After a week off, the Philadelphia Wings (1-1) will get ready for a home and home weekend with the expansion Boston Blazers (0-2). Friday night the teams meet in Philadelphia, with faceoff at the Wachovia Center at 8 PM. On Saturday the scene shifts to Boston and the TD Banknorth Garden for a 7:30 PM faceoff. Both games can be seen on NLL.com.
History
While Friday's game will be the first meeting with the new Blazers, the Wings had a good history against the original Blazers franchise. Including the postseason, the Wings had an 11-3 record against the franchise that started as the New England Blazers (1989-1991) playing in Worcester, MA before moving to Boston. The Wings defeated the Blazers in 1990 for the franchise's second Major Indoor Lacrosse League title. The team played from 1992 to 1995 at Boston Garden before moving to TD Banknorth Garden, then called the Fleet Center, for the 1996 and 1997 seasons before the team was shutdown prior to the 1998 season. The Wings made one appearance at TD Banknorth, defeating the Blazers 12-11 on January 11, 1997.
Last Game
Behind solid goaltending from Brandon Miller and a balanced offense, the Wings earned their first win of the 2009 season by defeating the Rochester Knighthawks 16-13 at Blue Cross Arena on January 10th. The offense was spurred by the Thomson's, Merrick with four goals and an assist while rookie Sean added three goals in being named as the NLL Rookie of the Week. Kyle Wailes led the Wings with seven points (one goal, six assists) whiel Kyle Sweeney (2G, 2A) and David Mitchell (1G, 3A) each added four points. Miller made 36 saves and shut out the Hawks fo the games final 10:03. The highlight though was Geoff Snider's KO of Rochester's Troy Bonterre in the game's final minute. Boston opened their season with a pair of losses to the New York Titans, 19-14 at the Prudential Center in Newark on January 10th and 13-9 last Saturday in Boston.
Home Openers
The Wings are 13-9 all time in their home openers winning last year 19-11 over Chicago to stop a four game home opener losing streak. At the Wachovia Center the Wings are just 6-6. The original Blazers were the Wings home opening opponent three times (1989, 1991 and 1992), with the Wings winning two of the three matchups.
Dude's return (and others)
Tom Ryan, who played for the Wings from 2000 to 2003, returns to Philadelphia as the coach of the Blazers. Ryan played for the original Blazers from 1995 to 1997. Other former Wings on the Boston roster include Brenden Thenhaus (2007) and Bryan Bendig (2005) while Jake Bergey is currently on the Blazers protected player list after being selected in the expansion draft.
Next Game
Following this weekend and another week off, the Wings will return to action on February 6th when they host the Buffalo Bandits.
