Wings Game #8 (vs. Toronto 3-8-08)

By Tom Hoffman

The Philadelphia Wings (6-1) will look to rebound and get back on the winning track this Saturday afternoon when they host the Toronto Rock (5-3). Faceoff at the Wachovia Center is at 1 PM and the game will be shown at 10:30 PM on Comcast SportsNet.

History

The Wings are 6-17 all time in regular season play against the Rock including their first season in 1998 as the Ontario Raiders. At home the Wings are 4-8 and have won the last two meetings here. Last season the teams each won at home. The Wings were victorious by a 10-9 score on January 27 with Geoff Snider scoring the tying and winning goal. On March 30, the Rock jumped out to an 8-0 halftime lead and never looked back in a 15-6 victory. Athan Iannucci (3G, 2A) and Jake Bergey (1G, 4A) each had five points for the Wings while 2007 Rookie of the Year Ryan Benesch led the Rock with 12 points (7G, 5A) while Aaron Wilson (5G, 5A) and Blaine Manning (2G, 8A) each chipped in 10 points in the two games.

Last Week

The Wings split their weekend games, winning 16-12 Friday at home vs. the New York Titans before seeing their season opening six game win streak stopped in Buffalo on Saturday by a 21-12 score. Toronto came back to defeat Calgary at home by a 9-7 score on Saturday night.

All Stars

The Wings will be represented by three players when the NLL meets in Edmonton on March 16 for the All-Star Game. Athan Iannucci, who has earned Player of the Month honors for both January and February, was selected to the East Division’s starting lineup. Taylor Wray and Geoff Snider were added to the East squad as reserves. This will be Iannucci’s first All Star appearance while it will be the second for Snider (2007). Wray will make his third All Star trip but his first as a member of the East team(2006 and 2007 as a member of the Calgary Roughnecks).

Trade

The Wings were part of a four team trade that included Edmonton, Chicago and Minnesota. When the smoke cleared, leaving the Wings were F Dan Marohl (Minnesota), F Keith Cromwell (Minnesota) and G Matt Roik (Chicago) along with 2 draft picks and the playing rights to Brad Self. Coming to Philadelphia were F A.J Shannon (Edmonton), G Brandon Miller (Chicago) and two draft picks.

Stats and Stuff

With their win Friday night, the Wings equaled last season’s win total(six).

Their next win at home will give the Wings six wins for the first time since 2003 when they went 6-2 at the Wachovia Center. This will also match their most wins at home in regular season play.

Quotes

(From the 2-29 game vs. New York)

Drew Westervelt: "It's a great atmosphere to play in. First indoor game, it was a blast. Couldn't ask for a better crowd or a better team to play for."

Geoff Snider: "New York's a good team. They're run and gun, they're fast, they play tough. It was a good win for us. We played like a group. We got a great game out of Athan, a great game out of Blazer, Everybody stepped up."

(From the 3-1 game at Buffalo)

Dave Huntley: "Hats off to them (Buffalo). They played great on the defensive end after we got off to a good start. It was a tough game. We certainly didn't help ourselves. We took too many penalties and that's been a problem for us all year. It was eventually going to bite us in the ass. Tonight was just one of those games that got away from us. I know these guys will answer the bell against Toronto and we'll be fine."

Next Game

The Wings will head into the All Star break with a home matchup against the San Jose Stealth Friday March 14 at 8PM.

Wings take part in blockbuster deal

By Tom Hoffman

Today the Wings were part of a four team trade in the National Lacrosse League. When all was said and done, the wings sent F Keith Cromwell, F Dan marohl and the rights to Brad Self to the Minnesota Swarm and G Matt Roik, along with a 2009 first round pick and a 2010 second round pick to the Chicago Shamrox. Coming to Philadelphia are F A.J. Shannon from the Edmonton Rush, G Brandon Miller and a second round pick in the 2008 draft from Chicago and a fourth round pick in 2008 from Minnesota.

