The Philadelphia Wings was one of six teams from the original

National Lacrosse League The National Lacrosse League (NLL) is a professional box lacrosse league in North America. The league comprises 14 teams8 in the United States and 6 in Canada. The NLL is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ...

. This team mimicked Philadelphia's NHL counterpart, the Flyers with a "Broad Street Bullies" style of play. The Wings played at the home of the Flyers, the

Spectrum A spectrum (: spectra or spectrums) is a set of related ideas, objects, or properties whose features overlap such that they blend to form a continuum. The word ''spectrum'' was first used scientifically in optics to describe the rainbow of co ...

, and played their first game in that arena on May 19, 1974, mere hours after the Flyers won the

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup () is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, and the International Ic ...

. The Wings were one of three teams that did not go bankrupt prior to the 1976 season cancellation. There were two seasons in the league. The regular season, which lasted 40 games in 1974 and 48 in 1975, took place during the NHL's off-season. Four of the six clubs qualified for the two-round playoffs in both seasons. It was a best-of-seven series in each round. The Wings were regular season champions in the first season (1974). After defeating the Maryland Arrows in the first round, they were eliminated in the final round by the Rochester Griffins four games to two in the first season. They failed to make the playoffs with a disappointing fifth-place finish (they missed the playoffs by one win). The 1974–75 NLL is unrelated to the modern-day

, which also has included two unrelated teams called the Philadelphia Wings (

Philadelphia Wings (1987–2014) The Philadelphia Wings were a member of the National Lacrosse League, a professional box lacrosse league in North America starting in 1987. They played at the Spectrum (arena), Spectrum (1987–96) and then at the Wells Fargo Center (Philadelphi ...

and Philadelphia Wings (2018–)). This was the only original league logo resurrected in the rebirth of pro indoor lacrosse. The current NLL league and franchise makes no references to the original incarnation although in 2004 there was a "retro" night in Philadelphia where the Wings wore the original orange jersey and the

Rochester Knighthawks The Rochester Knighthawks (also known as the K-Hawks) are an American professional box lacrosse team based in Rochester, New York, that competes in the National Lacrosse League (NLL). The team plays its home games at Blue Cross Arena. The Knighth ...

donned the Rochester Griffins jersey. Members of the original Wings were honored at a ceremony at half-time. The players included

Doug Favell Douglas Robert Favell (born April 5, 1945) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender and former box lacrosse player. Favell played in the National Hockey League for the Philadelphia Flyers, Toronto Maple Leafs and Colorado Rockies. ...

(

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

goalie), John Grant Sr., the only player to play for the first two versions of the NLL Wings and father of John Grant Jr., Jimmy Wasson,

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

Wayne Platt, Zeny Lipinski, long-time Lower Merion lacrosse coac
John Linehan
and Canadian lacrosse Hall of Fame
Larry Lloyd
Flyer's television announcer

Gene Hart Eugene Charles "Gene" Hart (June 28, 1931 – July 14, 1999) was an American sports announcer for the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League and the Philadelphia Phantoms of the American Hockey League. Biography Hart was born in New ...

called the games for the Wings.

1974 Players

1975 Players

KEY:
GP = Games Played
G = Goals Scored
A = Assists
Pts = Points
PIM = Penalties In Minutes

External links

1974-1975 National Lacrosse League film page on Lax-TV.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Philadelphia Wings (1974-75) Sports in Philadelphia Lacrosse clubs established in 1974 Lacrosse teams in Pennsylvania 1974 establishments in Pennsylvania 1975 disestablishments in Pennsylvania 1974 in sports in Pennsylvania 1975 in sports in Pennsylvania Lacrosse clubs disestablished in 1975 1975 in Philadelphia

1974 Players

1975 Players

See also

External links