If there’s one given in the National Lacrosse League, it’s
that a team’s fortunes can change very quickly.
The Philadelphia Wings found that out in a rough way this weekend when
they saw a 2-0 start to the 2013 season disappear after a pair of losses, the
last of which was an ugly 16-8 defeat at home to the Calgary Roughnecks, interestingly
enough a team that entered the weekend at 0-2 before winning decisively at
Colorado before coming to Philly and doing the same to the Wings.
The Wings weekend started with a last minute 14-13 road loss
to the Buffalo Bandits on Saturday.
While the Wings defense and goalie Brandon Miller weren’t as sharp as
they were in the opening two games, both did enough to keep the Wings in a
position to win, even after Luke Wiles controversial winning goal in the game’s
final minute. Wings coach Johnny
Mouradian was satisfied with the teams’ effort in Buffalo.
“We played good enough to win in Buffalo,” Mouradian said.
The same could not be said for Sunday’s tilt with the
Roughnecks. Former Wing Geoff Snider
personally saw to getting Calgary off to a fast start with his goal just 15
seconds into the game after winning the opening faceoff. Calgary
would hold a 5-0 lead before the Wings finally got on the board early in the second
quarter on Paul Rabil’s first goal as a Wing.
It would have been the Wings second goal of the day but Kevin Ross’s
behind the back shot off a nice feed from Rabil was disallowed after Calgary
coach Curt Malawsky challenged the call on the field. For the Wings, the fortunes did not improve
after the goal as a pair of tallies by the Roughnecks Dane Dobbie 48 seconds
after the Rabil goal would end up chasing Wings backup goalie Kevin Croswell,
making his first start for the Wings.
Brandon Miller would replace Croswell but Mouradian would not fault
Croswell for his play.
“We didn’t play very well in front of him,” Mouradian said. “We didn’t give him some support early on.”
Miller’s entrance did help settle the young Wings defense
and despite being down 8-2 at halftime, the Wings showed some spark in the
third, outscoring the Roughnecks 5-2.
And when Rabil notched his third goal of the night 1:21 into the final
frame pulling the Wings within a pair at 10-8, thoughts of the dominant fourth
quarter in Toronto started entering the minds of the 8,785 in attendance. Calgary quickly dashed those thoughts by
scoring the game’s final six goals to run away with the win. Mouradian had praise for the Calgary squad
following the game.
“That’s a very good lacrosse club,” Mouradian said. “They move the ball well, they’re smart, they’re
slippery.”
Mouradian has some things to say about his own team as well.
“We’re not as good as we were probably the first game and we’re
not as bad as we were tonight” Mouradian said.
The Wings will now have a week off before returning to play
on February 8 against the defending champion Rochester Knighthawks.
