Portland Clobbers Edmonton, 15-10

January 24, 2009 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Portland Lumberjax News Release


PORTLAND, January 23, 2009 - The Edmonton Rush have the National Lacrosse League's worst road record since 2006 and it clearly showed Friday night as the Portland LumberJax (2-3) crushed the Rush (1-2), 15-10, in front of 6,894 at the Rose Garden Arena. Forward Cory Conway scored a career-high four goals and finished with a career-high seven points while goalie Matt Disher stonewalled 50 of the 60 Edmonton shots. With the loss, the Rush are now 4-22 all-time on the road and have lost six straight on the road. The 15 goals were a season-high for Portland.

"It was a great win tonight," said Head Coach/General Manager Derek Keenan. "We moved the ball well in transition and our goaltending was fantastic. Matt (Disher) has been unbelievable all season."

It didn't take long as defenseman Richard Morgan (1 goal, 1 assist) scooped up Pat Jones' face-off win and went the length of the floor with 14:45 left in the first quarter to make it 1-0. After an Edmonton goal, Portland retook the lead with 11:40 left in the quarter as Conway scored off a series of passes from forwards Ryan Powell (1 goal, 4 assists) and Tim Campeau (4 assists).

Portland continued its scoring as transition player Tyler Codron (3 goals, 2 assists) scored with 8:34 left in the first to push the Jax lead to 3-1. Then, forward Matt Brown (2 goals, 1 assist) got into the act with 7:28 left in the quarter as he scored off passes from Campeau and Conway to make it 4-1.The Rush would score a goal before forward Peter Jacobs scored off shot from forward Derek Malawsky (1 goal, 5 assists) with 4:27 left to push the lead back to three.

The Rush would score a late goal with 15 seconds left to cut the Portland lead to 5-3 after one quarter of play.

Portland scored the first goal of the quarter as Brown scored with 9:17 left in the second quarter to give Portland a 6-3 lead. Codron scored his second goal of the game with 6:53 left in the half off a nice series of passes that concluded with Codron going top shelf past Rush goalie Steve Dietrich to make it 7-3. Dietrich was subsequently pulled after the goal and backup Chris Levis, who had not played this season, entered.

The Rush responded by scoring the next goal to make it 7-4. Then, Codron tallied the hat trick with 3:52 left to make it 8-4.

While Codron scored, tempers flared as R. Morgan and Rush forward Dan Teat exchanged punches. Well, R. Morgan did. After tearing off Teat's helmet, R. Morgan threw Teat to the ground and both served appropriate penalties.

The Rush would score another goal before Conway provided the move of the game. Posting up, Conway flipped a shot behind his back that went past Levis with 1:46 left to push the lead to 9-5 at the break.

Edmonton kicked off the third quarter with a goal before Conway tallied his second hat trick of the season with 13:36 left in the third quarter to make it 10-6. Malawsky and defenseman Luke Forget (1 goal, 1 assist) were credited with assists on the goal.

The scoring continued as Forget scored an unassisted goal with 10:35 left to make it 11-6. Then, Conway scored to push the lead to six at 12-6 with 9:51 left in the quarter.

After an Edmonton goal, Powell scored off passes from Conway and Campeau to make it 13-7 with 4:30 left in the quarter. Then, R. Morgan went for Round II as he pummeled Rush defenseman Ryan McNish. R. Morgan landed several right's and left's before he drug McNish to the ground. Once again, the two were subsequently penalized.

To begin the fourth, The Rush scored with 13:02 left before Malawsky scored with 11:20 left to make it 14-8.

Defenseman Brodie Merrill (1 goal, 1 assist) scored a late goal and the Rush added two goals as Portland won 15-10.

Portland travels to Boston to meet "Dangerous" Dan Dawson and the expansion Blazers on Saturday, January 31st at 4:30 p.m. PST at the TD Banknorth Garden. The game, along with all other National Lacrosse League games, can be seen via the NLL Network. To access the free broadcast, visit PortlandJax.com.

Notes: Campeau set career-high's in assists (4) and points (4)...Brown has scored multiple goals in back-to-back games...Codron set career-high's in goals (3) ands assists (5)...Portland is now 7-3 all-time vs. Edmonton.



National Lacrosse League Stories from January 24, 2009


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