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

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).