Thursday, January 20, 1994

 by Mike Kern, Daily News Sports Writer

 When Mike French, then 34, joined the Philadelphia Wings for the Major Indoor Lacrosse League's inaugural season in 1987, he had no idea what would transpire.

 Eleven years earlier, he had been the top draft pick of the old Wings of the old National Lacrosse League. That league folded before French ever got a chance to play.

 Now, after one year as a player with the Wings and the last six as their general manager, French is part of a league that appears to be more stable than ever.

 True, there now are only six franchises, with the Pittsburgh Bulls having been folded. Each team will play eight games, two fewer than 1993. And rosters have been reduced by one, to 17.

 But, for the first time, a real television deal is in place, a six-year agreement with ESPN2.

 The Wings open Sunday at the Spectrum against the New York Saints, a 7 p.m. game that can be seen on a tape-delayed basis on ESPN2 Monday at 7. The team's Feb. 5 game at Buffalo will be shown live, as will all MILL playoff games.

 "It's a huge step," said French, whose team has sold in the vicinity of 9,000 season tickets. "I think the league's become significantly more legitimate in the last few years. There was a lot of creativity at the beginning, as we tried to appeal to a certain market, and sometimes we were our own worst enemy. It was almost too much emphasis on the flim-flam stuff. But over time, we've recognized what it takes.

 "There aren't that many of us who have stuck around through all of it - the few, the crazy, the out-of-their mind. I can tell you, I never thought we'd reach the point where we could get 16,000 at the Spectrum on a regular basis. The other league folded after 2 1/2 years. And I think you saw the same thing in World Team Tennis, the USFL, indoor soccer. But we've managed to survive - and improve the prodcut as we went along. That has to count for something."

 The Wings, who won the title in 1989 and '90, have lost in the final in each of the past two seasons, both times by one goal to Buffalo. But they always will be considered the team to beat as long as they have Paul and Gary Gait, the Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig of the sport. Paul is the first player in MILL history to score 100 goals, and he did it in three seasons (the first two were spent with Detroit).

 To complement the Gaits, the Wings have added Tom Marecheck, a rookie who was acquired in a trade with Buffalo. At Syracuse, he finished fourth on the school's all-time scoring list (258 points) and wound up ahead of both Gaits.

 Gone, though, is Dave Evans, who had coached the team for the past five years. French is taking his place, at least in name. In reality, former Wings forward Tony Resch and George Corrigan will handle most of the actual coaching, especially during games, when French will remain stationed up in the press box instead of behind the bench.

 "My goal is to make this the best team it can be," French said. "That's never changed. Ultimately, it is entertainment. Some people will always think of us as a circus act. But I think we're taking the right approach to get to the next level.

 "Quite frankly, the sport is more appealing to people who've never seen it before. The added (TV) exposure should allow us to develop new markets and new sponsors. Right now, I'm sure there are people who still liken it to hurling or something. The league has always taken the less-risk route.

It's always served us well and I'm sure it'll continue to do so in the future."

Monday, January 24, 1994

 by John Smallwood, Daily News Sports Writer

 Given an opportunity to acquire Paul and Gary Gait, Mike French didn't take long to make the decision.

 So, in a 1992 Major Indoor Lacrosse League transaction on the level of the Phillies trading five players to Cleveland for Von Hayes, the Philadelphia Wings surrendered their right to take part in the 1993 draft in exchange for signing the Gait twins, the league's marquee players.

 "There was absolutely no hesitation," said French, who serves a dual role as the Wings' general manager and head coach. "Those guys are the premier players in this league. I would have given up whatever I had to to get them here. I knew right away we had the better of the deal. Now everyone else does."

 Last season, the Gaits finished first and second on the team in points and led the Wings to the championship game.

 Last night, they got the 1994 season off to an electrifying start by combining for 10 goals and seven assists as the Wings ripped the New York Saints, 20-7, in front of 13,196 fans at the Spectrum.

 The Gaits are indoor lacrosse's ultimate showmen.

 Gary, who had four goals and four assists, scored 11 seconds into the game, and Paul - the MILL's all-time leading scorer - had four of his game-high six goals as the Wings led, 14-7, at the half.

