Tonight at 7:30, the Philadelphia Wings face off against the Rochester Knighthawks in an early season battle at the Blue Cross Arena. Both teams had last weekend off after opening their season with victories in Week 1.
All time the Wings are 16-28 against the Knighthawks, (6-16 in Rochester). The Wings haven’t faired well against the Hawks as in past seasons they have either swept or won 2 of 3. Last season the Wings did remove the so called monkey off their back by winning in Rochester on April 6 by a 10-8 score.
The Wings in Week 1 controlled their game against the Bandits in a 17-13 win. Kyle Buchanan, Jordan Hall, and goaltender Evan Kirk played well in the victory. Hall returns to Rochester hoping to perform the same magic against his old team. On the other side, Dangerous Dan Dawson is looking to be his dangerous self as well against his former mates. In the first meeting last season Dawson exploded for 11 points.
The Knighthawks will be facing a younger and stronger offense and defense from the Wings then they have in years past. The Wings will face basically the same team they have last season with only a couple changes.
This is sure to be a great game with Matt Vinc, the 2013 Goaltender of the Year for the Knighthawks, and third-year goalie Evan Kirk for the Wings taking their spots between the pipes. It may only be both teams’ second game of the 18 game schedule, but it is big. With only three teams making the playoffs in each division, a win gives the team an upper hand to win the tie-breaker as they will face each other twice more in March (the 8th in Rochester and the 16th in Philadelphia).
