Swarm beat Wings in Philly behind another MVP outing from Dobson
The Georgia Swarm wasted no time getting to work on the Wings defense in the first game on Friday night in Philadelphia. Nolan Byrne putting up back-to-back goals in the first quarter, then winds up pulling out the hat trick in the 4th quarter. Lyle Thompson only had one goal but also had 3 assists on the night. Shayne Jackson and Kaleb Benedict both had 2 goals and 2 assists. Swarm goaltender Brett Dobson continued his outstanding play, stopping 39 out 45 shots on net. The Swarm have been running a high-powered offense, averaging 11 goals a game. Georgia takes game 1 in this home-and-home series with an 11-6 win. This is the second straight game where the Philadelphia Wings only put up six goals. The Wings did not get things going until midway through the second quarter. Eric Fannell scored a pair of goals and Brennan O’Neill had a 4 point game with 1 goal and 3 assists. Wings forward Michael Sowers had a goal and 2 assists, but left the game with a lower body injury.
Wings get revenge on Swarm with their own road win
The unsung hero Dalton Young stepped up big time for the Wings in the first half of the second game in Georgia. Young was beating the one-on-one coverage, getting open in spacing, and making cuts to the Georgia net. He had 5 points on 3 goals and 2 assists. Blaze Riorden had himself a nice 4 point game with 2 goals and 2 assists. Eric Fannell scored the only goals in the 3rd quarter, both coming on the power play, and finished with 4 points on 2 goals and 2 assists. The Wings fly out of Georgia with a 9-5 win to split the weekend series. We shall see if they can build off this momentum next week against the Oshawa FireWolves.
Georgia drops to 8-4, with the loss snapping their 6-game win streak, but still pack plenty of offensive firepower. Rookie forward Nolan Byrne had 3 goals in this game as well, totaling 7 points on the weekend. Shayne Jackson and Bryan Cole each had a pair of assists as well. The Swarm have a bye week before a Week 16 showdown against the Vancouver Warriors with Top 4 playoff seed implications.