 "It's nice to have people to show up for your games," said Gary, who coaches the women's lacrosse team at the University of Maryland. "They're loud and into the game and make you want to put on a good show . . . Wings fans are a little crazy and wild, and they make the game exciting for us."

 Goalie Dallas Eliuk's 26 saves snuffed any hopes of a New York comeback.

 "Our No. 1 goal was to play well on both ends," said Wings assistant Tony Resch. "We asked everyone to pay attention to defense. To hold a good team like New York to under 10 goals is outstanding."

 Philadelphia has added more versatility to its attack this year by playing the Gaits on separate lines. With New York unable to stack the deck against just one line, 10 different Wings scored.

 "That's why we did it," said Paul, who was the 1993 MILL Most Valuable Player. "Although teams weren't real successful doing it last year, they keyed their defense to stopping our first line. Also, if it's not working during a game, it would be very easy for us to go back and play together. We've been playing together our whole lives, so it's natural.,"

 Natives of Victoria, British Columbia, the Gaits burst onto the United States lacrosse scene by leading Syracuse to NCAA championships in 1988, 1989 and 1990.

 They played two MILL seasons in Detroit, but when they became sales representatives in Baltimore they were removed from the Turbos' roster and placed back in the territorial entry draft.

 The Baltimore Thunder selected Paul with the first pick, and the Wings took Gary second. When the brothers asked if they could play together, the league agreed and worked out the deal to send them to Philadelphia.

 Although the MILL still is playing just an eight-game regular season, a new television contract with ESPN2 is a positive step toward elevating the sport.

 "Right now, I really don't see the growth in lacrosse, and that's due to the fact that the league is not expanding," Paul Gait said. "At one time, we played a 10-game regular season; now we're playing eight.

 "We need the owners and national sponsors to come together and add some teams and games to the schedule. Become a real sport. Right now we're not a real sport. We're semipro. The TV contract is a big deal. I think each year ESPN will be willing to do a little more for the league. Hopefully, ESPN will get on the owners and put some pressure on them to expand. They're probably going to see that the game is a great television sport. If ESPN likes it, they're going to push for new teams and more games."

Sunday, February 6, 1994

 The Buffalo Bandits remained unbeaten with a 15-11 victory over the Philadelphia Wings last night in a Major Indoor Lacrosse League game at Memorial Auditorium in Buffalo.

 Jim Veltman scored two goals and collected three assists for the Bandits, who are 4-0.

 The Wings, who are 1-1, got three goals each from Paul Deniken and Paul Gait.

 Gait gave the Wings a 1-0 lead, and a goal by Jim Rogers later put them up by 2-1. Buffalo then took command, and it led by as many as five goals in the third period.

Monday, February 14, 1994

 The Philadelphia Wings set a franchise record for goals in a game and the largest margin of victory in their 25-9 victory over the Baltimore Thunder in a Major Indoor Lacrosse League game at the Spectrum last night.

 The Wings' Tom Marechek, who scored his first MILL goal, was named the game's most valuable player. He and teammates John McEvoy, Paul Gait and Gary Gait each had six points.

 "Last week's loss (to Buffalo) took a lot out of us," Gary Gait said. "I think everyone took out all of their frustrations on the Thunder."

 Two minutes after the Thunder scored the game's first goal, the Wings took a lead and never looked back. They led by as much as 17-3 in the third quarter.

 Every player on the Wings' roster had at least one point in the game, including goalies Dallas Eliuk and Andy Piazza, who each had an assist.

 Eliuk made 25 saves, and backup goalie Piazza added 16 saves for the Wings.

 Lindsay Dixon and Jeff Jackson led the Thunder with four points apiece.

Tuesday, February 15, 1994

By Clark DeLeon

 More than 13,000 sports fans turned their collars up against the damp Sunday night wind and trudged through treacherous ruts of refrozen slush covering the Spectrum parking lot just so they could cheer for the only Philadelphia pro sports team this year with a winning record.

