2010 Wings Lacrosse Game 3 (vs Colorado 1-23-10)

By Tom Hoffman

The Philadelphia Wings will seek win #2 in the 2010 season when they faceoff against the Colorado Mammoth on Saturday night at the Wachovia Center at 7 PM. The game can also be seen live on the NLL Network.

History

The Wings hold a 27-12 edge in games against the only other franchise left from the league's beginning in 1987 as the Eagle League. The Wings are 5-2 since the Mammoth moved to Denver in 2003 and have won the last four meetings overall and five straight at home (last home loss in 2000). Last season the Wings defeated Colorado 17-13 on March 28 at the Wachovia Center. In that matchup Athan Iannucci scored four goals while Mat Giles dished out six assists.

Last Week

The Wings gained their first win of the young season holding the Boston Blazers to one goal in the second half enroute to a 12-8 victory last Saturday at the Wachovia Center. Brandon Miller made 18 of his 41 saves in that second half while the Wings used a balanced scoring attack to take the win. Colorado lost their home opener last Saturday night 14-13 to the Edmonton Rush.

New faces, old teams

Two Wings will be facing their former team on Saturday. Josh Sims played for the Colorado franchise for his entire career going back to when the team was the Washington Power in 2001. Mike Ward was a rookie with the Mammoth in 2009. Behind the Colorado bench will be a familiar face to Wings fans. Mammoth GM Steve Govett became coach of the team after Bob McMahon was relieved of his duties following the loss to Edmonton last week.

Next Game

The Wings will head back on the road when they visit the Blazers January 30 at Boston's TD Banknorth Garden.

Solid second half leads Wings to victory

By Tom Hoffman

The Philadelphia Wings held the Boston Blazers to one goal in the second half and got just enough offense to earn their first win of the 2010 season, 12-8 over the 0-3 Blazers in front of 9,330 at the Wachovia Center Saturday night. The win improves the Wings to 1-1 early in the 2010 season.

"We played a really good second half," Wings coach Dave Huntley said. "We finally got all of our pre-season stuff out of the way and cleaned things up."

The first half was almost like watching two different games. The first quarter both sides appeared sluggish, in Boston's case no real surprise as they had played in Toronto the night before dropping an overtime decision to the Rock. After playing to a 1-1 draw in the first, the second quarter was run and gun with the Wings outscoring Boston 7-6 enroute to an 8-7 halftime lead.

After Jason Crosbie tallied his second goal of the night to give the Wings a 9-7 advantage, Boston's Daryl Veltman cut the lead to 9-8 on a powerplay score with 9:50 left in the third. This was significant on two fronts: it was the first time in their first three games that the Blazers scored more than seven goals. It would also be their final goal of the evening. The Wings would outscore the Blazers 3-0 the rest of the way to send their faithful fanatics home happy.

The Wings were led offensively by four two goal scorers (Drew Westervelt, Jason Crosbie, Dan Teat and Kyle Wailes). Westervelt, Mat Giles and Geoff Snider also chipped in with three assists while Brandon Miller made 41 saves. Boston's Mike Poulin amtched Miller in the save department while Nick Cotter (3 goals, 2 assists) and Daryl Veltman (2 goals, 3 assists) lead the Boston offense.

The Wings will look for win #2 when they face the Colorado Mammoth next Saturday at home.

2010 Wings Lacrosse Game 2 (vs Boston 1-16-10)

By Tom Hoffman

The Philadelphia Wings will look to recover from an opening night loss in Orlando when they host the Boston Blazers in the Wings 2010 home opener on Saturday night. Faceoff at the Wachovia Center is at 7 PM. The game can also be seen on the NLL Network free of charge.

History

The Wings struggled against the expansion Blazers in 2009 losing all three meetings. On January 23, the Blazers won their first ever NLL game 13-11 over the Wings in Philly's 2009 home opener. Boston rookie Daryl Veltman scored four goals that night while league MVP Dan Dawson had seven assists. The following evening the Blazers dominated the Wings 11-7 at TD Banknorth Garden. Boston jumped out to a 5-0 in this game and never looked back. The Wings did close to within a goal at 8-7 before the Blazers scored the game's last three goals to ice the win. Matt Lyons tallied five goals while Dan Dawson added a goal and seven more assists earning Offensive Player of the Week honors for Week four of the 2009 season. The final meeting is a game Wings fans would like to forget as they were held to just one goal over three quarters as they were embarrassed by Boston 8-4 on February 13. The Wings trailed 7-1 with just over ten and a half minutes to play before scoring three of the games last four goals. The lone highlight for Philadelphia was a 48 save night by goalie Brandon Miller.

Last week

The Wings were defeated 13-8 by the Orlando Titans in front of 8,145 fans at Orlando's Amway Arena last Friday. After taking a 2-1 lead in the first quarter, the Titans reeled off seven straight goals to put the game out of reach. Casey Powell led the Titans with four goals while Jordan Hall added six helpers. The Wings leaders were Drew Westervelt with three goals and Dan Teat with two goals and two assists while Brandon Miller made 33 saves.

