Andrew McKay is the Head Scout for the Chicago Shamrox, a position he has been in since the Shamrox were formed in 2006. Every week McKay will provide fans will insight on upcoming Chicago Shamrox games.

I wrote last week about the uncertainty heading into our game with Toronto because I hadn’t seen the tam play with its two best players. As it turned out, what killed us was an unexpected performance from Blaine Manning, who played entirely unlike how he’d played in the preseason.
So imagine the challenge this week, as the Shamrox look to even the 2008 season at 1-1. We head into Philadelphia, notoriously one of the toughest buildings to play in. The Wings have a new coach who has never coached in the NLL before, and seven new players, including two (Jason Crosbie and Merrick Thomson) who will make up a significant part of the offense. In short, this is nothing like the team we beat near the end of last season. So on Thursday, I was tasked with writing a scouting report on a team I hadn’t seen play, who hasn’t played a single exhibition game, and has unknowns ranging from strategy to which players will actually play on Saturday.

I’ll say this: the Wings will be kind of like the Shamrox. They’ll run, they’ll look for chances and mistakes, and do their best to pounce on them. They’ll rely on energy, and in the short term, they’ll be excited about the new coach’s approach to the game. Their offense has one of the best young players in the game in Athan Iannucci, but how Crosbie and Thomson play will dictate whether they have an offensive unit or some names.

They’re improved in goal with Rob Blasdell, who joined them from Arizona. Blasdell has been to the championship game three times, and is the kind of goalie who makes up for his teammates’ mistakes. The more we force, the better of we’ll be.