From Canada to Philly, Jordan Hall and Kevin Crowley are two of a kind for the Wings

Wings head coach and general manager Paul Day won’t forget the Federation of International Lacrosse 2014 World Championship game in Denver when Canada faced the United States. It was the first time he saw Kevin Crowley and Jordan Hall play together.

“They’ve got great chemistry, and that’s going to continue,” Day said. “They were very, very good together."

That chemistry has been evident during the Wings’ games this season. Hall was traded to the Wings from the Georgia Swarm during last year’s expansion draft. When Crowley was traded from the New England Black Wolves to the Wings on Jan. 5, Hall’s game got considerably better.

Hall and Crowley are natives of British Columbia, Canada. Hall is from Surrey, and Crowley is from New Westminster, which is just across the Fraser River. Crowley, at 30 four years younger than Hall, grew up watching Hall on the New Westminster’s senior team. The two have developed what Crowley describes as a “mentor-mentee" friendship.

The two played together in 2013-2014 on the previous incarnation of the Wings before the team left for New England in July 2014. Crowley, who was drafted by the franchise in 2011, is the only player to be drafted first overall by both the NLL and Major League Lacrosse, the outdoor pro league.

Crowley’s grandfather, Stan Cowie, introduced him to lacrosse when Crowley was 5. Cowie was a well-known box lacrosse player for the New Westminster team that won Canada’s Mann Cup championship trophy in 1958 and ’59. Crowley is Stony Brook University’s all-time leader with 232 points.

Hall began playing the sport at 7 after his soccer teammates lured him onto the lacrosse field. He went on to lead the University of Delaware to its only Final Four appearance, in 2007.

Because of the age difference, the two had never played in the same age group or club team growing up. In 2009, that changed when Crowley was called up from the New Westminster’s junior A team to the senior level team for the Mann Cup championship series against Brampton. Hall was already an important player on the team. Crowley, as a 17-year-old, left his mark during the seven-game series by scoring five goals and accounting for 10 points. The two played three years together on that team.

“Kevin was this young kid who got called up because he was really good,” said Hall.

Crowley looks up to Hall because of his ability to uproot his life in Western Canada and move to the East Coast. Hall is pursuing a professional lacrosse career while also working full time as a salesman for Cintas.

“That was a foreign concept for a lot of people my age and a lot of people before me, so I look up to Jordan,” said Crowley, who founded Fusion Lacrosse and is a lacrosse coach at the Shipley School in Bryn Mawr.

Both Crowley and Hall have set up a life in Philadelphia, which is unusual for NLL players, who generally don’t live where they play, but rather fly to the location of the game for practice before returning home after the game the next day.

What drew both back to this Wings franchise was the ownership arrangement with Comcast Spectacor. The team now has the necessary trainers, equipment and strength coaches to compete. The rocky start to this season mimicked the final seasons of the previous Wings. Despite the team’s 2-9 record, Hall and Crowley continue to stress to the younger players to be grateful for the support from fans and ownership.

“Appreciate it because it’s not always the case everywhere you go and play,” said Crowley.