The Wings made history as they beat the Buffalo Bandits, 14-13, Sunday at the Wells Fargo Center, becoming the first North American professional sports team to put Twitter handles on the backs of their jerseys.
Rookie Kevin Crowley led the Wings (3-2) in scoring with four goals against the Bandits (2-3). Dan Dawson recorded one goal and led the team in assists with 11. And Drew Westervelt scored two of his three goals in the final five minutes of the fourth quarter, giving the Wings the win.
"We spent a lot of time this week talking about being aggressive," Wings coach Johnny Mouradian said. "Our desire to win, our aggressiveness, was there. This was a character win for us tonight."
Coming off a 3-0 run to end the first half, the Wings outscored the Bandits, 4-3, in the third quarter, matching their third-quarter total for the season heading into the game. Mouradian said that the team focused on getting prepared coming out of the half.
"Our guys were out there ready to play while they were getting out on the turf this week," he said.
They also sported jerseys with their Twitter handles on the backs instead of their last names. The jerseys were auctioned off after the game to benefit the American Cancer Society. The team raised $13,100, said Zack Lloyd, Wings spokesman.
"Its good to be a part of giving back," Westervelt said. "And I think it's cool we pioneered [putting Twitter handles on the jerseys]."
Westervelt said that playing four quarters with the same level of intensity was a step in the right direction.
"We want to have consistency through all four quarters," he said. "We were all on the same page tonight."
The Wings will visit the Toronto Rock Saturday. Toronto crushed the Wings at home last week, 15-6, holding the Wings scoreless in the second half. With a win, the Wings would edge out the Rock to reclaim first place in the Eastern Conference.
During the Toronto game, "the second half got away from us," Westervelt said. "We just need to battle and stick to what's working."
