The visiting New Jersey Storm rolled into Philadelphia to play the Wings Saturday evening, a night after surprising Washington, improving the first-year team's record to 2-9, and most expected an easy Wings win over a tired second-division team.

The ease, however, was all New Jersey's, at least in the first quarter, sending home 17,488 shocked fans in an upset 13-11 win over the Wings at the First Union Center.

It looked as though the Wings wanted to try to run at the Storm early, hoping to take advantage of any fatigue from the previous night's contest. New Jersey's Shawn Nadelen, though, scored first, and after Jake Bergey scored to tie the game, it was all New Jersey. Five more shots found a way past Wings goaltender Dallas Eliuk, each from a different Storm player, closing the first stanza at 6-1 in New Jersey's favor. In contrast to the apparent strategy, it was the Storm which was more prepared for an up-tempo game.

The Wings' Tom Marechek quickly opened the second quarter with a goal but was followed closely by Scott Stewart of New Jersey. Billy LeFeurve and Stewart, the Game MVP this evening, would score two more Storm goals before Tom Marechek was able to tally his second net of the contest. Kerry Susheski rounded out the scoring for the Storm with six minutes to play in the half, and Wings rookie Keith Cromwell scored in the last minute of play to bring the halftime score to 10-4, Storm.

In the third period, the Wings found their defense again, and, after giving up fourteen shots in each of the previous two quarters, held the Storm to just eight in this frame. Scoring was sparse, however, as the Wings themselves managed only eight shots. Two of those shots made it through Storm goalie Matt Roik, though, with Bergey and Cromwell recording the only tallies of the period.

Philadelphia continued it defensive play in the fourth quarter, as the comeback bid warmed up. Marechek opened up with a power play goal for the hat trick, and Jeff Ratcliffe scored the next two, bringing the game to within a goal. New Jersey's Kerry Susheski finished a hat trick of his own to widen the gap to two, but was answered by Bergey's hat trick tally.

LeFeuvre scored again to give the Storm a two-goal lead and was followed by Brian Bendig's second of the evening, completing the Storm scoring in the contest. The Wings were unable to put together any kind of rhythm in the final two minutes, and except for Jeff Ratcliffe completing his hat trick with sixteen seconds left in the game, Philadelphia could not put the ball in the net.

The Storm now gets a few weeks off to fine-tune its hurricane-strength attack before crossing the Big Apple to face the Saints on Saturday, 9 March, at Uniondale. The Wings, meanwhile, return to action in a week, hosting the Columbus Landsharks.

BOX SUMMARY
                                      1  2  3  4     TOT
New Jersey Storm (3-9)                6  4  0  3  --  13
Philadelphia Wings (5-4)              1  3  2  5  --  11

NEW JERSEY STORM              PHILADELPHIA WINGS
               G - A   PTS                   G - A   PTS
Stewart        3 - 2     5    Marechek       3 - 3     6
Bendig         2 - 2     4    Ratcliffe      3 - 3     6
Nadelen        1 - 3     4    Bergey         3 - 1     4
Susheski       3 - 0     3    Cromwell       2 - 1     3
LeFeurve       2 - 1     3    Ryan           0 - 3     3
Sombrotto      0 - 3     3    Millon         0 - 2     2
Parkin         1 - 1     2    Spano          0 - 2     2
Panetta        1 - 0     1    Finneran       0 - 1     1
Ca Bomberry    0 - 1     1    Ruhle          0 - 1     1
J Guindon      0 - 1     1    
Leigh          0 - 1     1    
Roik           0 - 1     1    

Shots on goal           47    Shots on goal           52
Saves made by           41    Saves made by           34
   Roik              41          Eliuk             34
Penalties                3    Penalties                5
Penalty Minutes          6    Penalty Minutes         10
Power Play Chances       5    Power Play Chances       3
Power Play Goals         1    Power Play Goals         2
   LeFeurve           1          Marechek           1
                                 Ratcliffe          1
Shorthanded Goals        0    Shorthanded Goals        0
Loose Balls             68    Loose Balls             69
   Bendig             9          Eliuk             13
   Purdie             6          Ratcliffe         10
   Roik               6          P Jacobs           9
   Stewart            6
   Susheski           6
Faceoffs Won            12    Faceoffs Won            16
   Hanford      (11-15)          P Jacobs     (16-11)
   Purdie       ( 1- 1)          Ryan         ( 0- 1)

*** STATS OFFICIAL BY VERIFY WITH PHILADELPHIA WINGS ***