intimidate us."

Obviously agitated, Coach Huntley continued. "I am against fighting in this sport. It's terrible, it was an embarrasment. This isn't a circus out there, this is a game. I could have understood it if it wasn't for the fact that Tom (Ryan) never got into a fight in his entire career, I could have respected it a bit."

KMN- Some of the Boston players like to fight with their helmets on.

DH- "That's a shame because they have a lot of quality guys on the team. But when a guy gets jumped by another guy who leaves his helmet on that's pretty bad."

Switching gears.

KMN- Drew Westervelt, what about his performance tonight?

DH- "He was terrific. He had to carry the load in the beginning of the season, having to be the Number One guy scoring wise. He has been on fire the last four games"

On to Bill McGlone. McGlone enjoyed his best game as a Wing, albeit only playing a little over one half. McGlone was one of the guys that was jumped by a guy who refused to remove his helmet.

BM- "Three guys were pushing Kyle Wailes so I just tried to help my teammate. My helmet got knocked off, took a fist to the left eye, now I am in a fight. It took a bit to get my feet under me, plus I couldn't get his helmet off. I threw punches but it's hard to hurt him when his helmet is on."

Note- Bill was one of at least three players that received stitches after the festivities. McGlone was sporting a cut under his eye, Tom Hajek cut his scalp (This was believed to be equipment related) and Boston player Paul Dawson also received stitches to the scalp. Dawson and Geoff Snider went toe to toe for hat amounted to be a long battle which Snider won the decision.

The diminutive Jordan Levine also got involved in the action scoring a TKO against a much larger Boston player. Taylor Wray was the final Wings combatant.

Athan Iannucci was in the building and reported that he has received clearance from doctors to begin running. To prove his point at the post game gathering, AI hurdled two restraints and took off running in the concourse.

Brandon Miller just gets better and better each week, this week he was awarded the Defensive Player of the Week Award for his efforts.

Speaking of Bill "The Thrill" McGlone, the Ridley native had a nifty goal to start the second half off a creative feed from Geoff Snider. Snider won the face-off, sprinted to the net and fired what appeared to be a high shot over Goaltender, Anthony Cosmo. However, it was a designed play that Snider and McGlone cooked up. McGlone went behind the net and took the pass/shot and slam dinked the ball behind Cosmo.

DID YOU NOTICE? Kevin Huntley scoring from his back after nearly being decapitated? Many former Wings in attendance? Tom Marechek hung out post game was chatted and signed autographs for quite awhile, Jake Bergey looks like he is thinner than when he was playing, he looks to be in great shape. Max Seibald is beginning to show why the Wings traded for him. Max was hitting everyone and really involved in the play all evening.

2010 Wings Lacrosse Game 13 (vs Toronto 4-3-10)

2010-03-30T18:28:00.002-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

Coming off two huge wins at home, the Philadelphia Wings (4-8) will look to stay on their current roll and keep hopes alive for the postseason when they host the Toronto Rock (6-6) Saturday evening at 7 PM. The game will be shown live on the NLL Network.

History

The Wings are 9-18 all-time against the Rock including this season's first meeting, a 19-11 Toronto victory on February 5 at the Air Canada Centre. At home the Wings are 6-8 against the Rock having won the last four meetings in Philadelphia.

Last Week

The Wings, for the second straight game, used a big second half to win a fight filled contest 13-7 against the Boston Blazers last Saturday at the Wachovia Center before a season high crowd of 11,241. Drew Westervelt led the Wings with seven points (3G, 4A) while Bill McGlone and Dan Teat each added two goals. Brandon Miller made 36 saves and held Boston to two scores in the second half. Toronto lost their fifth straight game when they dropped a 10-8 decision Saturday at Orlando.

Makeup

The Wings announced that their game with Orlando that had been postponed on February 6 due to the snowstorm that hit the Philadelphia area will be made up on April 25 at 5 PM.

Stats

Wings record when scoring first: 3-5

Wings record when leading after the first qtr.: 1-3

Wings record when leading at halftime: 3-1

Wings record when leading after 3 qtrs.: 4-0

Wings record when outshooting opponent: 4-3

Next Game

The Wings return to the road when they travel to Rochester to face the Knighthawks on April 10.

Wings earn hard "fought" win over Blazers

2010-03-27T23:29:00.004-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

In only their second season, the Boston Blazers have become quite a heated, and maybe hated, rival to the Philadelphia Wings. This was never more evident Saturday night at the Wachovia Center where the Wings defeated the Blazers 13-7 in a fight filled game in front of a season high crowd of 11,241.

"I thought we carried over the way we played against Minnesota," Wings Coach Dave Huntley said. "I think we're playing pretty good right now."

The first quarter was a seesaw affair with Boston opening the scoring courtesy of Dan Dawson. Bill McGlone tied the score and the teams would then trade scores with the Blazers leading 3-2 after the opening 15. The end of the quarter gave a brief glimpse of how the night would finish out when Geoff Snider again tried to get at Boston's Mitch Belisle, Snider still upset over hits from Belisle in last season's meetings. The teams continued trading goals in the second and Boston held a 5-4 advantage at halftime.

For the second time this season against Boston, and second game in a row, the second half completely belonged to the Wings. Philly would outscore the Blazers 4-1 in the third and took an 8-6 lead into the final stanza. The fight card would also begin here when the Wings' McGlone and Boston's Kyle Ross went at it, each getting fighting majors and game misconducts from referee Mark Gardonio. The Wings would blow the game open in the fourth outscoring Boston 5-1 and chasing Blazers goalie Anthony Cosmo. The game would also continue to get chippy and with the outcome no longer in doubt the gloves would be dropped with the Wings Jordan Levine standing up to Boston's Jon Harnett. Three seconds after the Levine scrap, Snider finally got into it with the Blazers Paul Dawson, getting many good shots in against a bigger opponent. While this was going on, Dan Dawson would square off with the Wings' Taylor Wray and Wings captain Thomas Hajek and Boston's Jack Reid would go toe to toe. These bouts, and a huge win, would send the Wing faithful home very happy.

"I think they got a little frustrated," Levine said. "Some frustrations boiled over in the end, we didn't back down. We wanted to keep our cool, once we had the game in hand then we let our emotions out."

Drew Westervelt led the Wings with seven points on three goals and four assists while Brandon Miller had another strong second half holding the Blazers to a pair of scores while making 36 saves on the night. With the win the Wings improve to 4-8 and because of the logjam of teams in the East at 6-6, the Wings find themselves still in contention for a postseason berth. Tonight's victory gives the Wings the tiebreaker against Boston and earns them some revenge after they were swept the the Blazers in 2009.

Wray would sum up the Wings recent play and this game in general quite nicely.

"We're playing hard, we're playing together," Wray said. "We've been able to put together some good performances for a full 60 minutes. When you can do that you have an opportunity to win games. It was a good old fashioned lacrosse game tonight, it was nice to be on the winning side of it."

2010 Wings Lacrosse Game 12 (vs. Boston 3-27-10)

2010-03-24T19:31:00.002-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

Coming off of one of their biggest wins in a long time, the Philadelphia Wings (3-8) will look to take a second straight win when they host the Boston Blazers (6-5) Saturday evening at the Wachovia Center. Faceoff is at 7 PM and the game will also be shown live on the NLL Network.

History

The Wings are 1-4 against the current Blazers franchise and 1-1 this season. The Wings won their first game of the 2010 season when they held Boston to one goal in the second half enroute to a 12-8 victory on January 16. Two weeks later on January 30, the Blazers were victorious 11-9 at Boston's TD Garden. The Wings are 1-2 at home vs. Boston.

Last Game

Following a loss the previous night in Orlando, the Wings broke open a close game at halftime with a 7-0 third quarter to defeat the Minnesota Swarm 20-11 on March 13 in Philadelphia. Geoff Snider, Dan Teat and Kyle Wailes each scored four goals while Drew Westervelt and Bill McGlone each added three to lead the Wings offense. Snider and McGlone each had their own highlight reel goal in this game. Brandon Miller recovered from an early hook in Orlando to record 37 saves. Boston defeated Edmonton 12-5 on March 20 in Edmonton.

Wheeling and dealing

The Wings and Blazers made a trade just before the NLL's trade deadline on March 16 when Philly sent Mat Giles to Boston, receiving Dave Cutten and a second round pick in the 2010 entry draft. Giles was in his second season with the Wings and had 31 points (13G, 18A) in nine games in 2010 after leading the Wings with 70 points (23G, 47A) in 2009.

Notes

The last time the Wings scored 20+ goals in a game was April 7, 2007 against New York.

Boston is 6-2 after starting the season 0-3.

Quotes from the Minnesota game

Bill McGlone: "I guess the (green) laces are sticking. To have all those people there from Headstrong and the Ridley area, it was definitely a big game for us. A lot of emotions for me. Me and Brett Moyer knew Nick (Colleluori) very well and to go out and play the way we did represents Nick and how he was as a player."

Kyle Wailes: "Everything finally clicked for us. Last night (at Orlando) was tough. Except for that one stretch in the second quarter I thought we played pretty well. Tonight we got a lot of goals from a lot of different guys."

Next Game

The Wings return home on April 3 when they face the Toronto Rock.

Wings use 3rd quarter to "Swarm" Minnesota

2010-03-13T23:13:00.002-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

For the Philadelphia Wings, a 7-0 third quarter turned a close game into a laugher on Saturday night enroute to a 20-11 victory over the Minnesota Swarm in front of 10, 248 at the Wachovia Center. The way this season has gone for the Wings it easily was a reward for a solid effort this weekend especially after playing the night before in Orlando and staying with the Titans only to see a four goal stretch in just over two and a half minutes keep this from being a very successful pair of games. Wings coach Dave Huntley was obviously relieved after tonight's game.

"Well it felt good," Huntley said afterwards. "I thought our guys played really hard last night, just came out unlucky. I think we got rewarded for maybe some that unlucky stuff that happened before."

While the Wings never trailed in the match, the first half gave no indication of how the game would ultimately end. The first quarter ended at four apiece and the halftime score was only 8-7. The play in the third though gave no indication of which team had played the night before and which one did not. It may have been a sign this would be the Wings night when Geoff Snider made an errant pass that just bounced the right way off the glass and back into his stick before being put past Swarm goalie Nick Patterson. That seemed to open the gates as the Wings scored the first eight goals of the second half before Minnesota finally stopped the bleeding courtesy of John Sullivan's goal 2:03 into the fourth to stop a 20 minute plus scoring drought.

Snider's goal was not the lone highlight reel goal of the night, and not even his only one. Bill McGlone's behind the back crease dive score late in the first quarter was a masterpiece and Snider's final goal (and fourth) of the night was scored with him on the ground. Offensively and defensively just about everything fell into place for a team that had been struggling at both ends. The scoresheet was quite balanced this night. In addition to Snider's four tallies, Kyle Wailes and Dan Teat each scored four goals while McGlone and Drew Westervelt each had hat tricks. Brandon Miller, after being pulled Friday night following the quick four goal run by Orlando, was very solid in net for Philly with 37 saves.

Now the Wings face a week away from the rink before resuming play on March 27 against Boston. With the league's trade deadline on Tuesday (March 16), it will be very interesting to see if any moves are made by Huntley the GM to maybe finish respectably and build for the future or things stay as is. Either way they can rest with the knowledge that they played their best game of 2010 against a very tough Minnesota squad.

2010 Wings Lacrosse Game 10 (at Orlando 3-12-10) & Game 11 (vs Minnesota 3-13-10)

2010-03-08T19:57:00.003-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

The Philadelphia Wings (2-7) will play their first set of back to back games this season beginning Friday evening when they travel to Orlando, Florida to face the Titans (4-3) at 7:30 PM at Amway Arena. Saturday the Wings return to the Wachovia Center to meet the Minnesota Swarm (4-4) at 7 PM. Both games can be seen live on the NLL Network.

History

The Wings are 4-5 against the former New York franchise after losing the season opener 13-8 on January 8 in Orlando. All time on the road the Wings are 2-3 against the Titans. Against the Swarm the Wings are 5-7 all time, 3-3 at the Wachovia Center. In 2009 the teams split a pair of 13-12 games in Philadelphia. On February 21 the Wings jumped out to a big lead and held on for the win behind hat tricks from Merrick Thomson and Athan Iannucci. Former Wings Dan Marohl (six points) and Ryan Ward (five points) led the Swarm. Minnesota took the rematch on March 14 when Marohl scored with five seconds left in regulation to seal the victory. Iannucci scored five goals to lead the Wings.

Last Game

The Wings were close early but could not keep up with their opponent falling 15-7 to the defending NLL champion Calgary Roughnecks Saturday evening in Calgary. Kyle Wailes scored three goals while Drew Westervelt added five points, including four assists for the Wings while Brandon Miller gave up 13 goals before being pulled for Rob Blasdell late in the third quarter. Minnesota last played February 27 when they traveled to Denver and defeated the Mammoth 13-12.

Notes

In addition to Dan Marohl, another former Wing making an appearance Saturday will be Philly's top pick in the 2008 entry draft, Sean Thomson. Thomson was dealt to the Swarm during the offseason. Shawn Nadelen, currently on injured reserve, is the lone Wing to have played for Minnesota, back in the Swarm's inaugural season in 2005.

Wings team stats

Power Play: 17 goals scored in 51 chances, 33.3% (9th)

Penalty Killing: 30 goals allowed in 58 chances, 48.3% (10th)

Goals Scored per game: 10.0 (last)

Goals Against per game: 12.67 (10th)

Next

The Wings will enjoy a week off before resuming play on March 27 when they host the Boston Blazers.

2010 Wings Lacrosse Game 9 (at Calgary 3-6-10)

2010-03-02T20:03:00.002-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

The Philadelphia Wings (2-6) will look to build on their win last week in Buffalo when they travel to the province of Alberta to face the defending NLL Champion Calgary Roughnecks (4-3). Faceoff at Calgary's Pengrowth Saddledome is at 9:30 PM and can be seen live on the NLL Network.

