Saturday, January 14, 1989

By Tim Panaccio, Inquirer Staff Writer

There will be no diving in the goal crease or goals scored from an airborne position, and offensive players can no longer poke at the ball once it enters the crease.

Those three rule changes will greet the Philadelphia Wings at 8 tonight at the Spectrum, when they will open their third season in the Major Indoor Lacrosse League with a game against the expansion New England Blazers.

"They're cosmetic rule changes and they're designed really to protect the goalie," said Wings coach Dave Evans. "We had too many people diving on top of the goalie before."

Another rule change involves penalty minutes. This year, the league will assess penalties of two and five minutes, instead of one and three minutes. Any player who receives a third five-minute penalty in a game will be automatically ejected. In addition, 10-minute misconduct penalties have been introduced.

"We're getting like hockey," said Evans.

The biggest change off the indoor carpet is with the Wings themselves. The team voted itself a 10 percent pay cut to ensure that its entire squad is paid for games. Under league rules, only the 19 active players are paid on game day. The remaining six players generally are not paid.

"I think this is sort of indicative of the whole attitude of these guys," said Evans. "They don't make a king's ransom. They're playing lacrosse for the love of the game."

Third-year players get $200 a goal; second-year players receive $150, and rookies, $100.

"We'll take the 10 percent off everyone's check and throw it into a pool," said Evans. "It means the inactive guys get about $50 a game now."

Last year's Wings finished third in the league with a record of 3-5, and lost their one-game playoff to New Jersey. The schedule this season again calls for eight regular-season games.

"We'll be better this year, if for no reason other than we're more experienced," said Evans.

"A big change is getting an assistant coach," he said, referring to Mike Page. "We had a strong defense but a lot of offensive problems. I was a goalie in college, so I was defensive-oriented. Mike has been working well with our offense."

Gone from last year's club is the starting goalie, Vinnie Pfeifer, who now coaches Army. Pat Lamon, the club's top scorer with 21 goals, received a job transfer to Virginia and was traded to Washington as part of a three-way deal with Baltimore for Mark Hahn and John O'Brien. Dave Tasker retired, and Dick Grieves is out for the year with a knee injury.

Evans said he expected Ricky Fried, a rookie from Maryland, to add offense, along with the club's top draft pick, Andy Wilson of Loyola of Baltimore. Although none of the goalies impressed Evans in camp, the starting assignment - for now - will go to Kevin Bilger, whose save percentage of 77.2 led the league last year.

Prism will televise all four regular-season home games. With the exception of the Feb. 12 game against Detroit, which will be televised live, the games will be shown on delayed tape.

Sunday, January 15, 1989

By Tim Panaccio, Inquirer Staff Writer

Philadelphia Wings coach Dave Evans says it sometimes take brute force to get Paul French's attention.

"You have to hit him over the head with a two-by-four to get him into a game," Evans said. "He was there tonight."

French, who spent most of last season on the bench for the Wings while scoring only seven goals, had five last night as the Wings defeated the expansion New England Blazers, 19-8, before 16,269 fans at the Spectrum - a Major Indoor Lacrosse League record for attendance.

Four of French's goals came in the second half, when the Wings took an 8-4 lead and buried the Blazers. Two of those goals early in the third quarter gave the Wings a 10-4 cushion and after that, they were never challenged.

"My type of game is really helter-skelter," said French, a former outdoor player at the University of Virginia. "I like loose balls and pushing it up the floor. Last year, we played a more structured game, which I'm not good at.

"If we're going to win, we've got to drive the ball down their throats. We can't play structured."

Fellow attackman Andy Wilson, the club's top draft pick from Loyola of Baltimore, scored four goals in the game, and Lou Delligatti had six assists and one goal.

"Wilson isn't in great shape, either," Evans said. "He broke his tailbone in an exhibition game around November. I think he's going to get even better as he goes along."

French said the big motivational factor was the boisterous crowd.

"That really gets you going," he said. "We've got a lot of Baltimore players on this team, and most of these guys could have played there, but they wanted to play in Philadelphia because they know how much the fans get behind you."

Wings goalie Kevin Bilger played well and had 37 saves; New England's John Yeager had 48.

"We figured if we kept shooting and shooting and got a high percentage of good shots, we'd get it by Yeager," Evans said. "One thing I want to do this year is force the ball up the floor."

And down their throats.

Tuesday, January 17, 1989

By Tim Panaccio

Ever wonder what it was like for the pioneers of professional football? You know, the guys who built a solid fan interest in Bert Bell's league long before television entered the picture. Guys from the 1920s who held full-time jobs, maybe selling insurance, maybe even working on the docks during the day and working out a couple of times a week in the afternoon.

