Wings Drop First Game to Defending Champions
Saturday, January 3, 2009
, NY – The Philadelphia Wings dropped their first game of
the season to the Buffalo Bandits at the HSBC Arena in Buffalo, NY.
The Wings fell behind early and were not able to overtake the defending
National Lacrosse League Champions.
The Wings will play their second game of the season on Saturday, January
10 when they travel to the Blue Cross Arena to battle the Rochester Knighthawks
at 8:05 p.m.
“Buffalo came out and played a tough game
tonight,” said Wings’ Head Coach Dave Huntley. “We started to pick it up
in the fourth quarter but we need to sustain that for a full 60
minutes.”
The Wings started the scoring just
10 seconds into the game when Drew Westervelt beat Bandits goalie Mike Thompson
on the first shot of the season.
Buffalo’s
Phil Sanderson tried to bring his team on even on a breakaway just one and half
minutes later but was stopped by Wings goalie Rob Blasdell. The Bandits broke through on the
scoreboard when Mark Steenhuis put one in the back of the net the 10:19
mark. John Tavares gave the Bandits
a 2-1 lead on Buffalo’s first powerplay opportunity of the
game. Taylor Wray tied the game at
two on a fast Wings transition with just under three minutes remaining in the
quarter. Wings defender Jordan
Levine took a five minute cross-check penalty and Buffalo quickly capitalized to take a 3-2 lead
on their second powerplay goal of the quarter courtesy of Roger Vyse. The Wings countered with a shorthanded
goal by Kyle Wailes with only 17 seconds remaining to knot the first quarter
score at three.
The Wings
started the second quarter by successfully killing off the remainder of the five
minute major penalty that had carried over. Not long after the two squads were
back even in man power, Buffalo’s Roger Vyse netted his second goal of the
contest to give his team a 4-3 lead and just two minutes later Kevin Dostie
scored to make it 5-3 in favor of the home team. Steenhuis scored his second of the game
as Buffalo doubled up Philadelphia 6-3. Newly acquired Mat Giles helped the
Wings inch to within two goals with his first goal 2009 at 11:29. The two teams continued their defensive
battle as the first half concluded with the Bandits maintaining their lead at
6-4.
Steenhuis opened
the second half scoring on a breakaway goal at 1:43 of the third quarter. Bufffalo extended its lead to 8-4 on a
perimeter shot from Cory Bomberry.
Geoff Snider scored his first of the season with 7:01 remaining in the
third to bring Philadelphia back within three. The Bandits stopped any Wings momentum
with two consecutive goals by Kevin Dostie and Delby Powless to close out the
quarter with a 10-5 lead.
The Wings
switched goaltenders to start the fourth quarter and replaced starter Rob
Blasdell with Brandon Miller. The
change in net did not stop Buffalo from starting the fourth quarter the
same way they ended the third, with a goal. Bandit Tom Montour turned a long Wings
rebound into the first score of the fourth quarter. Each team then traded goals to bring the
score to 12-6 with less than 13 minutes left in the game. The Wings were able to get the score
within three goals as a result of consecutive scores by Giles, Westervelt, and
Kyle Sweeney. John Tavares ended
the Wings offensive streak with 4:55 left in the game to give Buffalo a 13-9 lead. The game then saw a flurry of three
goals in 70 seconds with the Wings netting two (Wailes, M.Thomson) and the
Bandits one (Tavares). The Bandits’
Billy Dee Smith punctuated the fourth quarter when he scored an empty net goal
to give Buffalo
a 15-11 victory.
Leading the Wings in scoring were Geoff Snider with six
points (1G, 5A), Drew Westervelt with five points (3G, 2A), Kyle Wailes
(2G, 1A) and Mat Giles (2G, 1A) each with three points, Kyle Sweeney and Merrick
Thomson each with one goal and one assist, as well as Taylor Wray who added a
goal. Goaltender Rob Blasdell made 25 saves and Brandon Miller made
9.
Leading the Bandits in scoring were Mark Steenhuis
with eight points (4G, 4A), John Tavares with five points (3G, 2A), Kevin Dostie
(2G, 2A) and Roger Vyse (2G, 2A) who each had four points, Thomas Montour with
three points (1G, 2A), and Delby Powless (1G, 1A), Billy Dee Smith (1G, 1A), and
Cory Bomberry (1G, 1A) who each had two points. Goaltender Mike Thompson made 32
saves.
For a complete scoring of tonight's game, log on to www.pointstreak.com
_69609.jpg)
