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Jax Meet Rush In Edmonton

January 30, 2008 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Portland Lumberjax News Release


PORTLAND, January 30, 2008 - The 2008 season has not begun quite like the Portland LumberJax expected. After dropping the home opener to the New York Titans in front of the second largest crowd in team history, the Jax (0-3) followed with a very difficult 12-11 loss to the Colorado Mammoth at the Rose Garden on Jan. 24. Portland led 9-6 with 10:53 left in regulation, but the Mammoth closed the game and eventually forced overtime. Jason Wulder put in the game winner with 11:46 left in overtime.

Two nights later, the Jax played their first road game of the season and dropped to 0-3 as they lost 13-6 to the Calgary Roughnecks.

The good news is that the Edmonton Rush are the next opponent. The Jax are 4-1 all-time against the Rush (0-3) and have out scored Edmonton by 14 goals in the five games the two teams have played. The lone win for the Rush was a 9-8 overtime win on 2/23/07. The two teams lock sticks at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, February 2 at 6:30 p.m. at Rexall Place, the site of the 2008 National Lacrosse League All-Star Game.

Edmonton is coming off a 17-11 loss to the Chicago Shamrox.

In spite of the slow start, forwards Dan Dawson and Derek Malawsky have been as good as advertised. Dawson has paced the Jax with a team leading 15 points (8 goals, 7 assists) and Malawsky is a close second with 14 points (7 goals, 7 assists). Combined, the dynamic scoring duo has accounted for 41% of the overall point scoring for the Jax.

Also making headlines is defenseman Brodie Merrill, who has continued to live up to the constant hype that surrounds the player tagged as the best lacrosse player in the world. In only three games, Merrill has collected 44 loose balls. That's an average of 14.67 loose balls collected per game, which puts him on a career and record setting pace.

At this rate Merrill is on pace to collect at least 234 loose balls during the regular season, which would break Jim Veltman's NLL record of 226 during the 2006 season.

Forward Ryan Powell eclipsed forward Peter Morgan as the franchise leader in total points (104) earlier this season and has not looked back. Powell is up to 39 career goals with Portland and only trails P. Morgan by four for the franchise lead. With eight assists in the first three games, Powell has also been able to extend his franchise lead in assists. Powell is up to 65 assists, giving him an eight assist lead over P. Morgan for second place.

Another very important milestone could be set when the Jax and Rush play Saturday evening. Goalie Dallas Eliuk is only one game away from appearing in his NLL leading 200th career regular season game. The future hall-of-famer is already the NLL's career leader in saves (6,223), so being the first player ever to reach 200 career regular season games will be a momentous occasion.

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National Lacrosse League Stories from January 30, 2008


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