Friday, January 3, 1997

 by Edward Moran, Daily News Sports Writer

 Most professional sports teams would not be in a hurry to forget about a season that ended in a championship game.

 Unless, maybe, it was a team used to winning. Like the Philadelphia Wings.

 The Wings last season reached the Major Indoor Lacrosse League title game for the seventh time in eight years (they had won the last two league titles), but lost in the championship game to the Buffalo Bandits.

 They are looking forward to forgetting.

 ``I can't wait to get the bad taste out of my mouth,'' captain Scott Gabrielsen said.

 ``That was one of our worst games. We went up to Buffalo and got manhandled. Now it's time to regroup and take a look at the players we have on our roster and refocus, not as defending champions but as champs who have been dethroned and are looking to get back.''

 The Wings open their season tomorrow night at the New York Saints.

 Gabrielsen believes the team has the ingredients to compete for another league title.

 Returning to the Wings after a season away will be forwards John McEvoy and Chris Bates. McEvoy spent last season away from the team, studying in London. Bates played last season with the Charlotte Cobras, after work and studies took him to the University of North Carolina.

 ``We had a few gaps last year with the departure of McEvoy and Bates and a few of our other guys,'' Gabrielsen said. ``But we've made up for that with them coming back. And we've picked up Matt Ogelsby.''

 Ogelsby, a second-year forward, came to the Wings with Bates when Charlotte folded after last season.

 The three players will be joining a roster that already includes MILL All-Pro selections Kevin Finneran, Tom Marechek, Gary Gait, and goaltender Dallas Eliuk.

 Wings leadership will come from Gabrielsen, who will be starting his 83rd consecutive game in nine years, and Gait, the team's MVP and leading scorer last season with 65 points on 43 goals and 22 assists.

 The Wings will join the Flyers and Sixers in the new CoreStates Center when they host the Baltimore Thunder for their home opener next Saturday. ``We're all very excited,'' Gabrielsen said.

``We're looking forward to playing in the new arena.''

Saturday, January 18, 1997

 By Marcia C. Smith, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

 The memory of last season makes them whip their sticks a bit faster, smack the wrists of their opponents more wildly, charge the ball, the net, the win a little more aggressively. That's what a letdown does in lacrosse. It makes you want that diamond-studded championship ring that much more.

 The Philadelphia Wings (2-0) play their Major Indoor Lacrosse League home opener at 8 tonight, facing the Baltimore Thunder at the CoreStates Center.

 The Wings are coming off a 9-3 season in which they reached the league's championship round, only to lose to Buffalo.

 Scoring leader Gary Gait termed the title-game loss ``an unfortunate setback,'' mainly because the Wings had won the MILL title in 1994 and 1995.

 They have the diamond-studded rings to prove it.

 ``We want to kick the heck out of Baltimore, get the bragging rights and be on our way,'' said Gait, a 29-year-old all-pro and team most-valuable player who played on three NCAA championship teams at Syracuse. ``I'm a veteran. Time's a-ticking.''

 With the Wings, anything but a title is a failure, which explains the intensity at their weekly practices.

 The Wings return veteran threats Gait and Scott Gabrielsen; forwards Kevin Finneran and Tom Marechek; goaltender Dallas Eliuk; Team USA players Chris Flynn, Brian Miller and Brian Voelker; and Steve Govett.

 Not-so-new additions are John McEvoy and Chris Bates, who return from the 1995 championship team, and rookie Greg Traynor, an all-American from the University of Virginia.

 ``We've got an advantage talent-wise with a lot of guys growing up being champions,'' coach Tony Resch said. ``Now we've got to establish chemistry between the old and the new.''

 Through the season they run drills and scrimmage, leaving behind their full-time jobs as mortgage and stock brokers, insurance and real estate salesmen, coaches and teachers to make $300 to $800 a game and a little extra for practices.

 Gait, his neatly groomed sideburns and goatee beginning to gray, operates a lacrosse equipment store in Baltimore and coaches the women's lacrosse team at the University of Maryland.

 He is the lead warrior here, holding most of the Wings' scoring records, including the still-climbing statistic of most goals scored - 117 through 35 regular-season games.

 He's a seven-year veteran in his fifth year with the Wings, and some consider Gait the best player in the world because of his goal-scoring and his unorthodox shooting techniques such as the ``back breaker,'' in which he whips his arm around his back so far he can fire a shot from between his legs.

 ``He's unbelievable. I thank God I don't have to face him,'' said Eliuk, an all-pro goaltender and freelance cartoonist who has been with the team for seven seasons.

 ``We're all getting physically and mentally prepared to go all the way. We want it all.''

Thursday, January 23, 1997

 FREQUENT FLIER

Talk about long-distance commutes . . .

 Dwight Maetche, the goalkeeper for the New York Saints, of the Major Indoor Lacrosse League, travels to weekend games from Vancouver, British Columbia. That's a 7,000-mile round trip.

 The Saints (2-1) visit the Philadelphia Wings (3-0) Saturday at 8:30 p.m. at the CoreStates Center.

