Black Wolves Have A New Look, And Hope For Good Chemistry

The New England Black Wolves indoor lacrosse team will have some players from its days in Philadelphia, but so much is new, from players to name to venue.

The team that was known last year as the Philadelphia Wings will play its first season as the Wolves in Mohegan Sun Arena.

"I do think it really does feel like a new team," coach Blaine Harrison said Friday of the team that will pop the cork on the 2015 National Lacrosse League season Jan. 2 at Mohegan Sun (7 p.m.) against the Buffalo Bandits. "It's a new venue, nothing short of spectacular. Playing in that venue is completely different than anything else going on out there right now, so it's new, refreshing, exciting, all of those things.

"And just the player makeup and things we can do a little bit differently this year ... bringing in a little bit more Canadian contacts with some strong indoor backgrounds upped our [indoor lacrosse] IQ level. Not to take anything away from the American players because they bring their own skill set to the game, but it does feel like a new venture. I don't want to say it's necessarily an expansion-type feel but it certainly is a new, refreshing feel."

The team was 6-12 and didn't make the playoffs last season.

The 15-player roster, released Thursday, shows an equal mix of youth, talent and experience, much of it coming via the draft, trades and free agent signings.

The Black Wolves have scoring, led by Kevin Crowley, the No. 1 pick of the indoor (NLL) and outdoor (MLL) draft in 2011. He has appeared in 50 indoor games and has 103 goals and 115 assists. Defensively, the Black Wolves are solid, too, and they have a real enforcer on defense in 6-foot-4, 240-pound Bill O'Brien, who has brought every bit of his football mentality gained from his playing days at Sacred Heart. Crowley, transition player Joel White, and defensemen Craig England bring leadership. Bringing it all together is going to be key.

The Black Wolves play their games on the weekends, but they've been practicing and will scrimmage Saturday night against Toronto in preparation for the season.

"There's two types of chemistry," Harrison said. "You're looking for the locker room to be cohesive, and I think we spent a lot of time making sure we've got the right guys. ... I don't expect everyone to be best friends, but if everybody comes in and respects each other and holds each other accountable, that goes a long way in building that kind of cohesiveness in the locker room, the guys that are going to go through the brick walls for their teammates."

England, of Fergus, Ontario, who played with Toronto last season, said the chemistry has been there so far.

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Black Wolves Have A New Look, And Hope For Good Chemistry