2010 Wings Lacrosse Game 4 (at Boston 1-30-10)

By Tom Hoffman

The Philadelphia Wings will hit the road for their next two National Lacrosse League matchups. First in this set of games is this Saturday afternoon when the Wings (1-2) travel to Boston to face off with the Blazers (1-3). Game time is at 1 PM and can be seen on NLL.com through the NLL Network.

History

The Wings 12-8 victory over the Blazers on January 16 was their first win over the second year Boston squad. All time the Wings are 1-3 vs the Blazers. The Wings were defeated in their only visit to Beantown in 2009 falling 11-7 to the Blazers on January 24. All time the Wings are 1-1 at TD Banknorth Garden, having defeated the original Blazers 12-11 on January 11, 1997.

Last Week

The Wings gave up two goals in the final three minutes to allow the Colorado Mammoth to tie the game at 11 before falling 12-11 in overtime Saturday night at the Wachovia Center. Mat Giles scored three goals while Kyle Wailes added five assists. Brandon Miller made 46 saves in the Wings net. Boston won their first game of the 2010 season defeating Orlando 13-9 Saturday evening in Boston.

Dealing with their opponent

Monday the Wings and Blazers completed a trade in which the Wings acquired Boston's top pick in the 2009 entry draft, Max Seibald, in exchange for the Wings top pick in the 2010 draft and future considerations.

Wings Leaders

Goals: Drew Westervelt - 7

Assists: Mat Giles and Geoff Snider - 7

Points: Westervelt - 13

Goals Against: Brandon Miller - 10.86

Save Pct.: Miller - 78.4%

Next Game

The Wings will begin a back to back weekend of games with a visit to Toronto to square off against the Rock on February 5.

Wings fall in OT to Mammoth

By Tom Hoffman

For the second straight week the Philadelphia Wings were facing a team that played on the road the night before and had their game go into overtime. After holding the Boston Blazers to one goal in the second half last week and wearing the Blazers down, the Wings had hoped to do the same to the Colorado Mammoth tonight. It wasn't to be though as the Wings let the Mammoth score twice in the game's final three minutes to force overtime before Alex Gajic's third goal of the night gave the Mammoth a 12-11 victory in front of 8,201 at the Wachovia Center. The Wings fall to 1-2 while Colorado evens up at 2-2.

"We played 57 decent but not great minutes," Wings coach Dave Huntley said. "The last 3 minutes sort of bit us."

The Wings struggled to find any rhythm on offense tonight as they tied the game seven times only to allow Colorado to score the go ahead goal. It wasn't until Drew Westervelt scored with 6:04 to play in the fourth quarter that the Wings actually held a lead in this game. When Bill McGlone tallied with 4:10 to play it looked like the Wings might pull this one out. The Mammoth, though, still had some energy left after an overtime game in Minnesota on Friday night and managed to score twice to tie the game. The game tying goal by Jamie Shewchuk came while the Mammoth were shorthanded after Nick Carlson was whistled for a check from behind.

The overtime period started ominously for Philadelphia as McGlone was called for goaltender interference just 34 seconds into the extra frame. With 15 seconds left in the man advantage Alex Gajic ended the night and sent the Mammoth home with back to back OT wins to cap Steve Govett's first weekend as a coach in the NLL after Bob McMahon was relieved of his duites following the Mammoth's 0-2 start. Govett, however, gave all the credit to his players afterwards.

"All the credit goes to the guys," Govett said. "They're the one's who answered the bell. They really worked hard."

Mat Giles had three goals for the Wings while Kyle Wailes added six points, including five assists. Brandon Miller made 46 saves to keep the Wings in the game. Colorado was led by Alex Gajic's three scores and Jamie Shewchuk's five points (2G, 3A). Andrew Leyshon played the full game and made 40 saves after making 35 saves in 46 minutes of play friday night against the Minnesota Swarm.

The Wings will look to rebound next Saturday afternoon with a rematch in Boston against the Blazers.

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.