ROCHESTER, NY – The Philadelphia Wings won their first game of the season against the Rochester Knighthawks at the Blue Cross arena in Rochester, NY by the final score of 16-13.  The game saw several lead changes, but ultimate the Wings prevailed in large part by a stellar performance by goaltender Brandon Miller.  The Wings next game is their home opener on Friday, January 23 at 8 p.m. when they will welcome the expansion Boston Blazers to the Wachovia Center.
 
“It is always tough against a team like Rochester, but we were able to play our game throughout,” said Wings’ Head Coach Dave Huntley.  “It was nice to get the first win; now we need to keep working hard to be ready for Boston in two weeks and keep the momentum going.”
             
The Wings opened the scoring when David Mitchell took a feed from Kyle Wailes to put the Wings up 1-0.  Merrick Thomson made it 2-0 Philadelphia on the team’s first powerplay opportunity of the game.  NLL Hall of Famer Gary Gait, who came out of retirement this past off-season, scored his first goal since April of 2005 to bring the Knighthawks within one goal with just under 10 minutes remaining in the first quarter.  Aaron Wilson scored his first goal as a Knighthawk and was followed by Gait’s second of the night to give Rochester their first lead at 3-2.  Wings off-season acquisition Mat Giles was quick to respond for Philadelphia, netting his third of the season.  Shawn Evans and Steve Toll each added goals to help Rochester regain the lead at 5-3, but a late turnover resulted in a Wings goal by Kyle Sweeney with only one second remaining to close out the first quarter with a score of 5-4 Rochester.

Philadelphia’s Rob Van Beek took an early second quarter penalty, but it was the Wings who capitalized with two shorthanded goals from Kyle Wailes and Merrick Thomson.  Thomson added another goal to give Philadelphia a 7-5 lead which resulted in Rochester in pulling starting goaltender Phil Wetherup for Derek Collins.  The Wings penalty problems persisted and went down two men which allowed Gary Gait and Shawn Williams to each score powerplay goals to bring the game back even.  Rookie Sean Thomson scored his first career goal along and was followed by Merrick Thomson’s third of the night to put the Wings back up 9-7.  Shawn Williams put an end to the Wings scoring streak with his second of the night with 2:59 remaining in the half.  With 45 seconds remaining Gary Gait tied the game for Rochester on his 600^th career goal; only the second player in league history to reach that milestone.  Gait’s score was the final goal of the first half and each team went into the locker room all even with the score 9-9.

Second half scoring started 20 seconds in when Chris Schiller gave Rochester their tenth goal on the evening.  Sean Thomson added his second on the night for the Wings to tie the game yet again.  Defender Kyle Sweeney and Drew Westervelt scored  13 seconds apart to give Philadelphia a 12-10 lead.  With just under six minutes left in the quarter, Wings forward Mat Giles took a five minute major penalty for cross-checking and was given a game misconduct for a hit that was made on Knighthawks player Shawn Evans.  Rochester was able to take advantage of man-up situation when Gait score his fifth on the night but Geoff Snider of Philadelphia was quick to answer with a shorthanded goal to restore the Wings two goal lead at 13-11.  With 27 seconds left in the third, Joe Walters scored his first career NLL goal for Rochester to bring his team within one. 

The final quarter scoring began with a powerplay goal from Rochester’s Ken Millen to make the score 13-13.  Philadelphia broke the tie on their fourth shorthanded goal of the night, this time by Drew Westervelt to put the Wings back on top.  First round pick Sean Thomson registered his first career hat trick to help the Wings go back up by two goals with four minutes left in the game.  Brandon Miller made three great saves on a flurry of shots by Rochester with their net vacated for an extra attacker, which allowed for the Wings’ Pat Heim to transition and put the Wings up three courtesy of an empty net goal.  Heim’s marker would be the final one of the game and Philadelphia won its first of the season by the final score of 16-13.

Leading the Wings in scoring were Kyle Wailes with seven points (1G, 7A) , Merrick Thomson with five points (4G, 1A), Kyle Sweeney with (2G, 2A), Mat Giles and David Mitchell each with (1G, 3A), Sean Thomson (3G),  Drew Westervelt (2G, 1A), Geoff Snider (1G, 1A) and Pat Heim with one goal.  Goaltender Brandon Miller made 35 saves.
 
Leading the Knighthawks in scoring were Shawn Williams with eight points (2G, 6A), Gary Gait (5G), Joe Walters (1G, 2A), Chris Schiller (1G, 1A), Ken Millen (1G, 2A), Aaron Wilson (1G, 1A), Shawn Evans (1G, 1A), and Steve Toll (1G, 1A).  Goaltender Phil Wethrup made seven saves and Goaltender Derek Collins made 18.

For a complete scoring of tonight's game, log on to www.pointstreak.com<http://www.pointstreak.com>.