Wings 2009 Game 9 (at Edmonton 2-27-09) and Game 10 (at Portland 2-28-09)

By Tom Hoffman

After a much needed win last weekend, the Philadelphia Wings (3-5) head out West for a tough pair of matchups. Friday night the Wings will be at Rexall Place to square off with the Edmonton Rush (3-5) with a 9:30 PM faceoff. Saturday the Wings will head to Portland to meet the Lumberjax (4-3) at the Rose Garden. Saturday's faceoff is at 10:30 PM. Both games can be seen live on NLL.com

Histories

The Wings and Rush have met just once, in the 2007 season opener in Edmonton. The Rush won 13-12 on a last second goal by Randy Daly after Kyle Wailes had tied the game with 1:49 remaining in regulation. Wailes (3G, 3A), Geoff Snider (G, 2A) and Athan Iannucci (3G) each made their Wings debut that night. The Wings are 1-2 against Portland, each team winning on the road. Last season the Wings made their first ever visit to Portland and came back to defeat the Jax 13-10, using a 6-2 fourth quarter to overcome a six goal night from Portland's Dan Dawson. Brandon Miller earned the win in goal with 45 saves while Athan Iannucci had a six goal night of his own.

Last Game

The Wings stopped a two game losing streak with a 13-12 win over the Minnesota Swarm Saturday night. Athan Iannucci returned to the Wings lineup with a five point night (3G, 2A) while Drew Westervelt also added five points (2G, 3A) and Merrick Thomson also chipped in with a hat trick. Portland last played February 7 when they defeated San Jose 16-13 in Portland.

More All-Star info

The Wings added another member to the Eastern Conference All Star team when defenseman Kyle Sweeney was named as one of the reserve players. Sweeney will join Geoff Snider in Denver on March 7, for Sweeney this will be his first NLL All Star appearance.

Wings Mid-Season records (last five seasons)

2008: 7-1

2007: 4-4

2006: 4-4

2005: 3-5

2004: 4-4

Quotes

Wings coach Dave Huntley on the upcoming weekend: "Edmonton's a big, physical defense. They've got some very talented guys on the front door and a goalie, Chugger (Steve Dietrich), with great experience. Our reward for playing them Friday is we get to play the "Oregon Redwoods" of the Lumberjax. They're a gigantic team. It'll be a real challenge."

Next Game

Following the All Star break, the Wings will return home to face the Minnesota Swarm on March 14.

Wings rediscover the win column against Swarm

By Tom Hoffman

After last week's humiliation at home against the Boston Blazers, the Philadelphia Wings needed a night like last night. Getting their # 1 weapon back in the lineup (Athan Iannucci), facing an opponent struggling almost as bad as the Wings have been (four straight losses prior to last night) and had also played the night before (home against Boston) seemed to be the perfect tonic for the Wings. A quick start allowed the Wings to hold on at the end and defeat the Minnesota Swarm 13-12 before a season high of 10,559 at the Wachovia Center.

The teams were in a snarling mood even before the opening faceoff as the Wings Geoff Snider and Minnesota's Ryan Cousins had to be separated by the officials. The Wings got off to the fast start they needed in the first, getting a hat trick from Merrick Thomson and a tally from Geoff Snider to take a 4-0 lead. Former Wings Ryan Ward and Dan Marohl would combine on the Swarm's first two goals to make the game 4-2 Wings after the first. After Ryan Sharp scored one minute into the second to get Minnesota within a goal Wings fans got to see what they have been missing all season, an Athan Iannucci score just nineteen seconds later. The 2008 MVP would add a second goal later in the quarter and assisted on Drew Westervelt's goal that gave the Wings an 8-4 halftime advantage.

Kyle Wailes opened the second half scoring for Philadelphia before Minnesota began to show some life on the floor. The Swarm scored five of the next six goals to cut the Philly lead to 10-9 before Westervelt's second of the night and a one from Rob Van Beek restored the three goal cushion. The eventual game winning goal came after Minnesota's Kevin Fines brought the Swarm within two and was a show of pure beauty and strength. Iannucci took a feed from A. J. Shannon and one handed a shot past Swarm keeper Kevin Croswell to put the Wings up 13-10.

"It was a great pass by A.J.," Iannucci said. "Put it right in my stick."

The Swarm would get the game's last two scores, the last by rookie Brad Favero with 1:08 left in regulation but the Wings were able to hold off the Swarm and walk off with the victory. Hostilities didn't end with the final whistle as Snider and Minnesota's Ryan Sharp were exchanging words in the handshake line.