History

The Wings and Roughnecks have only met twice with the Wings taking both matches. The first meeting was in 2003 when the Wings defeated Calgary 19-13 at the Wachovia Center behind seven point nights from Tony Henderson and Jeff Ratcliffe. In 2007 the teams met in Calgary with the Wings emerging victorious by a 10-7 score. Ratcliffe had a hat trick in that game while Matt Roik made 43 saves. Eight players (three Wings, five Roughnecks) have played in both meetings with Calgary's Tracey Kelusky, Kaleb Toth and Andrew McBride likely to be in the lineup for this game. In the last matchup Rob Van Beek was a member of the Wings while Taylor Wray suited up for Calgary, this game they will switch benches. The Wings all time leading scorer vs Calgary is Dan Marohl (3G, 8A).

Last Week

The Wings broke a five game losing streak with a solid 15-11 victory over the Buffalo Bandits Saturday night at Buffalo's HSBC Arena. Drew Westervelt scored four goals while Kyle Wailes dished out six assists to lead the Wings. In his first game back with the team David Mitchell added five points (3G, 2A) with Brandon Miller stopping 40 shots in net to earn the win. Calgary was idle last weekend having last played on February 19 when they defeated the Washington Stealth 13-9.

North of the Border

Including regular season and playoffs, the Wings are 7-15 in games played in Canada. Their first visit was in 1998 when they defeated the Ontario Raiders 12-11 in overtime at Hamilton's Copps Coliseum. Their biggest win up in the Great White North occurred in 2001 when they defeated the Toronto Rock 9-8 to claim the franchise's sixth Championship title.

Wings among league leaders

Kyle Wailes - tied for 16th in points (35).

Geoff Snider - 3rd in penalty minutes (55), 1st in loose balls (118), 2nd in faceoff wins (127).

Brandon Miller - 2nd in minutes played (474) and saves (300).

Next Games

The Wings return to Florida for the opener of a back to back weekend when they square off with the Orlando Titans on March 12. The next night the Wings return home to meet the Minnesota Swarm.

Lacrosse Massage

2010-03-02T15:44:00.000-05:00

By- Kevin M. Neibauer

Lacrosse fans should be happy to learn that Lacrosse is actually quite therapeutic. Well, maybe not the game itself, but, Lacrosse balls. Yes, that's right...Lacrosse balls.

A gentleman from the Philadelphia area has a proven that the most intense and satisfying massage is achieved by rolling on Lacrosse balls.

Allow me to introduce everyone to Wissinoming's native son, Author of "The Body's Constitution, Improved Health and Athletic Fitness through Self Massage and Hybridized Yoga". Keith Null.

Why don't I let Keith explain his findings.

KMN-Keith, tell us about your background. How does a kid from Philly find out the magic of lacrosse balls?

KN-"My education as it pertains to my book started when I visited California when I was 18. After a day of getting pounded in the surf, I received a massage from my Aunt Candice. She was an Olympic synchronized swimming coach and all around fitness guru. She showed me a technique where as you could lay on a little hard rubber ball, place it on a tight muscle, endure some pain, and in the end that sore tight muscle would be relieved. Little did I know at the time, that this technique would take me on a long a fruitful journey.

I was always an accomplished athlete. At age 12, I held a record for scoring the most goals in a soccer season. Then I declined slowly, but still made All Public in high school. However, I was no longer the best in the league and was not really sure why. I figured it out many years later. About this time in life I started to really enjoy surfing. This was also the time I started a career as a union sheet metal worker. I basically worked for a roofing company where the days where long and hard on the back. So between surfing and roofing I discovered what the meaning of a sore, tight back really was like.

Looking for answers to these problems, I went back to school (Temple U.) for Human Movement which is a combination of athletic training and exercise physiology (sports medicine). I also attended Owen's Institute for Swedish massage and Holistic Medicine. I graduated both with honors."

KMN-What did you gain from the schooling?

KN-"One of the main concepts I received from both these schools is that deep pressure massage is one of, if not the best ways to relieve sore, stiff muscles or what is called spastic muscles. This brings me back to what I learned from my Aunt Candice. My education in fact did a 360 to what I learned 30 years ago. I found that rolling on lacrosse balls, one or two of them at a time, in a Swedish massage style, which was my idea, could produce results like nothing else could. You could go to the best massage therapist and it would even come close to what you could do on your own. No one knows your body like you do. A therapist more or less has to guess what muscles are aching and tight, but you don't. You can fell them in the first person, especially as a lacrosse ball rolls over these areas. There is no mistaken the feel of a tight, stiff muscle when done this way. It cannot be misread by a massage therapist. Again, no one knows your body like you do. And there is no mistaken the feel of a muscle when it becomes relaxed. I like to call it a musclegasm; it's like a muscle orgasm."

KMN- Athletes should be interested, why?

KN-" With all this in mind, one can now conclude that if you get the best massage, which I just described, you can reach optimal flexibility. Optimal flexibility leads to greater range of motion in your joints. Greater range of motion leads to increased athletic ability. Weather it is hitting the golf ball further and with more accuracy or running the 50 yard dash my technique will make you the best you can be. The concept seems so simple and frankly I'm surprised that no one else has thought of this before. In addition to making your athletic performance sore, this form of massage fights aging by increasing nutrients flowing into the cells and wastes out of the cells.
Now I'm not saying that this is the only form of exercise an athlete or anyone should do. It works best in combination with standard fitness program and used as a supplement. I've been doing this for twenty years now and it truly works. After a hard days work, I can increase my range of motion by 30% and that's huge. Now that I'm almost 50 years old, I feel that my moves in soccer are quicker and powerful than they were 30 years ago. I can't picture life without it. And If I knew this when I was 12, I have no doubt that I would have reached greatness in sport. So it's time to pass this knowledge on before it's too late. I don't want to be another Joseph Pilate and be dead for 100 years before anyone realizes talent."

KMN- "So, anyone can easily do this and achieve results in a short time?

KN-"I'm not saying that what I have described is easy. In fact it will take time to learn and may even take several months for one's skin to adapt to the force of your entire body's weight to be focused on the small area as dense of a lacrosse ball. But there is no better deep pressure massage you can get. In my opinion, this technique will increase you athletic ability by at least 15% or more. I am in fact, my own testimonial to my book. My book has just been published and no one famous is under my care. Science and logic are the foundation for my book. It's as simple as that!

Thank You, Keith

Keith's book, "The Body's Constitution, Improved Health and Athletic Fitness through Self Massage and Hybridized Yoga" can be purchased at Amazon for only $20 or, you can get it from Mr. Null's site, http://15c772myauthorsite.com for only $13.

It is interesting reading and well worth the time if you are an athlete trying to keep your edge or even a couch potato with a sore back.

Wings end losing skid, take down Bandits

2010-02-27T22:06:00.002-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

David Mitchell's return to the Philadelphia Wings was a successful one as he scored three goals and added two assists to help the Wings break a five game losing streak with a 15-11 win over the Buffalo Bandits Saturday at HSBC Arena.

Also having big games were Drew Westervelt (four goals and an assist) and Mat Giles (3G, 3A). Brandon Miller was excellent in net with a 40 save performance and the Wings powerplay went five for seven in a game in which the Wings never trailed. Twice the Bandits would get to within a goal but the Wings never let them tie it up and played what was probably their best effort of the 2010 season and a definite improvement over last week's debacle with Rochester.

Next up for the Wings (2-6) is a visit to Calgary and the defending champion Roughnecks next Saturday.

Meet Bob Snider

2010-02-24T15:21:00.003-05:00

A few weeks back, Kevin M. Neibauer had the chance to meet Wings rookie Bob Snider. Bob happens to be the brother of Geoff. So, let's meet Bob.

By- Kevin M. Neibauer

KMN- First off, Welcome to Philadelphia. What are your thoughts?

BS- "Thanks. First home game and it feels pretty good. We have a great group of guys and I'm very happy to be here. I couldn't ask for more in a rookie season, plus, playing with my brother makes it very comfortable for me. All the guys get along great."

KMN-Philly can be a really great place to play...

BS-"True, plus it helps that fans really love the game and support us. I had chills going out on the floor. They (the fans) get wild and that's a big factor in our favor."

KMN- What are Coach Huntley's plans for you?

BS-" Little defense, transition and face-offs. I didn't fare too well in the circle tonight, but we got the "W" and that's what is important."

KMN- It seemed the team, as a whole struggled on the face-off tonight, any ideas?

BS-"The ref was changing his cadence and we couldn't get our timing down. But, the important thing is their guys did a great job."

KMN-Philly-Boston, big rivalry, what did you know about the Blazers coming in?

BS-"I wasn't here last year, but. I did follow the league. Boston did pretty well last year so I expected a big game coming in and that's what makes the win nice."

KMN-Defensively, the team allowed only one goal in the second half. Did you do anything at half time?

BS-"Not really, we were doing fine. We knew the second half was going to be a battle and that we needed to keep our composure and that's what we did."

KMN- How difficult has it been for the new guys to get acclimated to the coaches and each other?

BS-"For me, coming into training camp, I knew a few guys, of course, my brother and Taylor Wray. With a short training camp, you really have to bond right away I think most of us have come together nicely. I have been on teams that didn't have big scorers or World Class talent, but they had a bond. That's what wins Championships, the chemistry, the family atmosphere."

Thanks to the Wings and Bob Snider.

2010 Wings Lacrosse Game 8 (at Buffalo 2-27-10)

2010-02-23T19:43:00.002-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

The Philadelphia Wings (1-6) will look to avoid extending their current five game losing streak to a new franchise high when they travel to Buffalo, NY to face off with the Bandits (2-5) for the second time in three weeks. Faceoff at HSBC Arena is at 7:30 PM and the game can be seen on the NLL Network.

History

The Wings 13-11 loss on February 13 at home to Buffalo dropped their all time regular season record to 18-20 against the Bandits. On the road the Wings are 7-12 in regular season play and 6-8 since the Bandits began to call HSBC Arena their home (1997). The Wings have dropped their last four regular season meetings in Buffalo (and five overall including their meeting in the 2008 postseason). The Wings last victory in Buffalo came on February 25, 2005 by a 14-8 score.

Last Week

The Wings could only put up one goal on 15 shots in the second half as the Rochester Knighthawks ran off with a 12-6 win Saturday night in Philadelphia. The Bandits were idle last weekend having last played against the Wings two weeks ago.

Hall of Fame honors

Both teams found out Monday that they would be sending new members to the NLL's Hall of Fame. The Wings will celebrate their ninth inductee when original Wing (and current Assistant) John Tucker will be enshrined. Tucker will join Russ Cline, Chris Fritz, Mike French, Tom Marechek, Paul and Gary Gait, Tony Resch and Dallas Eliuk as Wings who have already been named to the Hall. Rich Kilgour will join brother (and current head coach) Darris Kilgour, John Mouradian, Jim Veltman and Les Bartley as Hall of Famers with a Bandits connection. Also inducted for 2010 is Dan Stroup.

Midseason

The Wings will reach the midseason point Saturday night. Below is their record at the midway point for the last five seasons:

2009: 3-5

2008: 7-1

2007: 4-4

2006: 4-4

2005: 3-5

Other Stats

When Wings score first: 1-4

When Wings lead after the 1st Qtr: 0-2

When Wings are tied after the 1st Qtr.: 1-0

When Wings lead at halftime: 1-1

When Wings are tied at halftime: 0-1

When Wings lead after 3rd Qtr: 1-0

Overtime: 0-1

Next Game

The Wings play their second straight on the road on March 6 when they travel to Calgary to face the defending champion Roughnecks.

Wings downward spiral continues in loss to Knighthawks

2010-02-20T23:43:00.003-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

There was possibly just one positive from tonight's Wings game versus the Rochester Knighthawks, that 10,019 made their way to the Wachovia Center. Judging by the boos and "Let's go Phillies", "Let's go Flyers" and "Fire Huntley" chants heard during the fourth quarter, many did not go home happy. After staying in the game for most of three quarters, the Wings allowed the Knighthawks to score the game's final six goals enroute to a 12-6 victory that further cemented the Wings spot in the Eastern Conference cellar.

As they did last week against Buffalo, the Wings started fast by taking a 3-0 lead just 3:51 into the first quarter. Rochester would score the next two goals and would keep Philly off the board until Dan Teat's second score of the night 8:02 into the second gave the Wings a 4-2 lead. Kyle Wailes would make it a three goal lead 53 seconds later before Rochester's Steve Toll and Gary Gait cut the Philly lead to one at halftime.

The Knighthawks would take a 6-5 lead on powerplay goals from Chris Schiller and Shawn Williams before John Christmas tied the game at 6. That would be all for the Wings who mustered very little in the way of offense in the second half taking only 15 shots at Pat O'Toole, who didn't have to do very much in the Rochester net. Aiding the Knighthawks was the Wings poor play on special teams. In addition to allowing Rochester eight goals on ten powerplay opportunities, the Knighthawks also added a shorthanded goal while holding the Wings punchless offense to just one extra man goal in seven chances. Also hurting the Wings were two scores (Josh Sims in the third on a breakaway and Kevin Huntley in the fourth on one of the few times the Wings went to the net) disallowed for crease violations and continuing problems with passing, catching and picking up loose balls.

Brandon Miller could've sued his teammates tonight for lack of offensive support. Miller made 39 saves and was probably the Wings best player on this forgettable night of lacrosse. Teat, Wailes and Christmas were the sole offensive threats for the Wings accounting for 10 points combined. The defense didn't play badly either holding John Grant Jr. to just a last minute goal and five assists. It was former Wing Gary Gait who did the most damage with a four goal night that gave him game MVP honors. O'Toole yawned his way to 34 saves while seeing a number of shots that may not have hit an outdoor soccer goal.

For the Wings, their next three games are on the road, none of which (Buffalo, Calgary and Orlando) seem to be good candidates for a second win. This was a game that should have many in the Wings organization looking in the mirror and not liking what they see. How they play here on out will give an idea of what they think they can do with the remainder of a 2010 season that is spiralling quickly out of control, even with the built in excuse of missing their top two scorers (Athan Iannucci and Merrick Thomson) and top defender (Shawn Nadelen).

