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All-Star Bound Jax Head To Denver

March 3, 2009 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Portland Lumberjax News Release


PORTLAND, March 3, 2009 - Champion's Cup Most Valuable Player? Please, he earned that honor twice. All-Pro? Yeah, every season from 1992-2000. All-time saves leader with 6,356 saves? Of course. In Assistant Coach and Community Relations Director Dallas Eliuk's storied 18-year National lacrosse League career, the Vancouver, British Columbia native has been there and done that.

This Saturday, March 7th, Eliuk will add two new chapters to his lacrosse life: Hall of Famer and head coach. Eliuk and legendary forward Jim Veltman will both be inducted into the NLL Hall of Fame at 12 p.m. PST. Then, the two former rivals will turn to the bench and coach their respective All-Star Teams. Eliuk will guide the West Division against Veltman's East Division All-Stars at 6 p.m. at the Pepsi Center. The induction ceremony and All-Star Game can both be seen via the NLL Network.

For the second consecutive season the Portland LumberJax (5-3) have three players who were named to the NLL All-Star Team. Last season defenseman Brodie Merrill was named a starter and forwards Ryan Powell and Dan Dawson made the team as reserves. This year, Merrill and goalie Matt Disher were named starters for the West Division and forward Peter Morgan was added as a reserve.

Merrill has scored five goals, added 13 assists and collected 126 loose balls during the first half of the season for the second place Jax. The four-time All-Star is one of only four players to lead the NLL in loose balls collected (196 lb's in 2007).

Disher will be making his first All-Star appearance this weekend. The 10-year pro is having a career year. The 2003 All-Pro is second in the league in saves (344) and save percentage (81.1%) and third in goals-against-average (10.01). The Hamilton, Ontario native has made at least 32 saves in every game this season and has made 45+ saves in every win this year.

Overall, Disher is eighth in league history with 3,678 career saves.

Morgan will be making his second appearance on Saturday. The 6'6" sharpshooter played in the 2002 All-Star Game as a rookie, scoring two goals.

In seven games this season, the Port Coquitlam, British Columbia native has scored 16 goals, added 12 assists and collected 38 loose balls. He's averaging four points-per-game and has scored two goals or more in every game that he's appeared in.

The franchise leader in goals scored (75), Morgan is one of only two current players (Derek Malawsky) to score at least one point in every game he's appeared over the course of at least one full season. In 52 career regular season games, Morgan has tallied 159 points.

Since the NLL adopted the current setup of the East Division All-Stars vs. West Division All-Stars in 2004, the East has won four of the five matchups. The only win for the West was in 2006. Merrill made his All-Star Game debut, adding an assist and collecting 13 loose balls. In goal, Eliuk played the second half, stopping 17 of the 23 shots he faced to earn the win.

With Eliuk making his head coaching debut and a supporting cast of Portland players on the field, the West Division will look to stop the East's dominance.

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