PHILADELPHIA WINGS

The 'Philadelphia Wings' are a member of the National Lacrosse League, a professional box lacrosse league in North America. They play at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The Wings were one of the original four teams in the ''Eagle Pro Box Lacrosse League'' that began play in 1987. The league was renamed to the ''Major Indoor Lacrosse League'' in 1989, and again to the ''National Lacrosse League'' in 1998. They are the only franchise to have played all 21 seasons in the same city. The Wings have the most titles in the combined league history with 6 total: 4 North American Cups in the MILL era and 2 Champion's Cup since the formation of the NLL.
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Contents

History

Early years

Wings vs. Bandits

NLL era

Rebuilding

Awards and honors

Fan traditions

Roster

Players lost in 2008 off-season

All time Record

Playoff results

Notes and references

See also

External links

History

Early years

The Philadelphia Wings were one of the original four franchises in the Eagle Pro Box Lacrosse League, joining the New Jersey Saints, Washington Wave, and Baltimore Thunder in the premiere season. While the Wings were not an immediate success on the floor, going 3-3 and 3-5 in the first two regular seasons with two playoff losses, there were the biggest draw in the league. They drew an average of almost 12,000 fans to the 3 1987 regular season games, and going slightly over 12,000 fans for the 4 games in 1988.
Their first on-field success came in 1989 with a first place 6-2 campaign, ending with their first of a league record 6 titles with a 11-10 win over New York at the Spectrum. The Wings became the first team to repeat with another 6-2 regular season followed by a championship win in Worcester over the New England Blazers. A 5-5 season in 1991 left the Wings in third place in the American Division, 1 game behind the division winners Baltimore and out of the playoffs for the first time in their history, denying them the opportunity for a "threepeat."
Some of the early stars of those teams included Mike French, hall of fame player at Cornell and current team executive; John Grant Sr., father of current NLL star John Grant Jr.; Syracuse hall of famer Brad Kotz; as well as long time Wings coach, Tony Resch.
The Wings drew 43,887 fans at home at the Spectrum in 1987 the first year, for an average of 10,972 per game.

Wings vs. Bandits

In 1992, the MILL expanded to western New York with the Buffalo Bandits. The Bandits were primarily Canadian players from Ontario, while the Wings were still mostly American based, like the rest of the league at the time. The rivalry was instant, as the teams would play each other in 4 of the next 5 title games, interrupted only by the Wings triumph over Rochester in the 1995 season. The Wings struggled in the regular season of 1992, but turned it on in the playoffs to defeat Baltimore and New York and host the Bandits in the championship game. John Tavares would end the Wings quest for their 3rd title with an overtime winner, however.
1993 saw the Wings have a 7-1 season, only to be topped by the Bandits perfect 8-0 season. Both teams dispatched their semifinal opponents, and the rematch was on. The Bandits once again ended the Wings hopes, this time winning a one goal contest in regulation 13-12.
1994 saw both teams top their respective divisions with 6-2 marks, and again both teams dominated the semifinal game to meet for a 3rd consecutive time for the North American Cup. An incredible run by Philadelphia in the middle of the game buried the Bandits hopes of their own threepeat, giving the Wings a 26-15 win and their third title.
The Wings were their same dominating selves in 1995, going 7-1 to finish atop the single table (a structure the league changed back to before the season), while the Bandits uncharacteristically struggled, finishing just 4th in a 6 team league at 3-5. This meant the Wings faced the Bandits in the semifinals, and due to the MILL's "attendance rule" that gave postseason home field advantage to the team with better attendance, the game was played in Buffalo. The Wings proved to be the better team with a 19-16 win on their way to a league high 4th title.
1996 saw the Bandits return to their prior form, while both teams finishing 8-2 and tied atop the league standings. Once again, the teams found themselves in the final, and the Bandits returned the favor of stopping a threepeat with a dominating 15-10 performance.
1997 would be the first time that the Wings and Bandits would not meet in the playoffs since the Bandits had been introduced in 1992. The Wings won another regular season title with a 7-1 record, but were upset in the semifinals by the eventual champion Rochester Knighthawks.

