Rock Lose 14-8 To Philadelphia

Toronto – The Philadelphia Wings got some payback in the form of a 14-8 win over the Toronto Rock at Air Canada Centre on Saturday night.  In doing so, the Wings broke the first place tie with the Rock and took sole possession of top spot in the East Division as Philadelphia improved to 4-2, while the Rock dropped to 3-3 on the season.

The Rock held a narrow 3-2 advantage after one quarter of play with Toronto coming back from a 2-1 deficit.  Jamie Rooney’s go ahead goal came midway through the quarter and from there, both Philadelphia’s Brandon Miller and Toronto’s Matt Roik stopped every shot they faced.

Philadelphia’s Drew Westervelt scored shorthanded to open the second quarter scoring and tie the game 3-3.  The Wings surrendered the next goal, but rattled off three straight to end the half leading 6-4.  2011 first overall pick Kevin Crowley scored the final two goals of the opening half.

Brendan Mundorf continued to carry a hot stick and scored three more goals in the third quarter to give him five goals through 45 minutes.  Philadelphia continued their run and scored five straight goals in total before Toronto’s Dan Carey and Garrett Billings broke up the run with back-to-back goals.  Philadelphia answered with another pair before the end of the third to lead 10-6 at the end of the third quarter.

The Wings continued to score when they needed to and kept the Rock from crawling back to within striking distance.  For the second quarter in a row, Philadelphia outscored Toronto 4-2 and 8-4 overall in the second half.

Dan Dawson led the point parade for Philadelphia with ten (3 goals, 7 assists) while Kevin Crowley (3 goals, 5 assists) and Brendan Mundorf (5 goals, 3 assists) each chipped in eight points.

Billings was the top scorer for the Rock with three goals and one assist.  Matt Roik was pulled in the fourth quarter and Pat Campbell relieved the Rock starter and gave up one goal in the final 7:39 of the fourth quarter.

The Rock will host the Rochester Knighthawks Friday night at 7pm at Air Canada Centre when they will also retire the number 29 worn by Bob “Whipper” Watson.  The game will be broadcast live on TSN2.