Though this may come as a surprise, even today not all professional sports figures are full-time athletes.

A good example were indoor soccer players from the Philadelphia Fever, which departed this area earlier in the decade. Which brings us to today's example of a part-time pro athlete, the lacrosse player.

Take Gary Martin. He's 27 years old and lives in King of Prussia. Gary is a New Yorker by birth and a Penn State graduate with a degree in marketing. He works full-time for Unisys, a high-tech space and communications company. Twice a week, Martin discards his suit for shoulderpads and a lacrosse jersey with the Philadelphia Wings.

The Wings are Philadelphia's entry in the three-year-old Major Indoor Lacrosse League. As a second-year Wing, Martin will earn $150 a game, under the league's contract arrangement with players. Top pay is $200 a game for three-year pros. Twice a week, he carpools with several teammates for the nearly 90-minute drive to Baltimore to practice.

"We've got five of us in the carpool," said Martin. "There isn't an indoor facility around here we could practice so, we go to Baltimore. Plus, we've got a lot of guys on the team from Baltimore. It's a tremendous hassle, this commuting. But you deal with it."

Obviously, the Gary Martins of the MILL aren't driving I-95 for the money. They simply enjoy lacrosse. Maybe we ought to mention that the indoor game, often referred to as "box lacrosse," is a tad different from the outdoor product. Sticks are shorter, teams have just five players and a goalie on the carpet, and defense is porous.

Typical scores from last season's Wings' games read 14-13, 11-10, 13-12 - you get the idea.

"It's a lot different from the outdoor game," said Martin. "There's more goals but there's more checking, too. I was a very offensive player in college and I had to pick up some defense here."

Judging by the scores, the emphasis of the game is offense, not defense.

Defense in lacrosse is a cross-check, a well-placed knee and a stick high to the chest, if you can get away with such. There was so much of that going on last season that the league decided to extend minor penalties from one minute to two minutes and major penalties from three to five minutes. League officials also have thrown in 10-minute misconducts and a rule that says if a player gets a third 5-minute major, he's out of the game.

How did the MILL find its players? After all, where does a lacrosse player go after college?

"To clubs," said Martin. "They've got a pretty good club in Philadelphia called Eagles Eye. But it's nothing like Baltimore, which has maybe eight or nine clubs."

Those clubs practice outdoors in the spring.

The Northeast corridor from Long Island to Virginia is a hotbed for high school and college lacrosse. The Baltimore-Washington area is probably the lacrosse capital of the country. And that's why the MILL has teams in both those cities.

"I think they found a lot of players through word of mouth from the club level," said Martin. "I think the Wings got most of their players from the Baltimore area when they were formed."

One thing you have to admire about these guys besides the long-distance traveling to practice is that the Wings voted themselves a 10 percent pay cut this season so that the players on the inactive roster could be paid. The MILL's rules stipulate that only 19 active players get paid at games.

What it comes down to is that about $300 will be thrown into the pool every game and the five or six inactives will split it among them.

"Pays them for showing up and being there," said Martin.

It's a rare gesture of humanitarianism by professional athletes, but it's a sensible way the league can keep its costs down.

"Like I said before, you gotta love this game," said Martin. "I guess it's a lot like the old NFL players."

It's the difference between the pro athlete and a part-time pro.

Sunday, January 22, 1989

By Jim Jackson, Special to The Inquirer

Brad Kotz scored five goals last night, and John O'Brien made 28 saves, 18 in the second half, as the Philadelphia Wings defeated the Baltimore Thunder, 14-13.

The victory, before 6,479 in the Baltimore Arena, moved the Wings (2-0) into a first-place tie in the Major Indoor Lacrosse League with the Detroit Turbos (2-0), who defeated the New England Blazers, 13-9, last night.

"Kotz was awesome," Wings forward Mark Hahn said. "O'Brien was also solid in the goal for us. He kept us alive."

"We moved the ball well," Kotz said. "We kept the pressure on the entire game. We tried to wear Baltimore down. O'Brien was the difference. He played a great game."

"It was anybody's game," said Wings captain John Tucker, who had a goal and three assists. "Kotz is a great scorer, and O'Brien was hot in the goal. Both teams played hard, but we just had that little bit extra it took to win."

The Wings sprinted to a 5-2 lead in the first eight minutes of play, but the Thunder rallied to cut the lead to 5-4 at the end of the first quarter. The Thunder tied it at 5-5, and the teams traded goals until, with the score tied at 8-8 with 30 seconds left in the half, Philadelphia called a timeout.