NLL era

The league name changed for 1998, but the Wings success wasn't about to. Despite the loss of Gary Gait to the Baltimore Thunder, the Wings still claimed their 4th regular season title in 5 years at 9-3. Once again, the Wings were paired up with their arch-rival Bandits in the semifinal round, and the Wings dispatched the Bandits just as they had in the previous semifinal matchup. The Wings advanced to play the Thunder and Gary Gait in the final round, which was a best 2 of 3 series for the one and only time in league history. The Wings opened the series with a 16-12 victory at home, before sweeping the series with a dominating 17-12 road victory in Baltimore Arena.
1999 saw the end of the heated Wings-Bandits rivalry, as the Bandits started to rebuild and fell to a 4-8 mark, missing the postseason. The Wings also had regular season struggles, finishing at just 5-7 and squeaking into the playoffs as the fourth seed. Wings fans probably wish the team had missed the postseason, as the team was pummeled in a record breaking 13-2 loss to the eventual champion Toronto Rock. 2000 saw the team improve slightly to 7-5 during the season, but it ended the same way, with a semifinal loss in Toronto by a more respectable 14-10 score.
That set up the 2001 season, with the Wings once again seeing their league dominance challenged by a newcomer to the league. The Rock and the Wings did not disappoint, with the Rock going 11-3 and the Wings 10-4 in the regular season, and winning their semifinal games to set up a third straight postseason matchup in Toronto, this time with the title on the line. Unlike the previous two games, the Wings dictated the style of play, and built a 9-4 lead early in the fourth quarter before the Rock finally solved the defensive puzzle. It proved too little, too late, and the Wings claimed their 6th title with a 9-8 upset victory, once again ending the chance at the first league threepeat.
The 2002 season was clearly a transition year for the franchise, as they muddled through a difficult season to finish at 8-8 before falling in a quarterfinal game against the Washington Power. Going into the 2007 season, it would prove to be the last playoff appearance for the proud franchise.

Rebuilding

The 2003 season saw the Wings start off strongly, but collapse down the stretch as they finished 8-8, and lost the division title to the Colorado Mammoth, missing the postseason for the first time since 1991. It would continue to get worse for the Wings, as the next two years ended with a last place 7-9 season and a 6-10 2005 season. The rebuilding of the Wings began in earnest in the offseason, as the Wings would have three first round draft picks before the 2006 season, adding Sean Greenhalgh, Luke Wiles, and Chad Thompson.^[1] Wiles and Thompson were later dealt for Mike Regan, but Greenhalgh continues to be a key member of the Wings' offense. Despite the added firepower, the Wings saw some improvement, going 8-8 in 2006 but missing the postseason on tiebreakers.
The 2006 draft was again fertile ground for the Wings, adding Geoff Snider, Ian Llord, and Athan Ianucci in the first round^[2], and adding Kyle Wailes, another first round pick, through a trade with Calgary. ^[3] However, the 2007 season again would leave fans wondering about the future, when the Wings collapsed down the stretch with 4 losses in the last 5 games to crash to a 6-10 record and miss the playoffs for a fifth consecutive season. The entire coaching staff was fired after the season ended, though Lindsay Sanderson kept the role of GM.^[4] On June 8, 2007, the Wings announced that the team's original general manager Dave Huntley would be their head coach for the 2008 season.^[5]

Awards and honors

★ Most Valuable Player - Gary Gait (3 times - 1995, 1996, 1997)

★ Championship MVP -- Dallas Eliuk (2 times - 1998, 2001)

★ Rookie of the Year - Tom Marechek (1994)

★ Sportsman of the Year - Sean Greenhalgh (2006)

★ Coach of the Year - Tony Resch (2001)

★ Executive of the Year - Russ Cline (2001)

★ NLL Hall of Fame - Russ Cline, Chris Fritz, Gary Gait ^[6], Paul Gait^[7] (class of 2006); Mike French, Tom Marechek (class of 2007)

★ Retired Numbers - Tom Marechek (42 - retired during 2006 season)

Fan traditions

Since 1987, Wings fans have supported the team well and have established many traditions of their own. These traditions start right from the national anthem, when fans can be heard making a 'tsch' sound at the end of each line, mocking a recording that was used by the Wings in the early years where the only audible portion of the song was the cymbal crashes. During the introductions of the opposing team, each players' name is followed by a call of "sucks", a tradition that has been extended to the opposing coaches, trainers, and the game officials. Local shot clock operator Joe Fratoni has escaped the sucks cheer, instead being cheered.
During the game, the opposing goalie is often the target of fan's heckling. The most common chant is to remind the goalie 'It's all your fault' after every single goal they allow. More recently, the crowd in some sections have taken to 'beeping' like a truck in reverse any time a goalie backs up.
The grandest tradition of all is the dualing "W-I-N-G-S" cheers. The side of the arena with the penalty boxes have long been led by "Chopper", a Wings superfan with facepaint and a hard hat, well known around the league making opposing players who find their way to the penalty box regret their time there. The bench side has going through many leaders, from "Big Gabe" (father of Scott Gabrielson, a Wings captain in the 1990s) to "Big E" to Chasmo, and now "The Captain" and "Morpheus". While the leader of the chants aren't always the same from year to year, the "W-I-N-G-S WINGS!" cheer hasn't died out at all, and is still prevalent at every game.
Finally, the song "Welcome to the Jungle" has become an anthem of the team, with the song often being played in the last few moments of the game when the Wings need a critical goal or a key defensive stop, and it never fails to get the crowd off their seats and into a frenzy. All of these traditions have made Philadelphia one of the hardest arenas in the NLL for a road team to get a win.