 ``Traveling east each week becomes a one-day trip because of the three-hour time delay,'' said Maetche, a floor-covering salesman. ``To sacrifice a day of flying, I have to compress my work schedule into four days. I am in the office until 11 p.m. or later.''

 Wings goalie Dallas Eliuk also is from Vancouver, but he relocates to Philadelphia during the season.

Monday, January 27, 1997

 The Philadelphia Wings defeated the New York Saints, 10-9, in double overtime in a Major Indoor Lacrosse League game at the CoreStates Center Saturday night.

 Wings forward Kevin Finneran blasted the winning shot past Saints goalie Sal Locascio at 2:11 of the second overtime.

 The Wings (4-0) were led by Finneran, who had three goals and three assists, and goalie Dallas Eliuk, who had 46 saves. The Wings also got two goals each from Gary Gait and Scott Gabrielsen, and single goals from Tom Marechek, Chris Flynn and Paul Deniken.

 The Wings trailed, 4-1, after the first period, but battled back to within 5-4 at the half.

 ``We started out a little slow and let them get ahead,'' said Wings coach Tony Resch. ``We stepped it up in the second half and stayed with them. We had some great chances in the overtime. This game is about chances and we had to take advantage of all of ours.''

 Mark Millon had three goals and two assists for the Saints (2-2).

 The Wings will host the Rochester Knighthawks at the CoreStates Center on Sunday, Feb. 9, at 2 p.m.

Monday, February 24, 1997

 It had been 10 years since the Baltimore Thunder beat the Philadelphia Wings at the Baltimore Arena. That drought ended Saturday as the Thunder squeezed out an 11-10 Major Indoor Lacrosse League victory before a crowd of 5,407.

 Baltimore goalie Derek Collins turned away 51 Philadelphia shots to lead the Thunder (2-4) to its first home victory over the Wings (5-2) since Jan. 24, 1987.

 For history buffs, that was the the Wings' first-ever MILL game.

 Tom Marechek led the Wings with four points (three goals, one assist), Kevin Finneran and Gary Gait added two goals and one assist each, and Paul Deniken and John McEvoy had a goal apiece. Baltimore was led by Bob Martino, who scored three goals during the first 11 minutes of the game.

 ``Baltimore outworked us the entire game,'' Wings coach Tony Resch said. ``They had great goaltending from Collins. They were aggressive and smarter than us.''

 The Wings trailed 5-3 at halftime, their lowest first-half total of the season.

 Philadelphia battled back to tie game at 10-10 on a goal by McEvoy at 6:53 of the fourth quarter. But Baltimore's Kip Falks scored the game-winner 3:15 later.

 ``We thought we could win this one from Day 1,'' Thunder coach John Tucker said. ``We changed our game plan since the start of the season to stress defense. Our defense has been our formula for winning.''

 ``[The] loss was partially our fault,'' Resch said. ``I don't want to take away the fact that Baltimore had a great game. They played great defense.''

 The Wings next play in Buffalo against the Bandits on March 15.

Monday, March 31, 1997

 The Philadelphia Wings ended the regular season with a 13-9 victory over the host Rochester Knighthawks Saturday night. That's nice, but it's the next games against Rochester that will count.

 The top-ranked Wings (7-3) open the Major Indoor Lacrosse League playoffs Saturday at the CoreStates Center against the fourth-ranked Knighthawks (5-5).

 ``We host these same K-hawks next week,'' Wings coach Tony Resch said, ``but they have beaten us already at home this year. We are not going to be taking them lightly.'' 

The winner of Saturday's game will meet the winner of the Buffalo vs. New York game for the MILL title.

 In Saturday's season finale, Gary Gait led the Wings with four goals and five assists and Tom Marechek added three goals and two assists. Mike Benedict had two goals for Rochester.

 ``We played a very disciplined game,'' Resch said. ``We concentrated on our defensive efforts and capitalized on their mistakes. [Goalie] Dallas Eliuk made some monstrous saves for us.''

 Wings captain Scott Gabrielsen extended the MILL's longest games-played streak to 92 and Gary Gait kept his 36-game scoring streak alive.

Monday, April 7, 1997

 For the first time since 1991, the Major Indoor Lacrosse League will hold its championship game without the Philadelphia Wings.

 And a player who had a hand in the Wings' five-year run to the title game had a lot to do with the end of it.

 Paul Gait, a former Wing, scored six goals to lead the Rochester Knighthawks in their 15-13 victory in Saturday's semifinal in front of 9,372 at the CoreStates Center.

 Tom Marchek's goal with 9:24 left gave the Wings their first lead of the game, at 12-11. But Gait tied it a minute later and then put the Knighthawks ahead for good when he scored with 4:40 remaining.

 Gait's brother, Gary, led the Wings with four goals and an assist. Steve Govett added three goals.

 Rochester will play the Buffalo Bandits for the title Saturday in Buffalo. The Bandits beat the New York Saints in the other semifinal.

 The Wings, who won the MILL championship in 1994 and '95, were beaten by Buffalo in last year's title game.