When play resumed, Tucker fired a lefthanded rug-hugger past Thunder goalie Tom McClelland for a 9-8 lead with 13 seconds remaining. Six seconds later, Bill Dirrigl pumped in a long-range shot for a 10-8 Wings lead at halftime.

Philadelphia increased its lead to 13-10 in the third quarter as Kotz scored two goals. O'Brien, who relieved starter Kevin Bilger at the beginning of the second quarter, made seven saves.

The Thunder, on goals by Butch Marino, Pat Welsh and Brooks Sweet, roared back to tie the game at 13 with 5 minutes, 4 seconds remaining. Kotz then scored the game-winner during a power play with 3:37 left in the game. It was Philadelphia's fifth power-play goal of the game.

Sunday, January 29, 1989

By Ed Borg, Special to The Inquirer

Last night was a night the Philadelphia Wings would like to forget.

They gave up nine second-period goals and lost to the New York Saints, 20-16, in a Major Indoor Lacrosse League game before 9,324 at the Nassau Coliseum.

It was Philadelphia's first loss this season, giving them a record of 2-1. New York is 1-1.

Defensive breakdowns accounted for Philadelphia's loss as New York scored two shorthanded goals in the second quarter.

Despite a last-quarter surge in which the Wings outscored the Saints, 8-3, Philadelphia failed to make up for its second-period woes. Brad Kotz scored three goals for the Wings in the last period.

The Wings took a 2-0 lead with goals in the first two minutes by Rick Fried and Paul French. But Don Borges tied the scored at 3-3 with 11 minutes, 16 seconds left in the period, and the Saints eventually took a 5-4 lead at the end of one quarter.

In the second quarter, John O'Brien was replaced in the Wings' goal by Kevin Vilger after the Saints scored three goals in the first 1:35. But the Saints continued to score and led at the half, 14-7.

Kotz ended with three goals and two assists, and John Tucker added two goals and three assists. Andy Wilson had three goals and one assist.

For the Saints, Jeff Goldberg had three goals and one assist.

Thursday, February 9, 1989

By Ray Didinger, Daily News Sports Writer

Philadelphia prides itself in being a tough sports town. A knowledgeable, no-nonsense kind of town.

A hard sell, in other words.

New leagues and new teams usually don't make it here. Just count the tombstones around Broad and Pattison.

Remember the Philadelphia Bell of the World Football League?

How about the Philadelphia Patriots pro softball team?

Did you catch indoor soccer's Philadelphia Fever? I didn't think so.

So how do you explain the Philadelphia Wings?

The local entry in the 2-year-old Major Indoor Lacrosse League doesn't have any name players, it cannot claim a winning tradition (8-11 overall since 1987), yet the team pulls in big crowds and big bucks whenever it plays at the Spectrum.

Fact: The Wings drew 16,269 (a league record) for their last home game, Jan. 14 against New England.

Fact: They are expecting another big turnout - 13,000 or more, paid - for Sunday's 1 p.m. matinee with Baltimore.

Fact: They have drawn 110,830 fans in nine home games since 1987. That's an average of 12,314 per game, double the attendance in the other MILL charter cities: Baltimore, Washington and New York.

The obvious question: Why?

Why has a faceless sport with virtually no Philadelphia roots succeeded where team tennis, women's pro basketball, minor league hockey, etc., all withered and died?

And why does the MILL thrive here but not in Baltimore and Washington, where college lacrosse is enormously popular? (Almost half of the league's 120 players come from the Maryland-Virginia breeding ground.)

Two reasons: aggressive action and aggressive marketing by the league, with an emphasis on the latter.

You have seen the Wings' TV commercials. They sell blood and guts. Slashing, high sticking, crosschecking, bodies crashing against the boards. It is all wham, bam, pow.

The lacrosse people hate it - "It makes the game look like roller derby," Wings general manager Mike French said - but it sells, especially in Philadelphia.

"As promoters, we have to sell the sizzle," said Mary Havel, director of administration at MILL headquarters in Kansas City, Mo. "We get some grief from the (lacrosse) purists, but if we had to depend on the purists for support, the league would not have lasted a year. There aren't enough of them."

It doesn't work in every market. The so-called "purists" in Baltimore and Washington are so turned off by the MILL's rough-and-tumble image that they have stayed away from the indoor game in droves.

The Washington Wave had the league's best record last season (6-2), but its average attendance at the Capital Centre was a disappointing 7,316. The Baltimore Thunder have fared even worse at the Baltimore Arena.

But in Philadelphia, the MILL successfully has tapped into the same young, predominantly white audience that has grown up following the Flyers.

One theory is that most Wings fans really are hockey fans who can't afford Flyers tickets. The Wings - with just four home games and season tickets starting at $40 - function as an alternative bandwagon for teenagers and the blue-collar crowd.

