The luck of the Irish definitely wasn’t smiling on the Philadelphia Wings this St. Patrick’s Day.  With a scheduled home and home against the Minnesota Swarm, the team had hoped to get back on track after a three game losing streak.  In fact, after a close loss to the Bandits prior to the All-Star Break, the team had decided to look at this two game series as their playoffs, a two game series against a divisional foe that had ended their playoff hopes in 2006.

The first disappointment came on Saturday morning after shoot around at the Wachovia Center.  Just prior to players getting ready to leave the locker room for their pre-game meals and naps, the word came that the game was definitely postponed.

“Foxy (team equipment manager Mike Fox) had just put out our St. Patrick’s Day jerseys in our lockers and we were really focused on the game after the morning run,” said Wings’ team captain Thomas Hajek.  “We were disappointed when we found out that Minnesota wasn’t going to make it here, but knew that we had to concentrate our energy on Sunday’s game.”

The team decided to us Saturday night to review some game film and get a light stretch in prior to Sunday’s trip to the Twin Cities.  Unfortunately, the outcome of Sunday’s game wasn’t at all what the team had hoped for after an 11-9 loss to the Swarm.

General Manager and Head Coach Lindsay Sanderson and his coaching staff face the challenge of bracing a young Wings team in the face of a very disappointing four game losing streak. 

“Our coaching staff met with our team captains (Hajek, Jeff Ratcliffe, and Jake Bergey) on Sunday night after the loss and we talked about a lot of things,” said Sanderson.  “It’s our fourth loss in a row and no one, including the players, is happy right now.  We’ve been playing well and have fought hard.  The important thing is that we still control our own playoff destiny, which is a very powerful thing.  The teams that we have to knock out to get in are the teams we play during this last stretch of the season.”

Although many of the Wings opponents that they have yet to play are below them in the standings, they aren’t discounting anyone.

“Chicago is as tired of losing as we are, so this weekend will be another tough match-up,” said Sanderson.  “They have a good veteran team, especially on the backside so our offense will have to be on top of their game and Roiker (Matt Roik) will have to outplay Brandon Miller.”

This week also marked the league’s trade deadline, which was relatively quiet around the National Lacrosse League. 

“We had a couple of potential things going with some of the teams out West that would have given us more depth,” said Sanderson.  “I think the lack of movement around the league shows the amount of parity.  Just about everyone’s in the hunt for a playoff spot.”

NOTES:  The first 2,500 kids 14 and under at this Saturday’s game vs. the Shamrox will receive a Wings poster courtesy of the New Jersey Education Association.  The poster features the Wings’ Ivy League connection; Sean Greenhalgh (Cornell), Ian Rosenberger (Cornell), Kyle Wailes (Brown), and Damien Davis (Princeton).