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I spent last weekend in Philadelphia and was able to catch the Wings vs. Knighthawks game at the Wachovia Center. I arrived at the arena excited about the chance to watch John Grant Jr. and his Rochester squad in action.

So much has been said and written about their offensive prowess that I walked in last Friday fully expecting to be awed by Grant, Scott Evans, Shawn Evans, Steve Toll and Shawn Williams. What I got instead was the Athan Iannucci show and a new respect for the Philadelphia Wings and head coach Dave Huntley.

Don’t get me wrong. Jr. was still great. Especially in the fourth quarter when he put up four goals and an assist to bring Rochester back into a game dominated by Philly. But Athan Iannucci was the star of this game and it was Iannucci who walked away with a win.

Let’s start with Athan’s stat line. Five goals, three assists and 13 loose balls. Not a bad night by anyone’s standards. But points happen and loose balls just seem to come to some guys. It is style and flair that makes a star and on this night Iannucci was spectacular.

I’ll break down two of his five goals for you …

Athan squares up and cradles in front of his body tempting you to throw a slap check on his hands. Your stick flies making solid contact on Iannucci’s bottom hand but that left hand is no longer holding the stick. It is only in the right and is now floating effortlessly over your head as his long frame angles its way underneath you gaining free passage to the goal. It’s called the Swim move and in this case it works to perfection and results in a lay-up for Mr. Iannucci.

After that, if I’m playing defense, I’m going to make sure this guy doesn’t get underneath on me for the rest of the game. So, here we are again. Iannucci squares up and puts his stick out there where you can’t help but throw a check. But this time you say to yourself, “I’m gonna make sure I cut off the underneath move so I don’t get beaten.” Well, this time Athan does not even wait for the check to land. He releases with the bottom hand and explodes by you top side. Before the rest of the defense can react he is on top of the goaltender and sticking another one neatly into a corner of the cage.

By the end of the game it was five goals, each one different from the last. And did I mention the 13 loose balls; many won with pure hustle and hard work? Needless to say, I like watching this kid play.

Truth be told I liked watching Philly play. I like what the coaches do for John Christmas who, although he did not score, was constantly put in situations where he could use his talents to test the Rochester defense and open up opportunities for other players. I like the way Huntley lets the offense take shape around the talent on the floor rather than dictating a single system.

It almost pains me to say it but I like watching Geoff Snider do his thing. I did not get to see much of him until the second period as he spent most of the first in the penalty box, but Geoff is a fantastic talent and has a huge impact on every game he plays. And how can you not like watching Jake Bergey, he’s an old timer at this point but last Friday he looked as good as ever, going 4 and 3 with 8 loose balls.

Looking back at Friday night, it was not a great game. It was sloppy at times, there was not much flow to the first 3 quarters, there were a ton of penalties called and the Philadelphia crowd is definitely not what it used to be. However, this Wings team is fun to watch play and the Athan Iannucci show alone is worth the price of admission.

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