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Boston Blazers Chopped Down by Portland LumberJax 9-8 in Overtime

January 31, 2009 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Boston Blazers News Release


Boston, MA - In what will be a season of firsts for the Boston Blazers, they played their first sudden-death overtime game Saturday night against the Portland LumberJax in front of 5,079 at the TD Banknorth Garden. But unfortunately for the Blazers, they also lost their first sudden-death overtime game, falling 9-8.

The loss snaps Boston's two-game winning streak and drops them to 2-3 overall. Portland improves to 3- 3. The Blazers' next game is Saturday, February 7 at 7:30 PM against New York Titans at the TD Banknorth Garden.

The Blazers' first overtime game didn't last very long, as Portland forward Peter Morgan scored his third goal of the game just 1 minute,13 seconds into the extra session, off a pass from forward Ryan Powell, his second assist.

Trailing 6-5 going into the fourth quarter, Boston put itself in good position to pick up its third win in a row by scoring a flurry of goals in the first seven minutes. Forward Gary Bining tied the score at 6-6 with 12:23 to play in the fourth, then forward Dan Dawson gave Boston a 7-6 lead 31 seconds later on his third goal of the game. Dawson, the reigning NLL offensive player of the week, also had two assists.

Forward Brenden Thenhaus made it 8-6 with eight minutes to play, pick up his own rebound and beating Portland goalie Matt Disher to the left.

Disher, however, wouldn't allow a goal the rest of the way, finishing with 46 saves. The LumberJax cut the deficit to one on Matt Brown's goal with 4:05 to play, then tied it one minute later on Peter Jacobs'.

Portland struck first to open the game, as forward Peter Morgan picked up Ryan Powell's rebound and snuck the ball inside the right post to put his team up 1-0 with 12:35 to play in the first. The LumberJax made it 2-0 less than a minute later, when forward Scott Stewart worked himself free in the crease and fired a shot post Cosmo with 10:52 on the clock.

Boston finally scored on a highlight-reel play by Dawson and Bining. Holding the ball near the right point, Bining fired a pass to a breaking Dawson. Dawson dove from just outside the crease, caught the pass in mid-air, and beat Disher to the right to cut the deficit to 2-1 with 3:05 remaining in the quarter.

The Blazers took their first lead with back-to-back goals at the end of the first on goals by Dan Dawson who netted his second goal of the quarter and Mitch Belisle. Morgan's second goal of the game, coming in the man-up situation, tied the score at 3-3 just 35 seconds into the second quarter, and Portland dominated the next eight minutes of play, keeping the ball out of Boston's possession. Portland edged ahead 4-3 on a goal by forward Dan Stroup, but the Blazers answered with a goal by Thenhaus at 8:54 and the teams went into halftime tied 4-4.

Goals by forward Brodie Merrill and Scott Steward, sandwiched around one by Boston's Jason Bloom, gave Portland a 6-5 lead with 3:09 to play in the third, before the Blazers' fourth-quarter comeback.

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National Lacrosse League Stories from January 31, 2009


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