But it goes deeper than that. The Wings' Fan Club has more than 500 members, and it is a real cross section: doctors, salesmen, Cub Scouts, construction workers and housewives. The club filled six chartered buses for the Wings' Jan. 21 game in Baltimore.

Why such devotion?

"This isn't like other (pro) sports," said club president Pat Innamarato, 28, of Rhawnhurst. "These guys play for the love of the game. They give 110 percent all the time.

"It's so refreshing to see that (effort) in this day and age. I think fans are fed up with these $1 million prima donnas who go through the motions night after night.

"When the game ends, the players sign autographs and pose for pictures. They're just regular guys with jobs like ours. As a fan, you can relate to them easier than you can a baseball or football player."

Example: After the Wings' last home game, captain John Tucker stayed on the floor for 20 minutes, shaking hands. Forward Lou Delligatti, still dripping perspiration, signed autographs and actually thanked the people for asking.

That's part of the MILL charm. Of course, the fact that the Wings won the game, 19-8, and Tucker splattered several New England forwards against the boards didn't hurt, either.

The MILL isn't like the other professional sports leagues. All six teams are owned by Chris Fritz and Russ Cline, Kansas City business partners who promote rock concerts and trade shows when they are not dabbling in lacrosse.

Since all the teams are owned by one corporation rather than individuals, the emphasis is on the overall health of the league. In other words, it doesn't matter to the home office which team wins the championship. It is more important that all the bills are paid.

That's both good and bad.

It's good for the MILL because it does not have to worry about six different owners getting into bidding wars over players. The pay scale is set by the league, along with the travel budget and operating expenses. All revenues go into one pot. One club's profit wipes out another club's losses.

"It's a team effort all the way," Fritz said.

That's fine for the owners, but not all the players like it. Several Wings feel the MILL pay scale - $100 a game for a rookie, $150 for a second-year pro, $200 for a third-year pro - is low, ridiculously low.

"These guys (Fritz and Cline) are using us," Tucker said. "We're just pieces of meat as far as they're concerned. We play because we love the game, but there comes a point where you say, 'Why am I doing this?' "

Tucker's frustration is understandable. The last time the Wings played at the Spectrum, the live gate was roughly $190,000. Toss in extras such as program sales, novelties, etc., and it represents a major league haul. The players know that.

So you can imagine how the Wings felt two weeks later when each man had to chip in $30 to pay for the team bus to New York.

The players also pay all their own expenses commuting to and from the weekly practices in suburban Baltimore. (Half the Wings live and work in the Philadelphia area. The others reside in Maryland.)

"The fact is, no one is getting rich off the MILL, and that includes my partner and I," said Fritz, the league president. "We don't take a salary. All we've done for two years is put out money to get this thing off the ground.

"We lost $300,000 last year. This year, we might break even. The new franchises (Detroit and New England) have done well. Moving the Jersey team from the Meadowlands to Nassau Coliseum was a plus. Of course, Philly has been strong since Day 1.

"What's happened is the Philly players look at their franchise and think it's like that everywhere. It's not. When we were making money in Philly last season, we were losing it in Baltimore and Jersey. We had overhead ($3 million) for insurance, marketing, building costs and operating expenses.

"We'd love to do more for the players," Fritz said, "but if we go broke, we can't do anything for them. Right now, we are trying to run the league as sensibly as we can."

With that in mind, why do the Wings play so hard? Why do they care so much about the game and its fans?

You have to understand these guys aren't like baseball players; they never looked upon lacrosse as a way to get rich. It was simply a game they enjoyed and played well. Most still play in various outdoor leagues during the summer - for no money and with no one watching.

So the chance to play eight games for $1,600 in front of big, noisy crowds isn't such a bad deal.

Besides, several Wings use their lacrosse careers to help them in business.

Winger Gary Martin works as a marketing representative for UNISYS in King of Prussia. He has six tickets to every home game and he gives them to prospective clients.

"My biggest customer had never seen a lacrosse game," said Martin, 27, a former two-time All-America at Penn State. "He had only seen the (TV) ads. He said, 'You must be crazy.' I said, 'Look, just come to one game.'

"He came and loved it. Now he wants tickets for every game and he's telling other people, 'Hey, you've got to see this.' It's a little edge (in business), and every little bit helps."

The Wings admit it is a struggle. Dave Evans actually loses money by coaching the team. He takes a leave of absence from his regular job - he is a greenskeeper at a golf club near Vancouver - to spend four months in Philadelphia. Evans's lacrosse salary isn't much, and his living expenses here whittle it down to almost nothing.