While Mat Giles led all Wings scorers with six points (1G, 5A), it was Iannucci the fans were concerned with, and he did not disappoint with a five point night (3G, 2A). Afterwards, he felt like a player in his first full game of the season.

"I felt a little slower than I wanted to," Iannucci said. "I'm just sore all over, tired. You can practice all you want but there's no substitute for a game."

Fortunately for Wings fans, the knee Iannucci had injured last summer was feeling fine. His presence back in the lineup certainly sparked the offense, which goalie Brandon Miller noticed as well.

"Our offense really stepped up tonight," Miller said. "After that debacle last week it sure was nice to see everyone came to play tonight. It was a great team win."

Miller had 39 saves in the cage for the Wings but felt it was not one of his better games.

"I think the guys bailed me out tonight," Miller said. "I wasn't having my strongest game, I was, for some reason, just a little bit off tonight."

While quite happy with the win, Wings coach Dave Huntley saw some things that he felt still needed some improvement heading into the second half of the season.

"I thought we came out with great energy," Huntley said. "I'm disappointed that at this stage of the season we still aren't buying into possession before transition and just getting off the floor. We still have to buy into the idea of getting off the floor and picking the ball up before we run up the floor."

The Wings will look to maintain that energy when they hit the road for a pair of games out West, Friday night in Edmonton and Saturday night in Portland.

Wings 2009 Game 8 (vs. Minnesota 2-12-09)

By Tom Hoffman

Following one of the worst games in team history, the Philadelphia Wings (2-5) will head into midseason with a match against the Minnesota Swarm. Faceoff Saturday night is at 7:30 PM and the game can be seen free on NLL.com for those who can't make it to the Wachovia Center.

History

The Wings are 4-6 all time vs. the Swarm, including 2-2 in Philadelphia. Last season the teams split the season series, each team winning at home. The Wings outscored Minnesota 11-1 in the fourth quarter en route to a 17-8 win February 22 in Philadelphia. Athan Iannucci led the Wings with six goals that night. On April 12, the Wings were less than two seconds from victory when former Wing Dan Marohl tied the game with a power play goal to force overtime where the Swarm won on a Sean Pollock goal 1:19 into the extra session. The Wings had trailed at halftime 10-3 before their comeback. Iannucci only scored three goals that night but one was goal number 62 breaking Gary Gait's single season record. The Wings will also face the Swarm in Philadelphia on March 14.

Last Game

The Wings were held to four goals in an 8-4 loss to the Boston Blazers last Friday night. Brandon Miller was the lone Wings highlight with 48 saves in net. Minnesota was idle last week but will play twice this weekend, starting Friday night at home vs. Boston.

You're an All Star (again)

For the third consecutive season, Geoff Snider will represent the Wings in the NLL All Star Game March 7 in Denver. Last season Snider earned MVP honors in the East's 17-16 OT win in Edmonton. In his previous two ASG appearances, Snider has six goals and five assists to go with 50 loose balls and 53 faceoff wins. The Wings could have some extra representatives when the reserves for the East are announced later this week.

Next Games

The Wings will hit the road for back to back games starting February 27 when they travel to Edmonton to face the Rush before heading to Portland to meet the Lumberjax on February 28.

A night of futility for the Wings in loss to Blazers

By Tom Hoffman

Last night at the Wachovia Center, the Philadelphia Wings had to be happy that music is played at ear-splitting levels during the game. After all it helped to drown out the boos that were serenading from the 9,006 in attendance on Friday the 13th. The Wings certainly put on a horror performance, one of the worst games in franchise history. When the smoke cleared, the expansion Boston Blazers had walked away with an 8-4 victory and a season sweep of the Wings.

The 4 goals by the Wings tied a franchise record for fewest goals in a regular season game (last done in 1994 against the New York Saints at Nassau Coliseum) and the 12 combined were the fewest in Wings history (previous was 13 done three times, most recently in 2001 against Albany in a 9-4 Wings victory). And for a while it appeared they might tie or break the league record for fewest goals in ANY game, the two they scored in a 1999 playoff game at Toronto, as well as the league record for fewest combined goals (11 in 2001 when Toronto beat Albany 7-4). Obviously frustrated was Wings coach Dave Huntley.

“It wasn’t our best stuff, it just wasn’t there,” Huntley said. “I thought we practiced well on Thursday, then to go out there and do that. I know the guys are trying but at some point we have to make plays.”

