TORONTO, ON  - The Philadelphia Wings offense struggled as they lost to the Toronto Rock by a score of 15-6 in front of 16,813 fans at Air Canada Centre in Toronto, ON.  The Wings play again tomorrow night against the Rochester Knighthawks at Blue Cross Arena at 7:30 p.m.

 

“We couldn’t get our game plan off the ground tonight,” said Wings’ General Manager and Head Coach Lindsay Sanderson.  “We wanted to come out and score some quick goals, but we couldn’t manage to get anything in the net the first half. ”

 

                Toronto got a fast start when Kevin Fines scored the first goal of the night just :11 into the game.  The scoring slowed until the Rock scored two more, :26 apart, a power play goal by Ryan Benesch at 9:33 and an even strength goal by Josh Sanderson at 9:59.  At the end of one quarter of play, Toronto held a 3-0 lead.    

 

                The Rock dominated the second quarter, shutting out the Wings, while scoring five goals.  Josh Sanderson scored his second of the night, a power play goal, at 4:10, followed by Benesch’s second of the night just :29 later.  The Wings pulled starting goaltender Matt Roik in favor of backup Ken Montour.  Sanderson scored the hat trick at 9:33 followed by a Benesch hat trick at 12:54.  The quarter ended with an Aaron Wilson power play goal at 13:58 to give Toronto an 8-0 lead going into halftime.

 

                Philadelphia started the third quarter with goaltender Matt Roik behind the pipes.  The Wings’ got their first goal of the game when Jeff Ratcliffe scored just :28 into the second half.  Philadelphia’s Rob Van Beek then scored on a rebound on a Sean Greenhalgh shot to make the score 8-2.  The Rock got their first goal of the half, when Fines scored his second of the night.  The Wing’s Jake Bergey scored shorthanded to make the game 9-3.  Toronto’s Benesch scored his fourth of the night, followed by Rob Marshalls’ first goal of the game, an empty netter, to put the Rock up 11-3 at the end of three.

 

                Toronto scored two power play goals in the beginning of the fourth quarter (Wilson, Blaine Manning) to take a ten-point lead.   A shorthanded goal by the Wings’ John Christmas followed by a power play goal by Dan Marohl made the game 13-5, Toronto.  The Rock’s Wilson recorded his hat trick, and then Chad Thompson scored a power play goal to put them up by ten again.  Philadelphia’s Marohl scored the final goal of the night, but the Wings still fell to Toronto by a score of 15-6.

               

Leading the Wings in scoring were Rob Van Beek with three points (1G, 2A) followed by Dan Marohl with two goals and Jake Bergey, John Christmas, and Jeff Ratcliffe each with one goal.  Goaltender Matt Roik made 30 saves on the night while Ken Montour made four.

 

Leading the Rock in scoring were Ryan Benesch with seven points (4G, 3A), Josh Sanderson and Aaron Wilson with six points each (3G, 3A), Blaine Manning with five points (1G, 4A), Kevin Fines with two goals, Rob Marshall with two points (1G, 1A), and Chad Thompson with one goal.  Goaltender Bob Watson made 47 saves.

 

For a complete scoring of tonight’s game, log on to www.pointstreak.com.