 The Philadelphia Wings of the Major Indoor Lacrosse League continue to draw big numbers at the Spectrum even in lousy weather on lousy nights. The team's two home games so far have been on snow-bound Sunday evenings, but the fans have turned out. Jesse Rendell is a fan, and his father the mayor sat beside him for the entire game after appearing for the ceremonial pre-game face-off (see photo) during the season opener against the New York Saints.

 After Sunday night's record-high scoring barrage against the Baltimore Thunder, the Wings are back over .500, their only loss being to the two-time defending champion Buffalo Bandits in Buffalo.

 Eleven Wings players scored in the 25-goal avalanche against Baltimore. ''That's exactly what we're going to have to do to beat Buffalo," said team captain Scott Gabrielsen. "We're going to have to spread the scoring around because the Bandits are going to smother the Gaits whenever they're on the floor."

 If you were Buffalo, you'd want to smother the Gait brothers, Paul and Gary, the Canadian twins, eh? who have done for scoring what Michael Jordan did for gravity. The fan reaction is the same in both sports: "Did he just do what I saw him do?"

 Gary Gait scored one of those "Huh?" goals in the first period on a shot with more quick fakes than a hummingbird's wing could make before the ball emerged in a blur from behind his back over his opposite shoulder and into the net. It was so fast and surgically efficient that if he'd been holding a saber instead of a lacrosse stick, he could have carved a jack-o'-lantern on the goalie's face before the poor guy knew he had a pumpkin for a head.

Sunday, February 20, 1994

 Rookie Tom Marechek had three goals and four assists as the Philadelphia Wings defeated the Baltimore Thunder, 20-17, in a Major Indoor Lacrosse League game last night at the Baltimore Arena.

 The Thunder (0-5) scored three goals in the last minute.

 Paul Gait scored three points for the Wings (3-1), and 11 other players scored.

 Philadelphia goalie Dallas Eliuk made 33 saves.

 The Wings will play the New York Saints on Saturday, in New York.

Sunday, March 20, 1994

 Tom Marechek scored a hat trick and teammate Kevin Finneran had six assists as the Philadelphia Wings defeated the Buffalo Bandits, 16-12, last night in a Major Indoor Lacrosse League game at the Spectrum.

 The victory was the first ever for the Wings (5-3) against the Bandits (5-2), who lost for only the second time in 25 games. Wings goalie Dallas Eliuk was named the game MVP with 43 saves. He held Buffalo to just four goals in the second half.

 "It was great to finally get that monkey off our back," Wings co-coach Tony Resch said. "Dallas really came up big for us. Some of the saves he made in the second half were unbelievable."

 The Wings will finish the regular season against the Boston Blazers at Boston Garden on Saturday.

Sunday, March 27, 1994

 Paul Gait scored a record 10 goals as the American Division champion Philadelphia Wings defeated the Boston Blazers, 16-10, to close the regular season last night in the Major Indoor Lacrosse League.

 Gait held the previous league record of nine goals in a game. Wings goalie Dallas Eliuk made 47 saves.

 The Wings will host the New York Saints in the first round of the playoffs on Sunday, April 10, at 7:30 p.m. at the Spectrum.

 "It was important for us to come out strong tonight as we head into the playoffs," Wings co-coach Tony Resch said. "But what can you say about Paul Gait? He's been there for us all season long, and his performance tonight proves who the best player in the league is."

Monday, April 11, 1994

 by Bill Fleischman, Daily News Sports Writer

 In lacrosse, one Gait is a major asset. Two Gaits are too much, as the New York Saints learned.

 Gary Gait scored six goals and twin brother Paul contributed four to help the Philadelphia Wings overpower the Saints, 17-7, in the Major Indoor Lacrosse League American Division final last night at the Spectrum.

 Paul Deniken added three goals for the Wings.

 The Wings will play in Buffalo Saturday at 2:30 p.m. for the MILL championship. The Bandits, who beat Detroit, 16-10, in Saturday's National Division final, have edged the Wings by one goal in each of the last two MILL title games. This season, the Wings and Buffalo (each 6-2) split their two meetings.

 The Wings never were in danger last night as they led, 3-0, after just under 12 minutes. The Saints (2-6 in the regular season) are the league's lowest scoring team.

