Sting Writes Off Anaheim 14-12, Claims Home Playoff Game
April 16, 2005 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Arizona Sting News Release
The Arizona Sting was like millions of Americans filing their taxes. They waited until it was almost too late, finished in a flurry and still got the job done. The Sting (9-6) outscored the Anaheim Storm (4-11) by a 6-1 margin in the fourth quarter to file their game at the Arrowhead Pond on Friday, April 15th, in the win column.
Their victory, combined with Colorado's 13-12 loss to Rochester, assured Arizona of hosting a home game. Their opponent is still yet to be determined. If Arizona can beat Anaheim again Saturday night at the Glendale Arena and Calgary loses to Toronto Sunday, Arizona would win the division and get a bye. However, if Arizona loses or Calgary wins the Sting will host Colorado April 22nd in the divisional semi-final.
By Andrew Nordmeier
Arizona trailed 11-8 heading into the final quarter on tax day and the Sting made some quick deductions to erase the three-goal deficit. Pat Maddalena, Cory Bomberry and Jonas Derks scored goals in a 107-second span to knot the game at 11-11.
Adam Bysouth scored to give the Storm back the lead with 6:04 left in regulation at 12-11.
The lead wouldn't last long as the Sting ran off the game's final three goals. Dan Dawson scored his only goal of the night to tie things up at 12-12 with five minutes left. Lindsay Plunkett scored his fourth goal of the evening at 11:58 to put Arizona ahead for good and Peter Lough's empty-netter with 1:13 left iced the win.
After Arizona scored first, Anaheim bolted out to a 4-1 lead thanks to a pair of goals each by Sean Cable and Ryan Powell.
Arizona countered with goals from Craig Conn and Jason Clark to make it 4-3 and the teams traded goals until the half, which Anaheim led 7-6 at that point.
Goals came in pairs in the third quarter and Anaheim pushed its lead to three heading into the final period.
For the winners, Plunkett paced Arizona with a seven-point night (four goals, three assists) while Maddalena and Clark each added a pair of tallies. Dawson, the second-leading goal scorer in the NLL, was held to just one but added four assists in the win. Derks added three points (one goal, two assists) while Noah Talbot picked up a couple helpers for Arizona.
Anaheim was led by Casey Powell who accounted for four goals and two assists in the losing effort. Cable had a Woolery with his two goals and two assists. Bysouth and Matt Dwane scored twice for the Storm.
Sting netminder Mike Miron stopped 32 of 42 shots in the win. He outdueled Anaheim's Mike Roik between the pipes as Roik stopped 30 of 43.
These two teams close out the regular season Saturday night at Glendale Arena.
NOtes: Plunkett is on fire right now with ten goals and nine assists in his last four games...Dawson has racked up 24 points in his last four outings, scoring no fewer than five points in any game...Arizona finished 3-of-4 on the power play while Anaheim went 2-for-2 with the man advantage...Miron improves to 5-6 with the win for the Sting...Dawson heads into the final game of the season trailing Rochester's John Grant by three goals (49 to 46) for the top spot in theleague's goal race...Arizona now boasts five 20-goal scorers on its roster...Your taxes are now late if you're reading this and haven't filed yet.
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National Lacrosse League Stories from April 16, 2005
- Sting Writes Off Anaheim 14-12, Claims Home Playoff Game - OSC Original by Andrew Nordmeier
- Sting Writes Off Anaheim 14-12, Claims Home Playoff Game - Arizona Sting
- Anaheim Storm Fall Short to the Sting of Arizona - Anaheim Storm
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