2008 Philadelphia Wings season

The Philadelphia Wings are a lacrosse team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania playing in the National Lacrosse League (NLL). The 2008 season was the 22nd in franchise history.

2008 Philadelphia Wings
LeagueNLL
Division4th East
2008 record10-6
Home record7-1
Road record3-5
Goals for225
Goals against220
General ManagerLindsay Sanderson
CoachDave Huntley
CaptainThomas Hajek
Alternate captainsPeter Jacobs
Jake Bergey
ArenaWachovia Center
Average attendance11,289
Team leaders
GoalsAthan Iannucci (71)
AssistsJason Crosbie (40)
PointsAthan Iannucci (100)
Penalties in minutesGeoff Snider (103)
Loose BallsGeoff Snider (244)
WinsRob Blasdell (8)
Goals against averageBrandon Miller (12.18)

The Wings had not made the playoffs in five years, the longest playoff drought in the history of the franchise. But the Wings began the season 6-0, and second-year players Athan Iannucci and Geoff Snider were rewriting the record books. Iannucci broke Gary Gait's single-season scoring record in the Wings' 14th game,[1] and ended up with 71 goals. Snider set new records for loose balls (242), penalty minutes (103), and faceoffs won (318), and won 73.8% of his faceoffs, just short of his own record of 75% set in 2007.[2] The Wings finished 4th in the East and made the playoffs again, but were beaten in the division semi-finals by the Buffalo Bandits.

Regular season

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Conference standings

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Reference: [3]

East Division
PTeamGPWLPCTGBHomeRoadGFGADiffGF/GPGA/GP

1Buffalo Banditsxyz16106.6250.07–23–4203174+2912.6910.88
2Minnesota Swarmx16106.6250.06–24–4199196+312.4412.25
3New York Titansx16106.6250.05–15–5197186+1112.3111.62
4Philadelphia Wingsx16106.6250.07–13–5225220+514.0613.75
5Rochester Knighthawks1688.5002.04–44–4197171+2612.3110.69
6Toronto Rock1679.4383.04–53–4172174−210.7510.88
7Chicago Shamrox16610.3754.03–53–5176212−3611.0013.25
West Division
PTeamGPWLPCTGBHomeRoadGFGADiffGF/GPGA/GP

1San Jose Stealthxy1697.5620.04–45–3185172+1311.5610.75
2Colorado Mammothx1697.5620.06–23–5184167+1711.5010.44
3Calgary Roughnecksx1679.4382.05–32–6183178+511.4411.12
4Portland LumberJaxx16610.3753.03–53–5179194−1511.1912.12
5Edmonton Rush16412.2505.03–51–7141197−568.8112.31

x: Clinched playoff berth; c: Clinched playoff berth by crossing over to another division; y: Clinched division; z: Clinched best regular season record; GP: Games Played
W: Wins; L: Losses; GBGames back; PCT: Win percentage; Home: Record at Home; Road: Record on the Road; GF: Goals scored; GA: Goals allowed
Differential: Difference between goals scored and allowed; GF/GP: Average number of goals scored per game; GA/GP: Average number of goals allowed per game

Game log

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Reference:[4]

Game Date Opponent Location Score OT Attendance Record
1 January 12, 2008 Chicago Shamrox Wachovia Center W 19–11 11,974 1–0
2 January 18, 2008 Rochester Knighthawks Wachovia Center W 15–14 9,248 2–0
3 January 26, 2008 Buffalo Bandits Wachovia Center W 15–14 OT 10,542 3–0
4 February 15, 2008 @ Colorado Mammoth Pepsi Center W 15–13 17,109 4–0
5 February 22, 2008 Minnesota Swarm Wachovia Center W 17–8 10,342 5–0
6 February 29, 2008 New York Titans Wachovia Center W 16–12 11,419 6–0
7 March 1, 2008 @ Buffalo Bandits HSBC Arena L 12–21 13,720 6–1
8 March 14, 2008 San Jose Stealth Wachovia Center W 16–13 11,737 7–1
9 March 22, 2008 @ New York Titans Sovereign Bank Arena-Trenton, NJ L 13–20 5,239 7–2
10 March 29, 2008 @ Rochester Knighthawks Blue Cross Arena L 12–20 8,940 7–3
11 April 5, 2008 @ Chicago Shamrox Sears Centre L 14–15 OT 5,427 7–4
12 April 6, 2008 Toronto Rock Wachovia Center W 11–9 10,244 8–4
13 April 11, 2008 @ Portland LumberJax Rose Garden W 13–10 9,195 9–4
14 April 12, 2008 @ Minnesota Swarm Xcel Energy Center L 14–15 OT 12,830 9–5
15 April 19, 2008 New York Titans Wachovia Center L 8–11 17,340 9–6
16 April 27, 2008 @ Toronto Rock Air Canada Centre W 15–14 15,332 10–6

Playoffs

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Game log

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Reference:[5]