 Accompanied by an enthusiastic crowd of 10,794, play-by-play on the public address system and deafening rock music, Deniken scored just 47 seconds after the opening faceoff, attacking from the deep left side to beat goalie Sal LoCascio. At 5:15, Gary Gait scored the first of his three first-half goals. Gait ran over New York defender Don McNichol, separating him from his helmet before scoring.

 Paul Gait's blazer from about 20 yards out made it 3-0.

 The closest New York could get were 5-2 and 6-3 deficits. Gary Gait's third goal of the half, with just 26 seconds remaining before intermission, put the Wings ahead, 7-3. 

Wings goalie Dallas Eliuk made several key saves while the Wings were crafting their early lead.  

"While we were getting our feet on the ground, (Eliuk) made some outstanding saves," Wings assistant coach Tony Resch said. "We struggled at times, but they're a good defensive team with a good goalie."

 When the Wings opened the third period with quick goals from Kevin Finneran and Paul Gait for a 9-3 advantage, the Saints' hopes were crushed.

 Paul Gait led the MILL during the regular season with 31 goals in eight games. Gary Gait was tied for fourth with 16 goals. The former Syracuse All- Americas usually are almost unstoppable, but they and the Wings were shut down in a 13-4 loss to the Saints Feb. 26. Eliuk said that defeat by New York inspired the Wings last night.

 Added Gary Gait: "Knowing they can beat you makes you go out and play better than they did. We didn't hustle as much as we should (last night), but fortunately they came out kind of flat and didn't go crazy."

 Buffalo's size presents problems for the Gaits.

 "More than anybody else, (Buffalo) physically takes a toll on the Gaits," said Resch, a former Wings captain who teaches and coaches at Penn Charter. ''When we beat Buffalo (16-12, March 19), we spread it around. We didn't rely on the Gaits to generate offense. That's what we have to have again."

 Said Gary Gait: "We know we can beat them. Until this year, we hadn't done it in a couple years."

 The last goal of the game, by the Wings' Brian Voelker with four seconds remaining, was his first in 17 career games.

 Last night's game will be shown tonight on ESPN2 at 7 o'clock.

Monday, April 11, 1994

 By Mark Bowden, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

 ". . . And, starting for the New York Saints, number three, Mark Millon."

 "SUCKS!" - a roar that rattles even the din-seasoned walls of the Spectrum.

 "Number five, Tim McIntee."

 "SUCKS!" - a roar that buzzes the silver in 20-year-old Dan Haley's molars. (He's just one row behind the Philadelphia Wings bench, knickerbocker cap screwed on backward.)

 "Number nine, Gordon Purdie."

 "SUCKS!" -

 And so on, right down the roster last night, as Philadelphia, this city known for rough love from the cheap seats, greets each and every member of the Saints in the opening round of the 1994 Major Indoor Lacrosse League playoffs against - you probably didn't know this - the most way cool, totally awesome sports franchise in the city (and the only one right now with a winning record).

 "Lord, man, it's brutal," said Haley, approvingly, shortly before his team, the guys in silver and black, threw home 17 goals (and allowed just seven) to advance to Buffalo next weekend for the MILL championship.

 They used to call this box lacrosse, which is like calling Pearl Jam folk singers. The roughly 13,000 highly motivated Wings fans who started lining up in the pouring rain outside the Spectrum doors an hour before game time last night came here for something else.

 Call it the world's first interactive sporting event, Rocky Horror Picture Show meets big-league tag-team brawl ball - with sticks!

 It's part rock concert, part competition, and while it may be inappropriate to call a well-kept secret a team that routinely crowds the Spectrum and reaches . . . well, at least hundreds of thousands on ESPN2, the city's 6- year-old pro lacrosse team may just offer the most fun any Philadelphia fan has had indoors since the Flyers were last considered a threat seven years ago.

 "It's like the Flyers used to be," said Beth Quay, 36, who drove in yesterday from Phoenixville with her sister, Amy, and took up seats just two rows behind the Wings' bench.

 "It's crazy. The game moves so fast, especially since they dropped the shot clock down from 45 seconds to 30 seconds. It never lets up. I like hockey, but the Flyers games get quiet by comparison."