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Split weekend for Wings

By Tom Hoffman

In a weekend that, in movie terms was "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly", the Wings were able to equal their win total from 2007 with a solid 16-12 win over the New York Titans at home Friday night, only to follow it up with a 21-12 pounding from the Buffalo Bandits Saturday in Buffalo.

Friday's game started slowly for the Wings but after New York's Pat Maddalena scored ten seconds into the fourth quarter to bring the Titans within a goal, the Wings went on a four goal run (and six out of the next seven goals) to put the game away. It was another big night for Athan Iannucci, scoring six goals and adding two assists for yet another game MVP honor. Drew Westervelt looked solid in his NLL debut for the Wings, coming off of injured reserve after the trade of Brenden Thenhaus to Edmonton. The night's only real minus was Geoff Snider only going 12 for 26 in faceoffs. That can be attributed to his faceoff opponent, former Wing Jamie Hanford, who has long been one of the NLL's best at faceoffs.

Saturday started well for the Wings, jumping out to an early 5-0 lead and chasing Bandits starter Mike Thompson. 41 saves by backup Ken Montour and nine powerplay goals would end up the doing in the Wings on the evening, denying them their first ever 7-0 start. Without Jake Bergey in the lineup, the rookie Westervelt looked more comfortable in his second game, scoring two goals and two assists. That is when he wasn't serving bench minors for the Wings, who were called five times for too many men on the field penalties. Mark Steenhuis (4G, 6 A) and Cory Bomberry (3G, 7A) led the Bandit offense.

Now at 6-1, the Wings must now refocus and attempt to get back on the winning track when they host Toronto this Saturday afternoon.

Interview with Luke Wiles

This interview was originally done for the PLPA.com

Former Wing, Luke Wiles sits down with Kevin M. Neibauer

Luke Wiles is rapidly becoming one of the feature players in the NLL.

Wiles began his career when he was drafted by Philadelphia, half-way through the season he was traqded to San Jose and his career has continued to blossom.

Kevin M. Neibauer caught recently caught up with Wiles and here is what Luke had to say.


KMN- How is life in California?

LW-"California is great. I'm out of the snow and most days it is upwards of 20 degrees warmer than back East, so how can I complain about that?"


KMN-Parity seems to be the rule this year. What team do you see jumping out and seizing control?

LW-"Well, the league is close in talent. Plus we lost two teams. so, I think that it is really anyone's to take. As long as you can get into the playoffs it is anyones cup."


KMN- Do you commute to the games? Or are you living locally?

LW-"I live in San Jose. Johnny (Mouradian) has done a great job getting us to live in the bay area so it has been very good for practices. Also, I think that will help us immensely down the stretch without having to travel across the country every weekend."


KMN-How is the night life and the community?

LW-"I don't go out very much because of work. I have actually been very responsible this year (which is a switch). I think it is just a matter of growing up. I have goals and things that I want to accomplish and I don't like sitting around and waiting for them to come to me."



KMN-"What is the biggest difference from Philadelphia?

LW-"The fan base is the huge difference. We have great fans but there is just not that many of them. We are working hard at changing that but we have a tough market and some tough competition with the other sports. I think that if we keep working at it something has to give."


KMN- Best friends on the team?

LW-"I don't think I have any best friends. All the boys are my friends. With me working all the time I don't get as much time to hit the links and hang out with the guys. I think that I would have to say that I am the closest with Kyle Sorenson and I live across the hall from Colin Doyle, who has the cutest little girl in the world by the way, and I love kids so it works out pretty good."


KMN- Favorite arena (other than your own) to play in?

LW-"I would have to say Calgary. For some reason I have played pretty darn well in the Saddledome."


KMN-Any pre-game ritual?

LW-"No pre-game rituals, really just to keep to myself mostly. I like to be relaxed and have fun because I think I play my best when I'm not pressured, I'm just doing what I love to do. Compete at the highest level and have fun doing it."


KMN-Hardest team to play against?