Roster

Three Team Blockbuster Trade Announced
- 'C'
- 'A'
^[8]

Players lost in 2008 off-season

^[9]

All time Record

Season	Division	W-L	Finish	Home	Road	GF	GA	Coach	Playoffs
1987		3-3	2nd	2-1	1-2	86	82	Steve Wey	Lost in semifinals
1988		3-5	3rd	2-2	1-3	97	90	Steve Wey	Lost in semifinals
1989		6-2	'1st'	4-0	2-2	122	96	Dave Evans	'Won Championship'
1990		6-2	2nd	3-1	3-1	89	82	Dave Evans	'Won Championship'
1991	American	5-5	3rd	3-2	2-3	129	131	Dave Evans	Missed playoffs
1992	American	3-5	2nd	1-3	2-2	106	109	Dave Evans	Lost Championship
1993	American	7-1	'1st'	4-0	3-1	121	86	Dave Evans	Lost Championship
1994	American	6-2	'1st'	4-0	2-2	127	89	Mike French	'Won Championship'
1995		7-1	'1st'	4-0	3-1	115	94	Tony Resch	'Won Championship'
1996		8-2	'T-1st'	4-1	4-1	165	114	Tony Resch	Lost Championship
1997		7-3	'1st'	3-2	4-1	137	115	Tony Resch	Lost in semifinals
1998		9-3	'1st'	3-3	6-0	166	148	Tony Resch	'Won Championship'
1999		5-7	4th	4-2	1-5	153	153	Tony Resch	Lost in semifinals
2000		7-5	4th	4-2	3-3	172	165	Tony Resch	Lost in semifinals
2001		10-4	2nd	6-1	4-3	205	177	Tony Resch	'Won Championship'
2002	Eastern	8-8	2nd	6-2	2-6	222	237	Adam Mueller	Lost in Quarterfinals
2003	Eastern	8-8	2nd	6-2	2-6	203	209	Adam Mueller	Missed playoffs
2004	Eastern	7-9	4th	3-5	4-4	192	198	Adam Mueller	Missed playoffs
2005	Eastern	6-10	4th	3-5	3-5	213	218	Lindsay Sanderson	Missed playoffs
2006	Eastern	8-8	5th	5-3	3-5	184	184	Lindsay Sanderson	Missed playoffs
2007	Eastern	6-10	6th	4-4	2-6	178	186	Lindsay Sanderson	Missed playoffs
Total	21 seasons	135-103		78-41	57-62	3,182	2,963
'Playoff Totals'		16-9		10-4	6-5	327	292

Playoff results

Season	Game	Visiting	Home
1987	Semifinals	'Washington 20'	Philadelphia 15
1988	Semifinals	Philadelphia 10	'New Jersey 12'
1989	'Championship'	New York 10	'Philadelphia 11'
1990	'Semifinals'	New York 8	'Philadelphia 9'
	'Championship'	'Philadelphia 17'	New England 7
1992	'Division Semifinal'	Baltimore 12	'Philadelphia 14'
	'Division Final'	'Philadelphia 8'	New York 6
	Championship	'Buffalo 11'	Philadelphia 10 (OT)
1993	'Division Final'	New York 9	'Philadelphia 17'
	Championship	Philadelphia 12	'Buffalo 13'
1994	'Division Final'	New York 7	'Philadelphia 17'
	'Championship'	'Philadelphia 26'	Buffalo 15
1995	'Semifinals'	'Philadelphia 19'	Buffalo 16
	'Championship'	Rochester 14	'Philadelphia 15' OT
1996	'Semifinals'	Boston 8	'Philadelphia 10'
	Championship	Philadelphia 10	'Buffalo 15'
1997	Semifinals	'Rochester 15'	Philadelphia 13
1998	'Semifinals'	Buffalo 12	'Philadelphia 17'
	'Championship (Game 1)'	Baltimore 12	'Philadelphia 16'
	'Championship (Game 2)'	'Philadelphia 17'	Baltimore 12
1999	Semifinals	Philadelphia 2	'Toronto 13'
2000	Semifinals	Philadelphia 10	'Toronto 14'
2001	'Semifinals'	Rochester 11	'Philadelphia 12'
	'Championships'	'Philadelphia 9'	Toronto 8
2002	Quarterfinals	'Washington 12'	Philadelphia 11

Notes and references

1. Brodie Merrill joins brother as #1 draft picks Philly, R.A.
2. Stealth doubles up with Benesch, Sorensen atop draft Philly, R.A.
3. Wings trade for Wailes, wait on Snider Philly, R.A.
4. Wings Relieve Coaching Staff of Duties
5. Wings Hire Dave Huntley as Head Coach
6. These players were not inducted into the Hall of Fame as Wings, but played a part of their career in Philadelphia.
7.
8. Bandits send Walters to Wings: Maryland grad joins Philadelphia to complete three-way trade
9. Draft Day Trade Frenzy

See also

★ 1974-75 Philadelphia Wings team

External links

★ Wingzone Web Site