Wings Happenings

2010-02-17T09:46:00.005-05:00

In an Exclusive for LaxPhilly.com Kevin M. Neibauer caught up with recently acquired Max Seibald. Max registered a goal and an assist in his first game in the Wachovia Center. For those of you who don't know, Seibald was acquired from the Boston Blazers early in February.

KMN-"So, how is it here in Philadelphia?"

MS- "It's great, a lot of fun and a great bunch of guys."

KMN-"You recently set a World Record with a shot that registered 110 MPH. What did you receive for that?'

MS- "I didn’t get anything for it. I didn't even win the contest so I don't even have bragging rights! The winner was Paul Rabil. He had a shot at 111 MPH. So, I held the record for three minutes"

KMN-"First game under your belt in Philadelphia, what are your thoughts?"

MS-"I got a little experience last week in Toronto; it's only been a short time since I have been here so I am still learning. I have one or two practices under my belt and the guys have been great with all the help."

KMN-"You were drafted by Boston but never played?"

MS- "Drafted but never went to training camp or never played."

Thanks Max
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WINGS RECAP: Six weeks into the season and a lot is being exposed about this squad. Injuries have decimated the offense with the loss of Athan Iannucci(out for season), Merrick Thomson (no timetable set) and now the defense is hurting. Shawn Nadelen is on the injured reserve and lost for the season. Experienced players such as Dan Teat, Mat Giles, Bill McGlone and Jason Crosbie, to name a few, will be counted on to carry the squad.

Dave Huntley, despite watching his team blow a five goal lead was very upbeat after the Buffalo loss. "I am proud of their effort; Buffalo just brought it to us tonight."

Assistant Coach John Tucker pointed out that the team is averaging 11 goals a game. That should put any team in a position to win most games. Bottom line, it’s real easy to prepare for the Wings, they have very little offensive fire power right now. Simply contain Drew Westervelt and Giles and make the rest of the offense beat you. However, Geoff Snider maybe enjoying the best year of his career, splitting face-off duties with his brother, Bob, gives the Wings a new wrinkle. With Rochester on the horizon. John Grant Jr. is back. Philadelphia MUST compete with the Knighthawks in this contest. With the parity in the league, 7 losses may force you out of the playoffs so the clock is ticking. Right now, the team is struggling, it needs some kind of a break to right the ship. It's not from lack of effort; they simply are undermanned right now. Projects like Kevin Huntley and Max Seibald may be forced to learn the game at a quicker pace than management would desire.

CATCHING UP- I recently chatted with Former GM/Coach, Lindsay Sanderson. Lindsay said he is doing well, working a full time day job and keeping upon the comings and goings in the league. He has a few irons in some fires but not working in the business right now. Lindsay made a point to ask me to forward nothing but the sincerest good thoughts for the fans of Philadelphia and made it known that he has no hard feelings toward anyone and his removal was a business decision that he totally understood. As far as the future of the team, Sanderson exclaimed that he wishes all the best to Dave Huntley, Chris Sanderson and John Tucker as well as the team.

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HERE AND THERE: Coming in late March or early April a new Box League will be forming in the Philadelphia area. Bill Malizia and the Philadelphia Lacrosse Foundation are embarking on the formation of a 30 and over Men's League.Details are being worked out daily. This much I know it will be a no check league with Canadian Box rules. Canadian Box rules are similar to American. The biggest difference is the crease and the goaltenders. The crease cannot be violated at all, that includes reaching in to defend. Players are prohibited from leaving their feet to attempt to score. The Foundation is currently working on several events for the spring/summer. Fundraisers are planned as well as clinics featuring professional lacrosse players.

Thank You to the Philadelphia Wings, Max Seibald, and the Philadelphia Lacrosse Foundation.

2010 Wings Lacrosse Game 7 (vs. Rochester 2-20-10)

2010-02-16T20:02:00.002-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

Looking to end a four game losing streak, the Philadelphia Wings (1-5) play host to the Rochester Knighthawks (4-3) on Saturday evening. Faceoff at the Wachovia Center is at 7 PM and the game can also be seen on the NLL Network.

History

The Wings in regular season play are 15-18 all time against the Knighthawks. At home the Wings are 10-7 against Rochester winning the last meeting there in 2008 15-14 on January 18. In 2009 the teams split a pair of games at Rochester's Blue Cross Arena. The Wings earned their first win of 2009 on January 10 by a 16-13 score but would lose the final game of the season on April 18 11-8 to miss out on the 2009 postseason. Mat Giles (4G, 5A) and Kyle Wailes (2G, 7A) led the Wings with nine points. Gary Gait led Rochester with eight goals in the two games.

Last Week

The Wings jumped out to an early 5-0 lead but could not hold on as Buffalo came back to win 13-11 Saturday night. Kyle Wailes had a seven point night (4G, 3A) while Geoff Snider added a hat trick for the Wings. Rochester defeated Boston 11-9 in a Saturday matinee at the Blue Cross Arena.

East Standings

Toronto 6-2

Rochester 4-3

Orlando 3-1

Boston 3-4

Buffalo 2-5

Wings 1-5

Notes

The only time the Wings started a season 1-5 was in 1999. They would go on to win four of their last six games to qualify for the NLL playoffs.

Next Game

The Wings will hit the road for three games starting with a visit to Buffalo's HSBC Arena on February 27 for their second meeting of the 2010 season against the Bandits.

Bandits show Wings to East cellar

2010-02-14T11:31:00.002-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

Based on the opening seven minutes and one second, it appeared that the Philadelphia Wings had found the antidote to save what was starting to look like a dreadful season. A quick 5-0 lead to chase the opposing goaltender was making the evening look very good. The Buffalo Bandits had other ideas though and used the momentum of Angus Goodleaf's solid play in relief of Mike Thompson and shut down the Wings en route to a 13-11 victory Saturday night at the Wachovia Center. A franchise low crowd of 7,723 was on hand to witness the Wings fall into sole possession of last place in the NLL's Eastern Conference.

Thompson was chased in the first quarter due to three goals from Kyle Wailes and two more from Geoff Snider. After Goodleaf entered the game, the Wings offense suddenly went cold while the Bandits still couldn't dent Brandon Miller until the 11 minute mark when Mark Steenhuis finally put one past the Wings goalie. Three more Bandits scores followed and the first quarter ended 5-4 Wings. The teams would trade off goals in the first five minutes of the second stanza before the Bandits Frank Resetarits scored with eight minutes until intermission to tie the game at seven.

Buffalo would gain the lead for the first time on a Kevin Dostie goal 3:39 into the third quarter. Wailes would get his fourth goal of the night to tie the game at eight but that would be that final tie of the night as Buffalo got a pair of tallies from Brett Bucktooth (one shorthanded and one on the powerplay) to take a 10-8 lead into the final 15 minutes. The fourth started good for the Wings as John Christmas (in his first game action of the 2010 season) and Geoff Snider sandwiched goals around one from Buffalo's John Tavares to make the game 11-10 Buffalo with 8:21 remaining in regulation. Goals from Tavares and ex-Wing Jon Harasym would ice the game for the Bandits, making Max Seibald's first NLL goal with 13 seconds remaining to play irrelevant.

While Bandits coach Darris Kilgour was happy to have Tavares back in the lineup for the first time this season after sitting due to injury, he credited the play of Goodleaf as the game's turning point.

"We didn't come out with focus, we didn't play well in fron of Mike (Thompson)," Kilgour said. "When Angus went in there guys buckled down a little more and Angus played a really good game so I thought that was a big turning point for us."

Wings coach Dave Huntley, while happy that his team's effort was better than their previous game in Toronto, also gave props to the Bandits backup keeper.

"Give credit to Angus, he came in and stopped the bleeding in a big way and they rallied behind him," Huntley said. "They started to find the net a little bit and we probably lost a little bit of composure."

Wailes paced the Wings with four goals and three assists while Geoff Snider scored a hat trick. Dan Teat and Mat Giles also chipped in with three assists for Philly while Brandon Miller made 36 saves. Buffalo had five players (Steenhuis, Tavares, Bucktooth, Dostie and Resetarits) score two goals to lead a balanced offense while Goodleaf made 37 saves in his relief effort.

The Wings season does not get any easier as Rochester, with John Grant Jr. and Gary Gait, comes to visit next Saturday.

2010 Wings Lacrosse Game 6 (vs. Buffalo 2-13-10)

2010-02-09T19:39:00.002-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

Looking to end a three game losing streak and recover from a slow start, the Philadelphia Wings (1-4) face a team that is also struggling in the Buffalo Bandits (1-5). Faceoff this Saturday night is at 8 PM and can be seen on the NLL Network.

History

The Wings are 18-19 all time in regular season play against the Bandits. In Philadelphia the Wings have a record of 11-7 and have won the last two meetings at home. In 2009 the teams split their two matchups, the Bandits taking the season opener 15-11 January 3 at HSBC Arena and the Wings winning the February 6 meeting at Wachovia Center by a 13-11 score. Drew Westervelt scored six goals in the two games to lead the Wings while Mat Giles added five tallies. Buffalo was led by Mark Steenhuis with six goals. Rob Blasdell took the loss for the Wings in the opener while Brandon Miller started in the Philadelphia victory. Mike Thompson started both games in net for the Bandits.

Last Week

The Wings were competitive in the first quarter trailing 6-4 but after an early second quarter goal brought them within a goal the floor fell through and the Toronto Rock ran with a 19-11 victory last Friday at Air Canada Centre. Dan Teat (2G, 3A) and Kyle Wailes (1G, 4A) led all Wings scorers with five points. Brandon Miller started and surrendered 18 goals before being replace by Rob Blasdell in the fourth quarter. Buffalo faced the Rock at home on Saturday losing 14-10.

Notes

Former Bandits now suiting up for the Wings include Dan Teat and Jason Crosbie while Sean Greenhalgh, Ian Llord, Ken Montour and Jon Harasym are Bandits who one time played for the Wings.

Next Game

The Wings host the Rochester Knighthawks on February 20 at 7 PM.

Wings "Rocked" in ugly loss

2010-02-06T00:41:00.002-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

Ugly losses seem to be the norm when the Wings visit Toronto's Air Canada Centre. And this game was really no exception. After a quick start, things went downhill very fast for Philadelphia as the Toronto Rock waltzed off with a 19-11 win in front of 10,256 fans Friday night.

The first quarter would end up being the highlight of the evening for the Wings. Philly would jump out to a quick 2-0 lead in the game's first minute on goals from Dan Teat and Kyle Sweeney. After the Rock tied the game on scores by rookie Stephen LeBlanc and Scott Campbell, the Wings would regain the lead courtesy of Geoff Snider. That would be the last lead of the evening for Dave Huntley's squad as the Rock tallied four of the next five scores to take a 6-4 lead after the first 15.

Mat Giles would get the Wings (1-4) within a goal but the Rock would answer with six straight goals to take a 12-5 lead in the third quarter. Sweeney and Kyle Wailes would add goals to get the Wings within five but the Rock would continue to toy with and have their way against the Wings struggling defense and would not allow the Wings to come back and make a game of it this evening. After surrendering 18 goals on 53 shots, Brandon Miller was relieved and Rob Blasdell would see his first playing time of the 2010 season.

Kyle Sweeney and Dan Teat each scored twice for the Wings in the losing effort. With Saturday's home game with Orlando postponed due to an impending Winter Storm, the Wings will return home next weekend to face the Buffalo Bandits in what right now appears to shaping up to be a big divisional battle: one for the bottom of the NLL's Eastern Conference.

2010 Wings Lacrosse Game 5 (at Toronto 2-5-10) and Game 6 (vs Orlando 2-6-10)

2010-02-01T20:15:00.002-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

The Philadelphia Wings face their first weekend of back to back games in the 2010 season. The weekend begins with a visit to Toronto and the Air Canada Centre for a 7:30 faceoff against the Rock and concludes on Saturday evening at the Wachovia Center when the Wings play host to the Orlando Titans at 7 PM. Both games can be seen on the NLL Network.

History

The Wings are 9-17 all time in regular season play against Toronto, 8-16 since the franchise's move to Toronto from Hamilton, Ontario following the 1998 season. In Toronto, the Wings have a 2-9 record (2-8 at the Air Canada Centre). The Wings last visit to Toronto in 2008 was a victorious one, 15-14 on a late Athan Iannucci goal. Overall the Wings have won their last three meetings with the Rock including their only matchup in 2009, a 16-14 win in Philadelphia. The Wings lone regular season visit to Maple Leaf Gardens was a loss while their visit to Copps Coliseum in 1998 was an overtime victory over the then Ontario Raiders. Against Orlando the Wings are 4-5 including the 13-8 season opening loss on January 8 at Amway Arena. In Philadelphia the Wings and Titans have split four games.

Last Week

The Wings fell to the Boston Blazers 11-9 Saturday afternoon in Boston. Mat Giles scored a hat trick and Kevin Huntley added his first two NLL goals but the Wings never led in the game and couldn't overcome four goal games from Dan Dawson and Daryl Veltman. Toronto suffered their first loss of 2010, 16-8 at Rochester on Saturday while Orlando defeated the Knighthawks Friday night in Orlando by a 13-8 score.

At the quarter pole (last five seasons)

2010: 1-3
2009: 1-3
2008: 4-0
2007: 2-2
2006: 3-1

Next Game

The Wings are back at home on February 13 when they host the Buffalo Bandits.

Wings stumble in Boston

2010-01-30T19:52:00.002-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

A fluky first goal against and an inconsistent offense spelled doom for the Wings this afternoon in Boston as they fell to 1-3 on the season losing 11-9 to the Boston Blazers at TD Garden.