"I'd do better if I stayed home and collected unemployment," Evans said.

So why does he do it?

"I love the game," he said, repeating a familiar refrain. "I played it most of my life and I feel like I should give something back.

"My friends think I'm crazy. The first year I did this, they thought it was a novelty. But when I agreed to do it again this year, they said, 'You must be nuts.' Maybe I am, I don't know."

No one ever accused Mike French of being nuts. The Wings' GM earned undergraduate and master's degrees from Cornell. Today, he is a principal partner for the Laventhol and Horwath consulting firm in Philadelphia. Your classic, thirtysomething yuppie.

The only difference is, French's passion is not BMWs but lacrosse. He was a three-time All-America at Cornell and captained the 1976 squad to the NCAA championship. He played for the Wings in their first MILL season and assumed the management role the following year.

Today, French puts in 16-hour days, juggling his workload at Laventhol and Horwath with his worries about whether the Astroturf carpet will arrive in time for each Wings home game. (The MILL has three carpets and they are shipped from city to city.)

"I just wish I could make more people realize - and appreciate - what's involved in this league," French said. "I really get ticked off when people who don't know anything about us treat us like we're a circus act.

"To me, the real story of this league is the commitment of the athletes. We've got guys who are world-class in their sport, Phi Beta Kappas, car- pooling two hours each way to practice, paying their own tolls. I'll put their dedication up against any pro in any other sport.

"I think more people are getting the message, at least here," French said. "I've seen our crowds change over the last three years. We've got fewer of the beer-guzzling lunatics and more sophisticated fans who appreciate a good game.

"I walk around the (Spectrum) concourse and listen to the conversation. The last game, I heard some fans say, 'Hey, you know these guys can really play. Did you see that pass? Did you see that shot?'

"I thought to myself, 'We're on the right track.' "

Monday, February 13, 1989

By Clark DeLeon

"You're not going to write about what it's like to sit next to a loud, overbearing, emotional father watching his son play at the Spectrum, are you?" shouted Bill Gabrielsen, the loud, overbearing, emotional father sitting - but mostly standing - in the seat next to mine yesterday afternoon at the Spectrum not long after his son Scott - "That's him . . . Number Six" scored the first goal in the Philadelphia Wings' 14-9 victory over the Baltimore Thunder of the indoor professional lacrosse league.

Would I violate a sacred trust?

"Did you see that? God, I love this. This is what it's all about. Isn't this great? You're not going to write about this, are you?"

If only to get even.

Actually, it was a pleasure to be witness to a father's joy in his son's accomplishments.

Even if his son's accomplishments involve hostile interpersonal problem- solving techniques of the sort that judges in some jurisdictions reward with five to ten. Hard time.

This is not to suggest that indoor lacrosse is a violent game. It is an honest, rugged contact sport played by men who give as good as they get. In other words, they accept a shot to the chops with a two-by-four as a fine how- do-you-do. Of course, after that things can get rough.

Lacrosse, as you know, is a French word for a native American game known in the Iroquois tongue as "Tomahawk Tag - and you're it!" Indoor lacrosse as played in South Philadelphia has taken on a subtle neighborhood flavor that might be translated as, "Yo Vinnie! You gonna do sumthin' widdat tomahawk, or what?"

Take Lou Delligatti, for instance. Or "Louuuuuuuuu!" as he is hailed by the Spectrum faithful. (Ever notice that Philadelphia sports fans inevitably adopt favorite players whose names rhyme with "Boo"?) At 6-foot-1 and 230 pounds, Delligatti looks bigger and slower than anyone on the floor, and a large knee brace adds to his overall look, which is what genetic biologists might imagine would be the issue from the successful mating of a rhino with a '55 Buick Roadmaster.

Anyway, the first time Delligatti comes off the bench in the first half, he immediately gets the ball and proceeds to rush toward the Baltimore goal like a man in a hurry to make a bank deposit. The Baltimore bank guards shot him, stabbed him and whacked him about the head and shoulders, and all the while Delligatti was cradling the ball with an attitude that seemed to say, "Look! I only got 20 minutes for lunch" before he deposited the ball in the net in a move that was more Godzilla than Gretzky.

The professional indoor lacrosse league pays its players as much as $200 a game. ("But it's the Spectrum!" Papa Gabrielsen reminds me.) The players have to work other jobs to earn a living, but, hey, money's not the point. If it were, they wouldn't be lacrosse players.

Still, when that spotlight goes on the team members as they are introduced on the green artificial turf that requires repairs by tape rather than Zamboni, when more than 12,000 fans are making that "RAHHHHHhhhhh!" sound in your ears . . . well, if that ain't big time, then what is?

