Event Spotlight:
Toronto Rock Rolls Over Philadelphia, Wings Drop To Second Place In NLL
Saturday, March 10, 2001
By Shae L. Sperry
Philadelphia Wings Correspondent
PHILADELPHIA - In a battle for first place, the Philadelphia Wings fell to the Toronto Rock, 11-7, Saturday at the First Union Center in front of 13,485 fans. The Rock took the lead in the second quarter and never looked back. The Wings were without top scorer Tom Marechek, who was out with a sprained shoulder. The Wings record now stands at 6-3, while the Rock improve to 8-3.
"We couldn't seem to string more than a goal or two together," said Wings' coach Tony Resch. "Toronto plays the kind of game where they make you earn things. We had a few chances early and didn't get things to go. We still control our destiny. We have to come out and play tough against New York next week. We'll get back on track and we're still in the middle of it."
It was a battle of goalies in the first quarter as Philadelphia's Dallas Eliuk and Toronto's Bob Watson combined for 18 saves. Chris Langdale put the Rock on the board with the first goal of the game, but Jake Bergey evened the score just 13 seconds later. Jeff Ratcliffe put the Wings ahead on a 4-on-3 power play, but the Rock came back with a Chris Gill goal.
The Rock opened up the second quarter with a pair of goals from Colin Doyle and Gill. Tom Phair scored a last-minute goal to pull the Wings within one going into halftime.
Coming out of the locker rooms, it took Philadelphia just eight seconds to score (Tom Ryan), but Toronto answered with four straight goals. Kim Squire scored on the power play, while Steve Toll and Kaleb Toth each added even strength goals. Squire added his second goal of the night in the last second of the quarter when Toronto pulled its goalie for a sixth attacker.
In the final quarter, Philadelphia started its comeback with a power-play goal by Jason Clark, but couldn't get any momentum going for the rest of the quarter. Toronto continued its attack with a short-handed goal by Toll, a power-play goal by Gill and a regular-strength goal by Toth. The Wings had a late-game surge with goals by Bergey and Mark Millon, but couldn't erase the deficit.
Jake Bergey led the Wings in scoring with four points (2G,2A). Four other players scored goals for Philadelphia, including Tom Phair (1G,1A), Jason Clark (1G), Tom Ryan (1G) and Jeff Ratcliffe (1G,2A). Kim Squire led the Rock in scoring with five points (2G,3A). Five other players scored for Toronto, including Colin Doyle (1G,3A), Kaleb Toth (2G,2A), Chris Langdale (1G), Steve Toll (2G,1A) and Chris Gill (3G,1A).
UPCOMING GAMES: The Philadelphia Wings host New York on Saturday, March 17 at the First Union Center at 8:00 p.m. Tickets are still available at the First Union Center Box Office or any TicketMaster outlet.
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