 "I like it because it's really rough," said Brian Smith, 12, who has season tickets and has played a role in introducing the game to the streets of the Northeast.

 "Bone-crushing hitting," said his friend, 13-year-old Justin Colantonio. ''God, they're fun. Totally cool."

 Drawn by the violence, most fans get hooked by the truly amazing artistry of the players, masters of a game that originated with American Indians and, until cable TV stumbled on to it a few years ago, was all but unknown outside of Maryland, Long Island and parts of Canada.

 Paul and Gary Gait, for instance, the Wings' husky, identical buck-toothed 27-year-old Canadian stars, were considered the greatest stickmen ever to play the game when they starred at the University of Syracuse in the late '80s.

 Gary Gait invented lacrosse's version of the slam dunk. It happened in one brilliant moment in a 1988 NCAA semifinal playoff game against the University of Pennsylvania. 

Moving behind the four-foot steel-frame box-lacrosse goal, from where it had been considered impossible to score, Gait leaped, swooped his stick in a roundhouse chop over the upper rim of the goal, and jammed the little hard rubber ball into the net.

 "We came up with it just fooling around in practice," he said, "and then I tried it in the game and it worked."

 With their dazzling stick work, flicking passes, and goals behind their backs and over their shoulders, the Gait brothers are now pioneering their sport at the pro level.

 Last night, Gary Gait scored six goals, four shy of the league record of 10 in a single game, set by (who else?) Paul Gait. Last night, Paul Gait had four.

 They are both still making a few hundred dollars a game, although by working full time for STX Lacrosse Equipment, in design and promotions, they are pioneering the sport at the pro level.

 "Lacrosse has grown a lot, and it's happening fast," said Paul Gait, pulling on a flak jacket and helmet and other assorted protective gear before last night's game. "We're just hoping it comes fast enough for us to capitalize on it before we're too old to play."

 "The league has been great for us just because it's given us somewhere to take our skills when we leave college," said team captain Scott Gabrielsen, 28, who played college lacrosse at the University of Vermont and now works as a real estate broker for The Binswanger Co. - not in the off-season, mind you, full time. "I make $300 to $400 a game now, but mostly I play, we all do, because we love it."

 It is the only pro sport, for instance, where action is stopped to allow Gabrielsen's father, Bill, a.k.a. "Big Gabe," a broad-bellied, white-haired man in a blue oxford shirt, tie and wide red suspenders, to descend the steps, lead the crowd in a "W!-I!-N!-G!-S!" cheer. 

Crowd noise rarely stops, from the sound effects that accompany Katie Toner, clad in a tight black miniskirt, as she sings the national anthem - ''Psssssh," go the rockets, then, "BAM!" - to the wailing guitar music that plays throughout the action.

 With the soundtrack blaring, the crowd emoting, the giant video screens replaying big plays and past highlights (the most popular of which are, of course, vicious hits and player brawls), it's a multimedia, MTV-style sporting event that looks tantalizingly like . . . the future.

 Or, as 18-year-old Joe Epright of Upper Darby put it last night, "Man, it's rapid."

Friday, April 15, 1994

 by John Smallwood, Daily News Sports Writer

 The Philadelphia Wings got exactly what they asked for. Now all they have to do is make sure it becomes what they wanted.

 "We can't wait," said Wings veteran forward Scott Gabrielsen. "It's come down to what everyone anticipated. It's something we've been looking forward to all year. "

 Tomorrow at the Memorial Auditorium in Buffalo, the Wings get another opportunity to end two years of frustration as they again face the Buffalo Bandits for the Major Indoor Lacrosse League Championship (ESPN, 2:30 p.m.).

 Losers to the Bandits in the last two MILL championship games, the American Division champion Wings (7-2) will try to avoid a three-peat while playing in a city infamous for missed championship opportunities.

 "Basically the day after we lost the championship (April 11, 1993) to them last year, we made a pact that this year would be our year and we would not lose to them again," said Gabrielsen, who ranks third on the Wings' all-time list in games played with 50. "We don't have a mental block against Buffalo. We feel we probably should have beaten them in the championship last year.We've got a great desire to win this game. We want to bring the championship back to Philadelphia."

