Philadelphia needed several superheroes to pull off a big win against the Calgary Roughnecks this past weekend, and they got the performances they needed in a big 11-9 win on Marvel SuperHero Night at Wells Fargo.
Calgary started the game strong—going up 5-2 in the first. When the game began, it was the Wings’ Sam LeClair who put the first “marvel”ous goal in. Calgary then went on to score three in a row, with goals from Tanner Cook, Tyler Pace and Liam LeClair. Sam LeClair scored his second of the night before Tanner Cook and Tyler Pace scored their second goals of the evening.
The second quarter had the Wings on a four-goal run, from Blaze Riorden, LeClair’s hat trick, Mitch Jones and Holden Cattoni. The run was stopped by Jesse King’s goal. Tyler Pace scored his hat trick goal, quieting down the Philly fans.
The third quarter saw only two goals being scored—one by Thomas Hoggarth and the other by Dan Taylor. The third quarter has been challenging for the Wings this season and fans appeared to be anxiously waiting for the offense to wake up. There was discontentment as they faced the very real possibility that another loss was on their way. Philadelphia had not won a home game all season.
That was when superhero Higgy stepped up. Wings’ goaltender Zach Higgins stopped every shot he faced in the fourth quarter, with the hometown team easily outscoring the visiting Roughnecks 5-0. Mitch Jones scored the tying goal on what seemed like an impossible shot. He was followed by Joe Resetarits for the game winner. Chad Tutton used his lightning speed to score on an empty net t0 seal the deal. The crowd was electric, the players were ecstatic. A win at home was greatly needed.
Philly has come to expect great things from core players. It was no surprise that Mitch Jones scored the goal to tie the game. It almost seemed scripted that Resetarits scored the go ahead point. These two men have been solid for Philadelphia this season. Resetarits looks and plays better than he did years ago. Jones can get popped multiple times AND still get the ball to a teammate—while getting yet another assist.
The real MVP (even Paul Day said so) was Higgins, who had to ward off 50 shots that were turned into saves. Higgins has had some unbelievable games this season, and has kept Philadelphia in most games. And while Captain America has been bestowed on Tom Schreiber, Higgins could easily take any other name. However, maybe Thor would be the best comparison. He is strong, focused, and is seemingly inhuman in his ability to contort himself to stop the ball.
Said Joe Resetarits: [We are] getting better every game. We’ve had a lot of injuries. At the beginning of the year we were hitting our stride… In the fourth quarter, we won the game and that’s when we’ve been struggling. It stars with Higgy and we rewarded Higgy for how good he’s been all year. He stayed dialed in. They’re a good team. Our D stepped up big… We’re getting comfortable with each other. It just shows we wanted it more. We’re a desperate team right now. In my opinion, they’re one of the best in the league.”
Another person whose relief was palpable was Paul Day.
“We changed our D a little bit,” he said about facing the Roughnecks back to back. “Obviously, when you play them back to back, they adjusted to what we did last week, so after the first quarter, we probably played three different Ds.”
Philadelphia looks to continue its winning ways next weekend when they take on the Panther City Lacrosse Club on Sunday at 3 p.m. Calgary next faces Georgia in what should be another closely contested game.
