Wings Playing Against the Albany FireWolves 1/15/2022- By: Jenni Cam

Photo Creds- In Lacrosse We Trust/ Tracey Happold-Brown

It’s Kids Day at the Wells Fargo Center but the FireWolves are coming in hot and aren’t here to play nice. Their first win of the season against Saskatchewan has them burning up. This is their second time facing us this season and the Wings aren’t going to let them start a streak. The Wings are undefeated at home and running a 3-1 record, this position has them second for the division. Can defense keep up today and hold ground?

Zach Higgins #31 is back in the pipes after his injury against the Toronto Rock. Zach returns after a ball broke thru his facemask. He’s back and hopefully ready.

Quarter 1

Less than three minutes into the game, the FireWolves have three shots on goal and Higgins stays strong. The Wings fire back. Halfway thru the first quarter, #37 Crepinsek makes a run across the field. Unfortunately fails to make the shot. First goal of the game goes to Albany- #15 Resetarits with an assist from #6 Kitchen with 4 minutes 37 seconds on the clock. FireWolves with 11 shots on goal and Wings with 12 and still no goal from the Wings. 2:55 on clock #17 Watkinson scores the second goal for Albany. The assist comes from Resetarits. One minute and 33 seconds left, and #29 Llord gets a cross check penalty leaving the Wings a man down. It’s a rough start to the game.

Quarter 2

Wings start off with another penalty. The penalty is from #44 Ranagan, allowing Resetartis to get a third goal on us. The Wings immediately come back with a goal from #31 Rambo. Assist by #26 Davis- Allen. Shortly after, #4 Malcom scores the 4th goal for Albany with an assist from #27 Byrne. The Wings offense attack goalie Jamison hard with 8 minutes and no prevail.

#21 Captain Kevin Crowley comes back with the second Wings goal assisted by Crepinsek. Albany scores again. Fifth goal goes to #7 Watkinson with the assist coming from Resetartis.

Wings aren’t defeated yet. Ian Llord runs the field and scores our third goal. Albany couldn’t keep up with that speed. Albany gets their first penalty for holding. With #27 Byrne in the box, the Wings go on a Scoreless Power Play. Less than a minute left to play and the Wings end up with another penalty #23 Vitarelli for holding. Albany leads 3-5 going into the 3rd quarter.

Quarter 3

Albany doesn’t waste any time. Just as Vitarelli comes out of the box, Kew scores the 6th goal for Albany with an assist from #44 Thompson. #8 Downings gets caught for holding the stick which leads the Wings to another scoreless Power Play. Wings need to pick up the pace with 5 minutes on the clock in the 3rd and the FireWolves have 40 shots on goal compared to our 28 and leading 6-3.

Corey Small sneaks in with the fourth goal, assisted by Crowley with a little more than 3 minutes to the clock. Albany goes for another shot on goal with 2 minutes left but Higgins saves the ball.

Quarter 4

Heading into the fourth, just 2 goals behind and the arena is pumped. The Wings aren’t ready to have their first home game loss. Albany scores 2 minutes in maintaining their lead. #20 Ruest with assists from #7 Benesch and Kew. Wings fire back with back-to-back goals. Crowley, #9 Baptiste and #18 Charbonneau team up to get the 5th goal in. Corey Small and Baptiste rocket the 6th goal seconds later. The Wings are on a comeback. Fired up, the Wings tie it up. Overtime is on the horizon. Corey Small is relentless assisted by Hickey and Crowley. 9 minutes on the clock. These Wings are bringing the heat.

Albany comes back with the lead. Ruest assisted by Kew and Benesch lock in an 8th goal. Moments later Resetartis with an assist from Kew follow up with the 9th goal. Less than 2 minutes and #10 Riorden comes in hot with our 8th goal, Crowley and #90 Mcintosh with the assist. Forty seconds on the clock and the Wings call a time out. Game over. Albany claims the win. Their second in a row. Shots on goal 55 for the FireWolves and 44 for the wings. Final score 9-8 Albany.

Post-game summary from coaches and players:

Coach Day comments “It’s nice to have Higgy back.” He brings up that Albany’s defense is different from the rest of the league, “It’s like 2 on 2 so it’s almost difficult to play against”. He mentions Small and Crowley getting some good looks on the net, but that the team didn’t play the full 60 on the field. Higgins, Crowley and Small comment on the team’s play. Higgins is of course happy to be back after the dangerous hit he took to the face but frustrated with the loss. Wings fans are feeling the same frustration.

Next weekend the team faces the Rochester Knighthawks and New York Riptide in back-to-back games. Let’s get in the arena and hope for a stronger defense on the turf.

-Jenni Cam- Olde City Sports Network