Both the Philadelphia Wings and the weather were blisteringly cold Saturday night while the Toronto Rock were red hot. Toronto doubled up Philadelphia 14-7 at Wells Fargo Center and rolled forward in a decisive victory.
The Wings came and strong as last week’s hero, Ben McIntosh, had three goals. Two of those goals came in the first few minutes of the game, while Toronto was struggling. Goaltender Nick Rose appeared to struggle to find the shooters.
But Toronto regrouped and Dan Craig put up his first of five goals. He added four assists to his stellar offensive effort. Tom Schreiber also had a stellar night with four goals, two of the no-look behind-the-back variety, and two assists. Dangerous Dan Dawson was uncharacteristically quiet with just two assists.
The teams ended up tied at the end of the first half with both teams putting up seven goals on the scoreboard. It was all Toronto in the second half as they added two in the third quarter and five in the fourth to solidify the win. Going 31 minutes and 45 seconds without a goal isn’t going to win you may games.
“I don’t know if I’ve seen Rosey better from the four-goal point on, good for him and good for our team,” said Toronto head coach Matt Sawyer. “A lot of guys rebounded with a tremendous second half effort.”
Philadelphia head coach Paul Day was noticeably upset after the game, as were Ben McIntosh and Blaze Riorden.
Day addressed some of the issues in the game in the post-game media scrum: “A couple mental errors early and then we weren’t able to stop the bleeding. We obviously had no goals in the second half which is unacceptable. Seven in the first is okay. We were unable to generate in the second. We could not stop them. It’s a good look in the mirror. We have to be better in all parts of the game.”
McIntosh and Riorden appeared slightly stunned after the game.
McIntosh said he’d “have to go back and watch the tape and really dissect it… They [Toronto] really capitalized. They stepped on our throats a little bit.”
Riorden also discussed the team’s play: “We’re expected to stop those runs. And Brett Hickey kind of challenged us a little bit. It’s not this [points to his heart] it’s between the ears. And the mental mistakes, just the little things. It’s a game of runs, and all year we’ve battled these runs and we’ve come out on top and make plays.”
Those plays did not come for Philadelphia tonight.
The Wings face the Halifax Thunderbirds in their next game on Sunday, February 13th at FirstOntario Centre in Hamilton. Toronto will host the 6-0 Buffalo Bandits in the same arena the night before.
