Calgary clips Portland

March 8, 2008 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Portland Lumberjax News Release


CALGARY, Alberta - Behind hat tricks from forwards Kaleb Toth and Lewis Ratcliff, the Calgary Roughnecks defeated the Portland LumberJax 15-12 on Saturday night in front of 18,737 at the Pengrowth Saddledome in Calgary. The Jax (3-7) were led by All-Star forwards Dan Dawson (3 goals, 2 assists) and Ryan Powell (2 goals, 4 assists). The Roughnecks (4-6) trailed 7-5 before going on a 7-2 run that enabled the victory.

Calgary's scoring run began right away, as the Roughnecks scored the first two goals of the first quarter before Portland could counter with 7:51 left. Powell hit a surging Derek Malawsky (2 goals, 2 assists), who went behind the net and found a wide open Matt Holman for the goal. 40-seconds later, the Jax evened the game. Powell worked the ball deep into Roughneck territory, only to send a pass that hit a Calgary defenseman and bounced past goalie Pat Campbell.

The Roughnecks took their second lead of the game at 3-2 as forward Lewis Ratcliff scored with 4:49 to go in the quarter.

Once again, the Jax tied the game as Malawsky scored with 12:57 left in the second quarter. Forward Spencer Martin (1 goal, 3 assists) found a wide open Powell, who worked the ball near the crease before finding Malawsky open on the weak side for the score.

Portland took its first lead of the game at 4-3 as All-Star defenseman Brodie Merrill (1 goal, 1 assist) sent a pin point pass to Powell, who easily beat Campbell on a man down situation with 11:10 left in the second quarter. The run continued as Dawson scored with 10:15 in the half to give the Jax a 5-3 advantage on another man down goal. Near the boards, Dawson turned and fired a shot past a surprised Campbell. Both Martin and forward Peter Morgan (0 goals, 2 assists) were credited with assists on the goal.

Calgary scored with 7:22 left in the half to cut the lead to one, but Portland responded with another Dawson goal to push the lead to 6-4 with 6:07 left. Dawson took a pass from Malawsky and beat Campbell one-on-one with an up and under move.

After a Calgary goal, Martin scored on a power play with 2:09 left to make it 7-5. Utilizing a screen, Martin beat Campbell stick side for his first goal since the last time the two teams met on Feb. 22.

The half ended as the Roughnecks scored the final two goals to make it 7-7.

The second half began like the first half ended for Calgary as Ratcliff scored with 11:06 left and then Mike Carnegie scored with 8:14 left in the third quarter to make it 9-7 in favor of the home team.

Portland finally stopped the 4-0 Calgary run as Malawsky scored off a rebound shot of forward Cory Conway with 7:35 left in the third quarter.

Calgary, which struggled in the first half on the power play, solved its woes as the Roughnecks scored two straight power play goals to make it 11-8. Even after returning to full strength, the Jax were unable to counter the Roughneck run as Calgary scored another goal to make it 12-8 with 3:58 left in the third quarter.

25-seconds later, transition player Tyler Codron (0 goals, 2 assists) intercepted a Calgary pass and started a fast break that culminated with a Merrill goal to make it 12-9 in favor of Calgary heading into the fourth quarter.

The Calgary lead continued to evaporate as Dawson netted the hat trick with 10:26 left in the fourth quarter. However, the Roughnecks put the game out of reach by scoring the next three goals to make it 15-10.

Before things were all said and done, defenseman Richard Morgan added a goal with 5:07 to play and his brother P. Morgan added another with 53-seconds left to make the final score 15-12 in favor of Calgary.

The Jax return to action after the National Lacrosse League All-Star Break on Thursday, March 20 when they host the Colorado Mammoth at 7:30 p.m. at the Rose Garden Arena



National Lacrosse League Stories from March 8, 2008


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