The goal that set the tone for the game occurred in the game's first minute when after attempting to play a long pass from his crease, Wings goalie Brandon Miller had the ball get caught in the upper part of his right leg pad. As he turned around the ball came loose and rolled into an unguarded net to give Boston the early lead. The goal was credited to Dan Dawson, the first of four he would score on the day. The Wings trailed 3-0 before they tallied their first goal from Kyle Wailes, a score that was originally ruled no goal but overturned following a challenge by Wings coach Dave Huntley.

Mat Giles opened the second quarter scoring to pull the Wings within a goal at 3-2 but three Blazer scores opened up a 6-2 lead. The Wings would come back scoring three of the next four goals to go into halftime down 7-5, the last goal coming in the final seconds from Kevin Huntley, his first in the NLL in his fourth game. NLL goal number two for Huntley came in the opening minute of the third quarter to again pull Philly within a goal at 7-6. After the teams traded scores the Blazers got a pair of goals from Daryl Veltman (who also had four goals on the day) to lead 10-7 heading to the final 15 minutes. Bill McGlone scored in the first minute to make it 10-8 but neither team would score again until the final minute of play when Veltman would ice the game for the Blazers. Giles scored the game's final goal. The game would end with some chippy play after the Wings Geoff Snider went after Boston's Mitch Belisle.

The Wings will now head into a huge weekend of back to back games staring next Friday in Toronto before coming home to face the Orlando Titans the next night.

2010 Wings Lacrosse Game 4 (at Boston 1-30-10)

2010-01-26T19:41:00.002-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

The Philadelphia Wings will hit the road for their next two National Lacrosse League matchups. First in this set of games is this Saturday afternoon when the Wings (1-2) travel to Boston to face off with the Blazers (1-3). Game time is at 1 PM and can be seen on NLL.com through the NLL Network.

History

The Wings 12-8 victory over the Blazers on January 16 was their first win over the second year Boston squad. All time the Wings are 1-3 vs the Blazers. The Wings were defeated in their only visit to Beantown in 2009 falling 11-7 to the Blazers on January 24. All time the Wings are 1-1 at TD Banknorth Garden, having defeated the original Blazers 12-11 on January 11, 1997.

Last Week

The Wings gave up two goals in the final three minutes to allow the Colorado Mammoth to tie the game at 11 before falling 12-11 in overtime Saturday night at the Wachovia Center. Mat Giles scored three goals while Kyle Wailes added five assists. Brandon Miller made 46 saves in the Wings net. Boston won their first game of the 2010 season defeating Orlando 13-9 Saturday evening in Boston.

Dealing with their opponent

Monday the Wings and Blazers completed a trade in which the Wings acquired Boston's top pick in the 2009 entry draft, Max Seibald, in exchange for the Wings top pick in the 2010 draft and future considerations.

Wings Leaders

Goals: Drew Westervelt - 7

Assists: Mat Giles and Geoff Snider - 7

Points: Westervelt - 13

Goals Against: Brandon Miller - 10.86

Save Pct.: Miller - 78.4%

Next Game

The Wings will begin a back to back weekend of games with a visit to Toronto to square off against the Rock on February 5.

Wings fall in OT to Mammoth

2010-01-23T23:39:00.003-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

For the second straight week the Philadelphia Wings were facing a team that played on the road the night before and had their game go into overtime. After holding the Boston Blazers to one goal in the second half last week and wearing the Blazers down, the Wings had hoped to do the same to the Colorado Mammoth tonight. It wasn't to be though as the Wings let the Mammoth score twice in the game's final three minutes to force overtime before Alex Gajic's third goal of the night gave the Mammoth a 12-11 victory in front of 8,201 at the Wachovia Center. The Wings fall to 1-2 while Colorado evens up at 2-2.

"We played 57 decent but not great minutes," Wings coach Dave Huntley said. "The last 3 minutes sort of bit us."

The Wings struggled to find any rhythm on offense tonight as they tied the game seven times only to allow Colorado to score the go ahead goal. It wasn't until Drew Westervelt scored with 6:04 to play in the fourth quarter that the Wings actually held a lead in this game. When Bill McGlone tallied with 4:10 to play it looked like the Wings might pull this one out. The Mammoth, though, still had some energy left after an overtime game in Minnesota on Friday night and managed to score twice to tie the game. The game tying goal by Jamie Shewchuk came while the Mammoth were shorthanded after Nick Carlson was whistled for a check from behind.

The overtime period started ominously for Philadelphia as McGlone was called for goaltender interference just 34 seconds into the extra frame. With 15 seconds left in the man advantage Alex Gajic ended the night and sent the Mammoth home with back to back OT wins to cap Steve Govett's first weekend as a coach in the NLL after Bob McMahon was relieved of his duites following the Mammoth's 0-2 start. Govett, however, gave all the credit to his players afterwards.

"All the credit goes to the guys," Govett said. "They're the one's who answered the bell. They really worked hard."

Mat Giles had three goals for the Wings while Kyle Wailes added six points, including five assists. Brandon Miller made 46 saves to keep the Wings in the game. Colorado was led by Alex Gajic's three scores and Jamie Shewchuk's five points (2G, 3A). Andrew Leyshon played the full game and made 40 saves after making 35 saves in 46 minutes of play friday night against the Minnesota Swarm.

The Wings will look to rebound next Saturday afternoon with a rematch in Boston against the Blazers.

2010 Wings Lacrosse Game 3 (vs Colorado 1-23-10)

2010-01-19T20:44:00.002-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

The Philadelphia Wings will seek win #2 in the 2010 season when they faceoff against the Colorado Mammoth on Saturday night at the Wachovia Center at 7 PM. The game can also be seen live on the NLL Network.

History

The Wings hold a 27-12 edge in games against the only other franchise left from the league's beginning in 1987 as the Eagle League. The Wings are 5-2 since the Mammoth moved to Denver in 2003 and have won the last four meetings overall and five straight at home (last home loss in 2000). Last season the Wings defeated Colorado 17-13 on March 28 at the Wachovia Center. In that matchup Athan Iannucci scored four goals while Mat Giles dished out six assists.

Last Week

The Wings gained their first win of the young season holding the Boston Blazers to one goal in the second half enroute to a 12-8 victory last Saturday at the Wachovia Center. Brandon Miller made 18 of his 41 saves in that second half while the Wings used a balanced scoring attack to take the win. Colorado lost their home opener last Saturday night 14-13 to the Edmonton Rush.

New faces, old teams

Two Wings will be facing their former team on Saturday. Josh Sims played for the Colorado franchise for his entire career going back to when the team was the Washington Power in 2001. Mike Ward was a rookie with the Mammoth in 2009. Behind the Colorado bench will be a familiar face to Wings fans. Mammoth GM Steve Govett became coach of the team after Bob McMahon was relieved of his duties following the loss to Edmonton last week.

Next Game

The Wings will head back on the road when they visit the Blazers January 30 at Boston's TD Banknorth Garden.

Solid second half leads Wings to victory

2010-01-16T23:27:00.002-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

The Philadelphia Wings held the Boston Blazers to one goal in the second half and got just enough offense to earn their first win of the 2010 season, 12-8 over the 0-3 Blazers in front of 9,330 at the Wachovia Center Saturday night. The win improves the Wings to 1-1 early in the 2010 season.

"We played a really good second half," Wings coach Dave Huntley said. "We finally got all of our pre-season stuff out of the way and cleaned things up."

The first half was almost like watching two different games. The first quarter both sides appeared sluggish, in Boston's case no real surprise as they had played in Toronto the night before dropping an overtime decision to the Rock. After playing to a 1-1 draw in the first, the second quarter was run and gun with the Wings outscoring Boston 7-6 enroute to an 8-7 halftime lead.

After Jason Crosbie tallied his second goal of the night to give the Wings a 9-7 advantage, Boston's Daryl Veltman cut the lead to 9-8 on a powerplay score with 9:50 left in the third. This was significant on two fronts: it was the first time in their first three games that the Blazers scored more than seven goals. It would also be their final goal of the evening. The Wings would outscore the Blazers 3-0 the rest of the way to send their faithful fanatics home happy.

The Wings were led offensively by four two goal scorers (Drew Westervelt, Jason Crosbie, Dan Teat and Kyle Wailes). Westervelt, Mat Giles and Geoff Snider also chipped in with three assists while Brandon Miller made 41 saves. Boston's Mike Poulin amtched Miller in the save department while Nick Cotter (3 goals, 2 assists) and Daryl Veltman (2 goals, 3 assists) lead the Boston offense.

The Wings will look for win #2 when they face the Colorado Mammoth next Saturday at home.

2010 Wings Lacrosse Game 2 (vs Boston 1-16-10)

2010-01-11T16:00:00.002-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

The Philadelphia Wings will look to recover from an opening night loss in Orlando when they host the Boston Blazers in the Wings 2010 home opener on Saturday night. Faceoff at the Wachovia Center is at 7 PM. The game can also be seen on the NLL Network free of charge.

History

The Wings struggled against the expansion Blazers in 2009 losing all three meetings. On January 23, the Blazers won their first ever NLL game 13-11 over the Wings in Philly's 2009 home opener. Boston rookie Daryl Veltman scored four goals that night while league MVP Dan Dawson had seven assists. The following evening the Blazers dominated the Wings 11-7 at TD Banknorth Garden. Boston jumped out to a 5-0 in this game and never looked back. The Wings did close to within a goal at 8-7 before the Blazers scored the game's last three goals to ice the win. Matt Lyons tallied five goals while Dan Dawson added a goal and seven more assists earning Offensive Player of the Week honors for Week four of the 2009 season. The final meeting is a game Wings fans would like to forget as they were held to just one goal over three quarters as they were embarrassed by Boston 8-4 on February 13. The Wings trailed 7-1 with just over ten and a half minutes to play before scoring three of the games last four goals. The lone highlight for Philadelphia was a 48 save night by goalie Brandon Miller.

Last week

The Wings were defeated 13-8 by the Orlando Titans in front of 8,145 fans at Orlando's Amway Arena last Friday. After taking a 2-1 lead in the first quarter, the Titans reeled off seven straight goals to put the game out of reach. Casey Powell led the Titans with four goals while Jordan Hall added six helpers. The Wings leaders were Drew Westervelt with three goals and Dan Teat with two goals and two assists while Brandon Miller made 33 saves.

Boston's opener was just as tough as they fell at home to the Toronto Rock 17-7 on Saturday. Dan Dawson scored three goals and added two assists while Daryl Veltman had four points (2G, 2A). Both Anthony Cosmo (12 Goals Against) and Mike Poulin (5 GA) struggled in net for Boston. Before coming to Philly the Blzaers will travel Friday to Toronto for a rematch of opening night.

For Openers

The Wings have a home opening record of 13-10, only 6-7 at the Wachovia Center. In addition to last years loss, the Wings were 2-1 in home openers against the original Blazers (1989-1997).

Next Game

The Wings will return to the Wachovia Center on January 23 to host the Colorado Mammoth.

2010 Wings Lacrosse Game 1 (at Orlando 1-8-10)

2010-01-03T18:50:00.004-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

The 24th season of Philadelphia Wings lacrosse will begin with them playing their first ever game in the Sunshine State but against a team that has quickly become a fierce rival. The former New York Titans now make the home of Disney World their new stomping grounds and will open their first season in Florida against the Wings on Friday night. Gametime at Amway Arena is at 7:35 PM and the game can be seen on the NLL network.

History

The Wings and Titans have split their eight previous meetings. On the road the Wings are 2-2 against the Titans. This will be the fourth different road arena the Wings will have faced the Titans in, after playing in 2007 at Nassau Coliseum (Wings win 16-11), 2008 at Trenton's Sovereign Bank Arena (Titans win 20-13) and two games in 2009 at Newark, NJ's Prudential Center.

Last season

The Wings lost two of the three meetings in 2009 against the Titans. The Titans claimed victory in the first meeting 15-12 in Newark on February 8 behind hat tricks from Casey Powell, Brendan Mundorf and Mike McLellan. On April 4, the Wings opened a home and home weekend with an 11-7 win in Newark fueled by a 45 save performance from Brandon Miller. The next day the Wings jumped out to an 8-3 lead at home before the Titans rallied for a 16-13 win, Casey Powell scoring five goals. Merrick Thomson led the Wings in the series with 16 points (11 goals). Kyle Wailes and Geoff Snider each had nine assists.

For starters

The Wings are 12-11 all time in season openers. This season will be the 16th the Wings have opened on the road with an 7-8 record in the previous games. The Wings last win in a season opening road game was the 2006 opener at Colorado. The Wings did win their road opener at Colorado in 2008 after opening with three wins at home.

Some new and returning looks

The Wings 2010 roster has several new looks. Among the newcomers are top draft pick Bob Snider (brother of Geoff), trade acquisitions Bill McGlone (17 points with Toronto in 2009) and Kevin Huntley (son of coach/GM Dave), Mike Ward (six games with Colorado in 2009), Dan Teat (69 points with Edmonton in 2009) and free agents Josh Sims (Colorado) and Jeff Reynolds (University of Maryland). The roster also sees the return of three players from the 2008 team, John Christmas, Brett Moyer and Jason Crosbie (50 points in 2009 with Toronto).

2009 Stats

Goals: Merrick Thomson (40)

Assists: Mat Giles (47)

Points: Giles (70)

Goals Against: Rob Blasdell (11.84)

Next Game

The Wings will play their 2010 home opener on January 16 against the Boston Blazers.

Wings 2010 Schedule

2009-09-03T14:04:00.002-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

The Philadelphia Wings schedule for the 2010 season has been released. The Wings will open their 24th season of play on January 8 when they travel to Orlando, FL to meet up with the Orlando Titans, who transferred to the Sunshine State from the New York City area. The Wings home opener will be the following weekend on January 16 against the Boston Blazers. All home game will be on Saturday nights.

