The trading deadline may be 12 days away, but the Philadelphia Wings have gone out and signed Stephen Hoar to a one year deal and placed him on the active roster making him available for this weekend’s matchup against the Rochester Knighthawks. With that move the Wings have placed Michael Diehl on the practice squad.
Hoar who stands at 6’2″ and weighs 215 pounds will obviously add size to the Wings defense, but he will also bring seasoning. Wings have a very young defense with Brett Manney being the leader. With the acquisition of Hoar, the Wings will have someone who has been on winning teams in the past, as well as another veteran to spark a fire on the back end.
Hoar will also add depth in the face-offs and could be sharing the duties with C.J. Costabile. With Hoar’s size it will give the Wings a bit more size when coming to the draws.
On the defensive side, Hoar is not afraid to throw his weight around and make the opposing players earn every inch on the floor. He is also not afraid to drop the gloves if needed.
This season the defense has been getting beat and opponents have been scoring at will sometimes, mainly in second quarter. With the addition of Hoar, they hope that it will change.
Hoar has appeared in five games this season for the Toronto Rock. This will be his first stint with the Wings and 11th season in the NLL. Hoar previously played with the Rochester Knighthawks and Toronto Rock. For his career, he has registered 126 points (48 G, 78 A), 688 loose balls and has forced 54 turnovers. He also a faceoff specialist with a career 45.6 win percentage.
Wings travel this weekend and face the Knighthawks 7:30 pm Saturday night. Wings return home to face the same Knighthawks on Sunday March 16. The outcome of these two games will let us know if the Wings are playoff contenders and maybe give us a bit of insight as far as what they may do with the March 18 trade deadline coming up.
