East All-Stars outlast West

March 7, 2009 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Portland Lumberjax News Release


DENVER, Colo. - In the second highest scoring game in National Lacrosse League All-Star Game history, the East Division All-Stars beat the West Division All-Stars 27-21 in front of 13,380 Saturday night at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado. Portland LumberJax forward Peter Morgan scored one goal and added an assist and defenseman Brodie Merrill tallied an assist and collected 13 loose balls. Goalie Matt Disher started in goal for the West, stopping 23 of the 37 shots he faced in the first half.

Earlier in the day, Assistant Coach and Community Relations and Creative Design Director Dallas Eliuk was inducted into the NLL Hall of Fame. The game's greatest goalie of all-time, Eliuk retired after the 2008 season as the league's all-time saves leader with 6,356 career saves. The Vancouver, British Columbia native also won four Champion's Cups, was named Most Valuable Player of the Champion's Cup twice and was named an All-Pro nine times. Eliuk ended the evening by coaching the West Division.

Tied at one, Merrill assisted on Colin Doyle's goal with 9:02 left in the first quarter to give the West an early 2-1 lead. The East would score six of the final seven goals in the quarter to take an 8-4 lead into the second quarter.

The West spent the entire second quarter playing catch-up, trimming the East lead to 14-11 at the half. Morgan scored the final goal of the quarter for the West with 44-seconds left.

The East continued its dominance in the third quarter as Dan Dawson, Mark Steenhuis and Pat Maddalena all tallied goals to give the East a 20-16 lead after three quarters of play.

In the fourth, Steenhuis notched the sock trick with 9:32 left in the quarter. Then, Dawson scored with 7:35 left to push the East lead to 24-17. After scoring the goal, Dawson subsequently ran off the floor and jumped into the Pepsi Center hot tub.

The two teams continued to trade goals the rest of the game until the final horn sounded with the East Division winning 21-21.

The Jax resume action on Saturday, March 21st as they travel to Buffalo to meet the Bandits at 4:30 p.m. PST. It's a rematch of last season's NLL Championship. The game can be seen via the NLL Network. Log onto NLL.com to access the broadcast.



National Lacrosse League Stories from March 7, 2009


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