2010 Regular Season Schedule (All times ET)

*Schedule is subject to change

Friday, January 8 Philadelphia at Orlando - 7:35 PM

Saturday, January 16 Boston at Philadelphia - 7:00 PM

Saturday, January 23 Colorado at Philadelphia - 7:00 PM

Saturday, January 30 Philadelphia at Boston - 1:00 PM

Friday, February 5 Philadelphia at Toronto - 7:30 PM

Saturday, February 6 Orlando at Philadelphia - 7:00 PM

Saturday, February 13 Buffalo at Philadelphia - 7:00 PM

Saturday, February 20 Rochester at Philadelphia - 7:00 PM

Saturday, February 27 Philadelphia at Buffalo - 7:30 PM

Saturday, March 6 Philadelphia at Calgary - 9:30 PM

Friday, March 12 Philadelphia at Orlando - 7:35 PM

Saturday, March 13 Minnesota at Philadelphia - 7:00 PM

Saturday, March 27 Boston at Philadelphia - 7:00 PM

Saturday, April 3 Toronto at Philadelphia - 7:00 PM

Saturday, April 10 Philadelphia at Rochester - 7:35 PM

Saturday, April 17 Philadelphia at Minnesota - 8:35 PM

NLL Championship Preview

2009-05-13T18:21:00.004-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

Just two teams remain standing in the 2009 National Lacrosse League season and Friday night, one will be hoisting the Champion's Cup. The Calgary Roughnecks and the New York Titans will meet at Pengrowth Saddledome to decide who is the league's best team. Faceoff is at 9:30 ET and can be seen on the NLL Network at NLL.com.

History

The two teams have only met once previously and that was this season. Calgary traveled to Madison Square Garden and defeated the Titans 12-10 on February 28th. Kaleb Toth scored three goals and added three assists while Dane Dobbie had five points on three goals and a pair of helpers. Mike McLellan led the Titans with six points on two goals and four assists while Brendan Mundorf added a hat trick. Matt King made 33 saves for Calgary while Matt Vinc stopped 48 Roughnecks shots in the NY goal. New York played that day without Casey Powell and Patrick Merrill.

Playoff History

Calgary is 6-5 all time in the postseason, 3-3 at home. New York is 3-1 overall and 1-1 on the road. This will be the Roughnecks second Champion's Cup final (they defeated the Buffalo Bandits in 2004) while the Titans are making their first appearance in the finals.

How they got here

Both teams have been successful at home in the 2009 postseason. Calgary defeated the Colorado Mammoth in the West semis 15-8 before taking down the San Jose Stealth 17-5 in the West finals. New York needed overtime to beat the Rochester Knighthawks 11-10 at Madison Square Garden then hopped across to New Jersey and the Prudential Center to beat the Buffalo Bandits 9-3 in the East finals.

Who's Hot

For both teams it's easily the goaltenders. New York's Matt Vinc has a 6.38 goals against with 72 saves in his two games while Calgary's Matt King has a 6.50 GAA and 82 saves. Vinc held the Bandits to just three goals last Saturday while King shut out the Stealth for just over three quarters. The postseason goal and assist leaders are in Calgary (Tracey Kelusky with 8 goals and Josh Sanderson with 11 assists) while the Titans Casey Powell is the overall leader (6G, 9A) with 15 points.

Who has the rings?

Calgary has six players on their roster (Kelusky, King, Kaleb Toth, Andrew McBride, Devan Wray and Kyle Goundrey) who helped the Roughnecks to their 2004 NLL title. In addition, Toth (2000), Josh Sanderson (2005) and Pat Campbell (1999, 2000) won championships with the Toronto Rock. For New York, Patrick Merrill won twice with Toronto (2003, 2005) while Dave Stilley won in 2001 with the Philadelphia Wings and again in 2006 with Colorado. Bill Greer won in 2007 with Rochester.

Pick

Both teams have solid goaltending and have shown they can shut down a high powered offense. Their regular season meeting was a tight game. Calgary prevailed but New York fans might have wondered if the result could have been different with their leader (Casey Powell) in the lineup. They'll find out on Friday night.

New York 10, Calgary 8

NLL Conference Final Previews

2009-05-07T18:41:00.002-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

Down to four teams remaining in the hunt for the National Lacrosse League's Champions Cup, on Saturday night we'll find out who will be meeting in the league's title game next weekend. Here's alook at Saturday's games. Both can be seen free on NLL.com.

Eastern Conference Final

Buffalo Bandits (11-6) at New York Titans (11-6), 7:30 PM at Prudential Center

Regular Season: NY won the season series 2-0.

Playoff History: The teams met at HSBC Arena in last season's East Final, won by Buffalo 19-12.

How they got here: Buffalo avenged a season-ending loss when they defeated the Boston Blazers 11-8 in Buffalo last Saturday. Mark Steenhuis scored four times for the Bandits while Ken Montour made 47 saves. New York scored three times in the final 7:39 of regulation before winning in overtime 11-10 over the Rochester Knighthawks last Friday at Madison Square Garden. Casey Powell scored the game's final three goals and had four total with four assists to pace the Titans.

X-Factors: Both teams have explosive offenses in front of solid goaltenders (Buffalo's Ken Montour, New York's Matt Vinc). Which offense will have the better success? John Tavares had 12 points in last season's East Final, can the NY defense keep him in check?

Western Conference Final

San Jose Stealth (8-9) at Calgary Roughnecks (13-4), 9 PM at Pengrowth Saddledome

Regular Season: Calgary won both meetings in 2009.

Playoff History: Calgary won the only postseason meeting, 15-14 in the 2004 Division Semi-Finals.

How they got here: San Jose won on the road 20-16 against the Portland Lumberjax last Friday night. Colin Doyle led the Stealth with nine points (2 goals, 7 assists) as Tyler Richards won his playoff debut in net. Calgary dominated the Colorado Mammoth 15-8 last Sunday in Calgary. Matt King made 40 saves for the Roughnecks while Dane Dobbie added seven points on three goals and four assists.

X-Factors: San Jose only won twice on the road during the season but knocked out the home Lumberjax. Can Calgary take advantage of the home support and host next week's Championship game? Which former Toronto Rock star will shine brightest, San Jose's Colin Doyle or Calgary's Josh Sanderson?

NLL Playoff Preview (Conference Semi Finals)

2009-04-30T18:57:00.003-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

With the regular season now in the rearview mirror, the 2009 National Lacrosse League postseason is set to begin Friday May 1st. With two games Friday, one Saturday and one Sunday, it shapes up to be a busy weekend. With that in mind, Laxphilly.com presents its preview of the opening round action.

Friday May 1

Rochester Knighthawks (7-9) at New York Titans (10-6), 7:30 PM at Madison Square Garden

Regular Season: New York won the season series 2-1.

Playoff History: first ever meeting.

Team Leaders:

Rochester: Goals: Shawn Evans (30), Assists: Shawn Williams (67), Points: Williams (93), GAA: Pat O'Toole (10.74).

New York: Goals: Casey Powell (40), Assists: Jordan Hall (56), Points: Powell (85), GAA: Matt Vinc (11.33)

X-Factors: Jamie Rooney scored seven goals in 10 games for the Titans before being dealt to Rochester at the trade deadline. After scoring five goals for the Knighthawks in seven games, will he be looking to show something to his former team? Which former Syracuse star will be on top, NY's Powell or Rochester's Gary Gait.

San Jose Stealth (7-9) at Portland Lumberjax (9-7), 10:30 PM at the Rose Garden

Regular Season: Portland won the season series 2-1.

Playoff History: This will be their second meeting. Portland won 18-16 in the 2008 West SF.

Team Leaders: San Jose: Goals: Colin Doyle (38), Assists: Doyle (73), Points: Doyle (111), GAA: Matt Roik (11.37).

Portland: Goals: Peter Morgan (29), Assists: Ryan Powell (44), Points: Powell (62), GAA: Matt Disher (10.80).

X-Factors: Portland is 0-1 in home playoff games. While Jax keeper Disher played in last season Champion's Cup final, San Jose's Roik has never played in the NLL postseason.

Saturday May 2

Boston Blazers (10-6) at Buffalo Bandits (10-6), 7:30 PM at HSBC Arena

Regular Season: The teams split the season series 1-1, each winning on the road.

Playoff History: First meeting between the current teams. Buffalo was 2-0 against the original Blazers (1992, 1993).

Leaders: Boston: Goals: Daryl Veltman (34), Assists: Dan Dawson (74), Points: Dawson (104), GAA: Anthony Cosmo (10.14).

Buffalo: Goals: Mark Steenhuis and John Tavares (51), Assists: Steenhuis (50), Points: Steenhuis (101), GAA: Ken Montour (9.57).

X-Factors: Dan Dawson is looking to appear in his fourth NLL title game in five seasons (2005, 2007, 2008). Buffalo is looking to win back to back titles and their fifth overall (1992, 1993, 1996, 2008).

Sunday May 3

Colorado Mammoth (7-9) at Calgary Roughnecks (12-4), 5 PM at Pengrowth Saddledome

Regular Season: The teams split their season series 1-1, each winning at home.

Playoff History: This will be their fourth playoff meeting. Calgary has a 2-1 edge, winning the most recent meeting in 2008.

Leaders: Colorado: Goals: Brian Langtry (38), Assists: Gavin Prout (48), Points: Langtry (79), GAA: Andrew Leyshon (10.93).

Calgary: Goals: Dane Dobbie (41), Assists: Josh Sanderson (74), Points: Sanderson (103), GAA: Matt King (10.23).

X-Factors: How well does ex-Roughneck Leyshon know his former teammates? And how much offensive support will he receive from a Mammoth offense that struggled for most of the season?

Wings dismiss Lindsay Sanderson

2009-04-23T19:07:00.002-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

On April 22, the Philadelphia Wings announced that General Manager Lindsay Sanderson had been relieved of his duties after five seasons. During his five seasons as GM, the Wings had a record of 37-43. Sanderson also spent his first three seasons with the Wings as coach, compiling a record of 20-28 before he was replaced by Dave Huntley. No successor has been named yet.

Stay with Laxphilly.com for all Wings moves during the offseason.

No playoffs for Wings

2009-04-18T21:00:00.003-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

It looked promising at halftime with a 5-4 lead. When Kyle Wailes scored 31 seconds into the third quarter, hopes may have raised. Sadly that would be the final high point of the 2009 Philadelphia Wings season. Scoring seven of the game's last nine goals, the Rochester Knighthawks defeated the Wings 11-8 at Blue Cross Arena to secure the final playoff spot in the NLL's Eastern Conference. For the Wings, disappointment after last year's return to the postseason. Now, Philly faces another offseason of uncertainty. What moves, if any, will be made?

Wings 2009 Game 16 (at Rochester 4-18-09)

2009-04-14T18:20:00.002-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

It's the last game of the regular season and it's "winner take all" when the Philadelphia Wings (7-8) travel to Rochester to face off with the Knighthawks (6-9) on Saturday evening. The winner will claim the fourth and final playoff spot in the National Lacrosse League's Eastern Conference. Faceoff is at 7:30 PM and can be seen live on NLL.com.

History

The Wings are 15-17 against Rochester and 5-10 at the Blue Cross Arena including their 16-13 win there on January 10. Merrick Thomson scored four goals and added an assist while Kyle Wailes put up seven points, six of them assists, to the the Philadelphia offense. Brandon Miller made 36 save in net for the Wings. Gary Gait scored five goals for Rochester in his return to the NLL following his retirement after the 2005 season while Shawn Williams added eight points (2G, 6A) for the Knighthawks.

Last Week

Drew Westervelt's goal with 61 seconds to play lifted the Wings to a 16-14 victory over the Toronto Rock, eliminating the Rock from the NLL postseason. Westervelt's goal was his fourth of the evening. Merrick Thomson led the Wings with eight points on three goals and five assists. Rob Blasdell made 47 saves for the Wings. Rochester was swept over the weekend, losing 13-9 at Buffalo on Friday and 10-5 at Boston on Saturday.

Playoffs

As mentioned already, the winner of this game will clinch the fourth and final playoff spot in the East. The Buffalo Bandits, New York Titans and Boston Blazers have already clinched the first three spots. The Wings-Knighthawks winner will face either Buffalo or New York pending the results of the Bandits-Blazers and Titans-Minnesota Swarm games. The playoffs will open the weekend of May 1.

Quotes

Wings coach Dave Huntley on the difference between the Knighthawks early in the season and now: "Obviously Pat O'Toole's back. Craig Point certainly is bringing out the best in Shawn Evans. Gary (Gait)'s still playing well. They're running the floor a little better."

Drew Westervelt on facing the Knighthawks: "We know we've got a battle next weekend. Everybody's gonna come ready to go and hopefully we can just keep building off of tonight."

Next Game

Either the first weekend in May at either New York or Buffalo or the opening night of the 2010 season.

One on One - Tom Wersderfer

2009-04-13T20:51:00.001-05:00

By- Kevin M. Neibauer

I recently had the opportunity to sit down with off-field NLL official, Tom Wersderfer. So, let's find out exactly how the stats become stats.

KMN- Tom, tell us exactly what it is that the stat crew does?
TW-"We keep track of all the shots, on and off goal, we keep track of all the loose balls, penalties, goals, assists....there are eight of us up there (the pressbox). "

"Two guys work together, they keep track of who has the ball at all times, and when a goal is scored, they decide who scored it, and decide who woukd get the assist."

KMN- So the offiials do't decide who scored and who assisted?
TW-"No..I used to think that too, we have a guy who works for the NHL that determines the scorer and Harvey Pollock oversees everything. We have a phone up there and we call down to PA announcer to tell him the names sp he can announce it."

KMN- Do you guys determine penalties as well?
TW-"No there are people in the box, they log in the penalty, the time and the player. Then we record them upstairs. They have a seperate sheet on the floor, they record penalties that were wiped out as well. Pointstreak doesn't record the wiped off penalties, just the ones that were actually called. We fax the penalty sheet to the leaguie office after we verify everything."

KMN-Do you run the clock?
TW-"We only keep track of the shots at net, Whether on goal or not. All game clocks, time clocks, 30 second clocks and all that is run by the guys on the floor."

KMN-How did you get started on the crew?
TW-"I got in through Dallas Eliuk. I knew Dallas at the time, he set it up. They treat it as a volunteer position. But, it's like a stepping stone. The guy that did it before me moved on. He is now running the scoreboard.
I enjoy doing it.

