New season, same results for Wings

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.