Until the Bandits (7-2) came along in 1992, the Wings were the toast of the MILL, having won the North American Cup in 1989 and 1990. As an expansion team, Buffalo beat Philadelphia, 11-10, in overtime at the Spectrum for the 1992 title, and followed that up with a 13-12 championship-game victory at the Aud last year.

 "One-goal games are always hard to forget," said Wings goalie Dallas Eliuk. "Last year, they kind of stole the game from us on a couple of bad calls. I think the attitude is we're going to take them this time. I don't think they're the team they were last year, and we're a little better. If we play the way we're capable, we should beat them, regardless of their home- field advantage."  

The Wings have additional confidence after finally ending their winless streak (0-5) against Buffalo with a 16-12 victory at the Spectrum March 19.

 "It was very important," Gabrielsen said. "It was good for us to know and prove we could beat Buffalo. It was good because we always knew what we had to do to beat them, but we were able to execute it in the last game. Now we have to carry it over to the championship game.

 "We don't have to do anything extra special to beat this team. They're very talented, but we just need to play solid all the way through."

 Led by 30-plus point scorers Paul Gait (37 goals, 16 assists, 53 points), Gary Gait (20-21-41), Tom Marechek (14-23-37), Kevin Finnerman (12-23-35) and Paul Deniken (14-20-34), the Wings topped the MILL in scoring with 15.9 goals a game.

 The Bandits have league MVP and points-leader John Tavares (30-24-54), Jim Veltman (14-27-41) and Troy Cordingley (17-15-32).

 The key to victory for the Wings will be to win the battle for loose balls and dictate the tempo. A few early goals also would negate the impact of the 16,284 fans expected to cram into the Aud.

 "We don't want them to get going," said Finnerman, whose goal gave the Wings a short-lived 12-11 lead with 1 1/2 minutes left in last year's championship game. "You have to take the crowd out of the game. As the visitor, you just tune the crowd out, but as the home team you can definitely feed off them. I'd like to get out to a good lead, because Buffalo is a tough team to come back against.

 "If we're up two or three goals early, we can relax and play our game. Then, unless a fluke happens, we'll be OK. We don't want to become the Buffalo Bills of indoor lacrosse."

Sunday, April 17, 1994

 By Michael Bamberger, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

 A Philadelphia sports team has won a national title.

 In a game that featured sneakers tossed on the field by disgruntled fans, the performance of an Elvis impersonator between quarters, and gritty, selfless play by the victors, the Philadelphia Wings yesterday defeated their bitter archrivals, the Buffalo Bandits, 26-15, in the championship game of the Major Indoor Lacrosse League.

 The victory will enrich each of the 17 Wings by $400, and that no doubt is important to them, but it will also allow the team to bring back to Philadelphia the MILL Trophy.

 The Wings won the trophy for the first time in 1989, then won it again in 1990. But they had lost to the Bandits in the championship game the last two seasons and were out for revenge.

 "We wanted to win last year," said Paul Gait, who was named the game's most valuable player. "We needed to win this year."

 Gait, who had eight goals and three assists, is one of the few native Canadians on the Wings, while most of the Bandits are Canadian-born. He described the spirited game as a contest between a Canadian all-star lacrosse team and an American all-star lacrosse team.

 The final score was stunning, given how closely the two teams played through the first two quarters. At the end of the first half, the game was tied, 10-10.

 During the brief halftime, the Wings filed into their cramped changing quarters and remembered the words written on a chalkboard: Whatever it takes.

 OFFENSE COMES ALIVE

 When they came out, their offense went berserk, scoring six goals in eight shots in one stretch while amassing an 18-12 lead.

 After the game, the jubilant Wings - teachers and salesmen and computer programmers by day - barreled into the changing room, ignored their bloody faces and their knee burns, and had a party. An ESPN camera came in to witness the spraying of champagne and the eating of soggy pizza.

 Somebody told Russ Cline, the league's chief operating officer, that the president was on the phone.

 "Yeah, right," he said.

 This is not a league that takes itself too seriously.

 But it is catching on. On a blustery and cold day, scalpers worked the streets outside the old downtown hockey hall, Memorial Auditorium, asking $25 for $17 seats and not apologizing for the mark-up. "Hey, it's sold-out," one said. 

