By Anthony Caruso III | Publisher
The Philadelphia Wings host the Halifax Thunderbirds on Saturday afternoon at the Wells Fargo Center in South Philadelphia. And it is believed that a Philadelphia native will be making his National Lacrosse League debut in the game.
Michael Sowers has been moved to the active roster this week. The Dresher, Pennsylvania native, which is a 39-minute car ride from the Wells Fargo Center, replaced Sam LeClair, who was moved to the injured reserve list.
“I mean, it’s going to be amazing,” Sowers said. “I mean growing up a Philadelphia sports fan and going to Wings games when I was younger and going to Sixers games in (the) Wells Fargo (Center), it’s going to be super special. I think we’ll probably have like 50 to 60 people there, family and friends.
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“So it’s going to be like a special moment. And again, just being able to wear Philadelphia across your chest. As a kid that grew up a huge Philly sports fan, it’s a pretty cool feeling.”
While many of his family will be in attendance, his father and stepmom will not be at the game. Sowers said that they are in New Orleans preparing to attend the Super Bowl on Sunday.
“My dad’s going to be streaming the game because he’s down in New Orleans for the Super Bowl,” he said. “But my mom will be there and my grandparents will be there.
“Friends will be there. So we should have a good crew.”
Sowers has been preparing for this moment since the Wings acquired him in December in a trade with the Albany FireWolves. But the box game is different than the outdoor game, as the box lacrosse game is more compact and has a faster pace.
“We’ll find out,” Sowers said. “I think that the game, there’s no doubt like the game is very different. And I think that, hopefully, I’ll be able to learn as I go. But we’ve got a great group and great coaches, who I think have been able to teach me a ton over the four weeks that I’ve been with the team. And so, I think that it’s just going to be a learning process. Like what I’m going to have to do differently. Honestly, again, I think I’m going to learn as I go.
“And just naturally being in the tighter spaces, there’s not as much you can do in terms of with the ball and your stick. But I think I’m going to learn as I go here.”
From the short time of preparing with the Wings, he could already tell the difference in the two games, the box lacrosse game, and the outdoor game.
“I mean, it’s a quicker shot clock,” he said. “And to your point, it’s tighter spaces. I think the looks are a little bit different. The timing’s very different. So I think, in a way, it’s just like retraining your instincts for this version of the game.
“But to your point about the speed, just picking that up in practice, it’s so much fun and physical and having a football background, like I think that that’s an aspect of the field that I’ve always enjoyed. And I think that it’s an aspect of the indoor game that I enjoy as well.”
Sowers is once again teammates with Brennan O’Neill, who was the No. 1 overall pick in the NLL Draft by the Wings. The duo previously played together with the Duke Blue Devils for one season.
“I think any time you have a connection going into a new team, obviously it’s super helpful,” Sowers said. “I leaned on him; just talking to him and texting with him through the week and picking his brain on how we do things schematically and then also just having questions about, like, the locker room and stuff. And he’s obviously – he’s been great and he’s a good friend.
“And when we were at Duke, so he’s been awesome and super helpful for me, just to have that connection thus far.”
The Wings have a talented offensive attack. While Blaze Riorden is the captain and can still score, the team is led by Mitch Jones, Joe Resetarits, O’Neill, and Holden Cattoni.
This will take pressure off of Sowers as he gets his feet wet in the indoor game.
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“I think it’s helpful,” he said. “I mean, look, they have such a great thing going offensively and so many talented guys and great leadership, so I think it helps.
“And I think my job is to just come in and just add to what they have and play off of those guys. But I think that it’s helpful any time you get to play alongside guys that are that talented.”
Sowers has learned the game from first-year Wings head coach Ian Rubel and offensive coach Tracey Kelusky.
“Rubes has been awesome,” he said. “I think, all the coaches I have are awesome. Obviously, for an American guy’s experience, it can be difficult, and at times in practice, your head’s spinning. But I think, they’ve done a great job of kind of stepping in and coaching where it’s needed and slowing things down for me where I needed it.
“But also coaching, at (age) 27, to be able to learn new things, you don’t get many firsts at 27, playing the game for 26 years of your life. So they’ve been awesome. I don’t think I could have asked for anything more from the head coach and this team.”
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