By Jennifer Stefani
Philadelphia Wings Correspondent

EDMONTON, AB - The Philadelphia Wings lost their season opener to the Edmonton Rush by a score of 13-12 at Rexall Place in Edmonton, AB. Despite the loss, Philadelphia's rookies had a strong performance with Kyle Wailes recording six points (3G, 3A), Athan Iannucci scoring three goals, and Geoff Snider scoring one goal. Rookie goaltender Jay Preece made 37 saves in his first NLL contest. The Wings face the Portland LumberJax in their home opener next Saturday, January 13 at the Wachovia Center at 7:30 p.m.

"Between losing (Thomas) Hajek because of his misconduct, (Ian) Llord's ten minutes of penalties and the five minute penalty that (Geoff) Snider received, our defense was pretty burnt out by the fourth quarter," said Wings' General Manager and Head Coach Lindsay Sanderson. "I was very happy with the play of the rookies overall, especially with Iannucci's and Wailes' goals. I also thought that Jay Preece was solid in goal all night as well."

Tenth-year Wings forward Jake Bergey scored the only goal of the first quarter, putting up Philadelphia 1-0 after one quarter of play.

Edmonton scored two straight power play goals in the second quarter to take a 2-1 lead. The Wings then scored four straight goals (Dan Marohl, Iannucci, Wailes, Iannucci) before captain Thomas Hajek received a ten minutes misconduct with :26 left in the half and was ejected from the game. Snider also simultaneously received a five-minute major. At the end of the half, Philadelphia held a 5-2 lead.

Philadelphia and Edmonton each traded three goals in the third, followed by a shorthanded goal by the Rush's Jimmy Quinlan that brought his team to within one. Second-year forward Sean Greenhalgh scored with :24 in the quarter to keep the Wings' lead with a score of 9-6.

The Wings and Edmonton each scored one at the start of the fourth before Edmonton scored five straight goals and took the lead (12-10) for the first time in the game. Wings' rookies Wailes and Snider each scored one goal to tie the game at 12 each. Edmonton's Randy Daly scored with :07 left in the game to give the Rush a 13-12 win, their second in franchise history.

Leading the Wings in scoring were rookie Kyle Wailes with six points (3G, 3A), followed by Dan Marohl with four points (2G, 2A), Athan Iannucci with three goals, Geoff Snider with three points (1G, 2A), Jake Bergey and Sean Greenhalgh each had two points (1G, 1A), and Peter Jacobs with one goal. Goaltender Jay Preece made 37 saves.

Leading the Rush in scoring were Chris Gill with eight points (4G, 4A), Jimmy Quinlan with six points (5G, 1A), Dan Stoup with five points (2G, 3A), Randy Daly with two points (1G, 1A), and Jamie Roy with one goal. Goaltender Pat Cambell had 39 saves on the night.