Inside, the Aud's 16,284 seats were nearly full a half-hour prior to the opening faceoff. To set the appropriate mood, the house lights were dimmed and the powerful beams of yellow and blue spotlights came up, dancing through the stands. Smoke spewed forth from dangling pipes and the sparks of modest fireworks fell from the rafters. Fans shrieked and you half-expected an Aerosmith concert to break out.

 Instead, the players were introduced. Andy Piazza, the Wings' backup goalie, was the first man out, stumbling in the darkness, finding his feet amid lusty cheers. Tough crowd, here in Buffalo.

 ON TO THE GAME

 Then, the Bandits were introduced, as the public address announcer asked the crowd to "give it up" for goalie Bill Gerrie and forward Stu Aird, among others. Two hundred souls sitting near the rafters sat on their hands. They were Philadelphians, who had made the seven-hour drive by bus.

 One more pregame note: "O, Canada" and "The Star-Spangled Banner" were sung by Rosary Reichart. She had a lovely voice and wore a short skirt. The crowd whistled. Winter in Buffalo is long and not over yet.

 Then the game finally began, and through the first half every time there was a Buffalo goal, there was the blowing of an incredibly loud fog horn soon after. And the Bandits were playing catch-up effectively. Buffalo goal, fog horn; Buffalo goal, fog horn; Buffalo goal, fog horn. In victory, Mike French, the Wings' general manager, was modest. "It's a funny game," he said. "Anything can happen."

 He knows there's no value in riling up the Bandits, and he knows it is not unlikely for these two unofficial all-star teams to meet up in the championship game again next year.

 In the meantime, the long off-season of the Major Indoor Lacrosse League has begun. Sometime today, on a commercial flight, the MILL trophy will return to Philadelphia. There will be no speeches on the tarmac. Just a bunch of happy, bruised lacrosse players, with $400 to burn.

Monday, April 18, 1994

 by John Smallwood, Daily News Sports Writer

 The fan's sign was creative, if not entirely on the mark.

 "Hey Philly! Now you know how the Bills feel!"

 Not anymore.

 Unwilling to share in the legacy of the Buffalo Bills and their four consecutive Super Bowl losses, the Philadelphia Wings put on an offensive display unprecedented in Major Indoor Lacrosse League championship game history.

 The Wings, who had lost the previous two title games to the Bandits by one- goal margins, broke the franchise and title-game scoring record with their 26-15 victory over the Buffalo Bandits on Saturday at Memorial Auditorium. It was the third league title for the Wings, who also won in 1990 and '91.

 Game MVP Paul Gait had eight goals and three assists for the Wings, who scored a remarkable 12 goals in the decisive third period.

 "I can't speak for the other guys, but it was definitely motivation for me," Wings forward Kevin Finneran said. "We're all football fans. We know what the Buffalo Bills went through, and as an athlete you don't want to go through the same thing. I certainly didn't want to go down in any kind of MILL history book as part of the team that lost three in a row."

 In a third-quarter collapse worthy of their Buffalo brethren, the Bandits saw their 10-7 halftime lead turn into a 15-10 deficit.

 The Wings (8-2) quickly established that the final 30 minutes would be theirs when Gary Gait (three goals) scored 31 seconds into the second half.

 Then, after Paul Deniken cut the deficit to one, Paul Gait again displayed why he is possibly the best lacrosse player in the world and why Wings general manager Mike French gave up all of their draft picks last year to bring the Gait brothers together in Philadelphia.

 In a dazzling two-minute display of lacrosse wizardry, Paul Gait scored four straight goals to put the Wings up, 15-10, and silence the sellout crowd of 16,284.

 "The game of lacrosse is one where you are going to score in bunches," Paul Gait said. "We wanted to win last year. We had to win this year."

 Gary Gait put in the Wings' seventh consecutive goal to leave the shellshocked Bandits reeling.

 "It's usually us doing that to somebody else, so it was very difficult to go through something like that," Buffalo forward Troy Cordingly said. "They were absolutely unstoppable. Nobody had any answers."

 The Wings took 67 shots at Buffalo goalies Bill Gerrie and Ross Cowie.

