Sting win 13-12 in Philadelphia
March 25, 2006 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Arizona Sting News Release
PHILADELPHIA, PA --- The Arizona Sting won a crucial game at the Wachovia Center on Saturday afternoon, outlasting the Philadelphia Wings in a back-and-forth affair that saw several changes in momentum and tremendous action at both ends of the floor. Goaltender Rob Blasdell, making his third start of the season away from Glendale Arena, made 27 saves in the win and Dan Dawson had a team-high 7 points (1G-6A) in the contest, but Head Coach Bob Hamley gave credit to his team as a whole for the impressive road victory.
"This was a total team effort," said Hamley. "Our offense produced and our defense really shut down their big guns. We showed what we're made out of out there today and we're looking forward to a big weekend against Buffalo and Colorado next week."
Wings forward Brad Self scored the game's first goal, finishing off a two-on-one break six minutes into the first period to give the Wings a 1-0 advantage. Philadelphia added to their lead 5:11 later on a tally by Mark Morley that was set up by rookie Shawn Greenhhalgh. The Sting cut the Wings' lead in half shortly thereafter on a goal by Craig Conn, but Philadelphia came right back with a goal of their own by Shawn Nadelen to make the score 3-1 in favor of the Wings. With 20.6 seconds on the clock, Peter Veltman (playing his first game of the season as a forward) beat Wings goaltender Matt Roik with a quick shot to pull the Sting to within a single goal as the first quarter came to an end.
Craig Conn tied the game at three apiece 3:26 into the second period on a tremendous individual effort; Conn overpowered a pair of Wings defenders on his way to the net and unleashed a perfect shot that net minder Matt Roik had no chance of making the save on. Matt Brown and Dan Dawson then scored goals 50 seconds apart to give Arizona a 5-3 lead. On the power play, Dan Marohl pulled the Wings back to within one on his 17th goal of the season. With 1:11 left in the first half, Matt Brown scored his second goal of the game to restore the two-goal Sting advantage. After being kept off of the scoring sheet by the Colorado Mammoth last weekend, Brown was happy to contribute early on against Philadelphia.
"It was nice to get a couple in the first half," said Brown. "Most of my goals this year have been in the third or fourth quarter, so being able to build on a lead early in the game was nice. I had a tough time against Colorado last Saturday, so getting some points this week was nice. This was a huge win for our team."
Lindsay Plunkett opened the second half with a goal 1:01 into the third quarter. Glenn Clark scored his second goal of the season 46 seconds later to make the score 7-5 in Arizona's favor. The Sting lead was cut to a single goal by Jeff Ratcliffe 6:19 into the second half. The game was then tied at seven by Shawn Greenhalgh and the Wings were given an 8-7 lead eight seconds later by Rob Van Beek. Philadelphia's lead lasted only five seconds however, as Peter Lough won the subsequent face-off and quickly rushed into the Wings' end of the floor, eluded a series of Philadelphia defenders, bore down upon and ripped a shot past goaltender Matt Roik to tie the game at eight. Pat Maddalena then netted his 16th goal of the season on a feed from Dan Dawson to give the Sting a 9-8 lead going into the fourth quarter.
The Wings struck immediately in the fourth quarter, with Shawn Greenhalgh setting up Jake Bergey for his 20th tally of the season 25 seconds into the fourth period. Lindsay Plunkett gave Arizona a 10-9 lead 1:34 later and Curt Makawsky then scored his first goal as a member of the Sting to give his new team a two goal lead. Craig Conn then completed his fourth consecutive hat trick with a rocket of a shot that found the back of the Wings' net and gave Arizona a 12-9 lead in the process. Conn now has 36 goals on the season. Philadelphia's tenth goal of the afternoon came courtesy of Mark Morley at the 5:56 mark of the fourth quarter. Chris Seller restored the three-goal Arizona lead on a breakaway, but the Wings responded quickly with a goal of their own off of the stick of Jeff Ratcliffe to make the score 13-11 in favor of the visiting squad from the Valley of the Sun. Rob Blasdell stoned Brad Self with one minute remaining in regulation to maintain the two-goal lead, but he was beaten by Dan Marohl 25 seconds later as Philadelphia pulled to within a single goal. The Arizona defense was able to shut down the Wings in the final 30 seconds of the match to preserve the win and send the Wings faithful to the exits unhappy.
Andrew Guindon, playing in his first game in over a month after sustaining a lower body injury, had a strong game in his return to Philadelphia, dishing out 3 assists and punishing the Wings' forwards with a series of lethal body checks. Guindon played three seasons with the Wings prior to being traded to the Sting in October of 2005.
"It's nice to come back here and come out with a win," said Guindon. "I had some good seasons here with these guys, but this was a big game for us and I wasn't holding anything back out there, that's for sure. Hopefully we can carry this momentum into next weekend."
The Sting play the Buffalo Bandits next Saturday, April 1, at Glendale Arena. The following day, Arizona will travel to Colorado to take on the Mammoth at the Pepsi Center. Game time
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National Lacrosse League Stories from March 25, 2006
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