"You know, I still get choked up when I hear his name being introduced," the old man said.

Don't worry, pal. It's our little secret.

Saturday, February 18, 1989

By Tim Panaccio, Inquirer Staff Writer

The Philadelphia Wings (3-1), who host the first-place Detroit Turbos (3-0) tonight at 8, lead the Major Indoor Lacrosse League in attendance with an average crowd of 14,244.

"The crowd in Philadelphia has been a big factor for this team, maybe the biggest," said Wings midfielder John Tucker, a three-time all-American at Johns Hopkins.

"It would be nice to get crowds like that everywhere we go," said Tucker, who scored a goal and added four assists during a rowdy 14-9 victory over Baltimore last week.

The Wings drew just 6,479 at the Baltimore Arena this season and only 9,324 at Nassau Coliseum in New York.

Tucker said the Wings would prefer playing all games at home. He said the fans here seem appreciative of the Wings' offense, which leads the league in goals per game (15.7) and which is second to Baltimore in goals scored (63). Baltimore has 71 goals but has played two more games.

The Wings' Brad Kotz leads the league with 12 goals and 21 points for a 5.3-point average. Because the league plays just eight games, all stats are tabulated on a "per game" average.

Tucker (six goals, 11 assists) has 17 points, but he is second in scoring with a 4.3-point average.

Detroit leads the league in fewest goals allowed (25), an 8.3 average in three games. Turbos goalie Ted Sawicki has made 117 saves and leads the league in save average (39.0).

Wings goalie Kevin Bilger has the most saves with 119.

Sunday, February 19, 1989

By Tim Panaccio, Inquirer Staff Writer

For most of three quarters, Detroit Turbos goalie Ted Sawiki had stoned Brad Kotz and the Philadelphia Wings.

"I kept saying that the worst thing we could do was to stop shooting, because that would only make him think he had our number," Kotz said. "He's unbelievable. He's such a great angle goalie."

Kotz, however, figured out Sawiki's angle, scoring four of his game-high five goals in the final quarter last night as the Wings beat the Turbos, 19-10, before 13,982 at the Spectrum.

Kotz, the Major Indoor Lacrosse League's leading scorer with 17 goals and 12 assists for 29 points, credited the Wings' ball movement for the victory.

"The secret to beating (Sawiki) is to try to pass the ball and get him to step across the crease," Kotz said. "He doesn't leave much open."

Sawiki went into the game as the league's leading goalie, averaging 39 saves a game. The Turbos had the league's leading defense, having yielded only 8.3 goals a game.

"It's nice that we had to face some pressure to win, because we learned something about ourselves," Wings coach Dave Evans said. "We showed some poise out there."

The second half saw the Wings tally 13 goals, including five in 3 minutes, 18 seconds in the last period, as they overcame an 8-6 halftime deficit.

The victory pushed the Wings, who will play on Friday night at New England, into first place with a 4-1 record. Detroit fell to 3-1.

Twelve members of Detroit's 19-man roster played box lacrosse in Canada, giving the Turbos the most experienced indoor team in the MILL.

John Conley scored three goals for the Wings, and goalie Kevin Bilger picked up three assists, giving him five for the season.

Bilger played well for most of the first half but looked bad on several goals in the final seven minutes of the half.

"We seemed to have better athletes and ability but didn't take advantage of that, and it caused a few lapses in that second quarter," Evans said.

Four goals in the third quarter enabled the Wings to overcome their halftime deficit and carry a 10-9 lead into the last period.

One of the third-quarter goals came on a breakaway by Kotz at 7:36 and gave the Wings a brief 9-8 lead. That goal broke Sawiki's string of seven saves on Philadelphia breakaways.

"We noticed on tapes of the New England game against Detroit that (the Blazers) were getting goals mostly on bounces," Evans said. "(Sawiki is) very good with the stick and at the top of the net. The best way to beat him is near the pipe."

Thursday, April 6, 1989

By Clark DeLeon

By 2:30 yesterday afternoon it was a sticky 74 degrees outside and the sun beating on the white bubble of the Eagles indoor practice facility at JFK Stadium had brought the stale, previously breathed, sweat-ripened air to a rank simmer.

It was more a stew of odors than air inside a bubble filled with the moist fetid smell of athletic effort. Sweat-drenched uniforms, salt-stained pads and plastic grass and foam rubber all collided in the lifeless air preserved within the nylon walls. Add to this the fresh exertion of 24 professional lacrosse players practicing for Friday night's league championship game at the Spectrum, and the act of breathing felt more like trying to suck a sweat sock through a straw.