 Deniken scored four of the Wings' goals, and Chris Flynn, Tom Marechek and Steven Govett each added two goals. Finneran had a game-high eight assists.

 Considering Philadelphia had been 1-5 all-time against Buffalo and had never won at the Aud, just beating the Bandits should have been good enough.

 But the Wings took an almost perverse pleasure in administering a no-holds- barred flogging to the Bandits in front of their stunned fans.

 Leading 19-14, Philadelphia put in seven fourth-quarter goals as the displeased crowd peppered the field with everything from crumpled paper cups to a pair of tennis shoes.

 "We wanted to shut them up," Wings goalie Dallas Eliuk, who finished with 28 saves, said of the fans. "They're a very supportive crowd, but you could hear a pin drop in the final minutes. Then they started throwing garbage on the field. It was good to see the frustration in their fans.

 "Buffalo's championships were last year and the year before, but they're not the champions this year and that's what counts."

 It didn't matter that instead of Dom Perignon, the Wings drank Le Champes American Pink Champagne from the North America Cup.

 In this league where teachers, salesmen and businessmen suit up in helmets and shoulder pads and continue boyhood dreams for between $200 and $700 a game, the thrill of victory still is the primary motivation.

 "The bonuses ($400 per player for winning the championship) have gotten a little better and we'll get a fat, gold ring for winning this," said Wings captain Scott Gabrielsen, who has been on all three Philadelphia championship teams and carried the North America Cup off the plane when the Wings arrived at Philadelphia International Airport yesterday to the greeting of several dozen fans. "But it's the thrill of winning, just like you see when guys win Super Bowls, Stanley Cups or NBA titles.

 "This is as far as we can go in our sport. Seeing that cup over there and knowing the Wings' name is going to be engraved on it, there is no feeling like that. We've gone to the highest level that we can."

Tuesday, April 19, 1994

By Clark DeLeon

 At halftime as the Philadelphia Wings ran toward the tunnel leading to the locker room trailing by three goals to the two-time defending champion Buffalo Bandits during Saturday's Major Indoor Lacrosse League championship game, a Buffalo fan held up a handmade sign that read, "Now you know how the Bills feel!"

 Like hell they do.

 When the Wings returned to the Buffalo Hilton carrying the league championship cup after the most incredible offensive display during a single half in league history - 19 second-half goals - to beat Buffalo, 26-15, the victors were greeted by more than 100 Wings fans who had driven nine hours by car and bus. One of the fans held a sign that answered the Bandits: ''Congratulations! It just goes to show that Buffalo can't beat Dallas."

 That's Dallas as in Wings goaltender Dallas Eliuk, the Canadian phenom who stopped 28 Bandit shots to help his team win the championship - the first championship team he'd been a part of in any level of lacrosse.

 That is not to say the result was never in doubt. John Lamb, the Bell telephone repairman who organized the Wings fans' road trip to Buffalo, said that after the Bandits opened their three-goal lead at the end of the first half, he walked away from the Philadelphia fans sitting in the upper reaches of Section 32 in Buffalo's Memorial Auditorium. "I couldn't watch," he said. ''I took a walk behind the seats. I didn't even see the first couple of goals in the third period. They (Wings fans) started coming back for me. By the time I got back to my seat, we were up."

 What he missed was the Wings' Paul Gait scoring four goals in one minute, 56 seconds, a barrage that launched the offensive rally that brought the MILL championship cup back to Philadelphia for the first time since 1991.

 Wings captain Scott Gabrielsen said he never relaxed during the game, not even with the Wings up by 12 goals with five minutes to play. "I didn't start having fun until the three-minute (remaining) mark in the fourth quarter," Gabrielsen said. "If we could score seven goals in two minutes, these guys could come right back."

 One person missing from the Wings' huge victory was Gabrielsen's father, Bill, better known as "Big Gabe," the team's official W-I-N-G-S cheerleader at the Spectrum.

 "He had car trouble in Vermont and couldn't make it," Scott said. "It's funny, 'cause we usually do pretty well when he doesn't make the game, or when I have multiple goals. But I always know he's out there, wherever he is."