Philadelphia Drops Final Home Game To Toronto

Saturday, April 9, 2005

By Jennifer Stefani
Philadelphia Wings Correspondent

The Wings fell to Toronto for the second straight week, 15-11, Saturday at the Wachovia Center in front of 14,480 fans. The team was celebrating “Say Goodbye to Hollywood” night to commemorate Tom Marechek’s last home game before retiring. The 12-year veteran was the game MVP with two goals and three assists. Blaine Manning led Toronto with four goals and six assists. Philadelphia, already eliminated from playoff contention, finishes the season on the road against the Rock and Minnesota.

“Tommy (Marechek) is a very big part of this club ,” said Wings’ head coach Lindsay Sanderson. “He always has been and always will be. It’s not too often you get a guy at that stature leave when he can still dominate. That’s our loss. He can still do everything and is a big part of our club……We just don’t have the depth to match with these clubs right now and that’s the big thing. We’ll correct that during the off-season.”

The Wings opened the scoring with a goal on their first shot of the game, by Jake Bergey. Less than 30 seconds later, Blaine Manning tied the score for Toronto. Philadelphia answered as Marechek netted his first of the night, but the Rock took over for the rest of the period. Colin Doyle, who scored 11 points again the Wings last week, scored two goals, while Aaron Wilson added a third on the power play. Dallas Eliuk took over for starting goalie Dallas Eliuk after Toronto’s third straight goal.

The two teams went nearly five minutes before a goal was scored in the second quarter. Marc Morley started the action for Philadelphia, but the Rock answered with goals by Manning and Doyle. The Wings took over with goals by Dan Marohl and Keith Cromwell. The two teams then traded goals, with tallies by Toronto’s Josh Sanderson and Marechek for Philadelphia. Andrew Burkholder brought the Wings within one with 11 seconds left in the first half.

Burkholder started the scoring in the second half to tie the game at eight. The Wings had been trailing for nearly 25 minutes. Burkholder completed the natural hat trick with his third goal midway through the quarter. Keith Cromwell gave the Wings a two-goal lead, but Toronto came within one with a goal by John Rosa in the final minute of the quarter. The Rock had not scored in 20 minutes. The Wings led, 10-9, going into the fourth quarter.

The Rock regained the lead with three goals in a minute span at the start of the fourth quarter (Manning, Wilson, Veltman). Wilson added a fourth straight goal at the 7:56 mark. The Wings finally scored their first goal of the quarter 24 seconds later as Cromwell completed the hat trick. Manning and Chris Driscoll put the game out reach in final minutes of play.

Tom Marechek led the Wings with five points (2G,3A) Five other players scored for Philadelphia, including Jake Bergey (1G,2A), Marc Morley (1G), Dan Marohl (1G,4A), Andrew Burkholder (3G) and Keith Cromwell (3G,1A).

Blaine Manning led the Rock h in scoring with 10 points (4G,6A). Six other players scored for the Rock, including Aaron Wilson (3G,2A), Colin Doyle (3G,4A), John Rosa (1G,2A), Josh Sanderson (2G,4A), Jim Veltman (1G,1A) and Chris Driscoll (1G,3A).

NOTES: The Wings hosted “Say Goodbye to Hollywood” night, celebrating 12-year forward Tom Marechek’s retirement, effective at the end of the season. Pre-game festivities included tributes from Wings’ players and the Wings’ ownership group. Marechek will become the first player in Wings’ history to have his number retired. The Syracuse University graduate played his entire career with the Wings and is the team’s all-time leading scorer. He is the third highest scorer in league history…The Wings were eliminated from playoff contention Friday night with Rochester’s win over San Jose.