Lumberjax held off by Roughnecks, 13-6

January 26, 2008 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Portland Lumberjax News Release


CALGARY, AB - The Portland LumberJax dropped their first road game of the season, falling 13-6 Saturday night to the Calgary Roughnecks (2-2) in front of 10,413 at the Pengrowth Saddledome. The Jax (0-3) were led by forward Derek Malawsky, who scored two goals and added two assists in the losing effort.

Calgary scored the first two goals of the game, but the Jax got on the board with 4:27 left in the first quarter when Dan Dawson (2 goals, 1 assist) beat Roughnecks goalie Ryan Avery stick side on a man advantage to trim the lead to one. Malawsky and Spencer Martin (0 goals, 2 assists) assisted on Dawson's seventh goal of the season. The quarter would eventually end with goalie Matt King facing the Roughneck firing line, stopping three consecutive shots to keep the deficit at one.

After a Kelly Hall goal, transition player Scott Stapleford scored 22-seconds later to cut the Calgary lead to 3-2 with 11:53 left in the second quarter. Both Dawson and Peter Morgan were credited with assists on the goal. The point was Morgan's 100th of his Jax career. He and Ryan Powell (1 goal, 1 assist) are the only two players in franchise history with at least 100 points in their Jax careers.

The scoring continued as Malawsky intercepted a pass from Avery and put one past the net minder to even the game at three with 8:59 remaining in the half. Avery was attempting an outlet pass when Malawsky stole the pass in mid-flight and scored on the two-man advantage.

The Jax got a scare mid-way through the second quarter when King took a high shoulder from Calgary's Kaleb Toth. The hit knocked the ball free from a streaking King and Scott Ranger scooped up the ball and weaved through the Jax defense to score and give the Roughnecks a one goal advantage with 7:24 left in the half.

Future hall-of-fame goalie Dallas Eliuk entered after King's hard hit and appeared in his National Lacrosse League leading 199th career game. Eliuk saved two shots and yielded one goal in the next 2:06 of action before King returned with 5:18 to play.

The half ended with three more Calgary goals to give the Roughnecks a 8-3 lead heading into the break.

Eliuk returned to start the second half and the Jax provided an instant offensive spark to back the lacrosse legend. Malawsky notched his second goal of the game on a rebound shot from Powell on a power play with 12:46 remaining in the third quarter. As he was credited with the assist, Powell has now scored at least one point in all 30 regular season games he's appeared in with the Jax and has tallied an assist in 29 straight regular season games. The last game he failed to tally an assist was on Jan. 13, 2006 in a 12-7 loss to the Arizona Sting in the first ever game for the Jax.

The Roughnecks responded with five straight goals before Powell snuck one past Avery with 4:39 left in the game. Powell has now scored at least one goal in the last five games he's appeared in.

Dawson scored the final goal of the game with 37 seconds remaining on a penalty shot as the Roughnecks had too many men on the field. The final score was 13-6 in favor of Calgary.

Eliuk ended up stopping 18 of the 24 shots (.750 save percentage) he faced in relief of King. King stopped 14 of the 21 (.667) shots he faced in two stints.

The Roughnecks were led by Avery's stellar play in goal. Goalie Steve Dietrich was scheduled to start, but was a late scratch prior to game time. Avery responded by stopping 38 of the 44 shots (.864) he faced from the Jax. Hall, Ranger and Lewis Ratcliff also supplied three goals apiece in the Calgary win.

The Jax return to action on Saturday, February 2 against the Edmonton Rush (0-3) at 6:30 p.m. at Rexall Place.



National Lacrosse League Stories from January 26, 2008


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.

OurSports Central