Welcome to Media Day sponsored by the Philadelphia Wings. As far as I could tell, the media was me. Oh, sure, there was a guy representing a weekly newspaper in Delaware County, but I figure he's media with an asterisk since he asked Wings general manager Mike French if he could try out for goalie next year.

That's life in the fast lane of the Major Indoor Lacrosse League. And Philadelphia is the six-team league's hottest franchise. For their last home game at the Spectrum, the Wings set a single-game league attendance record by attracting more than 16,000 fans, many of whom didn't know lacrosse from La Choy chow mein before the Wings came to Philadelphia three years ago.

But enough history. There's a league championship game to be played Friday night against the New York Saints, and during a break in the workout the team is being told that the customary post-game party at the Airport Hilton, to which all fans are invited, has been canceled. Instead there will be an after-game party at the Ovations Club of the Spectrum and each player can invite three guests.

Lou Delligatti did not like this one bit. "I've got 15 people coming to the game, and I only get three tickets," said Delligatti from the back of the cluster of players. "I say we make a team decision. We all leave the party after 20 minutes and go over to the Hilton." His teammates took it in stride.

Louuuuuu, as the Spectrum faithful shout every time the popular power forward takes the floor, is sort of the Wings' designated Louie the Lip or Whino the Rhino. It's part of his style, which is something like a John Belushi who does his own stunts. Just what you'd expect from a guy who once taught phys ed in a penitentiary. When Delligatti gets on the floor with swift, graceful offensive stylists like teammates John Tucker and Brad Kotz, it's as though Mikhail Baryshnikov and Peter Martins have been joined on stage by Bronko Nagurski.

But hey, somehow it all works. The proof is in the championship game and the home court advantage that the Wings earned the old-fashioned way. There's something else old-fashioned about this pro team that may sell out the Spectrum Friday night. The pay scale. If they win the championship, each player can expect to receive twice the amount he is paid per game.

For some veterans, that could be as much as $400.

Friday, April 7, 1989

By Tim Panaccio, Inquirer Staff Writer

The Philadelphia Wings, who will meet the New York Saints in tonight's Major Indoor Lacrosse League championship game at the Spectrum, might be a little rusty.

After all, it has been nearly a month since their last game, which was March 10.

"I'm a little concerned about the long layoff," said Wings coach Dave Evans. "That and New York having such a tough game last week to prepare for this game."

The Wings, Saints and Detroit Turbos finished the season with 6-2 records, but based on goal differentials and head-to-head play, the Wings were awarded first place. New York's 9-8 double-overtime win at Detroit in the second-place tie-breaker game Saturday earned the Saints the right to defend their league title tonight at 8.

What was originally going to be a three-game series, however, has been shortened to the one-game title match by the league.

"I would have preferred three or, better yet, a best-of-seven," said Evans. "It's not hard getting them motivated for one game. In multiple-game series, the tendency is that if you screw up, there is always the next game. Here, they know . . . if we screw up, it's over."

Goalie Kevin Bilger should need no motivation. His 33.4 saves per game this season were second only to Turbos goalie Ted Sawiki (43.0). Bilger suffered a separated shoulder in the Wings' final game, a 13-9 win over Washington in which he made 50 saves. He says the shoulder bothers him only occasionally.

"I'm feeling some added pressure in this game, but I realize that is part of my job," said Bilger, who totaled 267 saves in eight games. "I try to look at it as a challenge rather than something to get over with."

He figures to be kept busy, since the Saints peppered Sawiki with 61 shots in the tie-breaker game.

"New York outshot them something like 2-1 (61-34), and I have to question what kind of defense Detroit had that game," said Bilger. "Everyone said I played great when I had 50 saves against Washington. I said my defense didn't play well in front of me. I shouldn't be making 50 saves. I'm hoping that won't happen here."

The Saints defeated the Wings, 20-16, on Jan. 28 in a game Evans described as a "sprint race."

The Saints scored 104 goals this season, second only to the Wings (122). Four New York attackmen finished with 11 or more goals, led by Roddy Marino (13).

The Wings appear to have an edge offensively with three of the league's top four point-scorers - Brad Kotz (44), John Tucker (35) and Andy Wilson (28). Kotz's 28 goals helped the Wings post a 15.3 goals-per-game average this season. New York tied Detroit for best defense, allowing just 10.9 goals a game.

Monday, April 10, 1989

By Clark DeLeon

hunch (hunch) - n. 1. a hump 2. a chunk; lump; hunk. 3. (Colloq.) a feeling about something not based on known facts; premonition or suspicion; from the superstition that it brings good luck to touch a hunchback.