LW-" I don't find any team the hardest to play against They are all very talented this year. No easy games and the toughest this league has been since I broke in a few years ago. I like the parity, it makes it more exciting for the fans and for the players."


KMN-"The Show", how did you get the name?

LW-"You know what? I got it when I was in high school. I hated it when they called me it because I am a pretty modest guy for the most part. You know what, as long as I don't make up my own nickname I suppose you can call me whatever you want to. I am pretty easy to get along with."


Thank You to Luke Wiles and the PLPA


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Wings Game #6 (vs. New York 2-29-08) and Game #7 (at Buffalo 3-1-08)

By Tom Hoffman

The Philadelphia Wings (5-0) will attempt to make franchise history this weekend when they play their first set of back to back games starting Friday night with a home tilt against the New York Titans (4-4). A win Friday would equal the Wings best start to a season (1990, 1993) and set themselves up to top that on Saturday when they travel to Buffalo's HSBC Arena to face the Bandits (5-4). Friday's game will face off at 8 PM, Saturday's at 7:30 PM.

History

The Wings are 2-0 against the second year Titans, winning 16-11 on January 26, 2007 at Nassau Coliseum and then handing the New York squad a 20-8 shellacking at the Wachovia Center on April 7. Athan Iannucci had 18 points (11 goals, 7 assists) and Dan Marohl chipped in 4 goals and 10 assists to lead Philadelphia. Pat Maddalena led the Titans with 10 points on 4 goals and 6 assists.

The Wings meeting with Buffalo will be their second of the season, the Wings having defeated the Bandits 15-14 in overtime on January 26 in Philadelphia.

Last Week

The Wings trailed 7-6 heading to the fourth quarter before outscoring Minnesota 11-1 to take home a 17-8 victory last Friday night. Athan Iannucci scored six goals in the Wings romp. New York won their third straight game, defeating the Knighthawks 14-11 Saturday in Rochester while Buffalo took a Sunday matinee from the Chicago Shamrox 13-8.

Wings vs. Alumni

Friday's game with New York will have the feel of a reunion night as eight former Wings are on the Titans roster. The game will be a homecoming for Jeff Ratcliffe, Jamie Hanford, Erik Miller, Brian Tower, Bryan Barrett, Jeff Spano, Keevin Galbraith and Rich Brzeski. Also with Wings ties are New York head coach Adam Mueller and assistant Paul Deniken. Other Titans with local ties are current Barrage forward Ryan Boyle, former Barrage player Greg Peyser and New York's top draft pick Jordan Hall, who played his college ball at the University of Delaware.

NLL Hall of Fame

For the second straight year, the NLL Hall of Fame induction will take place in Philadelphia. The ceremony will take place on Thursday February 28 with Friday's Wings-Titans game being designated as the NLL Hall of Fame game. This year's inductees are Sal LoCascio, Johnny Mouradian and former Wings player and coach Tony Resch. Neil Stevens will also be reognized for his contributions as a member of the media.

Quotes

Dave Huntley on the effort vs the Swarm: "I thought our defense was absolutely fantastic tonight. You saw the kind of defense we envisioned playing. We gave Blazer (Rob Blasdell) a lot of support."

Huntley on the upcoming weekend's games: "I told the guys I think it's potentially a trap weekend for us. We just have to go out and play our game and take care of business on Friday night. Then we'll worry about Buffalo on Saturday."

Rob Van Beek: "I think teams are having trouble keeping up with us when it comes to the end of the game. We're wearing them down as the periods go on. When it comes to the third and fourth no one can stay with us."

Taylor Wray: "In the first half we got slowed down a little bit, lots of penalties. Kind of took us out of our rhythm a little bit. We said at halftime that we wanted to open up the game a little bit, get back to our up and down style, transition, pushing the ball and being real aggressive on defense. Things kind of fell into place. To limit that team (Minnesota) to 40 shots, with the shooters that they have, it was a great team effort on defense."

Next Game

The Wings will be back at home for a Saturday afternoon match with the Toronto Rock on March 8.