Boston's opener was just as tough as they fell at home to the Toronto Rock 17-7 on Saturday. Dan Dawson scored three goals and added two assists while Daryl Veltman had four points (2G, 2A). Both Anthony Cosmo (12 Goals Against) and Mike Poulin (5 GA) struggled in net for Boston. Before coming to Philly the Blzaers will travel Friday to Toronto for a rematch of opening night.

For Openers

The Wings have a home opening record of 13-10, only 6-7 at the Wachovia Center. In addition to last years loss, the Wings were 2-1 in home openers against the original Blazers (1989-1997).

Next Game

The Wings will return to the Wachovia Center on January 23 to host the Colorado Mammoth.

2010 Wings Lacrosse Game 1 (at Orlando 1-8-10)

By Tom Hoffman

The 24th season of Philadelphia Wings lacrosse will begin with them playing their first ever game in the Sunshine State but against a team that has quickly become a fierce rival. The former New York Titans now make the home of Disney World their new stomping grounds and will open their first season in Florida against the Wings on Friday night. Gametime at Amway Arena is at 7:35 PM and the game can be seen on the NLL network.

History

The Wings and Titans have split their eight previous meetings. On the road the Wings are 2-2 against the Titans. This will be the fourth different road arena the Wings will have faced the Titans in, after playing in 2007 at Nassau Coliseum (Wings win 16-11), 2008 at Trenton's Sovereign Bank Arena (Titans win 20-13) and two games in 2009 at Newark, NJ's Prudential Center.

Last season

The Wings lost two of the three meetings in 2009 against the Titans. The Titans claimed victory in the first meeting 15-12 in Newark on February 8 behind hat tricks from Casey Powell, Brendan Mundorf and Mike McLellan. On April 4, the Wings opened a home and home weekend with an 11-7 win in Newark fueled by a 45 save performance from Brandon Miller. The next day the Wings jumped out to an 8-3 lead at home before the Titans rallied for a 16-13 win, Casey Powell scoring five goals. Merrick Thomson led the Wings in the series with 16 points (11 goals). Kyle Wailes and Geoff Snider each had nine assists.

For starters

The Wings are 12-11 all time in season openers. This season will be the 16th the Wings have opened on the road with an 7-8 record in the previous games. The Wings last win in a season opening road game was the 2006 opener at Colorado. The Wings did win their road opener at Colorado in 2008 after opening with three wins at home.

Some new and returning looks

The Wings 2010 roster has several new looks. Among the newcomers are top draft pick Bob Snider (brother of Geoff), trade acquisitions Bill McGlone (17 points with Toronto in 2009) and Kevin Huntley (son of coach/GM Dave), Mike Ward (six games with Colorado in 2009), Dan Teat (69 points with Edmonton in 2009) and free agents Josh Sims (Colorado) and Jeff Reynolds (University of Maryland). The roster also sees the return of three players from the 2008 team, John Christmas, Brett Moyer and Jason Crosbie (50 points in 2009 with Toronto).

2009 Stats

Goals: Merrick Thomson (40)

Assists: Mat Giles (47)

Points: Giles (70)

Goals Against: Rob Blasdell (11.84)

Next Game

The Wings will play their 2010 home opener on January 16 against the Boston Blazers.

Wings 2010 Schedule

By Tom Hoffman

The Philadelphia Wings schedule for the 2010 season has been released. The Wings will open their 24th season of play on January 8 when they travel to Orlando, FL to meet up with the Orlando Titans, who transferred to the Sunshine State from the New York City area. The Wings home opener will be the following weekend on January 16 against the Boston Blazers. All home game will be on Saturday nights.

2010 Regular Season Schedule (All times ET)

*Schedule is subject to change

Friday, January 8 Philadelphia at Orlando - 7:35 PM

Saturday, January 16 Boston at Philadelphia - 7:00 PM

Saturday, January 23 Colorado at Philadelphia - 7:00 PM

Saturday, January 30 Philadelphia at Boston - 1:00 PM

Friday, February 5 Philadelphia at Toronto - 7:30 PM

Saturday, February 6 Orlando at Philadelphia - 7:00 PM

Saturday, February 13 Buffalo at Philadelphia - 7:00 PM

Saturday, February 20 Rochester at Philadelphia - 7:00 PM

Saturday, February 27 Philadelphia at Buffalo - 7:30 PM

Saturday, March 6 Philadelphia at Calgary - 9:30 PM

Friday, March 12 Philadelphia at Orlando - 7:35 PM

Saturday, March 13 Minnesota at Philadelphia - 7:00 PM

Saturday, March 27 Boston at Philadelphia - 7:00 PM

Saturday, April 3 Toronto at Philadelphia - 7:00 PM

Saturday, April 10 Philadelphia at Rochester - 7:35 PM

Saturday, April 17 Philadelphia at Minnesota - 8:35 PM