KMN-Do you get to travel with the league?
TW-" I get to work with the New York crew, I've done a couple games in Madison Square Garden for the Titans. I did the Wings game in Trenton with the New York crew. Not every city has the same amount of people on the crew. Some cities have a "game caller" and a computer. The game caller clls out the action and its entered on the computer. In Philly, we use computer and paper also. So, some cities only have three people."

KMN-Who is reponsible for your assignments?
TW- "The Home team is responsible for supplying a stat crew. Most of the cities have an NHL team, so, you will see the same people doing the games that you will see at a NHL game. For instance, Harvey Polock not only does the Wings, but, he also works the Flyers and the Sixers and a lot of local college games.

There you have at... alook at one of the people that you rarely see that makes the NLL run.

Tom would like to Thank Dallas Eliuk. I would like to Thnk Tom and the National Lacrosse League for their cooperation.

My next One on One---Chopper

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Wings step one game closer to postseason

2009-04-12T09:31:00.002-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

Treating last night's game as a playoff game of its own, the Philadelphia Wings kept their hopes for the actual postseason alive with a 16-14 win over the Toronto Rock at the Wachovia Center. Last night's home finale brought in the largest crowd of the season in Philly, 11,924.

The Wings got off to a fast start in this game, taking a 6-2 lead after the first quarter. Athan Iannucci was the star of the first 15 minutes with a hat trick. The second and third quarters did not exactly go the Wings way, however, as the Rock opened both quarters with a five goal run that in both case gave them the lead. The Wings rebounded in the second with late three goal run to take a 9-7 lead to halftime. After the Toronto run to start the third the Wings added three to tie the game at 12 heading to the fourth, where Mat Giles regained the lead for Philly.

The lead would be short lived as Toronto's Kasey Beirnes tied the match a little over a minute later with local laxer Bill McGlone giving the Rock its final lead of the evening with 8:50 to play in regulation. Former Rock Jon Harasym tied the game at 14 with 5:31 to go and the game looked like it was headed for an extra session. With 61 seconds left in the fourth Drew Westervelt scored his fourth goal of the night for what would prove to be the game winner. Kyle Sweeney added an empty netter with three seconds left and kept the Wings playoff hopes alive and dashed those of the visiting Rock.

For the Wings, the task ahead is very simple. Beat Rochester next week and they're in the playoffs.

Wings 2009 Game 15 (vs. Toronto 4-11-09)

2009-04-07T18:22:00.002-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

Unofficially the playoffs have begun for the Philadelphia Wings (6-8), who need to simply win out in order to make it to the National Lacrosse League's postseason. The Wings will begin this quest Saturday evening when they host the Toronto Rock (5-9) at 7:30 PM. The game can be seen live and for free on NLL.com.

History

The Wings are 8-17 all time against Toronto (including when the Rock were known as the Ontario Raiders in 1998). In Philadelphia, the Wings are 5-8 against the Rock and have won three straight games at the Wachovia Center against Toronto. Last season the Wings swept a season series from Toronto for the first time in team history. Philadelphia used a 51 save performance from Rob Blasdell in taking the first meeting 11-9 at the Wachovia Center on April 6th. The Wings closed the regular season with a rare win at the Air Canada Centre 15-14 on a shorthanded goal by Athan Iannucci with less than a minute to play in regulation.

Last Week

The Wings split a back to back set with the New York Titans, winning the first game 11-7 Saturday night in Newark, NJ. Brandon Miller starred in net for Philadelphia with 45 saves while Drew Westervelt scored four goals. The Titans returned the favor the next day in Philadelphia, ourscoring the Wings 12-5 in the second half to take away a 16-13 victory and clinch a playoff spot for the second straight season. Kyle Wailes led the Wings with 10 points on the afternoon (3 goals, 7 assists). Toronto lost at home to the Boston Blazers 14-13 on Friday night.

Some familiar faces

Both sides have a number of players who have worn both teams jerseys. Toronto's Luke Wiles, Jason Crosbie, Chad Thompson and Jason Clark all once suited up for the Wings while Philly's Mat Giles, Jon Harasym and Rob Blasdell all were former members of the Rock. The Rock's Bill McGlone is from Swarthmore, PA and attended Ridley High School.

Playoff hopes

As stated earlier, the Wings need just to win their final two game to qualify for the NLL playoffs. A Toronto win would give them the tiebreaker with Phialdelphia and with some help could take the final spot in the East. Buffalo, New York and Boston all have clinched spots in the postseason while the Wings and Rock battle with the Rochester Knighthawks for the fourth berth in the East.

Next Game

The Wings will close out the 2009 regular season with a visit to Rochester's Blue Cross Arena to face the Knighthawks on April 18th.

Thirty minutes from weekend sweep, Wings flatten out, split with Titans

2009-04-05T18:20:00.002-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

Heading into this weekend the Philadelphia Wings knew a sweep of the rival New York Titans would be important in their quest for a return to the National Lacrosse League postseason. Winning both games would've given Philadelphia the tiebreaker, a key in the super tight Eastern Conference. After Saturday's 11-7 win in Newark and with an 8-4 lead at halftime on Sunday, the Wings looked to be in great position to do just that. Unfortunately, the Wings who came out on the floor in the second half of Sunday's rematch looked nothing like the team from the previous 90 minutes of play and that enabled New York to come back and earn a split with 16-13 win to the disappointment of most of the 10,806 on hand at the Wachovia Center.

Saturday night started out like it was going to be a shootout with the teams combining for three goals in the game's first minute. Play would settle down and the game was tied at three after one quarter, a feather in the Wings caps as they had to kill off four New York powerplays during the opening stanza. The Wings would shutout the Titans in the second and led 6-3 at half, all three goals coming as a result of two five minute majors issued to the Titans Jeff Bigas and Jarett Park. The Titans would outscore the Wings 3-2 in the third but would get no closer the remainder of the evening. Brandon Miller was superb in the net for Philly, making 45 saves to lead the Wings to the all important "W", while Drew Westervelt's four goals and a five point night from Merrick Thomson (3G, 2A) paced the offense.

Sunday's quick turnaround was, as many expected, on the chippy side. Philly jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead and seemed to hit any and everything moving or not. New York closed to within a goal but the Wings seemed determined to bring both teams to a tie in the standings and eventually pulled out to an 8-3 lead before NY rookie Steve Ammann scored his first NLL goal to make the game 8-4 at halftime. From this point, the game stopped resembling the one of less than 24 hours ago and looked more like the teams' first meeting of 2009. The Titans scored the first three goals of the second half before Athan Iannucci stopped the bleeding with a score to give the Wings a 9-7 lead. The teams would trade tallies until, trailing 11-9, New York would score the last three goals of the third quarter, to go ahead for the first time all weekend at 12-11 with just 15 minutes to play. Brandon Miller was chased after the Titans ninth goal and was replaced by Rob Blasdell.

Philly would quickly regain the lead on scores from Iannucci and Kyle Wailes but that would be their final lead of the day. Brendan Mundorf put NY ahead for good with 6:17 to play, Casey Powell added insurance with 2:54 left and Bill Greer iced the Titans win with an empty netter with 17 seconds to play. Powell ended up with five goals Sunday, after being held to just one on Saturday night while Mundorf, who was held scoreless on Saturday, finished the second game with six points on three goals and three assists. Matt Vinc stopped 47 shots in this game, after making 36 saves on Saturday. Kyle Wailes scored 10 points (3G, 7A) in the losing effort.

The win for New York on Sunday clinched playoff spots for not only themselves, but for the expansion Boston Blazers as well. For the Wings, their record falls to 6-8 and means that they pretty much need to win their remaining two games (Home vs. Toronto, at Rochester) and get some help to lock up the fourth and final spot in the East.

Wings 2009 Game 13 (at New York 4-4-09) and Game 14 (vs. New York 4-5-09)

2009-03-31T18:43:00.004-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

The Philadelphia Wings (5-7) will look to make some noise in their quest for a spot in the National Lacrosse League postseason when they face the New York Titans (7-5) in a home and home weekend set. Saturday night's faceoff will be at 7:30 at Newark's Prudential Center while Sunday's game will be at 2:30 at the Wachovia Center. Both games can be seen for free on NLL.com.

History

The Wings and Titans have split the six games played with Philadelphia winning the first three and New York the last three, including their first meeting this season. Despite Merrick Thomson's five goal night, the Wings could not hold an early lead and dropped a 15-12 decision February 8th in Newark. On the road the Wings are 1-2 against the Titans (1-0 at Nassau Coliseum, 0-1 at Sovereign Bank Arena, 0-1 at Prudential Center) while going 2-1 in Philadelphia.

Last Game

The Wings put forth their highest offensive output of the 2009 season in defeating the Colorado Mammoth 17-13 last Saturday at the Wachovia Center. Athan Iannucci paced the Wings with four goals while Mat Giles added six assists. Brandon Miller made 37 saves while also scoring an empty net goal for Philadelphia. New York defeated the Buffalo Bandits 11-9 Saturday night at Buffalo's HSBC Arena.

Stats and Stuff

Several Wings are approaching career highs in point totals. Merrick Thomson (30-19-49) has already eclipsed his goal total from last season (26) and needs seven more points to top his point total from his rookie season of a year ago. Mat Giles (17-36-53) needs eight points to set a new career high (60 points with Ottawa in 2003) while having already set a career high in assists (previously 30 in 2007 with Chicago). Kyle Wailes (10-26-36) needs two points for a new career best while having already topped his assist total from his first season in 2007 (21).

Quotes

Wings Coach Dave Huntley on the playoff push: "We play all three teams (New York, Toronto and Rochester) we're competing for a playoff spot with. We totally control our destiny, if we win all those games we're in. If we stumble then we'll need some help. I like the way our team is playing right now."

Next Game

The Wings will conclude the home portion of their 2009 schedule when they host the Toronto Rock on April 11th.

Playoff Push On, Wings Move Forward

2009-03-31T18:06:00.002-05:00

By- Kevin M. Neibauer

The Philadelphia Wings dug a hole for themselves this season. Entering the Saturday with the Colorado Mammoth, the Wings were on the outside looking in at the playoff hunt.

But, the team finally got some luck. Every player is now healthy, Toronto lost to Edmonton.

For the first time this season, Philadelphia put together a strong contest for the entire game.

Game MVP, Brandon Miller stopped 37 Colorado shots and added an assist and a goal.

Drew "The Highlight Film" Westervelt, who improves every game, was again impressive with two acrobatic goals.

Athan Iannucci showed why he is the reigning mVP of the National Lacrosse League. AI is getting stronger andeven better each game.

"I think we have played pretty good the last month." said Head Coach, Dave Huntley. "It's the first time all year that we had everyone available to us. This is the best result that we have had all season. After the Boston game, we could only get better."

Huntley continued, "The Boston game, we only had twelve guys who were healthy...that makes it difficult.'

When asked about the solid game turned in by Brandon Miller, Huntley went on to say, "Brandon has played really solid for us...Coaches get fired because of the way players play and goalies get pulled for the way teammates play. Goalies get pulled, that's the nature of the beast."

"He was very solid tonight, those last two games he was pulled, but, he is our starter and that's why we came back with him. Blazer (Rob Blasdell) was real good for us in those two games...we have two real good goalies."

Focus then shifted to Brandon Miller.

"I felt a little rusty, with the week off. I didn't feel as though I was on top of my game, I don't think I was seeing the ball as well as I have. I thought the defense was awesome tonight." I gave up a few that I shouldn't have but, overall a solid sixty minutes a big win." Miller stated.

I proceeded to ask him about his goal. "That was my second goal, I got one when I played in San Jose. It was in Anaheim. It's nice to get one every now and again."

"Next week is huge. New York won tonight, Rochester won tonight and Toronto won last night...we really have to get both those games. It's a playoff weekend for us for sure. We are coming off a big win, everyone played hard.

DID YOU NOTICE-That Kyle Sweeney had a goal and three assists....Both Wings goaltenders have scored goals....the officials were much improved...for the second straight game, a Wings player was given a cheapshot...Jamie Shewchuk punched Geoff Snider where no man whould ever be hit...Snider was 25 of 30 on face-offs...that is what wins games...the postgame auction for Chris Sanderson was a rousing success. Class move by the Colorado and Rochester organizations for sending a jersey to be sold..
_________________
Kevin
PhillyLax.com
PLPA.com
PHN.com

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Wings earn playoff-like win over Mammoth

2009-03-28T23:05:00.002-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

With five games remaining in a very tight race for the playoffs in the National Lacrosse League's Eastern Conference it's safe to say Saturday's matchup with the Colorado Mammoth was an unofficial playoff game for the Philadelphia Wings. In this first test, the Wings passed with flying colors as they used a solid effort from start to finish to pull out a 17-13 win over the Mammoth in front of a season high crowd of 11,876 at the Wachovia Center.

Unlike the last two games, the Wings actually got on the board in the first quarter, opening a 2-0 lead on scores from Merrick Thomson and Mat Giles. Colorado would tie the game at two before Thomson's second of the night briefly regained the lead. Again the Mammoth would get a pair of goals to go ahead before the Wings tied the game on a shorthanded goal by Kyle Sweeney to end the first quarter 4-4. The goal by Sweeney was the first of four shorthanded goals the Wings would score on the night.

Chris Gill gave the Mammoth their final lead of the night just 31 seconds into the second quarter. Philadelphia would then score the game's next five goals to take a 9-5 lead early in the third. After the teams traded scores to make the game 11-7, the Wings would have their one real lull in the game, allwoing Colorado to score the next three goals, making it an 11-10 nailbiter with 8:19 remaining to play. In the past the Wings might have found a way to deliver the game to their opponents but that would not happen this evening. Goals by Thomson, Kyle Wailes, Drew Westervelt and Athan Iannucci in a two minute, seven second stretch would give the Wings a comfortable 15-10 lead.

The excitement did not end there.