Making plays was tough all night for the Wings who, again, seemed to have a lot of trouble with passing and catching and just holding on to the ball. Also troubling were the loose ball numbers, where Boston out worked them and their record in challenges of goals and goalie equipment. The Wings had the officials check the equipment of Blazers goalie Anthony Cosmo, when it was found to be legal the Wings were slapped with a two minute delay of game call. Cosmo was diplomatic afterwards.

“It’s a momentum thing,” Cosmo said. “They were trying to get some momentum, especially being down 4-1.”

As in the first two meetings, the Blazers jumped out to a big early lead, 4-0 this time before the Wings could get on the board. Much like the game in Boston, the Blazers would never trail but unlike the other matches, the Wings never came close to threatening. After the Blazers made it a 6-1 game 4:58 into the second, the teams would not score again until Boston scored 4:27 into the fourth. A combination of poor shooting and tough defense made for one of the easier nights that Cosmo would ever have in net.

“Our defense did a great job of keeping these guys to the outside and reducing the shots,” Cosmo said. “That team’s an outside shooting team and our defense did a great job of forcing them to make uncharacteristic shots or not shoot at all.”

Also his usual thorn in the Wings side was the Blazers Dan Dawson. While not as prolific as he had been in his last few games against Philadelphia, Dawson did manage to tally a pair of goals and three assists. And he has been impressed with how his new team has done so far this season.

“Things are rolling for us right now,” Dawson said. “We’re an expansion team and we’re not going to use that as a crutch this year. We’re looking to get better every game.”

Cosmo echoed his teammate’s opinion.

“Our guys are nice and young and with youth comes tenacity,” Cosmo said. “We have nothing to prove, we don’t have any expectations. Part of that is to go out and try our best and hopefully we win.”

As for the Wings, they need to start getting better right now. At 2-5 they are still well in the hunt for the postseason but more games like this one, especially as the schedule is not getting easier, will put that goal further in the rearview mirror.

Wings 2009 Game 7 (vs. Boston 2-13-09)

By Tom Hoffman

After splitting divisional games last weekend, the Philadelphia Wings (2-4) will look to get back in the win column as they face the Boston Blazers (3-3) for the third and final time in the 2009 regular season. Faceoff at the Wachovia Center is at 8 PM and the game can be seen for free on NLL.com

History

The Wings are 0-2 against the Blazers this season after getting swept during a home and home weekend series. On January 23, Daryl Veltman and Dan Dawson helped ruin the Wings home opener by combining for 14 points in the Blazers 13-11 win, their first in the NLL. The next night, Dawson added eight points while Matt Lyons tallied five goals to give Boston an 11-7 win at TD Banknorth Garden. Dawson leads Boston with 15 points (1G, 14A) against the Wings while the Wings have been led by Mat Giles with six goals and three assists. Anthony Cosmo has 80 saves in the two games while Wings keepers (Rob Blasdell and Brandon Miller) have combined for 83 saves.

Last Weekend

The Wings scored five of the game's final six goals to knock the Buffalo Bandits from the ranks of the unbeaten 13-11 last Friday night in Philadelphia. A. J. Shannon earned game MVP honors with a two goal, three assist night. Mat Giles added six points (3G, 3A) and Brandon Miller made 34 saves for the Wings. Sunday night, after a quick start, the Wings fell 15-12 to the New York Titans in Newark, NJ. Merrick Thomson scored five goals and added an assist for the Wings. Boston scored two goals in the last ten seconds of regulation to defeat New York 9-8 Saturday night in Boston.

Another Wing in the Hall

The National Lacrosse League announced its Hall of Fame class for 2009 and Former Wings goalie Dallas Eliuk will be enshrined along with ex-Bandit and Toronto Rock captain Jim Veltman. The ceremony will take place in Denver, CO duing the NLL's All-Star weekend. Eliuk will join Russ Cline, Chris Fritz, Paul and Gary Gait, Mike French, Tom Marechek and Tony Resch as Wings representatives in the Hall.

Notes and Stuff

Last season after six games the Wings were undefeated (6-0). Since then, including the playoff loss at Buffalo, the Wings are 6-11.

Friday night will be the Wings last game in the East until April. The Wings next five games will take place against Western Division squads (Minnesota, Edmonton, Portland and Colorado).

Next Game

The Wings stay at home when the host the Minnesota Swarm on February 21st at 7:30 PM.