Sting/Wings Game Preview + Player Updates
March 23, 2006 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Arizona Sting News Release
The City of Brotherly Love might have to have to apply for a new nickname after this weekend. The Arizona Sting will take to the floor on Saturday afternoon to take on the Philadelphia Wings in an afternoon contest at the Wachovia Center. Brothers Brad and Scott Self will be battling on the floor for their respective teams in the match, with Brad leading the Wings' attack against a Sting defense anchored by his older brother Scott. The last time the two went head-to-head, Brad scored a hat trick for the Colorado Mammoth (he was traded to the Wings this past off-season) in the opening playoff contest of 2005 - a game won by Arizona by a score of 16-13 at the Glendale Arena. The Mammoth were on the winning end of last weekend's contest, however, overpowering the Sting in a 15-11 win Saturday night that handed Arizona their fifth loss in seven games.
Sting Assistant Coach Bob McMahon sees this weekend's game as a chance for his team to bust out of their current mini-slump.
"Toronto went 0-4 at the start of the year and then went on a six game winning streak, so we think that we're ready to go on a big run like that ourselves after a bit of a mid-season slump," said McMahon. "Over the last couple of years, teams that go on their runs late seem to carry their momentum into the playoffs, so hopefully we can put some wins together over the course of these final six games and make some headway in the division."
Philadelphia is coming off of a bye week. The preceding week they went 1-1 in a home-and-home series against the Rochester Knighthawks. Wings Head Coach Lindsay Sanderson feels that the week off will be advantageous to his team's chances this weekend.
"A lot of guys were down with the flu for those two games versus Rochester," said Sanderson. "The bye week really helped us get healthy and put in some good preparation time for our game with Arizona, who are always a dangerous opponent."
The Sting have not faired well against the Wings historically, currently possessing a record of 0-2 against the National Lacrosse League's oldest team. Including the Columbus years, the franchise is 1-4 all-time versus Philadelphia.
Game time on Saturday is 11:30AM Arizona Time. The game can be seen online via B2 Networks. Visit www.nll.com for more details.
THE MATCH-UP:
Arizona (5-5) at Philadelphia (6-5) - Saturday, March 25 @ 11:30 AM AZ Time
Location: Wachovia Center
TOP SCORERS
Arizona: Dan Dawson (10GP-19G-31A-50P); Craig Conn (10GP-33G-16A-49P); Jonas Derks (10GP-18G-24A-42P); Pat Maddalena (10GP-15G-24A-39P); Lindsay Plunkett (8GP-12G-10A-22P)
Philadelphia: Dan Marohl (11GP-16G-35A-51P); Sean Greenhalgh (21G-29A-50P); Jake Bergey (11GP-19G-22A-41P); Keith Cromwell (10GP-11G-18A-29P); Jeff Ratcliffe (10GP-17G-11A-28P)
ARIZONA/COLUMBUS ALL-TIME AGAINST PHILADELPHIA:
Record: 1-4
Goals For: 55
Goals Against: 77
THE LAST TIME THESE TEAMS PLAYED:
The Wings beat the Sting 10-9 in overtime on January 7, 2005, at the Glendale Arena. Marc Morley scored at 1:50 of overtime to give Philadelphia the win. Wings goaltender Dallas Eliuk (now with the Portland Lumberjax) made 55 saves on 64 shots on his way to earning NLL Defensive Player of the Week honors. Dan Dawson registered 3G-2A-5P in the match and was subsequently named NLL Overall/Offensive Player of the Week (Dawson also tallied 5G-2A-7P in a 16-15 win over Colorado later that weekend). Pat Maddalena scored 3 goals in the game, including the game-tying tally with 54 seconds remaining in the fourth period. He thought that he had scored the game-winner in the opening minute of the extra session, but the goal was correctly disallowed due to the expiration of the thirty-second shot clock. Arizona goalie Mike Miron made 30 saves on 40 shots in the loss.
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National Lacrosse League Stories from March 23, 2006
- Jalbert named player of the week - Colorado Mammoth
- Sting/Wings Game Preview + Player Updates - Arizona Sting
- Playoff race heats up in NLL - Toronto Rock
- Canadian Armed forces Press Conference (Care packs) - Calgary Roughnecks
- Minnesota Swarm Returns Home to Face Buffalo Bandits on Friday - Minnesota Swarm
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