Wings to Take Flight Once More

by Bob Herpen
The Phanatic Magazine

After shutting down the season due to labor unrest in November only to be resurrected with a new seven-year pact, the National Lacrosse League will get underway for a 22^nd season beginning this weekend.

And the Philadelphia Wings will be there once again.

Born back in 1986 with three other clubs which formed the original Eagle Pro Box Lacrosse League, the Wings are the lone continuously-operating franchise remaining from that initial campaign.

They took home the title from what was then known as the Major Indoor Lacrosse League four times, twice in back-to-back seasons (1989-90, 1994-95). Two more championships followed under the current NLL system, in 1998 and 2001. That makes a robust six titles in 21 seasons, clearly head-and-shoulders in numbers and average above the four major sports franchises.

Before you snicker at this niche sport played and perfected at small, liberal arts colleges in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, know that the Wings have enjoyed the highest average attendance for any lacrosse team in history. Only the Colorado Mammoth, which came to Denver in 2003 and fill the Pepsi Center, come close.

Since box lacrosse is adapted for hockey arenas, the game attracted hockey fans enamored with the Flyers’ style of play. Featuring ten times the scoring and just as much action and hitting as the NHL, the game gained a foothold in this city and the team became as beloved amongst the hardest of hard-core sports fans as any of the Big Four.

In their glory years at the Spectrum, the Wings routinely drew in excess of 12,000 fans, selling out at least one game per season, and created an atmosphere as loud and intimidating as any arena in North America.

Names such as Lou Delligatti, John French, John Tucker, Tom Marechek, Gary and Paul Gait, Scott Gabrielsen, Dallas Eliuk and Jake Bergey, while not household names, have nonetheless become part of Philadelphia sports lore.

With such a long, rich tradition, the Wings have had their foils over the years. The New Jersey/New York Saints provided the requisite Philly-New York rivalry in the league’s early existence, with the Wings besting the Saints for their first MILL title.

A prolonged battle with the Buffalo Bandits ensued throughout the 1990’s, with Buffalo taking three championships in a five-season span with Philly finally getting revenge in 1994. John Tavares of the Bandits became a curse on the lips of many a Wings fan, on par with Mario Lemieux, Shaq, any Braves pitcher and any Dallas Cowboys player for other Philly faithful.

The Toronto Rock have been the chief stumbling block for the franchise in this decade. Although Philly topped Toronto in 2001 for their sixth and final championship, the Rock have beaten the Wings in key regular season and playoff games in recent history.

The Wings finished a disappointing 6-10 in 2007, fifth place in the East and missed the postseason for the fifth consecutive year.

For 2008, the NLL will feature 12 teams. The Arizona Sting and the resurrected Boston Blazers have chosen to remain inactive. The Eastern Conference is comprised of Buffalo, Philadelphia, Chicago, Minnesota, New York, Rochester and Toronto. The Western Conference holds the remaining five teams: Calgary, Colorado, Edmonton, Portland and San Jose.

The Wings open up the 2007-2008 season on Saturday, January 12 with a home game against the Chicago Shamrox. Their complete schedule is as follows:

January 12 – CHICAGO

January 18 – ROCHESTER

January 26 – BUFFALO

February 15 – at Colorado

February 22 – MINNESOTA

February 29 – NEW YORK

March 1 – at Buffalo

March 8 – TORONTO

March 14 – SAN JOSE

March 22 – at New York

March 29 – at Rochester

April 5 – at Chicago

April 11 – at Portland

April 12 – at Minnesota

April 19 – NEW YORK

April 26 – at Toronto