Perhaps the real highlight of the Philadelphia Wings’ latest home game came when Stevie Sanderson sang both national anthems of the Canada and the United States to start off the Halifax-Philadelphia game. Stevie is the daughter of Brogann Sanderson Bowden and the late Chris Sanderson, who both played and coached for Philadelphia before cancer stole him away. It was fitting that his daughter sang both anthems as they are both a part of her. And with the stands packed from a Delaware lacrosse tournament combined with HEADstrong Night, the fans were counting on a strong showing from the home club.
Unfortunately for the offense, things did not come together as Halifax cruised to their second 10-8 win over the Wings of the season, having defeated them by the same score on February 13 in Hamilton. It was the Wings’ third loss in a row. They now sit fifth in the NLL’s East Division at 5-6 and are currently out of a playoff spot.
Both goaltenders had solid showings. Warren Hill continued to be amazing for the Thunderbirds, stopping 44 shots and making his 1000th career save and assisting on Colton Armstrong’s transition goal.
Zach Higgins stopped 39 shots and was the backbone of the Wings.
“Higgy and the D, you know, keeping them to 10 again… Our D the last three of four have been like, lights out good,” said Wings’ head coach and general manager Paul Day after the game.
But one unit that Day could not praise was the offense. They came back in the fourth, winning the quarter 4-2, but it was too late.
“Our offense has not been good enough… They were good in the fourth quarter; but we can’t wait until the last 10 minutes to show up and play so it is frustrating,” Day said. He also noted that the offense continues to “attack from the top too much” – something that has been noticeable these last few weeks. For Philadelphia fans, that is a flashback to the Athan Iannucci days when it seemed like players would just launch the ball and hope it went in.
“We need to shoot the ball better. We need to attack better. Our offensive guys have to be better. On paper they’re good but the last four or five games we’re getting seven or eight goals and that’s not good enough.” Day suggested that perhaps the game plan of just going from point A to point B has to change.
Kiel Matisz and Matt Rambo could not seem to find the reasons behind the offensive struggles either. Both mentioned that they would have to look at the game tapes.
“We had a couple of goals set for today’s game and we didn’t execute them,” said Matisz. “We wanted to be positive and we wanted to be celebrating together, and we had that goal shift after shift. Regardless of what happened on the floor that was supposed to be our mentality.”
It is extremely hard when the defense and the goaltender are working hard and then the ball is turned over and the defense has to go right back to work. Philadelphia turned the ball over 22 teams, with only one of those registering as a caused turnover or Halifax.
It is also hard when you are facing a team like the Thunderbirds. Halifax’s only glaring mistake of the night was their 12 penalty minutes as opposed to the six Philadelphia had. However, the Wings went 1-5 so it did not hurt Halifax.
Stephen Keogh had three goals and two assists for Halifax while Matt Rambo led the Wings three goals and three assists.
The Wings next game is a visit to the first place Buffalo Bandits on March 12th, so they have a week to work things out. It appears the Wings will have the toughest schedule these next few weeks with two of their next three games against the Bandits. The Thunderbirds will host the Vancouver Warriors on March 5th.
