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Jax playoff bound with win in San Jose, 12-11

April 18, 2008 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Portland Lumberjax News Release


SAN JOSE, Calif., April 18, 2008 - The Portland LumberJax are headed to their second ever postseason. Behind nine points from forward Dan Dawson (4 goals, 5 assists) and the game winning goal by forward Peter Morgan (1 goal, 2 assists) with 11:08 left in overtime, the Jax (6-9) pulled out the hard fought 12-11 win over the San Jose Stealth Friday night at the HP Pavilion. By virtue of the Jax win and Edmonton's 15-4 loss in Colorado, Portland will make its first postseason appearance since the team won the West Division in 2006.

The Jax led 10-8 after three quarters before the Stealth (8-7) scored the first three goals of the fourth quarter to take an 11-8 lead. With 2:39 left in regulation, defenseman Brodie Merrill (2 goals, 1 assist) tied the game at 11. Then, in overtime, P. Morgan scored the game winner to give the Jax the win and secure the team's second postseason berth.

"We gutted it out tonight," said Head Coach/General Manager Derek Keenan. "San Jose is an incredibly tough team and we had to match them. The runs that went both ways reminded me of last week's game against Philadelphia. Fortunately, Brodie added the late goal to push the game into overtime and Peter hit the game winner."

It took more 11-minutes, but the Stealth finally broke a scoreless tie with 3:25 left in the first quarter as Frank Resetarits beat Jax goalie Matt Disher on the perimeter. 46-seconds later, Portland tied the game at one as defenseman Pat Jones collected a loose ball and ignited a transition break that ended with Dawson beating Stealth goalie Anthony Cosmo.

San Jose opened up the second quarter with a goal 47-seconds in to take a 2-1 advantage. Portland quickly answered back, scoring with 13:27 left in the half to tie the game at two. In transition, Merrill dumped the ball off to forward Cory Conway (2 goals, 1 assist). In congestion, Conway flipped a pass behind his back to Dawson, who dove across the crease and beat Cosmo.

The quick scoring output ceased for the next five minutes until San Jose took a 3-2 lead with 8:21 left in the second. 19-seconds later, the Stealth doubled their lead as Gary Rosyski scored on the power play to make it 4-2 in favor of San Jose.

The Stealth continued their run, scoring on the power play with 4:33 to extend their lead to 5-2 before Portland stopped the 3-0 run with 2:27 left in the half as forward Derek Malawsky found the net.

Then, Dawson slipped past Stealth transition player Tim Booth before beating Cosmo to cut the San Jose lead to 5-4 with 1:51 before the break. Forward Ryan Powell (1 goal, 3 assists) and P. Morgan were credited with assists on Dawson's third goal of the game.

Portland knotted the game at five, 33-seconds into the second half as Dawson outmuscled the Stealth defense and beat Cosmo for the fourth time. Forward Peter Jacobs (3 assists) and Powell tallied assists on the goal.

The 5-5 tie was short lived as Stealth forwards Colin Doyle and Tom Johnson scored with 13:40 and 13:16 left in the third to give San Jose a 7-5 advantage.

Portland was able to tie the game for the third time as defenseman Richard Morgan scored off a rebound shot with 12:37 left and then Conway scored with 10:28 left in the third quarter to tie the game at seven.

After a Stealth penalty, Powell came back and scored his first goal of the game to give the Jax their first lead of the game at 8-7 with 9:55 left in the third quarter. The run continued as Conway scored with 5:45 left and then Merrill scored to make it 10-7 in favor of Portland with 5:24 left in the third.

The Portland run went eight minutes 35-seconds before the Stealth scored with 4:41 left in the third to make it 10-8 heading into the fourth quarter.

San Jose countered with its own run, scoring the first three goals of the fourth quarter to turn a two goal deficit into a one goal lead at 11-10.

The Jax finally responded as Merrill tied a career-high with his 17th goal of the season with 2:39 left in regulation to tie the game at 11 before heading into overtime.

In the extra set, P. Morgan scored with 11:08 left in the extra frame to put the Jax in the playoffs for the second time ever and first time since the 2006 season.

"We said form the beginning we wanted to get in and now we are in," said Keenan. "It's a whole different season now."

The Jax end their regular season on Saturday, April 26 when the team travels to Buffalo to meet the Bandits at 4:30 p.m. at HSBC Arena.

Notes: Powell has scored at least one point in all 42 regular season games he's appeared in with Portland...Powell has tallied an assist in 41 straight regular season games...P. Morgan has scored at least one point in all 45 regular season games he's appeared in with the Jax...Dawson has notched hat tricks in six games this season...Portland is 1-2 in overtime games this season and 2-3 in overtime all-time...This was the first overtime win for the Jax since 12/30/06 when the team beat the Buffalo Bandits 11-10 at the Rose Garden Arena.

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