The Black Wolves are at that point where they are relying on a system that doesn’t work anymore. On Friday, New England suffered their 6th loss of the season against the now 3-8 Roughneck squad. The final score was 20-9.
Early in the season, the Black Wolves prided themselves on a strong defense with superb goaltending. New England goalie, Evan Kirk, even lead the league in saving percentage the first two games of the season. It seemed as if the team bought into the new family mentality after the move from Philadelphia to Connecticut. Yet, as the season went on, the league quickly discovered how to beat the energetic squad.
Giving up 20 goals in a game puts emphasis on the frustrations the team has gone through over the past month. The team has been relying on Kevin Crowley, Kevin and Kyle Buchanan strictly for their offense. Yet, with the injury that happened to youngster Quinn Powless, the offense has staggered into a near “one trick pony” in the direction of Crowley.
The change that the team needs won’t happen overnight, since the team can’t afford to give up a big asset for a bigger player. Yet it will be a steady change that the New England fans will see. The Black Wolves faithful have already had a taste of what a successful NLL team would be like and the Mohegan Sun Arena was buzzing for the first few weeks. However, as the year goes on, it will be interesting to see who will step up defensively for this team. The Black Wolves already have their main pieces, it’s those little holes that need to be plugged for this team to become a true contender in the long run.
