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Portland Ices San Jose, 12-10

April 6, 2008 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Portland Lumberjax News Release


SAN JOSE, Calif. - The San Jose Stealth came into Sunday afternoon's game needing a win to clinch a playoff berth in the West Division. Behind five points from forward Ryan Powell (3 goals, 2 assists), the Portland LumberJax (5-8) kept the champagne on ice as they rolled the Stealth (7-6) 12-10 in front of 3,418 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose. Portland continued to work on its own playoff aspirations as the win gives the Jax a one game lead over the Calgary Roughnecks for the fourth and final playoff spot in the West Division.

"This was a huge win", said Head Coach/General Manager Derek Keenan. "We really needed it after last night. Matt Disher was outstanding in goal for us today."

Disher's critical play helped set the tone for a back-and-forth game that Portland jumped ahead in by virtue of an early goal by Powell with 11:05 left in the first quarter. Rolling off a screen, Powell took a pass from defenseman Brodie Merrill (1 goal, 1 assist and 13 loose balls) and beat Stealth goalie Anthony Cosmo. 45-seconds later, Portland went ahead 2-0 as forward Cory Conway beat Cosmo through the five-hole. Off passes from forward's Peter Morgan (2 goals, 1 assist) and Spencer Martin, Conway fired amidst congestion and beat Cosmo through the five-hole.

San Jose would later score the final goal of the quarter to make it 2-1 after one quarter of play.

Wasting little time, the Jax scored 15-seconds into the second quarter to extend the lead to 3-1. Powell scored off passes from forward Derek Malawsky (4 assists) and transition player Tyler Codron. The Stealth were able to knot the game at three as they went on a 2-0 run.

However, the Jax responded with their own 2-0 run. Forward Dan Dawson (2 goals, 4 assists) muscled his way through the San Jose defense and slipped one past Cosmo with 11:40 left in the half. Forward Peter Jacobs (1 goal, 3 assists) and Malawsky were credited with assists on the goal. The assist, the 375th of Malawsky's career, put him eighth all-time in National Lacrosse League history passing Tom Marachek.

On the ensuing face-off defenseman Pat Jones won the draw and forward Scott Stewart (1 goal, 1 assist) scooped up the loose ball. Weaving through the Stealth traffic like an Indy Car Series Driver, Stewart flashed a few fakes before squeezing a goal past Cosmo with 11:34 remaining in the second quarter to make it 5-3.

San Jose countered with a goal 13-seconds later before tying the game at five with 1:31 left in the half on the power play.

San Jose took its first lead of the game as the Stealth scored the first two goals of the third quarter before Portland countered with four straight goals that began with a goal from Jacobs with 10:49 left in the third quarter. Then, P. Morgan tied the game at seven as he scored on the power play with 9:04 left in the quarter.

The Jax took their second lead of the game at 8-7 as Powell netted the hat trick with 3:38 left in the third quarter. Dawson hit Powell, who sliced through the San Jose defense for his third goal of the game. Portland made it 9-7 before the third quarter ended. Merrill collected a San Jose turnover and went the length of the field for his first goal of the game with 1:05 left in the quarter.

San Jose stopped the Portland scoring run with 14:15 left in the fourth quarter as they trimmed the lead to 9-8. The 4-0 run, which lasted 12-minutes and 12-seconds, truly was the difference in the game for Portland.

"We were executing on all cylinders during the run", said Keenan. "Not only were we scoring when we had the opportunities, but we stayed out of the box for that time and limited their scoring chances"

After a series of slashing penalties by the Stealth, the Jax took full advantage of the two-man advantage. Dawson scored with 10:40 to play to make it 10-8. Then, the Jax took their largest lead of the game at 11-8 as P. Morgan scored his second goal of the game with 9:16 left in regulation. Looking to create space in the San Jose end, P. Morgan used every bit of his 230-lb. frame to level a Stealth defender. Unguarded, Jacobs hit Morgan who easily beat Cosmo.

As the Portland offensive pressure mounted, Disher remained stellar in between the pipes. The nine-year veteran, who finished with a season-high 42 saves, helped keep San Jose quiet until Cam Sedgwick scored with 4:18 left to cut the Jax lead to 11-9.

The Stealth continued to make things interesting as Kyle Sorensen scored with 2:10 to play, beating Disher on the high side to make it 11-10. After loading up his defense, Keenan used a late timeout with 21-seconds left. He had a very simple message for his players.

"They needed the ball back and we weren't going to give it to them unless we scored", said Keenan.

The message was clearly understood as defenseman Richard Morgan scored an empty net goal with five-seconds left, icing Portland's fifth win of the season and thus giving the ball back to the Stealth for the final five-seconds.

Notes: Powell has now scored in the 40 regular season games he's appeared in with Portland...Powell has tallied an assist in 39 straight regular season games...P. Morgan has scored in all 43 regular season games he's appeared in with the Jax...The road team has won six of the eight meetings between the two clubs...Portland is now 6-2 all-time during the month of April in the regular season...The win was the 20th for Keenan as Head Coach/G.M. of the Jax.

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