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Jax Find Winning Combination In Colorado, 14-5

January 10, 2009 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Portland Lumberjax News Release


DENVER, Colo., January 10, 2009 - Going scoreless for 33 minutes, 22 seconds in the National Lacrosse League is not a good thing. The Colorado Mammoth (1-1) found that out Saturday night as the Portland LumberJax (1-2) scored 12 unanswered goals en route to a dominating 14-5 win in front of 16,897 at the Pepsi Center. Portland's nine goal win was the largest in franchise history.

"This was an important win," said Head Coach/General Manager Derek Keenan. "We needed it for our confidence and it feels great. It was a complete team effort."

Colorado scored with 13:15 left in the first quarter and then it was all Portland, literally. Defenseman Brodie Merrill (1 goal, 2 assists and 19 loose balls) scored an unassisted goal with 11:13 left in the first quarter. Then, forward Ryan Powell (3 goals, 3 assists) scored his first of three goals off a pass from forward Scott Stewart (1 goal, 2 assists) with 6:56 left in the quarter to make it 2-1.

Forward Peter Jacobs followed with a goal with 5:30 left before forward Derek Malawsky (2 goals, 3 assists) scored with 3:43 left in the quarter to push Portland's lead to 4-1.

Forward Peter Morgan (2 goals, 1 assist) added a late goal with 1:01 left to push Portland's lead to 5-1 after one quarter of play.

The Jax continued to out will the Mammoth, shutting out Colorado during the second quarter and scoring six more goals to push the lead to 11-1 at the break.

During the second quarter, forward Cory Conway (2 goals, 1 assist) scored two goals, Powell scored two goals and P. Morgan and Malawsky added goals as well.

Stewart opened the third quarter with a goal with 9:59 left in the third quarter to push Portland's lead to 12-1. Finally, the Mammoth scored with 9:03 left, ending a 33 minute, 22 second scoring drought that all but officially ended the game.

Colorado would scored another goal before forward Matt Brown (1 goal, 1 assist) scored with 7:52 left to extend the Jax lead to 10 at 13-3.

Playing in his first NLL game, rookie transition player Matt Yager got into the act with 3:43 left in the third to make it 14-3 after three quarters of play.

The Mammoth would add two goals in the fourth to make the final score a little more respectable at 14-5.

In the win, goalie Matt Disher stopped 51 of the 56 shots he faced. Defenseman Luke Forget added a goal and defenseman David Morgan also added an assist. Defenseman Pat Jones also helped control the game by winning 12 of 23 face-offs.

"Dish was outstanding," said Keenan. "When you get goaltending like that, you are going to win a lot of games."

The Jax travel to Edmonton on Friday, January 16th to meet the Rush (0-1) at 6:30 p.m. at Rexall Place. All NLL games will be streamed FREE this season as part of the NLL Network. To access the broadcast, go to NLL.com.

Notes: Portland won at the Pepsi Center for the first time since the 2006 season...The Jax improved to 2-2 in road openers.

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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