After the Mammoth's Jed Prossner scored on a power play to get Colorado within four, Mammoth coach Bob McMahon opted to pull goalie Andrew Leyshon for an extra attacker. And for a second straight year a Wings goaltender would score an empty net goal, this time being Brandon Miller. Geoff Snider would end the night early for Leyshon with his second goal of the night with 66 seconds left to play. The Mammoth would score twice in the game's final half minute but the night, and the victory, would belong to the Wings.

Snider played in his first game since suffering a fractured windpipe in Edmonton on February 27 and looked very sharp in the lineup. Snider would win 25 of 30 faceoffs and played his usual physical style. The points leaders tonight for the Wings were Mat Giles (1G, 6A) and Athan Iannucci (4G, 3A) while Merrick Thomson (3G, 2A) and Kyle Wailes (2G, 3A) had big nights as well. In addition to his goal, Brandon Miller also made 37 saves.

With Rochester defeating Boston and Toronto losing in Edmonton, the Wings (5-7) find themselves a half game behind the resurgent Knighthawks (5-6) and a half game ahead of the Rock (5-8). With games against both of those teams, along with next weekend's home and home with the New York Titans (7-5), the Wings are clearly in charge of their own destiny. Winning out not only assures the Wings of a winning record, but would also give them three key tiebreakers in a race that will most likely go down to the season's final weekend. Tonight's efforts will need to continue to assure Philadelphia of a second straight trip to the postseason. Next stop will be Saturday in Newark, NJ.

Wings 2009 Game 12 (vs. Colorado 3-28-09)

2009-03-24T19:11:00.002-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

With no more off weeks for the rest of the season, the Philadelphia Wings will make their push for teh playoffs when they host the Colorado Mammoth on Saturday night. The Wings final regular season game against the West Division will start at 7:30 PM and can be seen on NLL.com.

History

All time the Wings hold a 26-12 record against the franchise that played in Baltimore (1987-1999), Pittsburgh (2000) and Washington (2001-2002) before moving to Denver. Since the move to the Mile High City, the Wings are 4-2 against the Mammoth and have won three straight in the series, including last season's 15-13 win at the Pepsi Center. In Philadelphia, the Wings are 14-4, with the last loss occurring in 2000 to the then Pittsburgh Crossefire.

Last Game

For the second straight game the Wings were shutout in the first quarter and could not come all the way back as they fell on a late goal to the Minnesota Swarm 13-12 on March 14th at the Wachovia Center. Athan Iannucci led the Wings with five goals and three assists while Rob Blasdell made 41 saves in relief of starter Brandon Miller.

Stats and Stuff

The Wings are third in the NLL in powerplay percentage (52.17) trailing only Calgary and San Jose. Philadelphia also leads the NLL with 10 shorthanded goals (Merrick Thomson scoring three).

The Wings lead the league in faceoff percentage (.650) and faceoffs won (195). Philly has taken 809 shots (most in the league) yet are just eighth in shots on goal (523). The Wings trail only Toronto in loose ball pickups (Tor. 895, Phila. 883).

Next for the Wings

Following the game with Colorado, the Wings will begin a key home and home weekend series with the New York Titans starting with a visit to the Prudential Center on Saturday, April 4th.

Interview with Bill Malizia

2009-03-21T09:23:00.002-05:00

Kevin M. Neibauer recently had the opportunity to sit down with Bill Malizia of
the Philadelphia Lacrosse Foundation.

You may not have heard of Bill or the Foundation, but Bill is hoping to change
that in the very near future.

The Philadelphia Lacrosse Foundation is geared toward teaching city kids the
value of the oldest team sport known to man, Lacrosse.

Bill Malizia, an extremely energetic man, has been around the game for over
thirty years, Malizia also has worked in the Department of Recreation in the
City of Philadelphia for quite a few years.

Well, why don't we let Bill tell you about his goals with the Foundation?

KMN- "Bill, the Philadelphia Lacrosse Foundation, what do need to know about
it?"
BM-"The Philadelphia Lacrosse Foundation is the newest non-profit Lacrosse
organization in the Philadelphia area. There are many other organizations
that use
“Philadelphia” in their title and claim to work within the city, but they
actually don't deal with people who live in Philadelphia or the city proper. Our
organization is going to be different; we are going to work specifically with
kids inside the city."

"We will also expose the kids to not only the field game in the spring; we are
also going to introduce them to box lacrosse in the summer, so they can get the
total Lacrosse experience."

KMN- "do you have a game plan on how to get the kids to come out?'
BM-"We are going to utilize some of the local recreation centers and some of the
local sports organizations that are already running programs."

"Also, word of mouth put the word out with kids that I already know. Friends,
acquaintances, other coaches. We will use High Schools that already play, which
is the Catholic League schools to recruit players that will do some work with
us."

"Websites, Fliers, Face book, whatever we can use to get our word out. The sites
that we are going to use are Philadelphia Department of Rec sites or programs
related to that. There are plenty of fields, plenty of indoor facilities that
are not being utilized. One of the components of our program will be giving
something back to the community." We plan to do several community services
projects throughout the city.

For instance, if we go into a facility where the field is not so good or the
building is not so good, we will help renovate in exchange for use of the
field." We will provide a program for the children in that area too.

KMN-"Philadelphia is a big area, are you going to break it up into sections?"
Or, attack it as a whole?"
BM-"Our basis is in the Northwest Philadelphia area, so that's where we started.
We have a program underway at Kendrick Recreation Center; we plan to use
McDevitt Recreation Center in East Falls. We will take the format for that and
expanded it into areas such as Port Richmond, Fishtown, Bridesburg, South
Philadelphia, West Philadelphia, North Philadelphia, and the Northeast"
Those are the areas that we have targeted first. We want to give the kids a
structural program just so they can see what Lacrosse is. We may bring in
experienced players, pro players or coaches, do a demonstration. The goal is to
put a stick and a ball in every kid's hands."

KMN-"What is your Lacrosse background?"
BM- "I have been around Lacrosse for about thirty five years as a player and as
a coach. I was fortunate enough to have met Norm Treinish, who was the founder
of the Barry Ashbee League, before he founded the league, when he was the
secretary and treasurer of the original PhiladelphiaWings Lacrosse team, back in
1974, through him, I started playing when I was fifteen." He taught me a lot of
Lacrosse and a lot about life as well.

"I participated in two of his programs, I was named the team Captain and leading scorer of his first team, the Merion Shooting Stars,
and I just got hooked on the box lacrosse that was being played by all those
Canadian players."
I went to field lacrosse, played on club teams. I also founded the Philadelphia
Box Lacrosse Association in 1985, which is still in existence today."

"I have been recognized by the Canadian Lacrosse Association by the Iroquois
Confederacy. I was the High School Coach at Roman for three years from
1999-2002. And have and coached in various leagues up till three years ago."

KMN-"Iroquois Nation...sounds like something that you can bring into your
Foundation."
BM-"Yes, they have been around the game since its origins, they are not some
"Johnny come lately". So, I'm going to utilize their knowledge, history, and
expertise as well as some of their players and coaches to help us out."

"We already have a commitment from the Onondaga Nation to make an appearance in
Philadelphia to play one or two of our youth teams."

KMN- "when you start your Box league, are you using the NLL and the American Box
Rules or strictly Canadian Rules?'
BM-"We will play Canadian Box Association Rules. The reason being, they have
played and formulated the game since the early 1900's, the game has been
successful, if you look at all the players, where they come from,
the premier players are all-pretty much from Canadian Box Lacrosse league, so
why mess with that kind of success? So, we're going to run that kind of program
here in Philadelphia, give our kids a better opportunity to grow and develop at
a faster rate than all the other kids."

KMN-"Those of us that have been around the game know that a lot of NHL players
have also played Lacrosse, for the kids that love hockey, give me some
examples."
BM- "Wayne Gretzky, everybody knows him, but also, Joe Nieuwendyk was also a
great lacrosse player, he came out of Whitby, Ontario and played in the NHL for
Calgary. Some Flyers players of the past have played. Doug Favell being one.
Gary Roberts of St.Louis."

"Not to forget, NFL Hall of Famer, Jim Brown. Was one of the greatest lacrosse
players ever. Brown even said that he would have played Lacrosse over Football
if there was a professional league."

KMN-"You are bringing this to the inner city; a lot of these kids have never
seen the game and don't have any idea what Lacrosse is. How do you get them
out?"

BM-"The game will sell itself, a lot of the kids that play basketball will adapt
to Lacrosse rather easily. It is a lot of the same strategy and played very
similar. Once you show the kids what it is, and they can make a connection, all
the mystery goes away."

"The major component is the parents, once the kid sees the game, he says, "Mom,
I want to play.", Once the parents see a picture or video of the game they get a
better idea. To the average person, the game looks too rough. But, once we
educate the parents we'll be fine."

KMN-" Bill, bottom line...my kid sees the game and wants to play, what will it
cost me?"
BM-"To fully outfit a kid to play lacrosse in today's world would be around
$275.00. That would include a stick, all the equipment and spikes or cleats. We
realize that it's hard enough just paying your bills, so there will definitely
be a commitment for the kids to play."

"That's why we start with an Instructional program, just a stick and a ball,
when the parents realize that there is definitely a commitment from their child,
it is easier to move forward." Plus it gives the kid a chance to see if he
really likes it, without having to put up a lot of money.

"We plan on running fundraisers and events to help offset the cost that the
parents will have to make." We are working on a deal with a sporting goods store
to provide an “equipment start up package” that is affordable and realistic!

KMN-"You mentioned Fundraisers, do you have anything planned'?
BM-"We do. We have a couple of things that we are planning. The first one we are
calling it our "Kick-Off" a night at McFadden's at 3rd and Callowhill. Thursday
April 2nd, from 5 to 9PM. We're going to try to draw a lot of college kids and
other lacrosse people from around the area. We are hoping to get 200 people down
there."

"We'll also use that night to springboard to our other events, recruit some
volunteers."

"We are also sponsoring a "Night at the Wings" on March 28, when the Wings play
the Colorado Mammoth. We are using our kids from our youth program from the East
Falls/Roxborough area to sell a lot of tickets."

"If we sell 200 tickets, our kids can go on the floor between 3 and 4 PM and the
Wings have promised us that Athan Iannucci will be on the floor with the kids."

KMN-"You mentioned Athan Iannucci, do you have any other professional players on
board?"
BM-"I have a verbal commitment from George Castle, one of the Wings. We are
working with John Grant (Rochester). He is hoping to do a clinic for us." in the
future, we are also working with the Philadelphia Wings management and hope that
we can partner with them for a few mutually beneficial programs.

Thanks to Bill Malizia and the Philadelphia Lacrosse Foundation
_________________
Kevin
PhillyLax.com
PLPA.com
PHN.com

For more info, go to Philadelphia Lacrosse Foundation

Discuss this article in the LAXPhilly Forums

Comeback not enough for Wings after another opening zero

2009-03-14T22:09:00.002-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

For the second game in a row, and third time this season, the Philadelphia Wings found themselves held scoreless after the first quarter. And for the third time, the Wings found themselves on the losing end of this type of game. After yet another comeback that had this game looking like it would go into overtime, Minnesota's Chad Culp scored on a behind the net shot with 4.5 seconds left in regulation to give the Swarm their third straight win, 13-12 over the host Wings.

The Wings looked lackluster at best in the horrid first, outscored 4-0, outshot 15-5 and outhit on numerous plays. Faceoffs were a problem as well as Geoff Snider, despite taking part in the pre game warmup, was a scratch as he recovers from the trachea injury suffered two weeks ago in Edmonton. Athan Iannucci finally got the Wings on the board 5:30 into the second quarter and his second goal of the night late in the stanza allowed the Wings to trail by just two scores at halftime. The teams traded goals in the third, the Wings twice getting within a goal before Minnesota answered with a goal of their own.

The Wings caught fire in the fourth as goals from Iannucci (his fourth of the night), Rob Van Beek and Merrick Thomson gave Philly its first lead of the night at 10-9. Former Wing Dan Marohl continued to be a thorn in the side of his former team as he tied the game just 24 seconds after the Wings took the lead. Iannucci's fifth of the night gave the Wings their last lead of the night as Minnesota would reclaim it on goals from Aaron Wilson and Sean Pollock. When Thomson potted his third of the night with 1:25 left in regulation it appeared the Wings would force overtime, maybe even pull out a late win, until Culp's last second heroics sent the Swarm home victorious.

Rob Blasdell did a solid job in relief of starter Brandon Miller, making 41 saves and keeping the Wings in the game. Iannucci added three assist to his five goals for his best game of the season while Van Beek and the Swarm's Sean Pollock gave the fans a Flyer type highlight with a toe to toe bout early in the third quarter. For Dave Huntley's squad, they now find themselves in fifth place with the loss and have another week off before hosting the Colorado Mammoth on March 28. With five games remaining, there will need to be some sense of urgency if the Wings want a return to the postseason. And the scoreless first quarters will need to be put to rest.

Wings 2009 Game 11 (vs. Minnesota 3-14-09)

2009-03-10T17:56:00.002-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

Fresh off the National Lacrosse League's All Star Break, the Philadelphia Wings (4-6) will begin their push towards the postseason when they host the Minnesota Swarm (4-5) Saturday evening at the Wachovia Center. Faceoff is at 7:30 and can be seen live on NLL.com.

History

With their 13-12 win over the Swarm on February 12, the Wings are now 5-6 all time vs. Minnesota and 3-2 in Philadelphia. In that game, Athan Iannucci celebrated his return to the lineup with a three goal, two assist performance. Merrick Thomson also added three goals and Mat Giles tallied a goal and five assists. Former Wings Ryan Ward (3G, 2A) and Dan Marohl (1G, 5A) paced the Swarm.

Last Games

The Wings split a back to back weekend prior to the All Star Game, defeating Edmonton 14-9 on February 27 before falling to Portland the next night 12-10. Against the Rush, Merrick Thomson scored six goals and A.J. Shannon added four to lead the Wings while Brandon Miller made 39 saves in goal. In Portland, the Wings trailed 5-0 after the first quarter before making the game close. Thomson added three more goals and Kyle Wailes added three in the losing effort. Minnesota swept a weekend series away from home, defeating Toronto and Buffalo to end a five game losing streak.

