Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 3/6/08
The Eastern Division leading Philadelphia Wings have acquired forward A.J. Shannon from the Minnesota Swarm and goaltender Brandon Miller from the Chicago Shamrox.
The acquisitions were part of two trades that sent Wings’ forwards Dan Marohl and Keith Cromwell to the Swarm and goaltender Matt Roik and defenseman Brad Self to Chicago.
“AJ Shannon is a proven scorer that will add much needed depth to our offense on the left side,” said Wings general manager Lindsay Sanderson. “In the case of Miller, we had the opportunity to add another number one goalie to our camp and could not pass that up.
“The coaching staff and I knew we needed to increase our depth and this move adds two big pieces to the puzzle.”
The Swarm traded forward Mike Hominuck and a first round pick in the 2008 NLL Entry Draft to the Edmonton Rush in exchange for Shannon. Minnesota then traded Shannon to the Wings for Cromwell and Marohl.
The Wings traded Roik, Self, a first round pick in the 2009 Entry Draft, and their second round pick in the 2010 Entry Draft to Chicago in exchange for Miller and the Shamrox second pick in the 2008 Entry Draft. Self has spent the past two seasons on the Wings’ hold-out list due to commitments playing hockey in Germany.
Practice squad player Matt Eckerl was also added to the Wings’ 23-man roster.
Shannon, a fifth-year forward, has scored 22 points (11G, 11A) in seven games in Edmonton this season. In his previous four seasons, three with Buffalo, he scored 112 points (53G, 59A) in 50 games played. The 6-foot, 213-pound Whitby missed the first 10 games of the 2007 season recovering from an off-season knee injury after being acquired by the Rush on June 28, 2006, from the Buffalo Bandits. Shannon, a University of Virginia graduate, led the Cavaliers to the 2003 NCAA Championship in 2003 as well as the 2000 and 2004 ACC Titles.
Miller, has a 71 percent save percentage and a 17.04 goals against average in seven games for the Shamrox this season. The eighth-year goaltender was chosen by Chicago in the 2006 NLL Expansion Draft from San Jose. He has seen 2,031 minutes of career playing time and has 1,282 career saves.
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