Eliuk Hits Milsetone In Jax 15-12 Loss To Mammoth

February 7, 2008 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Portland Lumberjax News Release


DENVER, Colo., February 7, 2008 - Goalie Dallas Eliuk became the first player in National Lacrosse League history to play in 200 career regular season games, but it wasn't enough as the Portland LumberJax (1-4) fell 12-15 to the Colorado Mammoth (5-0) in front of 15,910 Thursday night at the Pepsi Center. Ryan Powell (4 goals, 1 assist) tied Peter Morgan (2 assists) for the franchise lead in goals scored (43), but the Mammoth locked up the win with a late fourth quarter goal. The 12 goals scored by the Jax was a season-high.

Portland struck first as Powell scored with 10:44 left in the first quarter. Colorado fired back, scoring four consecutive goals before the Jax ended the run. Scott Stapleford (1 goal, 1 assist) cut the Mammoth lead to two with 6:34 left when he buried a shot after a series of passes from Spencer Martin (1 goal, 6 assists) and P. Morgan. Powell continued the scoring when he put in a goal with 3:57 left in the quarter to trim the Colorado lead to one. Derek Malawsky (2 goals, 1 assist) and Dan Dawson (3 assists) were credited with assists on the goal.

After another Mammoth goal, Powell notched his first hat trick of the season when he scored with 19.7 seconds left in the first to trim the Mammoth lead to 4-5. Martin and Dawson were credited with assists on Powell's goal.

Colorado recorded the first three goals of the second quarter before Portland ended the scoring drought when Malawsky tallied his 11th goal of the season with 3:06 left in the half to make the score 5-8. Martin recorded his third assist of the game on the Malawsky goal.

The first half ended with two more Mammoth goals as they took a five goal advantage into the break.

Colorado scored first to start the half, but the Jax came back with four straight goals over a two-minute and seven-second span. Richard Morgan went the length of the floor to score with 12:44 left in the third and then Scott Stewart (1 goal, 1 assist) went coast-to-coast in similar fashion 39-seconds later to make the score 7-11. Portland continued to eat away at the Mammoth lead when Powell scored his fourth goal of the game at the 10:50 mark. Martin and Dawson were both credited with assists on the goal. 13-seconds later, Brodie Merrill took a Tyler Codron (1 goal, 1 assist) pass and scored his fourth goal of the season to make it 9-11.

Mammoth goalie Gee Nash replaced starter Chris Levis and Colorado responded with three straight goals to push the Colorado lead back to five. Eliuk entered with 4:34 left in the third to record his record setting 200th career game.

The Jax got things rolling again when Martin scored on a power play with 3:19 left off a pass from Powell to make it 10-14 after three quarters of play.

Portland continued to work its way back when Malawsky scored off passes from Martin and Stapleford with 8:14 left in regulation to make it 11-14. The goal was Malawsky's team leading 12th goal of the season.

Colorado put a quick goal past Eliuk before Codron rebounded with a breakaway goal with 3:10 left to once again make it a three goal game at 12-15. The scoring ended there as both teams traded possessions for the final three minutes.

In a split effort, goalie Matt King saved 18 of the 32 shots he faced. Eliuk stopped 17 of the 18 shots he faced.

Notes: Powell has now scored at least one point in all 32 regular season games he's appeared in with Portland...Powell has also tallied at least one assist in 31 straight games...P. Morgan has scored at least one point in all 35 regular season games he's appeared in with the Jax...Dawson has now scored at least three points in 25 straight regular season games.



National Lacrosse League Stories from February 7, 2008


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