All Stars

The Eastern Conference won their third straight All Star Game 27-21 over the West in front of a crowd of 13,380 at Denver's Pepsi Center. The Wings Drew Westervelt scored a goal and added three assists while Kyle Sweeney had a goal and an assist. Westervelt replaced teammate Geoff Snider, who missed the game due to a tracheal fracture suffered in the Wings game at Edmonton.

New Wing

Prior to the game in Edmonton the Wings signed Jon Harasym, who had been released by the Toronto Rock. To make room on the roster, Jim Borell was released. Borell was picked up by San Jose.

Next Game

After a week off, the Wings return home on March 28 to face the Colorado Mammoth.

Wings 2009 Game 9 (at Edmonton 2-27-09) and Game 10 (at Portland 2-28-09)

2009-02-24T18:25:00.002-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

After a much needed win last weekend, the Philadelphia Wings (3-5) head out West for a tough pair of matchups. Friday night the Wings will be at Rexall Place to square off with the Edmonton Rush (3-5) with a 9:30 PM faceoff. Saturday the Wings will head to Portland to meet the Lumberjax (4-3) at the Rose Garden. Saturday's faceoff is at 10:30 PM. Both games can be seen live on NLL.com

Histories

The Wings and Rush have met just once, in the 2007 season opener in Edmonton. The Rush won 13-12 on a last second goal by Randy Daly after Kyle Wailes had tied the game with 1:49 remaining in regulation. Wailes (3G, 3A), Geoff Snider (G, 2A) and Athan Iannucci (3G) each made their Wings debut that night. The Wings are 1-2 against Portland, each team winning on the road. Last season the Wings made their first ever visit to Portland and came back to defeat the Jax 13-10, using a 6-2 fourth quarter to overcome a six goal night from Portland's Dan Dawson. Brandon Miller earned the win in goal with 45 saves while Athan Iannucci had a six goal night of his own.

Last Game

The Wings stopped a two game losing streak with a 13-12 win over the Minnesota Swarm Saturday night. Athan Iannucci returned to the Wings lineup with a five point night (3G, 2A) while Drew Westervelt also added five points (2G, 3A) and Merrick Thomson also chipped in with a hat trick. Portland last played February 7 when they defeated San Jose 16-13 in Portland.

More All-Star info

The Wings added another member to the Eastern Conference All Star team when defenseman Kyle Sweeney was named as one of the reserve players. Sweeney will join Geoff Snider in Denver on March 7, for Sweeney this will be his first NLL All Star appearance.

Wings Mid-Season records (last five seasons)

2008: 7-1

2007: 4-4

2006: 4-4

2005: 3-5

2004: 4-4

Quotes

Wings coach Dave Huntley on the upcoming weekend: "Edmonton's a big, physical defense. They've got some very talented guys on the front door and a goalie, Chugger (Steve Dietrich), with great experience. Our reward for playing them Friday is we get to play the "Oregon Redwoods" of the Lumberjax. They're a gigantic team. It'll be a real challenge."

Next Game

Following the All Star break, the Wings will return home to face the Minnesota Swarm on March 14.

Wings rediscover the win column against Swarm

2009-02-22T10:44:00.005-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

After last week's humiliation at home against the Boston Blazers, the Philadelphia Wings needed a night like last night. Getting their # 1 weapon back in the lineup (Athan Iannucci), facing an opponent struggling almost as bad as the Wings have been (four straight losses prior to last night) and had also played the night before (home against Boston) seemed to be the perfect tonic for the Wings. A quick start allowed the Wings to hold on at the end and defeat the Minnesota Swarm 13-12 before a season high of 10,559 at the Wachovia Center.

The teams were in a snarling mood even before the opening faceoff as the Wings Geoff Snider and Minnesota's Ryan Cousins had to be separated by the officials. The Wings got off to the fast start they needed in the first, getting a hat trick from Merrick Thomson and a tally from Geoff Snider to take a 4-0 lead. Former Wings Ryan Ward and Dan Marohl would combine on the Swarm's first two goals to make the game 4-2 Wings after the first. After Ryan Sharp scored one minute into the second to get Minnesota within a goal Wings fans got to see what they have been missing all season, an Athan Iannucci score just nineteen seconds later. The 2008 MVP would add a second goal later in the quarter and assisted on Drew Westervelt's goal that gave the Wings an 8-4 halftime advantage.

Kyle Wailes opened the second half scoring for Philadelphia before Minnesota began to show some life on the floor. The Swarm scored five of the next six goals to cut the Philly lead to 10-9 before Westervelt's second of the night and a one from Rob Van Beek restored the three goal cushion. The eventual game winning goal came after Minnesota's Kevin Fines brought the Swarm within two and was a show of pure beauty and strength. Iannucci took a feed from A. J. Shannon and one handed a shot past Swarm keeper Kevin Croswell to put the Wings up 13-10.

"It was a great pass by A.J.," Iannucci said. "Put it right in my stick."

The Swarm would get the game's last two scores, the last by rookie Brad Favero with 1:08 left in regulation but the Wings were able to hold off the Swarm and walk off with the victory. Hostilities didn't end with the final whistle as Snider and Minnesota's Ryan Sharp were exchanging words in the handshake line.

While Mat Giles led all Wings scorers with six points (1G, 5A), it was Iannucci the fans were concerned with, and he did not disappoint with a five point night (3G, 2A). Afterwards, he felt like a player in his first full game of the season.

"I felt a little slower than I wanted to," Iannucci said. "I'm just sore all over, tired. You can practice all you want but there's no substitute for a game."

Fortunately for Wings fans, the knee Iannucci had injured last summer was feeling fine. His presence back in the lineup certainly sparked the offense, which goalie Brandon Miller noticed as well.

"Our offense really stepped up tonight," Miller said. "After that debacle last week it sure was nice to see everyone came to play tonight. It was a great team win."

Miller had 39 saves in the cage for the Wings but felt it was not one of his better games.

"I think the guys bailed me out tonight," Miller said. "I wasn't having my strongest game, I was, for some reason, just a little bit off tonight."

While quite happy with the win, Wings coach Dave Huntley saw some things that he felt still needed some improvement heading into the second half of the season.

"I thought we came out with great energy," Huntley said. "I'm disappointed that at this stage of the season we still aren't buying into possession before transition and just getting off the floor. We still have to buy into the idea of getting off the floor and picking the ball up before we run up the floor."

The Wings will look to maintain that energy when they hit the road for a pair of games out West, Friday night in Edmonton and Saturday night in Portland.

Wings 2009 Game 8 (vs. Minnesota 2-12-09)

2009-02-18T19:04:00.003-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

Following one of the worst games in team history, the Philadelphia Wings (2-5) will head into midseason with a match against the Minnesota Swarm. Faceoff Saturday night is at 7:30 PM and the game can be seen free on NLL.com for those who can't make it to the Wachovia Center.

History

The Wings are 4-6 all time vs. the Swarm, including 2-2 in Philadelphia. Last season the teams split the season series, each team winning at home. The Wings outscored Minnesota 11-1 in the fourth quarter en route to a 17-8 win February 22 in Philadelphia. Athan Iannucci led the Wings with six goals that night. On April 12, the Wings were less than two seconds from victory when former Wing Dan Marohl tied the game with a power play goal to force overtime where the Swarm won on a Sean Pollock goal 1:19 into the extra session. The Wings had trailed at halftime 10-3 before their comeback. Iannucci only scored three goals that night but one was goal number 62 breaking Gary Gait's single season record. The Wings will also face the Swarm in Philadelphia on March 14.

Last Game

The Wings were held to four goals in an 8-4 loss to the Boston Blazers last Friday night. Brandon Miller was the lone Wings highlight with 48 saves in net. Minnesota was idle last week but will play twice this weekend, starting Friday night at home vs. Boston.

You're an All Star (again)

For the third consecutive season, Geoff Snider will represent the Wings in the NLL All Star Game March 7 in Denver. Last season Snider earned MVP honors in the East's 17-16 OT win in Edmonton. In his previous two ASG appearances, Snider has six goals and five assists to go with 50 loose balls and 53 faceoff wins. The Wings could have some extra representatives when the reserves for the East are announced later this week.

Next Games

The Wings will hit the road for back to back games starting February 27 when they travel to Edmonton to face the Rush before heading to Portland to meet the Lumberjax on February 28.

A night of futility for the Wings in loss to Blazers

2009-02-14T10:42:00.003-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

Last night at the Wachovia Center, the Philadelphia Wings had to be happy that music is played at ear-splitting levels during the game. After all it helped to drown out the boos that were serenading from the 9,006 in attendance on Friday the 13th. The Wings certainly put on a horror performance, one of the worst games in franchise history. When the smoke cleared, the expansion Boston Blazers had walked away with an 8-4 victory and a season sweep of the Wings.

The 4 goals by the Wings tied a franchise record for fewest goals in a regular season game (last done in 1994 against the New York Saints at Nassau Coliseum) and the 12 combined were the fewest in Wings history (previous was 13 done three times, most recently in 2001 against Albany in a 9-4 Wings victory). And for a while it appeared they might tie or break the league record for fewest goals in ANY game, the two they scored in a 1999 playoff game at Toronto, as well as the league record for fewest combined goals (11 in 2001 when Toronto beat Albany 7-4). Obviously frustrated was Wings coach Dave Huntley.

“It wasn’t our best stuff, it just wasn’t there,” Huntley said. “I thought we practiced well on Thursday, then to go out there and do that. I know the guys are trying but at some point we have to make plays.”

Making plays was tough all night for the Wings who, again, seemed to have a lot of trouble with passing and catching and just holding on to the ball. Also troubling were the loose ball numbers, where Boston out worked them and their record in challenges of goals and goalie equipment. The Wings had the officials check the equipment of Blazers goalie Anthony Cosmo, when it was found to be legal the Wings were slapped with a two minute delay of game call. Cosmo was diplomatic afterwards.

“It’s a momentum thing,” Cosmo said. “They were trying to get some momentum, especially being down 4-1.”

As in the first two meetings, the Blazers jumped out to a big early lead, 4-0 this time before the Wings could get on the board. Much like the game in Boston, the Blazers would never trail but unlike the other matches, the Wings never came close to threatening. After the Blazers made it a 6-1 game 4:58 into the second, the teams would not score again until Boston scored 4:27 into the fourth. A combination of poor shooting and tough defense made for one of the easier nights that Cosmo would ever have in net.

“Our defense did a great job of keeping these guys to the outside and reducing the shots,” Cosmo said. “That team’s an outside shooting team and our defense did a great job of forcing them to make uncharacteristic shots or not shoot at all.”

Also his usual thorn in the Wings side was the Blazers Dan Dawson. While not as prolific as he had been in his last few games against Philadelphia, Dawson did manage to tally a pair of goals and three assists. And he has been impressed with how his new team has done so far this season.

“Things are rolling for us right now,” Dawson said. “We’re an expansion team and we’re not going to use that as a crutch this year. We’re looking to get better every game.”

Cosmo echoed his teammate’s opinion.

“Our guys are nice and young and with youth comes tenacity,” Cosmo said. “We have nothing to prove, we don’t have any expectations. Part of that is to go out and try our best and hopefully we win.”

As for the Wings, they need to start getting better right now. At 2-5 they are still well in the hunt for the postseason but more games like this one, especially as the schedule is not getting easier, will put that goal further in the rearview mirror.

Wings 2009 Game 7 (vs. Boston 2-13-09)

2009-02-10T19:40:00.003-05:00

By Tom Hoffman

After splitting divisional games last weekend, the Philadelphia Wings (2-4) will look to get back in the win column as they face the Boston Blazers (3-3) for the third and final time in the 2009 regular season. Faceoff at the Wachovia Center is at 8 PM and the game can be seen for free on NLL.com

History

The Wings are 0-2 against the Blazers this season after getting swept during a home and home weekend series. On January 23, Daryl Veltman and Dan Dawson helped ruin the Wings home opener by combining for 14 points in the Blazers 13-11 win, their first in the NLL. The next night, Dawson added eight points while Matt Lyons tallied five goals to give Boston an 11-7 win at TD Banknorth Garden. Dawson leads Boston with 15 points (1G, 14A) against the Wings while the Wings have been led by Mat Giles with six goals and three assists. Anthony Cosmo has 80 saves in the two games while Wings keepers (Rob Blasdell and Brandon Miller) have combined for 83 saves.

Last Weekend

The Wings scored five of the game's final six goals to knock the Buffalo Bandits from the ranks of the unbeaten 13-11 last Friday night in Philadelphia. A. J. Shannon earned game MVP honors with a two goal, three assist night. Mat Giles added six points (3G, 3A) and Brandon Miller made 34 saves for the Wings. Sunday night, after a quick start, the Wings fell 15-12 to the New York Titans in Newark, NJ. Merrick Thomson scored five goals and added an assist for the Wings. Boston scored two goals in the last ten seconds of regulation to defeat New York 9-8 Saturday night in Boston.

Another Wing in the Hall

The National Lacrosse League announced its Hall of Fame class for 2009 and Former Wings goalie Dallas Eliuk will be enshrined along with ex-Bandit and Toronto Rock captain Jim Veltman. The ceremony will take place in Denver, CO duing the NLL's All-Star weekend. Eliuk will join Russ Cline, Chris Fritz, Paul and Gary Gait, Mike French, Tom Marechek and Tony Resch as Wings representatives in the Hall.

Notes and Stuff

Last season after six games the Wings were undefeated (6-0). Since then, including the playoff loss at Buffalo, the Wings are 6-11.

Friday night will be the Wings last game in the East until April. The Wings next five games will take place against Western Division squads (Minnesota, Edmonton, Portland and Colorado).

Next Game

The Wings stay at home when the host the Minnesota Swarm on February 21st at 7:30 PM.