Game Date Opponent Location Score OT Attendance Record
Division Semifinal May 2, 2008 @ Buffalo Bandits HSBC Arena L 12–14 9,344 0–1

Player stats

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Reference:[6]

Runners (Top 10)

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Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; LB = Loose balls; PIM = Penalty minutes

Player GP G A Pts LB PIM
Athan Iannucci 16 71 29 100 138 35
Jake Bergey 13 29 31 60 89 8
Merrick Thomson 15 26 29 55 59 26
Geoff Snider 16 13 38 51 244 103
Jason Crosbie 16 11 40 51 80 8
Jamie Rooney 15 20 23 43 59 12
Johnny Christmas 13 5 20 25 61 10
Kyle Sweeney 16 5 20 25 127 4
AJ Shannon 9 11 7 18 35 2
Totals 324 549 440 1283 44

Goaltenders

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Note: GP = Games played; MIN = Minutes; W = Wins; L = Losses; GA = Goals against; Sv% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average

Player GP MIN W L GA Sv% GAA
Rob Blasdell 14 659:16 8 2 153 .739 13.92
Brandon Miller 7 295:28 2 4 60 .788 12.18
Jay Preece 9 6:57 0 0 3 .727 25.90
Matt Roik 0 0:00 0 0 0 .000 .00
Totals 10 6 220 .751 13.75

Awards

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Player Award
Athan Iannucci NLL Most Valuable Player
Athan Iannucci Overall Player of the Month, January
Overall Player of the Month, February
Overall Player of the Month, April
Athan Iannucci First Team All-Pro
Geoff Snider Second Team All-Pro
Athan Iannucci All-Stars
Geoff Snider
Taylor Wray

Transactions

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Trades

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February 29, 2008[7]
To Philadelphia Wings
conditional third round pick, 2008 entry draft
To Edmonton Rush
Brendan Thenhaus
March 5, 2008[8]
To Philadelphia Wings
AJ Shannon (from Edmonton)
fourth round pick, 2008 entry draft (from Minnesota)
To Minnesota Swarm
Keith Cromwell (from Philadelphia)
Dan Marohl (from Philadelphia)
second round pick, 2009 entry draft (from Edmonton)
To Edmonton Rush
Mike Hominuck (from Minnesota)
first round pick, 2008 entry draft (from Minnesota)
March 5, 2008[8] To Philadelphia Wings
Brandon Miller
second round pick, 2008 entry draft
To Chicago Shamrox
Matt Roik
Brad Self
first round pick, 2009 entry draft
second round pick, 2010 entry draft

Roster

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Reference:[9]

No. Position Player
27   Def Beisel, Brian
66   Fwd Bergey, Jake
31   Goalie Blasdell, Rob
2   Fwd Borell, Jim
  Def Burke, Zach
1   Trans Christmas, John
  Fwd Cromwell, Keith
54   Fwd Crosbie, Jason
  Fwd Eckerel, Matt
  Fwd Fiat, Kyle
  Fwd Ford, Conor
28   Def Hajek, Thomas
25   Fwd Heim, Patrick
23   Fwd Iannucci, Athan
24   Def Jacobs, Peter
  Fwd Marohl, Dan
36   Goalie Miller, Brandon
No. Position Player
22   Fwd Mitchell, David
  Fwd Morley, Marc
15   Fwd Moyer, Brett
34   Def Nadelen, Shawn
30   Goalie Preece, Jay
  Goalie Roik, Matt
14   Fwd Rooney, Jamie
88   Fwd Shannon, AJ
4   Trans Snider, Geoff
7   Def Sweeney, Kyle
  Fwd Thenhaus, Brenden
9   Fwd Thomson, Merrick
77   Fwd Van Beek, Rob
  Fwd Wailes, Kyle
26   Fwd Westervelt, Drew
44   Def Wray, Taylor

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Iannucci Breaks Single-Season Goals Record". NLL.com. April 12, 2008. Archived from the original on 2008-04-13. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
  2. ^ "Snider Breaks Loose Ball Record". NLL.com. April 29, 2008. Archived from the original on 10 May 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
  3. ^ "National Lacrosse League - 2008 Regular Season - Standings". NLL.com. Retrieved May 3, 2012.
  4. ^ "Philadelphia Wings – National Lacrosse League". NLL.com. Archived from the original on September 9, 2012. Retrieved May 6, 2012.
  5. ^ "Philadelphia Wings – National Lacrosse League". NLL.com. Archived from the original on September 5, 2012. Retrieved May 6, 2012.
  6. ^ "Philadelphia Wings - National Lacrosse League - team stats | Pointstreak Sports Technologies".
  7. ^ "Rush Acquire Thenhaus From Wings". NLL.com. February 29, 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
  8. ^ a b "Trade Frenzy: Eight Players Dealt". NLL.com. March 5, 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
  9. ^ "Philadelphia Wings - National Lacrosse League - team roster | Pointstreak Sports Technologies".