I get hunches sometimes. A couple of years ago, for instance, the Boston Red Sox beat the New York Mets in the first two games of the World Series played in New York. In the next day's column I wrote, "If you know anything about baseball you know this puts the Mets right where they want to be." I had a hunch that the Mets would sweep the next four games and win the World Series in six games.

My hunch was wrong, of course. The Mets won it in seven.

Still, I like hunches. Especially when there's no money involved. And I got a hunch on Friday night during the third period of the championship game of the Major Indoor Lacrosse League between the Philadelphia Wings and the New York Saints.

John Conley had just scored his second goal within 19 seconds to put the Wings up 10-6, and I turned to the guy sitting next to me in the press box and said, "I have a prediction, Mike. The Saints are going to score the next three goals."

My hunch was correct. But I had chosen the wrong person in whom to confide. Mike French is the general manager of the Wings. When the Saints scored their third successive goal, French wouldn't even look at me. By then he probably thought that I was the Hunchback of Notre Dame's evil twin.

"Don't worry," I told him. "It's in the bag. They just needed that to wake up."

I don't think he believed me until the Saints' last desperation shot sailed wide as time ran out and the Wings won their first championship by a single goal.

It's a good thing, too. I also had a hunch that if the Wings lost, I wouldn't get out of the Spectrum alive.

Thursday, April 13, 1989

By Jeremy Treatman, Special to The Inquirer

Chris Dent has made a name for himself wherever he has played lacrosse.

As a senior midfielder and co-captain on the 1984 Lower Merion lacrosse team, he led the Aces to a state title.

At Penn State University, Dent tallied 119 points in four years (89 goals, 30 assists) and led the Nittany Lions to a 10-5 mark his junior year.

But neither of those memories could compare with what the 22-year-old Dent did as a member of the Philadelphia Wings Indoor Lacrosse team last Friday night in the Major Indoor Lacrosse Championship game at the Spectrum.

Dent scored what proved to be the game-winning goal with 10 minutes, 17 seconds left in the Wings 11-10 title game victory over the New York Saints.

The goal sent 16,042 fans in a frenzy while Dent, of Bala Cynwd, pounded his fists on the Spectrum turf in jubilation. Another local player, Bryn Mawr's Steve McGrath (Harriton High School), who had an assist earlier in the game joined in the celebration.

"This is by far the biggest thrill for me so far," Dent said. "I knew at the time it was a big goal and that the team really needed it."

Dent's goal, only his second of the year, gave the Wings (7-2) an 11-9 lead after the Saints (6-3) had scored three straight goals to pull within 10-9. New York then made it 11-10 with less then 2 minutes to play on Don Borges' third goal of the game.

"You couldn't have asked for a better scenario," Wings' coach Dave Evans said. "The two best teams going for the championship before a great crowd and a cable television audience . . . and a hometown guy comes up with the winning goal."

The fact that Dent scored the game winner didn't surprise Evans either, even though three of the league's top scorers Brad Kotz (league best 28 goals) Andy Wilson (14 goals) and John Tucker (11 goals) may have seemed more likely hero candidates.

"I'm not surprised at all about what Chris did," Evans said. "He's such a coachable kid who has done everything we've asked and made a big contribution as a faceoff man, defensive forward and especially a ground ball expert, which all are as important as scoring goals."

"He scored a lot at Penn State in outdoor (lacrosse) so it's not something that is new to him. (But) he had to come in after graduating and learn a whole new game," Evans said.

Dent said, "It was hard when I first tried out for the team because I have been an offensive player at outdoors. The hardest thing to adjust to is the narrow nets. Accuracy becomes so important that's why it's so amazing to see what Brad Kotz can do with a small space."

But on Dent's big score Friday, he showed he could find the net as well. Dent took a pass from goalie Kevin Bilger at midfield and raced toward Saints' goalie Larry Quinn on a breakaway. He fired a shot past Quinn into the upper left hand corner.

"Really I owe that moment to the coaching staff, who had the confidence in me to play me after Iwas scratched the first two games of the year, while learning the system," Dent said.

Now Dent is giving some of himself to the game in a different light - as an assistant coach at Lower Merion to his former coach John Linehan.

"Chris is a tremendous asset to the team," Linehan said. "The kids have tremendous respect for him as someone who knows the game and is a great player. He's also very assertive with the players and isn't afraid to tell them what they're doing wrong in a positive way."

Linehan said that he thought Dent would be a big factor in outdoor club lacrosse for the Philadelphia-based Eagles' Eye team, which recently has begun its season.

"He's so quick that his impact is felt no matter where he plays. But I think we'll hear a lot of him in club lacrosse this spring, where he has more room to operate and set up offensively," Linehan said.

"But it sure was nice to see him score an important goal for the Wings," he added.