The New England Black Wolves were a professional

box lacrosse Box lacrosse, also known as boxla, box, or indoor lacrosse, is an indoor version of lacrosse played mostly in North America. The game originated in the 1930s in Canada, where it is more popular than field lacrosse. Lacrosse is Canada's officia ...

team based in Uncasville, Connecticut. They were members of the East Division of the

National Lacrosse League The National Lacrosse League (NLL) is a professional box lacrosse league in North America. The league comprises 14 teams8 in the United States and 6 in Canada. The NLL is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ...

and began play in the winter of 2014–2015 at the

Mohegan Sun Arena The Mohegan Sun Arena is a 10,000 seat multi-purpose arena in the Uncasville, Connecticut, Uncasville area of Montville, Connecticut, Montville, Connecticut located inside the Mohegan Sun casino resort. The arena facility features of configurab ...

in Uncasville. The team was partially owned by the Mohegan Tribe of Indians of Connecticut, partially owned by Ted Goldthorpe, and partially owned by Brad Brewster. The Black Wolves relocated from

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, where they were known as the Philadelphia Wings from 1987 to 2014 and won 6 championships. On February 22, 2021, the team was reported to have been sold and was relocated to Albany, New York, to play out of the

MVP Arena MVP Arena (originally Knickerbocker Arena, and then the Pepsi Arena and Times Union Center) is an indoor arena located in Albany, New York. It is configurable and can accommodate from 6,000 to 17,500 people, with a maximum seating capacity of ...

as the Albany FireWolves.Times Union Center gets National Lacrosse League franchise
Mark Singelais, Albany Times-Union, February 22nd, 2021

History

The Black Wolves won their first game at home on January 2, 2015 against the Buffalo Bandits in front of just under 6,000 fans. Kyle Buchanan scored the first ever goal for the Black Wolves in New England's 12-8 win. The team would finish with a record of 4-14 in its inaugural season. With a new coach behind the bench, the Black Wolves would bounce back and have a much improved 2016 season, which led them to a 10-8 record and playoff run that ended to the Bandits in the East Division final. The Black Wolves' third year was not as successful as their second, as they fell to a 8-10 record and lost in the East Division semi-final. The Black Wolves continued to struggle in the regular season and playoffs, as in 2018 and 2019 they finished with a 9-9 record and a first round exit in the playoffs in each of those seasons. 2020 appeared to be a different season for the Black Wolves with the emergence of Doug Jamieson as a legitimate starting goalie and forward Callum Crawford. Having an MVP caliber season, the Black Wolves seemed poised for a deep playoff run and potentially a championship. However, with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the NLL cancelled the rest of the season. After struggling with attendance at the end of the season, it was announced that the New England Black Wolves franchise would move to Albany and rebrand as the Albany FireWolves. The franchise finished with one main notable achievement as a team and it was being declared the East Division Champions in 2020 after the stoppage of the season.

Final roster

All-time record

Playoff results

Draft history

NLL entry draft

First-round selections *

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

: Mark Cockerton (4th overall), Quinn Powless (8th overall) *

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

: Dan Lintner (8th overall) *

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

: Seth Oakes (8th overall) *

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

: Colton Watkinson (7th overall), Anthony Joaquim (8th overall), JP Kealey (10th overall) *

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

: None *

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

: Andrew Kew (3rd overall), Zach Goodrich (17th overall) *

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

: None

Head coaching history

''Note: This list does not include head coaches from the Philadelphia Wings.''

References

External links

New England Black Wolves official website

National Lacrosse League official website
{{Connecticut Sports Defunct National Lacrosse League teams Sports in Uncasville, Connecticut Lacrosse clubs established in 2014 Lacrosse teams in Connecticut 2014 establishments in Connecticut Lacrosse clubs disestablished in the 2020s